If Bob Woodward is a journalism god, then the Associated Press (AP) is the Bible.
As the most trusted source of independent news and information in the world, the AP is a major component for professional and accurate news coverage in the journalism community.
From the AP mobile app, to the AP Stylebook, the Associated Press provides a number of ways in which journalists can learn the “tricks of the trade,” and its vast network of affiliated newsprint organizations ensures that there is accurate and widespread coverage of every imaginable story.
Over the weekend, in a random and bizarre occurrence, a technology writer for the Associated Press interviewed me about the death of my favorite social media app, Vine.
I’m still asking myself, as probably you are, how in the world I managed to be interviewed by THE Associated Press and why was I chosen to talk about Vine.
Now that I’m reflecting on how this all went down, I realize it was just a case of very, very good timing.
On Thursday afternoon I jumped on Twitter after I finished my organic chemistry lab to see a message retweeted from the Associated Press Twitter account.
The original tweet was from one of the Associated Press technology writers, Barbara Ortutay, asking for any Vine users mad, sad or just downright heartbroken about the news of Vine’s death.
Earlier that day, Twitter announced that it would be doing away with the app do to its corporate-wide cuts and changes.
As an avid Vine user and lover of the app, I was undoubtedly heartbroken about the news.
Vine was my favorite app for pointless late-night scrolling and mindless laughter. It was the perfect mix of quirky, odd, fun and short timing for my simple sense of humor. It was something I looked forward to every night. And now it was gone.
So when I saw the tweet asking for upset users I figured, “What do I have to lose?”
I couldn’t imagine that there were any Vine users out there as infuriated and saddened as I, so I contacted the writer via email as soon as I could.
Less than a half-hour later I was engaged in a phone interview with an actual writer from the actual Associated Press. Over Vine. What?
After the interview I told everyone I knew what had happened to me and to my naïve surprise, not many people, my age at least, knew what the Associated Press even was.
They had no idea that I would have a small, one-line quote in a story that would be shared by the Seattle Times, Yahoo.com and various other news organizations across the nation.
My claim to fame may have been lost on my generation, but it still made my family laugh and I now have a half- decent interesting fact for awkward ice breaker activities.
A day or two after the story was published and all the hype from the article had died down I sadly realized that although I had turned to the press in a mad fury, Vine was still going to be dead in a matter of months. But hey, at least I tried.