Media Beat

Today, Google is a tech giant seeing remarkable success with its latest attempt at social networking, Google+. Back in 1999, Google was a startup company with assorted successes and failures in its future.

In Part I of this week’s Media Beat interview, Doug Edwards, Google’s first director of consumer marketing and brand management and author of the book I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 talks with us about what it was like working at Google during those early days. Though the company has gone on to an incredible number of wins, there have been a few losses along the way, including Google’s first stab at social networking, Orkut.

“I think Google looks at failure like a data point,” Edwards says. “It’s a learning opportunity.”

You can also watch all of mediabistro.com’s Media Beat episodes (as well as mediabistro.com’s other video content) on mediabistroTV and on mediabistro.com’s YouTube channel.

Adweek editor Michael Wolff was in the mediabistro studios this morning for a Media Beat shoot when he was asked about the “Zynga/Zenga” error that turned up on the cover of the relaunched mag. Our Donya Blaze has posted the transcript of the conversation that followed on Fishbowl NY, but the gist is he’s got nothing to say about it.

New York Media, home to New York magazine, has launched the Vulture Network. With Vulture.com as its hub, the network will provide content from other entertainment blogs such as Brokelyn, Art Critical, and Seat 42F. According to the press release, the new blogs will add 2.5 million unique visitors to Vulture.com’s 3 million visitors. Add these blogs to your media lists.

Vulture.com also recently launched the Anticipation Index.

The Washington Post starts off this week with a new look and a new emphasis on reader comments, according to the press release.

The look of it is part New York Times, part Wall Street Journal. That aside, it’s a nice improvement. And there’s a new “Lifestyle” section and other arts and culture coverage, a new multimedia section, and other enhancements.

For the comments, reporters writing everything from the articles to the blog posts will spotlight chosen commenters, inviting them to participate in forums with other commenters and WaPo writers. And there’s a new blog, @Innovations, which is also an attempt at increased engagement with readers.

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Chicago was the second U.S. city to get a Time Out magazine. To keep up with all the cultural happenings, Time Out Chicago is open to all sorts of pitches and encourages building long-lasting relationships.

“Give us a good Chicago hook up front along with details like time, location and a brief summary high up in the pitch,” EIC Frank Sennett tells mediabistro in the latest “How to Pitch for PR” feature. “That’s not really necessary with film, TV or music celebs, but it doesn’t hurt.”

The magazine publishes 51 times per year, reaching a circulation of 53,500. For more details and contact info, click here. (sub req’d)

According to Fast Company, Vivian Schiller‘s resignation (or ouster, depending on who you ask) as CEO of NPR yesterday may have interrupted a social media campaign that the organization was planning.

FC says NPR had gathered up to 800 local stations for the Facebook campaign, which was to build upon the “170 Million Americans for Public Broadcasting” effort that was started to bring attention to the government funding issues that public broadcasting faces. The story says that the scandal could bring additional attention to the issue.

“Social media, especially a trending topic, would be powerful right now, as Facebook and Twitter are major traffic-drivers–traffic that could point to donations and action requests,” the story rightly points out.

Wayne’s World has been making the cable rounds recently. At one point in the movie Wayne is forced to interview a major advertiser on his show. Wayne was happy to do it….NOT!

This morning, I see an Ad Age article that seems eerily familiar to that very subplot. MSNBC’s Morning Joe,which has quite the lucrative sponsorhsip deal with Starbucks, had the company’s CEO Howard Schultz on for seven minutes to talk about the coffee giant’s 40th anniversary. In TV terms, seven minutes is a lifetime. There were bags of brew on set and honestly, I was surprised they didn’t do the shoot “on location” at a Starbucks near 30 Rock to have Mika’s favorite barista in the background brewing a macchiato for her.

This is unethical. And as many of you know, I ain’t the first person to bring this up. But Ad Age vacillated with the issue in its article.

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News broke this morning that NPR president and CEO Vivian Schiller resigned after the former SVP of fundraising for the organization Ron Schiller (no relation) was caught on tape making disparaging remarks about the Tea Party and raising questions about whether NPR needs federal funding.

An abrupt CEO resignation always poses big comms questions for an organization, with the biggest being: Does the organization have a succession plan in place? (NPR does. The group’s statement after the jump.) In these situations, stakeholders wonder whether the organization will crumble because of a leadership vacuum. Organizations – and their new leaders – need to reassure them quickly.

But in this case, NPR has the equally huge problems of both scandal and opposition.

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Don Johnson aka 'Sonny Crockett'

For years we have watched TV wanting what Sonny Crockett wore or that jogging suit on Wisteria Lane. We did “The Rachel” and the Brandon Walsh.

But what if you could pause your DVR, click on that item of clothing Eva Longoria is wearing, and buy it. We’ve been dying to dress like our favorite TV stars for years. Glamour and iPad have taken the first step to do just that.

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Al Jazeera has introduced a Twitter dashboard to chart the news and tweets about the revolts in Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Bahrain. Mashable says the news organization is a little late to this game, but more importantly, it’s one more way that Al Jazeera is taking the lead in covering these uprisings.

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