Local Pioneer Press editor Joe Soucheray stirred up some Twitter debate today when he said Twitter is “the end of the world as we know it, and I don’t feel fine.” His point:  we waste time chattering about nothing and mistakenly believe ourselves to be important by virtue of participation.  He bemoans the potential displacement of real human interaction.

Well, end of the world is a bit extreme.  But sure, absolutely we’re a far cry from days characterized by more in-person exchanges.  And yes, Twitter can be a huge waste of time.

If you are using Twitter for work, you’ve had to figure out how to manage the beast in a way that delivers useful information and connections.  Know your audience and reliably serve updates that are meaningful to them.

As for who you follow on Twitter, the great thing about this medium is just how much you can shape it.  Follow those individuals that you need to keep in touch with, and those sources that you value.  Remove the rest. I like Twitter for the news feeds I get from some of my favorite media sources and local business groups.  I also appreciate the relevance of casual updates from editors and colleagues.  It helps put the day in context of others.

It is worth remembering that a large contingent of the Twitter population is made up of people that work independently, often from a home or satellite office.  As the March wind howls outside an otherwise quiet office – save the soft snore of one of the dogs – I would be remiss if I didn’t admit that Twitter makes the world a little more HERE.

Twitter doesn’t replace in-person conversation.  Like email and everything else, it has the potential to be a time sink.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly valuable when you figure out how to make it work for you.

The Community Manager position is increasingly one that is at the pivot point between the needs of the organization and the needs of the community and engages in aligning both and enabling a conversational attitude that is meaningful for both sides.

This is a textbook description of what public relations is all about, and it’s the two-way responsibility that draws many people to the profession.  Hopefully, as Steve points out, the emergence of social media will apply the appropriate pressure to make two-way conversation a key deliverable for corporate pr teams.

An alternative is to apply majority public relations resources to pushing a canned point of view, and public relations programs funded by marketing groups have the toughest time avoiding this pitfall. The Community Manager that Steve describes is part corporate communications, part journalist, part marketing genius.  Of the three parts, the best will be those that retain the objective mindset of the journalist and find a way to effectively represent the two-way channel within their organization.

That experiment took off and has now become a daily news feed for executives, sales reps, product developers. Colleague Tim Elliott revamped it awhile ago, improving content and usability and enabling us to publish anywhere anytime.  We publish with WordPress because it’s quick, easy and well-suited to the task — not to mention free. Readers opt in by subscribing and the subscriber base has spread to Europe, the Middle East and Asia — all of it “viral.”

In today’s flood of media, response to what we call The Scanner was unexpected.  After all, who wants another news feed?  But it’s the fire hose of information that created the need for a filter, custom designed for our readers.

People we talk to seem to appreciate two aspects of the daily feed. First, we save them time. We take an enormous realm of press coverage and deliver what’s relevant to the business and its customers. Second, readers stop wondering what they missed. They get news the same day – and they have a place to go back to when they need to regroup and review.

It saves us time too. By capturing coverage each day, we streamline many other activities throughout the month.  Plus, the site is archived and searchable. Readers come here for past coverage. Gone are the incoming emails asking, “can you send me a copy of that article that ran a few weeks ago…”

This type of channel is a natural way to distribute news and results to your team. When executives and product developers and key sales people go out of their way to say thank you, we know the ROI is in our favor.

Rather than asking editors to wait, Comcast accelerated their launch plans.  Within a few hours, Comcast got product experts on the phone with writers in key markets and emailed product specs and pricing. Full (and positive) coverage was online by end of day and in print the next morning. The company posted complete information via a social media news release online where bloggers could access facts, charts and supporting data. Coverage spread faster and wider and with more positive enthusiasm as soon as Comcast got the news on the wire, and participants Twittered news stories and blog links for followers.

October 22 Update: “I probably should have said no to Chris Matthews.” Bachmann expresses regret at agreeing to go on the show. “I had never seen his show before,” she said. “I probably should have taken a look at what the show was like … A trap was laid, but I stepped into it.”

Like everyone else, I’ve been observing this election’s unprecedented storyline characterized by a whole smattering of issues that personally affect individuals throughout the country and challenge our core values. Access to modern media sources has fueled discussion, as we replay and rehash and blog about and link to everything from SNL clips to whole debates between the candidates. One certainly cannot claim, “I missed the debate because I was working.” Not only are viewership ratings sky high for the main events, but there is new shelf-life of broadcast on the Internet.

More eloquent and analytical views on the media phenomenon are posted by national media analyst John Rash of The Rash Report, best summarized in his Star Tribune column this week.

I plan to heed John’s recommendation to replay PBS Frontline’s The Choice 2008 and pay closer attention to PBS as a source over the remaining days of the campaign.

Across these new teams, people still need the proverbial water cooler, a place to chat with colleagues about life outside of work. For many Facebook is that gathering place. Deadlines are deadlines but we still want to know who just had a baby, who watched the Giants game last night, what pictures of your kids you would have on your desk if you still printed pictures and framed them and brought them to the office — even who made goulash last night and what was the secret ingredient.

Like the traditional water cooler, some people view the darn thing as a distraction and spend less time there than others. Some divulge more than they should. But no one can deny Facebook is a great adjunct to the virtual office, a much-needed outlet for social beings and – if used prudently – an efficient way to share with the group on your own time and outside of work time.

Of course, what’s really cool about Facebook is the look on your teenager’s face when they realize you have your own page. HA!

Journalism has changed a bunch since those days, with mixed results. I consume more and more news via Twitter, scanning headlines of publications that I follow and seeing what filters in thru friends and colleagues. I check Facebook every day or two (okay, more than that), to see what people are talking about and what they view as informative or shocking enuf to post. And, I pursue the news I want to find – meaning I search on a story and pick the source I prefer.

The proliferation of bandwidth wired and not, has irrigated a bumper crop of communications channels. Sponsors cater news to the biases of like-minded audiences and we sit under a deluge of information. Is this good? I don’t really know, but I love it. It’s great to be able to consume what information you want, when you want it. For example watching the presidential debates over again via the Internet. Certainly, it allows an inquiring mind to indulge in endless points of view — from one’s desk, saddle or campsite.

This is a blog about journalism, communicating news, consuming information.