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As newsgathering continues to evolve, new ways of keeping track of current events are developing. Dave Winer joins Phil and Scott to discuss how Twitter and other social networking tools are changing the way that people read and react to the news. He talks about how he followed prior major news stories and why he now has started using social networking tools as a better way.

He then discusses his work with Twitter stats and reviews what can be learned from how Twitter works. He also reviews the possible future of these tools and assesses some of the ways that information is compiled and distributed and what might be different as time goes on.

Re Barger's list playing a central role in the origins of blogging, not sure I accept that the most important thing was a list of blogs, or even a network of them. People who think the task of blogging is to pull people together miss, imho, the important thing about blogging -- that it separates people and gives each individual a place to express themselves, not subject to veto. In that way it is different from a mail list. Blogs emphasize the individual over the group.

The argument continues to this day. People who say Twitter is a conversational medium would agree with those who say Barger was the founder. I see Twitter as a publishing environment, a place to push links, a notification system. Oddly, I think Barger with his linkblog approach (which was the same as the early Scripting News or the News Page of the 24 Hours project) would agree.