Follow #aanweb on Twitter to see the conference chatter.

My job there is to explain to these general-audience, primarily local and print-centrist venues, why a native smartphone/tablet app should be the LAST part of their mobile strategy.

My main points…

1. News orgs need to start building large mobile audience & brand strategy right now! And right now, 70% of US mobile users are on feature phones, not smartphones. They need to be engaged NOW, to build brand loyalty. Otherwise it’s 1995 all over again.

2. Do your own local mobile market research. I did, in Oakland. Eye-opener. Even though (as Paul Wagner of Forkfly noted in his part of today’s panel) mobile market research info can get outdated in a few months in terms of the specific devices people use, I do believe that conducting an annual local mobile market research survey will give you a general idea of how much of your local mobile audience tends to not be using the latest or priciest technology — as well as what kinds of things they like to do on their phones. This is valuable for strategic planning.

3. Best place to start: a lean mobile-friendly web site is the cornerstone of your mobile strategy. Default to it through auto-detection, and route common smartphone platforms to your full site.

4. Offer text alert and e-mail services that include direct links to specific relevant pages, not just your home page.

5. Consider social media and e-mail as key supporting parts of your mobile strategy.

6. Link tracking. Run all links you publish VIA text, social media, or e-mail through Bit.ly or a custom link shortener to track sharing, because sharing is what people love to do on their phones.

7. Let them talk back on the go. Set up ways so people can easily text, e-mail, MMS, or contact your news org VIA social media. Also consider Evoca for accepting/managing comments by voice calls.

8. No shovelware apps! When you’re ready for apps, don’t just repackage your stories Think services, interaction, databases, sharing. Also, consider web apps before native apps. Apps can be special-purpose, like for  for special features, like you annual “best of” voting & features, or events calendar. Web apps don’t necessarily need HTM5: See Apps.USA.gov for examples. You can do feature phone apps, too.

9. Consider print in your mobile strategy — use QR codes or text messaging with auto response (based on alphanumeric codes printed with stories or features) as ways to engage your mobile audience starting from how they already interact with you.

10. Have fun! After all that, experiment with augmented reality, brain implants, other cool stuff. Try lots of small experiments before making big commitments. You don’t have to do everything, but you should try everything.

That’s it! (And yes, I did write this whole post on my Droid Incredible while taking transit from Oakland to SF. Updated it later on to add links and formatting, which isn’t really easy on WordPress Mobile.)

http://plancast.com/p/3m17?awesm=planca.st_N93&utm_campaign=22362&utm_content=plancast-attendance&utm_medium=planca.st-twitter&utm_source=direct-planca.st

And here’s what the top of the story looks like. Awwww…. I get to be “Special” Cool!

…I’m really excited about this gig.

What newsy/trendy/important mobile topics do you think I should cover here? Remember, this site is for a general audience, not for media- or techno-geeks. Please comment below.

Fisher wrote:

“The fact that close to 10,000 people viewed [Gawker's summary of Shapira's article] instead of reading [the original] 1,500-word tome [on WashingtonPost.com] ought to raise the question of why the WaPo doesn’t have its own Gawker-type site excerpting its material. Maybe consumers are telling us something — namely that a lot of them don’t want to read a river of text on something like Shapira’s story on a millennial generation consultant because they have other things to do with their lives. Gawker et al. wouldn’t survive if they didn’t meet a need.”

I think Fisher makes a good point. While many journos are profoundly attached to long-form stories delivered in a traditionally detached, serious tone, that just doesn’t work well for how more and more people actually consume media and news.

This may not be the kind of world that professional journalists would prefer, but it’s the one we have.

So why not offer both approaches on a news site?…

Rather than wait for (or actively solicit) popular venues such as Gawker or The Daily Show to imbue labor-intensive in-depth reporting with mass appeal, news organizations could instead present their own briefer, more lighthearted takes on longer stories — and increase the chances of driving traffic and engagement to the original stories.

In his Aug. 3 response to Shapira’s lament, Gawker’s Gabriel Snider bluntly explained why offering more effective news teasers and summaries is necessary:

“Shapira is right. Blogs are killing newspapers. But it’s not by mindlessly cutting and pasting from newspaper web sites. Gawker would go out of business if that’s all we did. The bigger threat is that blogs say the things that hidebound newspaper editors are too afraid to let their reporters write.

“Rereading Shapira’s nearly 1,600-word piece (Hamilton’s post runs just over 400), the closest I can come to anything resembling a point of view is a tangled mass of clauses that takes Loehr and her consultant pablum at face value…”

The bottom line is that long-form journalism doesn’t really stand well on it’s own anymore. There is too much competition for attention. People need a good lead-in that is both rewarding on its own terms and demonstrates why the long version is worth reading. Wringing your hands over what kind of news you think people should want won’t change that.

Fortunately, not always taking your news so very seriously does not inherently devalue or undermine a news organization’s work or mission. Done well, it’s just a different kind of packaging.

(NOTE: This is an expanded version of an article I originally published in Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits on Aug. 6. Thanks to Simons Owens for highlighting Gawker’s claim that WaPo publicists routinely attempt to attract Gawker’s attention.)

Earlier this morning, Twitter went down for a couple of hours. I must admit: Twitter-fiend that I am, I missed it. I slept in a bit, and didn’t get online right away when I did awake. Happens sometimes (rarely).

Once I did check in with Twitter, folks were abuzz about the outage — which Twitter founder Biz Stone wrote was due to a “single, massively coordinated denial of service attack.” Ouch.

Yes, folks, Twitter is vulnerable to attack. And technical failure. Or at some point it may just become unbearable or unusable. But many people (myself included) have come to rely on this service not just for communication, but for a sense of community and connection. What happens when you can’t tweet anymore?

I’ve got some ideas…

1. In all forms of communication, shit happens.

It’s important to have a backup system, and to not freak out when your primary channels go down. Because they WILL fail, at least occasionally. Ultimately, all communications are vulnerable. Twitter used to be notoriously outage-prone, on nearly a daily basis.

Let’s give Twitter some credit: I’m on Twitter a lot — and it seems far, far more reliable lately than it was a year or so ago. I think they should get credit for improving reliability.

But all communication systems fail. Especially where we depend on technology of any kind. Hell, when you get down to it, you can lose your voice or break your writing hand or have a stroke and be unable to communicate. We are fundamentally social creatures, and when we lack our usual communication channels it’s scary.

Don’t panic. Have a backup plan, and be prepared.

2. Distributed systems reduce vulnerability

Social media is addictive. It resonates with fundamental ways that human beings function, individually and in groups — far more than traditional print or broadcast media could ever achieve.

But its Achilles heel is that the people who have come to rely on social media are at the mercy of the companies that manage those services, and on the technical reliability/vulnerability of their networks. That’s different from being hooked on e-mail, instant messaging or even text messaging — which are not entirely owned or governed or technically supported as fiefdoms the way Twitter and Facebook are. They’re harder to shut down or kill. (Not impossible, just harder.)

This is why efforts like OpenSocial and OpenID are important. They provide a less centrally beholden way of saying “I’m me and these are my friends” that won’t necessarily leave you at the mercy of a few companies. At least, not as much as is currently the case with social media. These efforts are not necessarily the best or only answer, but they’re one approach to decreasing vulnerability based on who owns or runs a communication network.

3. Save your own copy of your own contacts.

If you’re really hooked on Twitter, it’s a good idea to save a list of who your followers are, and who you’re following. I’ve heard that MyTweeple.com is one way to export your follower lists. (I’m trying to use it today, but their login process isn’t working for me right now, but some people recommend it for exporting followers. I read this review, it looks good. Its login process works via Twitter, so probably better to try it when Twitter isn’t under so much stress.)

So if Twitter dies or becomes unbearable or unusable for any reason, if you have your follower/following lists, that provides the potential to support regrouping later through grassroots or third-party efforts. Kind of like those “I’m alive” message boards that sprang up after Katrina when folks in La. lacked access to their primary communication channels.

4. Consider Friendfeed as a backup.

Friendfeed allows you to integrate in one place the content you and your contacts create on various social media services. It’s one way to maintain an alternate contact list. If you use Friendfeed, you might want to periodically recommend that your Twitter followers also follow you on Friendfeed. (Here’s my Friendfeed account)

Yes, Friendfeed is another service that’s vulnerable to attack — but it seems more stable and robust (so far) than Twitter or Facebook, and it seems an easier place to try to replicate your Twitter posse than Facebook.

…Those are just a few ideas I have to decrease how personally vulnerable individual Twitter users are to the effects of Twitter outages. What are your ideas? Care to elaborate on or refute my ideas? Please comment below.

• WPtouch: WordPress On iPhone » BraveNewCode – "Complimentary theme installed as a plugin on your WordPress blog or website that will format your content with this Apple-inspired, full-featured theme when your visitors are using an iPhone or iPod touch."