About The Mediatwits

1 Jew, 1 Muslim, all media. Each week, PBS MediaShift's Mark Glaser and PaidContent founder Rafat Ali will run down the most important stories in the world of digital media, with special guests. The half-hour audio podcast will include a rundown of top stories, a look at the MediaShift poll results and much more.

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Underwritten by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Mediatwits

Mediatwits #52: Special Edition: Unplugging from Media and Technology

Welcome to the 52nd episode of the Mediatwits podcast, with Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali as co-hosts. This week we have a special edition of the podcast dedicated to unplugging and taking breaks from media and technology. We are immersed in a world of technology, with smartphones at our fingertips, texts and status updates waiting for us at all...

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Mediatwits #51: Kramer, Rosen on Future of Print Papers; Brian Boyer Moves to NPR

Welcome to the 51st episode of the Mediatwits podcast, with Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali as co-hosts. This week we take a deeper look at the changes at various local newspapers in North America, lowering their print frequency from daily down to a few times per week. Is this an alarming trend or a natural evolution of newspapers as...

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Mediatwits #50: Facebook Face-Plant; Craig Newmark + Poynter; Crowdfunding Bible

Welcome to the 50th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, with Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali as co-hosts. The joy of the Facebook IPO was quickly replaced with disdain as the stock nosedived and lawsuits ensued. We run down the headlines, including the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Oregon Daily Emerald killing daily print editions for thrice- and twice-weekly editions, respectively....

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Mediatwits #49: Facebook IPO Mania; Internet Week; 16th Webby Awards

Welcome to the 49th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, with Mark Glaser and Dorian Benkoil as co-hosts. Today is the day for the Facebook IPO, so we've got it covered like a wet blanket. Special guests Debra Aho Williamson of eMarketer and Troy Young of SAY Media talk over the ins and outs of Facebook as it soars into the...

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Mediatwits #48: Yahoo CEO Under Fire; Pros and Cons of Metered Pay Walls

Welcome to the 48th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, with Mark Glaser and the Rafat Ali as co-hosts. On this show, we turn to the chaotic soap opera that continues at Yahoo, once an Internet darling on its umpteenth remake. Its new CEO Scott Thompson appears to have padded his bio with a computer science degree that he never received....

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Mediatwits #47: Positively Dan Rather; Future of Facebook; Rise of Snip.it

Welcome to the 47th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the Rafat Ali as co-hosts. On this show, Rafat had the honor (and early-morning wakeup call) to interview news icon Dan Rather at 7 a.m. while Rather was traveling by train to Washington, D.C. Rather has a new memoir out, "Rather Outspoken," and talked to...

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Mediatwits #46: Photography Special: Creative Commons, Cameraphones, Instagram, Google+

Welcome to the 46th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the Rafat Ali as co-hosts. Rafat is celebrating his birthday, we're not sure how old he is, but we know that he loves photography. So this week we are celebrating his birthday by doing a special show focused on photography in the digital age....

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Mediatwits #45: Rafat Returns!; Cord-Cutting Rising?; Google Surveys Instead of Pay Walls

Welcome to the 45th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the Rafat Ali as co-hosts. That's right, Rafat Ali is back in the saddle after a nearly three month trek to India, Burma and Iceland. And he's back just in time to talk cord-cutting once again, this time after new research showed that cable...

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Mediatwits #44: Social Media's Role in Activism, Trayvon Martin; Pinterest's Legal Drama

Welcome to the 44th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the Rachel Sklar as co-hosts. Sklar is a writer and social entrepreneur, and is filling in for Rafat Ali. This week, we convene a special roundtable to discuss how social media is changing activism, in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting, in a...

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Mediatwits #43: Pew's State of the News Media; Yahoo Sues Facebook

Welcome to the 43rd episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the Rachel Sklar as co-hosts. Sklar is a writer and social entrepreneur, and is filling in for Rafat Ali. She is back from SXSW and slowly recovering from the interactive, music and film festival. The big news this week is Pew's annual State of the...

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Mediatwits #42: SXSW Special: Homeless Hotspots; Ambient Apps, CNN/Mashable?

Welcome to the 42nd episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the Rachel Sklar as co-hosts. Sklar is a writer and social entrepreneur, and is filling in for Rafat Ali. This week is a special episode dedicated to all things South by Southwest (SXSW), the media confab covering technology, music and film down in Austin, Texas.

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Mediatwits #41: 'The New iPad'; Newspaper Culture Clashes; NewYorker.com's New Editor

Welcome to the 41st episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the George Kelly as co-hosts. Kelly is online coordinator at the Contra Costa Times newspaper and is filling in for Rafat Ali. This week we have an action-packed show with a lot to cover. First up is "The New iPad," announced by Apple on...

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Mediatwits #40: Pay Walls at L.A. Times, Gannett; TechCrunch Turmoil

Welcome to the 40th episode of the Mediatwits podcast, this time with Mark Glaser and the George Kelly as co-hosts. Kelly is online coordinator at the Contra Costa Times newspaper and is filling in for Rafat Ali. This week the big topic is pay walls, as both the Los Angeles Times and Gannett newspaper chains are planning to charge...

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Mediatwits #39: Cord-Cutting Special: Comcast Streampix; Google Fiber

Welcome to the 39th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Brightcove's Eric Elia, who is filling in for Rafat Ali. This week we convene a special roundtable to talk about one of our favorite subjects: cutting the cord to cable TV! We had hoped that a Comcast executive...

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Mediatwits #38: Online Report from Tunisia; Pinterest Craze; Apple Monitors Factories

Welcome to the 38th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Jillian York, who is filling in for Rafat Ali. First, we get a special on-the-ground report from special guest Mohamed El Dahshan in Tunisia, talking about a ruling expected from the country's Supreme Court about filtering the Internet....

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Mediatwits #37: Merger Mania: CIR-Bay Citizen; GigaOm-PaidContent; Twitter Censorship

Welcome to the 37th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Jillian York, who is filling in for Rafat Ali. It's been a crazy week in media + tech, with important mergers abounding! First up is the Center for Investigative Reporting announcing that it will try to merge with...

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Mediatwits #36: Facebook IPO Fever; Dive into Media; $30 Million to Columbia/Stanford

Welcome to the 36th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Dorian Benkoil, who is filling in for Rafat Ali. It's been a crazy week in media + tech, with Google privacy concerns, Amazon falling short in earnings, and much more. But the dominant news was Facebook filing for an...

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Mediatwits #35: Apple's Boffo Earnings; Get More Clicks Per Tweet; NYC vs. Silicon Valley

Welcome to the 35th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Dorian Benkoil, who is filling in for Rafat Ali. Once again, Apple dominates the headlines, this time for quarterly earnings that blew away Wall Street -- and everyone else. The company made $13.1 billion in profits in the quarter,...

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Mediatwits #34: SOPA Protests Make a Difference; Yang Out at Yahoo

Welcome to the 34th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali. This week the show is mainly focused on the huge day of protest online Wednesday against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) before the U.S. Congress. After Wikipedia, Reddit and other...

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Mediatwits #33: CES Jumped the Shark?; SOPA Battles; Google+ in Search

Welcome to the 33rd episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali. This week we have a special show focused on the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) happening in Las Vegas all week. Apple isn't there and Microsoft did its last keynote presentation there. Is the show losing momentum? Are...

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Mediatwits #32: Yahoo's Mr. Wrong?; Steve Rubel's Clip Book; Fake @Wendi_Deng

Welcome to the 32nd episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali. We're back from our holiday break and ready to tackle more media news. The big news of the new year is a new CEO (again) at Yahoo, this time PayPal president Scott Thompson will try his...

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Mediatwits #31: BBC World Invades U.S.; ReadWriteWeb Sold to Say Media

Welcome to the 31st episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali. This week we turn across the pond to the U.K., where the BBC is pushing its BBC World cable news channel to an American audience. The BBC recently made a deal with Comcast to increase its...

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Mediatwits #30: Netflix, Time Warner Make Peace?; E-Books Price-Fixing; Holiday Gadgets

Welcome to the 30th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali. This week we have an eclectic mix of topics. First up is the UBS Media and Technology Conference in New York, where the talk of the conference was the rise of over-the-top video services and talks by...

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Mediatwits #29: Spot.us Acquired; Buffett Buys a Newspaper; Cord Cutters Rising

Welcome to the 29th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali. This week we get back from the Thanksgiving holiday and find some interesting mergers happening. First, there's the crowdfunding site Spot.us being acquired by American Public Media (APM) and its Public Insight Network. Guests David Cohn,...

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Mediatwits #28: Journalism Education Special with Sree Sreenivasan, Sarah Hill

Welcome to the 28th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Dorian Benkoil, filling in for Rafat Ali. This week is a special edition of the podcast dedicated to teaching journalism in the digital age -- and part of our week-long special "Beyond J-School 2011." How can educators keep up with the changes happening in journalism and keep students ahead of the curve?

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Mediatwits #27: Groupon IPO Mania; Nook Tablet Takes on Kindle

Welcome to the 27th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. This week we look deeper at the Groupon IPO, which briefly valued the daily deals startup at nearly $20 billion. Our special guests are Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget, as well as Yipit Data analyst...

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Mediatwits #26: Streaming Video Special: Apple TV Set?; YouTube Channels

Welcome to the 26th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. This week is a special look at streaming video services, including the possibility of an Apple TV set and the impending launch of YouTube channels. Guests include tech journalist Dan Frommer of SplatF and Brent Weinstein, head of digital services at United Talent Agency.

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Mediatwits #25: The 800 Pound Gorilla of E-Books: Amazon

Welcome to the 25th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. This week is the Beyond the Book series at MediaShift, and keeping with that theme the podcast is all about Amazon.com.

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Mediatwits #24: Non-Profit News Sites; iPhone 4S Boom; Android's Ice Cream Sandwich

Welcome to the 24th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. The hot topic is non-profit news sites and whether they can sustain themselves. A recent study was released from the Knight Foundation about the business health of some of these sites, and noted that they still need to experiment to find the right business model to survive.

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Mediatwits #23: Occupied Wall Street Journal; Netflix Backs Down

Welcome to the 23rd episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. The main topic on this show is the rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement, how the media has covered it, and the remarkable "Occupied Wall Street Journal" newspaper. Special guest Arun Gupta is the co-founder of the newspaper and explains the importance of a print publication in political circles.

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Mediatwits #22: Remembering Steve Jobs with Two Biographers

Welcome to the 22nd episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. This week is a special edition dedicated to Steve Jobs, the technology visionary who died on Wednesday. The news spread quickly online and on social media, with so many heartfelt memories, stories and old videos. And of course, in death as in life, Jobs remained a polarizing figure, with so many admirers and so many haters.

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Mediatwits #21: Social Wars: Facebook's Timeline, Media Grab; Google+ Dead or Alive?

Welcome to the 21st episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and entrepreneur Rafat Ali. This week is a special edition the war between the social networks, and what that means for the media world.

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Mediatwits #20: Newspaper Special: Boston Globe Pay Wall; Guardian U.S.; Philly Tablet

Welcome to the 20th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the one and only founder of PaidContent. This week is a special edition on newspapers, newspapers and more newspapers. First up, the Boston Globe launched its new pay-walled site, BostonGlobe.com, which is free for print subscribers but costs $3.99 per week for non-print subscribers.

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Mediatwits #19: Bartz, Arrington Fired; Swisher Swoons; Google Grabs Zagat

The Mediatwits podcast is sponsored by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which offers an intensive, cutting edge, three semester Master of Arts in Journalism; a unique one semester Advanced Certificate in Entrepreneurial Journalism; and the CUNY J-Camp series of Continuing Professional Development workshops focused on emerging trends and skill sets in the industry. Welcome to the 19th episode...

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Mediatwits #18: CNN Buys Zite; DoJ Blocks AT&T; Starz Drops Netflix

The Mediatwits podcast is sponsored by the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, which offers an intensive, cutting edge, three semester Master of Arts in Journalism; a unique one semester Advanced Certificate in Entrepreneurial Journalism; and the CUNY J-Camp series of Continuing Professional Development workshops focused on emerging trends and skill sets in the industry. Welcome to the 18th episode...

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Mediatwits #17: Ch-ch-changes: Steve Jobs Out; Romenesko Semi-Retires; Shafer Laid Off

Welcome to the 17th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Staci Kramer, editor of PaidContent, who's filling in for Rafat Ali. This show looks at the week's big changes in the media landscape. First, Steve Jobs announced he was stepping down as CEO of Apple, moving into a...

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Mediatwits #16: Why Google Bought Motorola; Yahoo Scoops ESPN Big-Time

Welcome to the 16th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the founder of PaidContent. This show looks at the week's big news, including the head-turning buyout of Motorola Mobility by Google for $12.5 billion. What was driving the search giant to become a hardware maker? Was...

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Mediatwits #15: Special Cord-Cutters Edition; TV Networks vs. Streaming

Welcome to the 15th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the founder of PaidContent. This show is all about cord-cutters, people who like to watch TV without paying for cable or satellite TV (like Mark & Rafat). The big news is that Fox will not allow...

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Mediatwits #14: This Week in Rupert; NY Times' Pay Wall Pays Off

Welcome to the 14th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the founder of PaidContent. There's a lot of news to cover in this podcast, including Apple's earnings, Yahoo's earnings, the possible sale of Hulu, and more. But the big deal this week is of course another heaping...

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Mediatwits #13: Smartphone Ownership Booms; This Week in Rupert

Welcome to the 13th episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the founder of PaidContent. This week's show looks at a recent survey by Pew Internet that found that 35 percent of Americans now have smartphones, and that ownership is even higher among people of color. Guest...

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Mediatwits #12: Facebook Gets Skype Video; Phone-Hack Scandal in U.K.

Welcome to the twelfth episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the founder of PaidContent. This week's show looks at the recent launch of Facebook video chat with Skype built in. While Facebook called its announcement "awesome" it was underwhelming for tech and media insiders who have...

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Mediatwits #11: Can Google+ Overtake Facebook, Avoid MySpace's Fate?

Welcome to the eleventh episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Rafat Ali, the founder of PaidContent. This week's show looks at the recent launch of Google+, a more fully formed social network that is taking on Facebook. Google+ is in an invite-only mode but both Mark and Rafat...

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Mediatwits #10: Apple Backpedals on iPad Subs; GWU Study on Local News

Welcome to the tenth episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser and Dorian Benkoil, filling in for Rafat Ali. This week's show looks at the changes in Apple's subscription plan for publishers, as they backpedal on the pricing. But still, Apple will take a 30% cut of subscription revenues and...

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Mediatwits #9: Twitter Buys Tweetdeck; Facebook's Role in Breaking News

Welcome to the ninth episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show looks at the recent purchase of Tweetdeck by Twitter, and the questions it raises about companies starting businesses on the platform of other companies. If you run an app for...

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Mediatwits #8: LinkedIn's Bubbly IPO; Grueskin on the New York World

Welcome to the eighth episode of "The Mediatwits," the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show looks at the big IPO of business networking site LinkedIn, with the stock price doubling to more than $90 per share in its first day of trading, valuing the company...

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Mediatwits #7: Skype Gets Microsoft-ed; 'Street Fight' Returns Fire

Welcome to the seventh episode of "The Mediatwits," the new revamped longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show looks at Microsoft's massive payout, $8.5 billion, for Skype, a popular communication service that still loses money. Our guest this week is Laura Rich, the co-founder...

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Mediatwits #6: Bin Laden News on Twitter; Demand Media Goes Long-Form

Welcome to the sixth episode of "The Mediatwits," the new revamped longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show looks at the way the news of Osama Bin Laden's death played out over Twitter and other new media, making minor celebrities of @ReallyVirtual and @KeithUrbahn. Our...

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Mediatwits #5: Who Owns Social Media Followers?; Byliner CEO John Tayman

Welcome to the fifth episode of "The Mediatwits," the new revamped longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show is about the various social media policies at news organizations, and how they vary from place to place. Plus, can media companies actually own the followers...

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Mediatwits #4: Impressive, Creepy Apple; The iPhone Radio Reporter

Welcome to the fourth episode of "The Mediatwits," the new revamped longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show is obsessed with all things Apple -- and iPhone. Apple had a blow-out earnings quarter, nearly doubling its profits and selling more iPhones than ever with...

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Mediatwits #3: HuffPost Lawsuit and Grading AOL; 'Write More Good' Author

Welcome to the third episode of "The Mediatwits," the new revamped longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show looks at the recent $105 million lawsuit brought against Huffington Post for not paying its bloggers, as well as our grades for AOL's various business moves,...

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Mediatwits #2: AT&T Buys T-Mobile; 'Tweets from Tahrir' Authors

Welcome to the second episode of "The Mediatwits," the new revamped longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali. This week's show looks at the repercussions of the $39 billion buyout of T-Mobile USA by AT&T. Rafat has had both services and will stick by AT&T, but Mark is...

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Mediatwits #1: NY Times Pay Wall Blues; Rafat Visits Al Jazeera

Welcome to the first episode of "The Mediatwits," the revamped, longer form weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift's Mark Glaser along with PaidContent founder Rafat Ali, who is working on a stealth startup. This week's first beta show was mainly about the new metered pay wall coming to NYTimes.com and its mobile apps. Special guest Steve...

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