First off, Main Stream Media is fast becoming….  well NOT.  But that’s a different post.  I was contacted 2 or 3 weeks ago by a writer for Portfolio Magazine to discuss what the MSM could do to save it self.  Primarily print media.  It’s a tough question, but I gave it my best shot.  The writer told me she had a deadline of Friday and could I get my answers to her questions back to her by then.  I did.  That very same day it was announced that the tabloid was shuttering it’s windows in a cost saving effort by it’s parent company.  As far as I know the article was never printed.

Last week I was contacted by Kerry Dougherty (@kerrydougherty) of the Virginian-Pilot.  A columnist.  Kerry and I have been communicating via email for several years.  Her columns are always of interest but don’t always align with my positions on things.  But Kerry is opinionated, as an opinion columnist should be and sticks to her guns no matter how hateful some of her followers get.  And they do get hateful.

I have been a huge fan of Kerry’s since she wrote a piece on PeTA when PeTA was calling for an end to the violence in the mid-east because they were using donkey’s to carry explosives to attack people (about 02/03).  PeTA was upset, because a donkey was killed.  Along with 29 Israeli citizens and foreign nationals.  1 donkey, 29 people.  Read that column here (scroll down toward the bottom).

In January 2003 – the month in which the donkey died – 21 Israelis and eight foreign nationals were killed by terrorists in Israel, and 127 others were injured.

Yet PETA weeps for the ass.

Kerry wanted to discuss Twitter.  I was excited.  First of all, being a huge fan, I was excited that she even recognized me.  I was actually “star struck” to an extent.  Secondly, I was excited because my attempts at name branding were starting to seep out there.  I called her back immediately and reached her voicemail.  I waited about 10 minutes and called her back again.

We discussed Twitter, where it was, my opinion on it’s future (which I feel is grim) and what was so attractive about it.  I reminded her that when she was going to the Democratic and Republican conventions last year I asked her to tweet them.  She had a Blackberry, why not?  She claimed technoignorance and declined.   We talked about Twitter being social media vice broadcast media and who was twittering, who I followed and who followed me.  How I managed to follow and keep track of the 800 people I follow, and the 900 or so people that follow me. (Thank goodness for TweetDeck!!!).  We also discussed the fact that I brought my public safety agency into the Web 2.0, social media world with Twitter. (@PortsmouthPD).

We had a great, fun, witty conversation (or I did anyway) that I just absolutely enjoyed and didn’t want to end.  An incredibly smart and witty person that I could have talked to for hours.  And I wasn’t having to do it in 140 characters or less!!! 

Read this week’s column here.