[Jeremiah Owyang and Robert Scoble admiring huge SJ Mercury News' Page 1 story and picture of Robert and son Patrick, who got to Apple Store at 3 am to be first in line for iPhone. Photo by Shel.]
By now, you probably know that Scoble and his son Patrick were he first in line to get the iPhone at the Apple Store in Palo Alto. despite the fact that a guy named Steve Jobs showed up on the scene, media attention centered on Robert and Patrick.They were ubiquitous.
I thought it was cool that Ustream, a company I represent, had video online before Podtech, a company where Scoble works. It was a little later that I discover NPR a traditional broadcaster had scooped them both.
In fact, of all the things Robert has done, no single incident has stirred as much traditional media attention as being the first Apple hometown denizen to actually buy this new elegant device. Co-authoring naked Conversations didn't come close, nor did leaving Microsoft or joining Podtech. Nothing like being the first in line and having a highly quotable kid with you.
But what surprised me just a little is the excitement traditional media generates. In the course of the day, a half dozen of my friends contacted me to tell me that Scoble's picture was in one paper or on TV or somewhere. My mother in law, eying the Mercury story at a barbecue yesterday in Robert's backyard wanted to know why I hadn't gone down there so that I could have had my picture in the paper.
For those of us who are champions of Citizen Journalism, and new media. For those of us who talk so easily and freely about the death of the Metropolitan newspaper in most US cities, there is some cause to pause. There is something about getting your picture in the aper and your face on the traditional tube that still electrifies us all.
