WEEK 5 -- Facebook gets its Foursquare on with Places

"Facebook gets its Foursquare on with Places" tells that Facebook lunches a new feature called 'Facebook Places' on Augst 19, 2010. This new service allows users to find coupons, earn quirky merit badges or simply tell their friends where they are.

The story has 182 words in total, with a clear leading and good following of the "five W and one H rule".

The story may have a big impact as Facebook is the world's largest social networking site, a large number of people are its members, many people will affected by this new services, because it is a worldwild website, it is also proximity to most Australians. It is currency as well, many users may get benefit from the service, while others may have privacy concerns. Facebook is a part of people's everyday life nowadays, especially for young people; so in most cases, people who are concerned about this news (i.e. young people) are most likely to talk about the news.

The news does not include any quotes, neither direct quotes nor indirect quotes. However, the story presents both positive and negative impacts for the Facebook users in regarding to the new service. Besides that, the negative impact has illustrated by a video and an image. The video is a TV news from Sky News, which draws the privacy concerns of Facebook and other social networking sites. The image then is just the slogan of Facebook. The video from Sky News here, helps to give reader a broader experience from different media.

As to the format, it is similar with the articles from Week 3 and Week 4 -- explains the major story first, then comes up with the news' impact.

WEEK 4 -- iPhone users have more lovers, says dating site

"iPhone users have more lovers, says dating site" tells a story that iPhone owners have sex with more people when campares to other smartphone users.

The story has 313 words in total, with the first 137 words describes the major story, and the interview results for the rest. The story is not too long, especially it is written by the inverted pyramid, so that the audience can get the point at the very beginning; they can close the news whenever they get boring.

Helen & Andrew, two authors of this news, have interviewed two Sydney people that are both aged in 25 -- one is iPhone owner while the other is BlackBerry owner. The two interviews give audiences a broad view of two sides. It shows the voices by using six direct quotes and one indirect quote, which helps to give the most real thoughts of the interviewees.

The story has a big picture of iPhone 4 on the right top corner which helps to make the news not too bored. The story also uses the simplest words to described the analysis findings, then give a hyperlink that links to the finding's original website. For those audiences who are inteseted in that, they can check the details, the bar shart and the cuve chart by clicking on the link. This is a good use of the benefit of online news. The hyperlink gives audiences a richer experience while it also helps to keep the article short and terse.

The news may not have a huge impact on the social, nevertheless, it is proximity and currency, and even oddity to some extent, because most people won't have thought about the relationship between their mobiles and sexually activities. However, the news does not mention why there is a relationship in this respect.

WEEK 3 -- Apple and Amazon probed over e-book prices

"Apple and Amazon probed over e-book prices" tells that both Apple and Amazon has reached agreements with the major book publishers to not to offer discounts to their competitors. This means e-book prices are fixed and consumers are robbed of choice.
The news has 177 words in total, divided by eight paragraphs with only one sentence in each paragraph. The short report allows the audience to having patient to read the entire story, while the short paragraph helps to making the idea clear.

The story is newsworthy as Apple and Amazon are two leading digital retailers that have large markets all over the world; meanwhile, e-book (see video of Amazon Kindle) is becoming more and more popular nowadays, and the mainly concerns for most consumers are the price issue and having a broader choice. As a result, the story has a large impact on its audience, especially among young people, who are also the largest readership group of online news.

The news has a clearly leading paragraph. However, the story does not follow the 'five W and one H rule' very well. It does not answer when did the agreements take place and how did it happen.

The format is fine. It tells the major story at the top, finishing with the impact on consumer. The paragraph transition is smooth and logical.

It has three direct quotes and one indirect quote, which gives audiences more voices of the interviewee -- Connecticut Attorney-General Richard Blumenthal. This also helps to make the report more reliable.

The story uses a picture of 'Sydney IT consultant Jodie Miners with her Amazon Kindle e-book reader' on the right top of the news, giving an idea of what Amazon Kindle looks like. However, as a online news, it will be better to use a video and/or hyperlinks to the Amazon website instead of a simple picture.
 
Additional reading:
Same story but in business angle: E-book prices under scrutiny as US state launches antitrust probe