Do ya, you know, Twitter?

Do you Twitter?

Do you Facebook?

Do you care to?

Do you want the madness to stop? 

The Iowa Journal looks at social media tonight in a Friday only showing of this program at 630p on IPTV.

Social Media sounds like a party and that’s kind of what it is. The social networking site Facebook boasts 200 million users world wide. The fastest growing demographic on the site is 35 years and over. 

Now the even quicker, more ADD site is Twitter, a site that allows users to send out short bursts of information. Twitter is growing leaps and bounds---  Nielson Rating Service says the site has grown 13-hundred percent from year to year since Feb of 08.

 We begin with a look at a face to face meeting of users and then we’ll show you how others are getting into business to help others navigate these tools for their business. We head to Lava Row in Des Moines to see how this company teaches social media to businesses.

 We also went to a Des Moines area TweetUp to see what that is about. Several of you are in the piece that went that night, but not everyone will make the cut. So, please don't be mad. I didn't think Abbie Shipton wanted to see her full profile about a month from delivery. 

 Our panel discussion includes Michael Libbie, principal and owner of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications a Des Moines based Advertising Agency that specializes in traditional media messages from print to television to Social Media.  Michael also hosts a number of radio shows in the Des Moines market dealing with a issues revolving around advertising and the rural lifestyle. 

Michael blogged about his appearance and put in some very nice words about IPTV and our operation. Thanks to that. Also a great picture off set. He called it magic. TV still is to me as well, Michael. 

 Mike Templeton is the director of social media and web strategy for the Iowa Hospital Association. He uses social media on a daily basis through his job and personal life. The discussion was taped last Thursday.

 The show will only air tonight, May 29^th, 2009 at 630p on IPTV. There is no news analysis. The discussion was posted online last Friday.

 The feature is online already.

 So, if you want to watch the show before it airs, you can do so here on our site.

Paul's Add: There is a tiny, inside joke off the top of the discussion. I said, its a Paul and 2 Mike's again. That was in reference to a great radio show I did in college on KWAR in Waverly with two of my best friends named Mike and Mike. We were on before those ESPN guys came along, for the record.

The show was called Bitter Coffee with a Paul and 2 Mike's. Great radio for our time. We even got the president of Wartburg to stop by on our final show of the year. 

What I did on my summer-- from the Iowa Journal

We are looking ahead to the future of the Iowa Journal and stories we are working on for you.

This week we'll look at the flood of 2008 and what's been done to try and prevent a disaster like that doesn't happen again. That program is a little different format as well with no studio discussion, just a look at stories in Waverly, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, and Louisa County to just name a few. 

Then, we are done for a few months. I wish we weren't, but now we can devote time to traveling the state to find the next best stories for The Iowa Journal. If you miss us, please write IPTV a little note to say, we like the show, we don’t like the show, we think the host is a dink, how does his hair never move? 

You can contact us here.

I've got a few ideas that I'll try to flush out this summer. I'm hoping to get to Clinton, Davenport and Burlington to look at minor league baseball. Also we may look at the wine industry, Iowa's cold criminal cases, new teachers and some other topics that come our way. Thank you so much for reading all of this note. If you have ideas you think we should do, let me know. 

I love to hear ideas from across the state that impact all Iowans. 

Post a comment here. If you want to keep it on downlow, send me a note to paul.yeager@iptv.org

As always, check out our past stories to see some fan favorites at www.iptv.org/iowajournal

Spending the day in a tiny room

Today is a day of editing for me. 

The script is written for the first pass and is then getting a good look over by fellow producers. One who has social media knowledge, the other who only hears about it from me. So, that should make sure both groups of people can understand it. 

I'm in an Avid room today trying to piece together the story. I voice my own stories, so that's not a problem, but sometimes producers will use a scratch track to get started editing before the final voice over person comes in. I've been the scratch guy, but also been the guy coming in at the last minute.

This feature on social media is about Lava Row and the Des Moines TweetUp back in March when NBC's Today Show came to town. 

So, I've got the iTunes ready to play at  a nice soft level to keep me going as I'm locked in a Avid 3. Now you know where to find me.

Holiday News

Its amazing to think that I used to be into the news on holiday weekends. Now, its hard to think about the news that's happened the last 4 days.  

For years, my holidays were spent on a random Tuesday or Friday that was compensation for my working of a holiday. Plenty of Memorial Days, Labor Days, 4th of July, you get the picture. 

I knew every holiday celebration in every town. Usually, the holiday's themselves weren't the problem, it was the Saturday and Sunday around them. 

Working weekends is part of the deal. Now, in my world of public TV, its just not the same. I'm still getting used to it, but it can be done. 

Thank goodness for Twitter feeds to keep me informed over the last few days. I really enjoy how that medium and following the right sources can keep you informed just enough to be dangerous and not put you too much behind. 

This week, social media is on the plate again. There's quite a bit of pressure on myself to make this feature good. I've got expectations to make this piece sing and not get another round of oh, that was weak. 

The discussion is already posted on the IPTV video page. Its an online exclusive. Tell your friends, we're hoping to have some good traffic to show for our efforts. 

See it online BEFORE on TV

How cool can we be sometimes?

In a show about social media, its only fitting that we launch the discussion of our upcoming show about social media, here on line on the Iowa Public Television website.

Thanks to fellow producer Nancy we've posted the video of the discussion recorded on Thursday afternoon about social media for next Friday's Iowa Journal. Actually, it was Nancy's idea, I just said, that would be fitting, so here you go. Thank Nancy. 

We usually will post our Thursday programs on Friday's online at www.iptv.org/iowajournal around noon. So, you can soon see our economic roundtable about underemployed and unemployed here as well. 

The social media show will also feature Lava Row and the Des Moines area TweetUp. That will be ready for Friday's airing at 630p on IPTV. 

Here's the link to the Iowa Journal's discussion on Social Media with Mike Templeton and Michael Libbie. 

Out of order social media

Sometimes in TV you had do things out of order. This would be one of those days. 

I'm not really sure how TV shows or movies or reality shows do it, but they do. They'll tape scenes way out of order as to how their seen on air. Today we taped the discussion on the topic of social media. We had Mike Templeton who is director of social media for the Iowa Hospital Association. 

Mike and I met online, but then had our own Ankeny TweetUp on my son's birthday. We were in the McDonald's Playland eating lunch before he was allowed to play on the playland, Noah, not Mike, when Mike walked into the restaurant. It is too small of a world. 

Mike got his job through a discussion with Nathan Wright of Lava Row, another part of our social media show. Nathan heard that Iowa Hospital Association was hiring a director of social media and thought of Mike. 

Small Iowa world that it is, Nathan's got family from hometown of Jesup. Now I have another connection to the Bert Rigdon family. Bert is Nathan's uncle and spent a lot of time with Bert's daughters Sara and Katey. 

So, through social media, I've made connections to old high school classmates to new business and media experiences. 

Also on the program was Michael Libbie. He's the principal and owner of Insight Advertising, Marketing and Communications. A lot of his clients are rural and he talks alot about the rural lifestyle. He does that on Sunday mornings from 8-9 on 98.3 WOW-FM in Des Moines. Libbie is showing clients how they've been able to hear the conversation around them to learn more about their business and clients. Its led to some sales leads, but also to some new products being developed when clients say, what if you made a widget that did this.... 

Mike Templeton took 12 seconds to show us what he was doing before our taping. 

This show will air on May 29th, 2009 at 6:30 P.M. on Iowa Public Television's The Iowa Journal. 

Remember how I said we sometimes have to do things in parts? I still need to finish the feature on Lava Row and the Des Moines TweetUp for that airing. 

Back to work. 

Yes, the economy is still bad for people

Are there any signs things are improving for Iowans?

What hope can we give to people about the economy?

Who or what industries are looking like they will be hiring?

What can be done in the meantime while we wait for the economy to turn?

This week we bring the phone operators and volunteers to take your questions about the economy. Its a topic that is continually on the brain of many, if not all of us.

Yes, there's been some good indicators this week, but for some, they are still without a job.

The Iowa Journal is committed to answering your questions about the economy. We've assembled an impressive panel.

Elisabeth Buck is the director of the Iowa Workforce Development. Rob Denson is president of Des Moines Area Community College. Adam Carroll is a personal financial consultant and Jim Adams coordinates the Hope@Work program at one of, if not the, biggest churches in the state, Lutheran Church of Hope.

Jim will be making his Iowa Journal debut and the rest are veterans on the program.  Glad to have Jim on the show.

You can call with your questions or email them ahead of time. Call 866.282.2846 or send an email to iowajournal@iptv.org

We're on live Thursday night from 8-9. 

There will be no cutdown version of the program this week that airs on Friday. So, if you want to catch up if you miss our on-air signal, hop onto www.iptv.org/iowajournal

If you want to see our program on Autism, that's last week's show. Also see fan favorites like auto racing in Iowa, water quality and the Out and About in Red Oak. All available on our website, any time of the day.

We will also be taping a discussion tomorrow about social media. We're talking about Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. How do we go beyond email. That will air only on Friday, May 29 at 630p. Another DTV or digital TV call in will air at 8p next week. 

Thanks for the time. 

The monkey is now blogging. Hard to believe. Check it out for longer versions of my Iowa Journal ramblings. 

Thanks for reading this last line. If you send a question to iowajournal@iptv.org and you're on this list, I'll send you an IPTV prize.