A study by the Local Search Association found that smartphones are increasingly the way people are accessing local information on the Web — along with other “connected devices” such as tablets, portable game consoles and e-readers. More than a third of US smartphone users also own a connected device other than their phone.

In December 2012, nearly one in two (48%) mobile users accessed local content, up from 42% in December 2011. The figure will continue to rise with the greater adoption of smartphones: 77% of smartphone users accessed local content, compared to just 14% of non-smartphone users.

It’s worth keeping these statistics in mind when developing a digital-first strategy for newsrooms.

Back with more video grammar for multimedia journalists.

To date we’ve talked shooting technique and how to shoot video like a pro. Indeed, it’s all about aesthetics and enhancing storytelling! Which segues into today’s installment.

I found Nicole Martinelli’s great post on IJNet International Journalists’ Network site recently. Graduate School of Journalism students at University of California Berkeley road tested mobile multimedia apps for journalists and she shared their picks.

Besides road testing apps and support gear students Casey Capachi, Evan Wagstaff, Matt Sarnecki and instructors Richard Koci Hernandez and Jeremy Rue also put out a MobileGuide for shooting video and recording audio on your iPhone. (Though good shooting and recording technique applies to any smartphone!)

It’s a great resource for journalists.

My favorite video support gadget by far is Joby’s line of small, lightweight, portable GorillaPod mini tripods. These tiny, flexible, highly versatile beauties allow you to mount a small video camera, DSLR or smartphone to just about anything. And I have! GorillaPods allow you to mount your camera on table tops, pipes, park benches, car side mirrors.

And they’re small enough when collapsed to fit in a purse, briefcase or small gig bag. Now, rock solid camera support is always with you in the field – even for your phone.

Here’s a secret from a video pro: steady camera = steady video = professional video. Period. But that doesn’t mean you have to lug around a big honk’n video tripod. Hey Joby, I shrunk the tripod!

No excuses. What are you waiting for? Just shoot.

NEXT TIME: I shot video, now what? A guide to video editing software and techniques.

Tim McCarty is a consultant, educator and Emmy award-winning Video Pro. A Professional Instructor and TV Advisor in the Journalism & Digital Media department at Ashland University, his department blogs at: http://ashlandmedia.blogspot.com/

These days, when we need ready answers to pressing questions, faster certainly is better. And in our mobile-media world, faster is also essential.

That’s why the question-and-answer website Quora may have added horsepower to the information race with the introduction this week of Online Now, a feature that puts likely experts and admitted novices together with just a click.

Online Now appears as a gray note by the names of frequent knowledge contributors who are online at that moment, allowing the inquisitive to post pressing questions by clicking a blue “Free to Ask” button that moves those questions higher in priority than general queries.

Details of the exchange appear only in Quora’s Ask to Answer section, which constitutes a list of contributors the site believes is best suited to answer particular questions. The Online Now feature can be tweaked to indicate who is the answerer or questioner, or can be turned off, in the user settings.

“This is especially fun if you are in the mood to answer certain topics,” explained Joel Lewenstein, a designer at Quora, in a blog post on the subject. “Maybe you saw a movie or a sporting event, fell in love with a new restaurant, or just finished a book. When you feel like answering questions about a specific topic that you know, Online Now will send people your way.”

Demand for faster responses on Quora has grown since the site released mobile app versions starting last year with the iPhone, said Marc Bodnick, a member of Quora’s business team, in an interview with PCMag.com. He says mobile use makes up about 25 percent of all Quora traffic.

David Sheets is a freelance editor, Region 7 director, and past-president of SPJ’s St. Louis Pro chapter. Reach him by e-mail at dksheets@gmail.com, on Twitter at @DKSheets, on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Yes, this idea had to happen sooner or later: Two incredibly popular social tools have merged.

Pinstagram shares the same basic layout design as Pinterest.

And just last week, the merger occurred out of humor. It’s called Pinstagram, an amalgamation of Pinterest and Instagram employing the former’s downward-streaming interface design as a display setting for the latter’s broad public appeal of kitchy imagery techniques.

Ideally, Pinstagram provides a desktop environment for a mobile application that didn’t have one of its own, explained co-creator Pek Pongpaet in a Wired interview. This way, Instagram lovers now can view entire portfolio themes and concepts in a Web page-size environment distinct from Instagram lovers’ blog sites.

Not that this deeper realization originally factored into Pinstagram’s creation. Pongpaet revealed in Wired that he and business partner Brandon Leonardo concocted it as a joke — playing off the Pinterest and Instagram names — but saw value in the idea after mulling it awhile longer.

Because it’s so new, Pinstagram has only a few thousand image shares and even fewer members, but the registration rate has been prodigious. And Pinstagram possesses many of the same traits that make Pinterest a convenient and creative platform for photojournalists, educators and job hunters.

A version for iPad is said to be in the works.

David Sheets is a sports content editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and STLtoday.com, and president of SPJ’s St. Louis Pro chapter. Reach him by e-mail at dsheets@post-dispatch.com, on Twitter at @DKSheets, or on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Came across this post, “Banjo CEO: Location Is Key for Social Apps” from Street Fight today, one of my daily must-read sites that covers the hyperlocal news and media space.

I’m interested in the growth (and coming explosion) of what’s already being called “SoLoMo” — the technology-driven intersection of Social, Local and Mobile media. That could include news or advertising, or innovative ways to get daily deals (your mobile buzzes with a text message when you approach a pizza place that is putting slices on sale for $.25 each!) to easy ways to find the closest hardware store when you’re in a neighborhood you don’t know very well.

SoLoMo is all about content and interactions that are keyed to your location, via the GPS in your mobile phone or device. At its most basic, SoLoMo is when you check in to a restaurant on Foursquare or Facebook.

Why is it important for journalists to know about SoLoMo?

Because it’ll be a big part of the future of media, including news media. The Street Fight interview with the founder and CEO of Banjo, one of the hottest new location-based mobile social apps (I guess that would be LoMoSo…), asks the question of how Banjo and SoLoMo applies to journalism:

The news is already starting to use Banjo. A couple of weekends ago I had CNN on, on a Saturday, and one of the reporters was using Banjo to report on the Trayvon Martin case in Florida. He said with Banjo he could go there and he could actually search by the keyword “Trayvon” and he knew every person that was showing up, whether it was Twitter or Instagram or whatever the case may be, was talking about Trayvon and was actually in Sanford, Florida, and was therefore highly relevant.

Another news channel was using it to report on the weather where there were tornados. They couldn’t get to the affected area right away, but they could go there with Banjo.

Download Banjo on your phone and check it out, willya? It’s available for iPhone and Android. Try it, and if you don’t find a use for it, delete it. At least you know about it and how it works, and won’t be out of the loop as it becomes more and more popular.

It’ll be increasingly important as we embrace the digital-first imperative that some companies are espousing, to stay on top of new developments and cool new apps and tools that can help us be better journalists. Even if you choose not to use some of these new tools, it’ll help your career to be familiar with them.

The SPJ’s Digital Media Committee will help you keep up with the ever-evolving media technology, both here on the Net Worked blog and in the Quill column.

Stay tuned…

We live in awe of technology, demonstrated with each remarkable advance over the generations. From the cotton gin to the computer, the tools we contrive to enrich our lives have affected how we behave as well as how we work.

Then the awe fades and we begin behaving badly, treating our tools as toys, or worse, as trash. That’s because once the bloom is off our newest gadgets, we slip into boredom and let bad habits sprout. We allow gadgetry to supplant or interfere with things it shouldn’t, such as responsible behavior, and then we have the nerve to be disappointed with the results. Pretty soon, we’re itching for another innovation to come along and make us feel better about our ourselves and our devices when the one thing that really needs to change is … us.

So, start making that change now by:

Improving your passwords — For a couple of decades, technologists have implored us to use passwords that are roundly more complex than our pets’ names, or our maiden names, or our nicknames, or — for God’s sake — the word “password.” Yet we are well into the 21st century and still making bad choices when pretending to protect what little security we have left. Get creative with passwords now, before someone gets creative with your personal information soon.

Standing, or taking a walks — Among the latest in fear-provoking research is a study out of Australia that says too much sitting can shorten your lifespan by 40 percent. And why not? The research material abounds: we’re in cars, at workstations or in front of the TV much longer than we’re on our feet. Other studies show that inactivity leads to weight gain and potentially fatal blood clots. Do more strolling, less trolling, and add years to your life in the process.

Changing chairs — When we sit, we don’t do that properly, either. Part of the blame lies with our poor posture, another part lies in the one-size-fits-all workstations employers impose on staffs. Work can be stressful enough; why compound it with sorry seating? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) offers suggestions for improving workplace comfort. Study these to create the optimum working environment at home, and make suggestions to your employer’s human resources department about replicating that environment at the office.

Taking better care of your equipment — Face it, computers and tablets are not appliances; they require somewhat more care and attention than the average bagel toaster. That includes:

• System updates, to improve performance and security. Do these at least once a week.
• Software backups, to prevent loss of critical data. Do this daily.
• Battery optimization, to improve power-source performance. This involves running batteries all the way down, after their first use, before charging them all the way up again.
• Cleaning and dusting, to reduce strain on components. Even solid-state devices such as cell phones require regular cleaning to prevent dust and grit from damaging their connectors, and to prevent germs from causing you grief.

Putting it all away — There are numerous optimum places to use gadgetry. Your car and your bed are not among them. For the sake of safety, avoid texting or talking on the phone while driving. And for the sake of sanity, set the phone or the tablet on the nightstand and leave them there. No amount of technology compensates for lack of sleep.

David Sheets is a sports content editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and STLtoday.com, and president of SPJ’s St. Louis Pro chapter. Reach him by e-mail at dsheets@post-dispatch.com, on Twitter at @DKSheets, or on Facebook and LinkedIn.

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism surveyed over 3000 U.S. adults about their mobile device habits, and found that almost a quarter get news on at least two devices. Paper might be fading into history, but the digital pitcure’s getting brighter.

Now’s the time to embrace the evolution….

Media companies have been bemoaning the “original sin” of giving away content for free on websites in the early days of the Internet, starting in the early and mid-1990s, and blaming that decision for training consumers to seek out news for free instead of paying for content.

Now a Nielsen  study suggests that need for free news may already be affecting the future of paid news apps on tablets such as the iPad.

Users are willing to pay for movies and books on their tablets, the study suggests, but not so much for news. It’s true that most news apps are still free, setting up the same dynamic of the early Web.

I don’t think the study should cause us to give up the ghost for paid news content, although personally, I wonder if the proliferation of paywalls going up on newspaper sites across the country is a sustainable business model. Europe, for instance, seems to be OK with paying for their news on tablets and mobile devices. And, if charging for online content is the future, it won’t hit the tipping point until really, every site (or almost every site) is charging. I think that’s when consumers will accept the reality, and  understand that not paying for news has been the aberration.

We’ll have to wait and see….

NOTE: I’m Gil Asakawa, the chair of the SPJ’s Digital Media Committee. I’m currently the advsier for the University of Colorado’s student-run news website, the CU Independent.  In the past, I‘ve been a music critic, entertainment editor, and editorial chief for a bevy of online news sites. I’ve also worked at the corporate digital strategy level  for Advance Internet and MediaNews Group.  I’ll start to post short bits about online news on this blog as posints of discussion. I welcome other input from my fellow DigiCom members, and would love to have YOU, the SPJ membership, comment on these posts. I’ll also post longer pieces here, along with other members of the Digital Media Committee, and we’ll continue to publish a regular column in each issue of the Quill.

Just about everywhere these days, chances are good you’ll see walkers, talkers and (unfortunately) drivers with their faces tilted toward their smart phones as they text and tweet their every move. A byproduct of our digital lives has been an urge to let the world know where we are every moment, whether the world is interested or not.

This is a bane to the digitally uninterested but a boon to everyone else, particularly journalists, who are in the business of finding and talking to people. And topping the list of socially invasive tools with serious people-tracking capabilities is Foursquare, the 3-year-old location-based social networking site for mobile devices that now claims well over 15 million registered users worldwide.

Foursquare utilizes a mobile device’s global-positioning hardware to report where members are at a given moment when they “check in” at venues listed in the application database. The member can acquire “friends,” leave “tips” or advice about each location and post photos. Frequent visits earn travel points and the possibility of becoming “mayor” of that location. Furthermore, Foursquare awards “badges” for patterns of behavior, whether it’s visiting several coffee shops, seeing lots of movies or participating in product promotions.

The useful aspect for journalists is the digital trail Foursquare leaves; they can monitor member movements if they are “friended” by those members. In following this trail, it’s possible to track:

Frequent visitors — Foursquare lists real-time data on location, the current mayor, the latest tips posted by visitors, and the Foursquare identities of frequent visitors. Journalists can sift those lists for potential interview subjects if, say, it’s important to find interview subjects who are knowledgeable about particular locations or the clientele who visit them.

Personal behavior — When members check in at a location, all their friends can see where they are at that moment. Foursquare also displays lists of member badges, mayorships, tips, favorites and approximate arrival time at the last check in. Accumulated points hint at how often members are out and about, so it’s possible to guess an individual’s travel habits.

Trends — Besides seeing where people go, Foursquare shows how many other members are at a location. By clicking “Explore,” and then “Trending,” Foursquare shows potential social hotspots by listing all current check-ins, not just those by members’ friends. Want to find the most popular restaurant, the busiest nightclubs, the best concerts or surprisingly heavy traffic? Just watch where the Foursquare crowd is going.

Location information — Foursquare tips provide reasonably good detail from members about what’s going on at each location, whether it’s bad service at a restaurant or gridlock on the interstate. And Foursquare compiles the tips it receives, helping indicate whether a pattern of activity or potential news is breaking.

Foursquare isn’t the only geo-tracking social medium available, just among the most popular. Other tools worth trying are Gowalla, Loopt, Where, Yelp and, of course, Facebook, which added location-tagging about a year ago.

David Sheets is a sports content editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and STLtoday.com, and president of SPJ’s St. Louis Pro chapter. Reach him by e-mail at dsheets@post-dispatch.com, on Twitter at @DKSheets, or on Facebook and LinkedIn.

As we near the SPJ convention in New Orleans; it’s a good time to remind you of all the digital media tools we have written about in the past year.   Just in case you’ve missed some of our past blogs, here is a list of topics we’ve covered.  

How to use Facebook in Journalism

Making Maps with UMappter 

Social media marketing tools for journalists

Getting started with quick, easy data visualization

Data Visualization and Infographic Sites to Bookmark

Build your website for free

Tablet or laptop? For some of us, the choice is obvious

Streamling your social media posting

Quora tries to answer all your questions

How to participate in a Twitter chat

Using Windows Movie Maker to edit audio clips

Google Charts Part 2 of 2: Motion charts

CuePrompter: No more memorizing scripts for your video blog

Digital media skills every young journalist needs 

Tools that help you get more from Twitter

Rebecca Aguilar is an Emmy award winning freelance reporter in Dallas, TX. She is the vice chairman of the SPJ Digital Media Committee, and a board member with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Fort Worth Chapter of SPJ.  She has 30 years of experience: television news, online news and video producing.  She can be contacted at aguilar.thereporter@yahoo.com