Something “on the verge” of happening one minute isn’t always going to take place the next.

So, in that case, the language of the Twitter “scoop” becomes important. Because if you write that a deal is done, that’s different from saying it’s “on the verge” of being done.

And in those cases, I believe the readers themselves have to be more discerning. Not everything that looks like a “fact” on Twitter actually constitutes one.

via Mariners Blog | The definition of a “scoop” in media world not what it used to be

Great post from Geoff Baker today on what constitutes a “scoop” in a news cycle defined on Twitter by the fractions of seconds.

The whole post is good, and Geoff offers more insight on the topic than I ever could, but I zeroed in on this one snippet because I said something similar — in the vein of audience/reader responsibility — after the inaccurate reports of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ death a couple weeks ago.

Disclosure: I’m an unapologetic Baker fan, and posts like this are why.

Source: HamburgerJung's Flickr page

If you’ve been blogging for any length of time, you’ve probably got a folder in your RSS reader packed full of subscriptions to blogs that follow your same niche. That’s good—it’s smart to keep up with your area of interest. But it’s a good idea to wander outside of your usual haunts on a regular basis. Two reasons:

1. You avoid the echo chamber

2. You’ll have more original ideas

I thought I might list a few of my favorite non-journalism blogs to give an idea of what inspires my writing:

Kitsune Noir

“…an art and design blog that dabbles in music, movies, food & fashion, all filtered through the brain of Bobby Solomon.”

This may be one of my favorite blogs period. I found it via the handy Explore option in Google Reader and I’ve been loving it ever since. It is what the tagline says and the most important part is the “filtered through the brain of Bobby Soloman” part. This guy’s just got an eye for cool stuff. A lot of the visuals he picks out have inspired me to incorporate my own visuals into this blog lately (scroll through my recent archives—every post has had at least one photo with it) and to not really care if what I’m saying doesn’t sound easy-to-read or whatever. Bottom line when you’re running a blog is that it’s yours, so make it something you like first, then worry about traffic and all that other crap.

Conversation Marketing and Copyblogger

“Common sense internet strategies” and “Copywriting tips for online marketing success” (respectively).

Speaking of “all that other crap,” these two blogs have been invaluable. Once I’ve been inspired and have produced some content, I like to take some time to hone it and make it as nimble and effective as possible—that’s where advice from these guys comes in. I think of them as the editors-I-no-longer-have. They’ve helped out tremendously with advice on how to craft text for the Web and also with SEO headline writing—great for me, since those are things I use on this blog and in my day-to-day at the office.

Lookout Landing, USS Mariner and Geoff Baker’s Mariners Blog*

(A bunch of Seattle Mariners blogs.)

These are just straight-up for fun. Your RSS Reader can’t be all work, all the time—you have to have something to unwind with. Sure, you’ve got books and all, too, but what’s nice about just-for-fun blogs is that you’ll probably accidentally soak up some advice that’ll help you improve your own blog. What makes your for-fun blogs so enjoyable? And what about that can you copy over to your own blog? (For the record, I could do better at this. The only thing I’ve really ‘ported from my Mariners bloggers is, in fact, the Mariners.)

*For more on Geoff Baker’s blog as it relates to blogging and journalism, see this fanboy post I did a while back.

Geoff Baker

I just caught Geoff Baker’s report about Felix Hernandez getting the nod as the Mariners Opening Day starter. Good solid news story, but if that was all you read, you really aren’t able to appreciate how much of a workhorse—and a damn fine all-around reporter—Baker really is.

Here’s what I mean: Check out his blog posts from thoughout the day and compare them to the aforementioned story. He spends all day banging out thousands of words as a blogger and then switches to print journalist mode and consolidates them at the end of the day. Oh, and he finds time to take calls for his vlog, which he also posts during the day. If that’s not enough, he’s consistently the first to break Mariners news (this is admittedly anecdotal), despite having a whole slew of competitors (not to mention ESPN and Fox Sports).

If there’s one gripe I have with Baker’s blog (or news reports in general) it’s that he doesn’t link out often enough. But that’s actually pretty unfair, given that the bulk of the information he’s sharing is raw (and I’m pretty sure it’s The Seattle Times saying “no linking in news stories”).

He could also do a better job of what Patrick Thornton defines as beatblogging, but pro sports is an entirely different beast compared to your average beat (local education, etc.). Baker’s access makes citizen journalism a virtual no factor in his reporting (and pro sports is one of the few places where that’s still the case). So again, this is kind of an unfair point.

If you’re a Mariners fan, go enjoy the blog. If you’re a print journalist trying to become more Web savvy, go learn.