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What, exactly, is a news nugget, and what's in it?

Dave Winer suggests a nugget-of-news is 185 characters, on average. I was skeptical: He came to this number by taking the average New York Times Headline + Summary Description. That's not a news nugget: That's a news pointer.

In programming, a pointer is a reference that tells you where to look for the data, and what kind of data to expect. Kind of like the shortcuts you have on your desktop: They're not the actual documents, web pages or applications you use, but they tell you what you're going to get and take you to it.

Headlines and descriptions aren't the news: They tell you what the news will be, but the news itself is the facts, quotations and new information that make up the article. And while you'll see a lot of headline pointers being passed around on Twitter, any "social media expert" who salivates over Bit.ly statistics will tell you that including these facts, rather than just the headline, will boost interest.

I've been tempted lately to start a Tumblr called "Things I Hate But I Love." For one, it's the perfect Tumblr name, in an Emily Gould sort of way, but also it's something I've been experiencing rather frequently.

See:

• Overly complicated Starbucks drinks
• Pabst Blue Ribbon beer filling my fridge
• Entourage, though that's technically something I loved but now hate and still watch

The latest thing I'd tumble if given the chance is a podcast. I hate podcasts, and know few people who actively seek them out. They're damned inconvenient without an iPod+iTunes, and I find I end up just typing whatever the Podcast host is saying if I try listening to them at work.

But I needed something more productive to listen to than the Black Eyed Pees while running and commuting, and I decided to give Reboot the News a go. I had low expectations judging from the weekly podcast notes, but as I'm going through old episodes, each one has at least a gem that makes the 45-minute listen worth it.

The latest that has me thinking? Focusing on the "user of news," which I feel adds a bit of needed utilitarianism to our lofty profession. Hear that episode for yourself here:

Each week (except weeks they take off) Dave Winer, an RSS pioneer and all-around excellent geek blogger, and Jay Rosen, NYU journalism professor and Twitter gadfly, kick around on re-inventing journalism, and I highly suggest you listen in if that sounds up your alley.

Anyways, I don't have that Tumblr account, so I'll leave this meme be ... for now.

Further Reading:

• Reboot the News homepage, with archived episodes on the right side
• Things That I Ate that I Love, by Emily Gould
• Dave Winer and Jay Rosen on Twitter