Dating in the social media world.

Being inspired by my paper for this class and the discussion in class of being FACEBOOK OFFICIAL I found this a very "trendy" topic to talk about. I even updated my status the other day to "Writing a paper on dating on social media...seriously what has the world come to?". I was surprised about how much research was out there and blogs giving advice. The normal dating rules from pre Internet days have been changed. And the funny thing is we never master those either. One blog that I found interesting was created by a recently divorced mom giving 5 rules on dating. #1 Get Noticed #2Rule No. 2: Don’t come on too strong. #3Reciprocity: Is she/he just not that into you? #4 Easy there killer #5 keep your house (blog) Clean.

You can read the article to find out what each rule details you to do but she makes great points.

So many more people are now meeting via website, so we defiantly need to take notes on the do's and don't in this new game of dating.

War With Taliban, via Twitter!!

There is now a new type of war that US forces must engage in with the Taliban.  It has gone viral...literally, from tanks to tweets! The Taliban and there supporters were constantly flooding tweets with false information about the progress they were making. To put an end to this, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings said, "Some of it was so wrong we finally had to start engaging, and backing up our information with the facts". Cummings finds it important to use twitter and other social media outlets in order to keep the young generation informed.  Targeting the younger generation and giving them the facts will help the future success of Afghanistan and hopefully eliminate the Taliban.  If interested in reading more about this article check out the security section at CNN.com.

The words out of my mouth were, "Duh, Facebook changed everything!"

I stumbled upon this infographic article and the title is "Is Facebook changing the entire college experience?" It gives specific data on professors on Facebook, and qualities of people most likely to succeed in college based on their activity on Facebook. I think that is one of the most interesting points it brings up because I consider myself on studious person (Dean's list for the past 3 semesters, always take over 15 hours, summer school and minimesters every year) and I do recognize that I comment more and am active on the site. Facebook has changed how we make friends and socialize in the real world. for example my freshman year I added a lot of the people in my dorm, all of whom I had just met, and got to know them much faster than I would have without facebook, and it created that relationship fast. I feel like I am even more connected to the people around me because I can see what is going on in their life.  You can make more friends, get more party invites, socialize online; all of these things are the college experience with a little boost from Facebook. Except for your mom being able to follow what you do.

YAMMER

Yammer is a new social media networking site that targets businesses and university students. The website opened in 2008 and already has over 3 million users. The site is similar to Facebook and Twitter however it is used for more consolidated purposes. Nearly 1700 of the 100,000 organizations that use yammer are educational institutions. Several noneducational organizations and businesses utilize this site as well. Over 80% of fortune 500 companies are active users of the social network.

Yammer is dedicated to being an internal social networking site much like Facebook began as. The site blocks users from joining networks that are not directly affiliated with their email. For example an @txstate.edu email can not connect with a University of Texas network. Very similarly a IMB email cannot connect with an Apple email.

Graduate students that have utilized this tool say that it is a great way to get instant feedback over homework questions or to instigate class discussions. Students have the ability to talk to their professors who are on yammer to get additional information about a topic discussed in class. Many professors have chosen to use this resource as a learning tool and have begun posting assignments on the website. Most undergraduate students claim that their classes are too large for this site to be useful however for smaller classes and group generated assignments this is a great resource for extra help.

Yammer has made it clear that they do not intend to open up their access much like Facebook and Twitter have. They are determined to set themselves apart from these other websites and function as a free private social network.

No longer is the "I forgot" excuse a valid thing to say.

Most users of facebook these days get on the site two or three times a day on average. Facebook reminds us when people have birthdays, special events and many other things that in the past people would forget about. Everyday facebook reminds us of which friends have birthdays or if someone has invited us to an event. Gone are the days when we had to remember these certain events. Most people get reminders or alerts on their phone and that includes birthdays. Just the other day someone asked me why I didn't tell them happy birthday and when I replied "I forgot" that person immediately asked how that could happen with facebook. I couldn't even say I didn't get on facebook that day because I had posted a status visible for anyone I am friends with to see. Some people might consider it a bad thing but why? Whats wrong with having constant reminders about what is going on with your friends and loved one's. Most people wouldn't even know what to do with out this and they might forget a special event or a birthday of someone close to them.

President Obama Adds Tumblr to His List of Social Profiles

President Barack Obama has added another social media site called Tumblr. He already has a Facebook and Twitter and gained a reputation as the social media President for using these sites. He had a lot of supports in the 2008 election due to using his Facebook and Twitter. The Barack Obama Tumblr is run by the 2012 election campaign staff and it is used to show a more approachable and human side. The Tumblr is used to focus on behind-the-scenes shots, grassroots supports, and submissions.

His Tumblr is going to gain many followers and submissions around the country and will be one to watch as his election nears. People are allowed to click on the donate button and send a few paragraphs about why there in for the 2012 election. Your also allowed to ask questions, tell jokes if there polite and upload pictures of t-shirts or signs. I think having a Tumblr will help with his election but it is not going to be a significant difference. Its a great way to get people on his side but a lot of people have already made up there minds on whether or not they will vote for him.

http://mashable.com/2011/10/24/president-obama-tumblr/

Social Media OVERKILL

This weekend I went to a national conference in Tulsa, OK for our school's programming board, SACA. Basically it was a conference for all the programming boards in the central region of the U.S. to gather and watch artists and performers that they may want to bring to their campuses. And there were also a few leadership sessions here and there.

WELL as soon as we got there, they kept pushing their different forms of social media on us to "help us be more involved with the behind the scenes stuff", mostly following them on twitter for conference updates. I for one was kind of annoyed by it. I'm not the biggest fan of twitter. Personally, theres just too#much@goingon#in a RT:sentence. <<< like that weird stuff. So anyways, I just went along with it because I could see how it MIGHT be useful. Well then it just kind of all exploded. Artists were going onstage and saying stuff that they saw on twitter and giving shout-outs about it and it was just annoying. Like okay okay, I get the internet is fun, but lets move on from it, theres just too much to keep up with! Oh and agents could tell when their artists were popular because of how many tweets they had. Okay, why can't you just determine that with how many contracts you actually sign?? #annoying.

Anywhos, well THEN at the closing banquet, they said that to find out the theme for next year's conference we would have to look at twitter. THAT really bugged me. When I'm sitting at a nice dinner, listening to awards being given and what not, the last thing I want to hear is "were not going to TELL you the biggest piece of news, were going to make you take out your phones and look for it!"

And that's where I had my realization, social media has officially taken over, but not necessarily in a good way. I remember when I used to go to conferences or retreats and using my phone was considered a bad thing. But now they're expecting us to replace REGULAR FACE TO FACE COMMUNICATION with social media usage over our mobile devices?! I mean I could see where its fun for a little bit, but I think its getting out of hand when it's predominately conversation through a website. And honestly, I don't mean to sound cliche or dramatic about it, but in a room full of over 500 people, I've never felt so alone because we were encouraged to use our phones more than our voices.

I NEVER thought I would feel this way about something that I thought was SO COOL. But I really think we need to tone it down and try to communicate with each other as humans again.

...OH! And guess what the theme of next year's conference is? SOCIAL MEDIA!!!!!!!

geez.

Mysterious Site Creates a Horror Movie, Starring You

In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, I thought I’d look for something mildly scary (for wussy people like me) and found this article on the New York Times Blog, Mysterious Site Creates a Horror Movie, Starring You.

This site works by mining Facebook information, willingly given by the owner of the account (or, as in my case, given with great reservation). In the name of research, I allowed ‘Take This Lollipop’ access to my Facebook account.

To quote the author of the article, Jenna Worthham, the mastermind behind this online interactive site, Jason Zada, a television and music director who works in Los Angeles and San Francisco, “…promises that the site is intended purely for entertainment, and a fun, seasonal thrill.”

I was unnerved by how quickly this video assimilated my personal information, including my friends and photos, into its environment. It’s frightening to remember that anyone with these coding skills can hack into our social media accounts and cause catastrophic damage (i.e. the ‘Love’ virus on Facebook).

Paranoia aside, I’m a big baby when it comes to the horror genre in any medium and this interactive video creeped me out!

I’m not so sure I would participate again as I’m not sure if the creator, Jason Zada, will continue to have access to my Facebook account. I can only assume that the author will live up to his word by discarding my personal information (like my ‘Friends’ list) afterwards. I truly hope that he’s an honest man or this really will be a horror story!


http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/mysterious-site-creates-a-horror-movie-starring-you/?ref=socialnetworking

Facebook inspires grumbling...

As we await the new layout for Facebook to launch for the public in a couple of weeks, more and more people will continue to grumble. I personally am not bothered by the changes. Technology will always continue to change and adapt to the ideas of people. Facebook runs the internet, they will continue to change and modify themselves in order to standout on top of the social media world.
This article on the changes for Facebook gives a rundown on the new improvements and why people dislike or like the change.

Pretty Much...I Love My New Job

A couple weeks ago I was hired at Lone Star Music in Gruene. We have music events called "in stores" where artists come and play for about an hour or so and it is completely free, along with the samples of Ziegenbock and Dripping Springs Vodka. We tweet about all of this and also have a Facebook page that advertises us as well. This past Friday we tweeted about our in store featuring Adam Hood, and before we knew it Cody Canada and his band tweeted us and said he was going to stop by also and we all got really excited. I thought it was pretty awesome how everyone knows about us via social media and it even draws in other musicians to just stop by for a visit.

OPOWER + Facebook = Socialized Energy!

Facebook, OPOWER partner on 'Social Energy' App

OPOWER, a company that put together gaming and energy saving into one are now trying to create an app with Facebook that will let friends compete against each other while saving electricity.

"The hope is to get friends to compete against each other to use less energy, and to hold each other accountable for energy-use-reduction goals, said Ogi Kavazovic, a spokesman for OPOWER."

The app is expected to allow people to share their energy use data with their friends.

Users who use OPOWER show 2-3% less energy use in comparison to those who don't, so this app could be not only helpful for the environment (and our wallets), but could also be fun.

iOS 5 claims its first victim(s)

Technology has made it easier than ever for the insecure and paranoid to feed their own delusions. Apple's newest firmware, iOS 5, provides the easiest tool yet in the app called "Find My Friends". This app, when activated, allows select friends to find your location on a map using GPS technology. I understand the uses of this feature, but I see far too many downsides for it to gain many users.

In the article linked below, a husband who suspects his wife of cheating surreptitiously installs and activates the app to allow him to track her movements. He catches her in a lie about her whereabouts and presumes that she is cheating on him.

While this marriage is beyond saving, I think it's important to take a step back as technology consumers and look at the ways we can prevent this kind of paranoid spying from undermining our own relationships. This issue can best be addressed with communication. I mean real communication, not Skype, or Facetime, or text messaging, or email, but sitting down with someone and TALKING to them. Communication is the most important tool for building and maintaining relationships and technology can hinder and facilitate this act at the same time.

Respect the power of technology and remember that being in a relationship is hard work.

Also, don't cheat. That is also a good tip.

To those that choose to ignore my sound advice, happy hunting!

Source: [9to5 Mac]

"Put Her in the Driver's Seat"

An article survey claims that women who read consumer blogs about cars are more comfortable buying and climbing into a new car. The survey revealed that, as a gender, women car-buyers were both more excited (74%) and more nervous (53%) about car-buying than were men buying cars (71% and 42% respectively). Of this group, women who sought advice from blogs and social networks during the car buying process demonstrated higher excitement levels: Women who consulted blogs about buying a new car were +13 points more excited than women who did not, and women who consulted social networks were up +12 points. This is awesome because anyone, as we know, can blog. We can truly see that blogging empowers consumers. blogging now can only empower us, as consumers, and force companies to compete to build a greater product.

Infographic resume

I came across an article about infographic resumes that listed 4 sites, or programs, that use Linkedin to create the resumes. I figured it would be relevant since we talked about these recently.

1. Visualize.me- uses basic profile info and formats it to an info graphic
2. Re.vu- puts job history information in a timeline
3. Kinzaa- outline job responsibilities and use of time
4. Brazen Careerist- a Facebook app for young professional that creates infographic resumes based on profile information



http://mashable.com/2011/10/15/infographic-resume-apps/

VIBE

A new form of social media called Vibe has emerged and is being used primarily by the Wall Street Protesters that have been all over the news recently. NYTimes.com posted an article http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/anonymous-messaging-app-vibe-gets-boost-from-occupy-wall-street/?ref=socialmedia discussing the popularity of such a small media outlet.

According to the article, Vibe is an outlet similar to Twitter but does not require a username or account.

For me, it seems like social media outlets are becoming more and more specialized to a specific movement/action/group and their needs or desires.

Twitter helps residents of Mexico avoid danger

Many residents in northeastern Mexico are checking their twitter multiple times a day to avoid locations of shootouts. Journalists for local news stations are under pressure from drug cartels not to report the violence. The residents help each other out by reporting any incidents they hear and where to avoid. Since the tweet is real time, it gets information to the residents faster than the local news would if they were able to broadcast the information.

CircleMe: Connecting You to You

Another new social platform was announced recently called CircleMe, a site dedicated to just you. CircleMe was launched last week and is still in private beta but has received positive feedback from thousands of early users.

The site allows you to collect your Facebook likes such as people, places, movies, etc., Foursquare checkins and Netflix streaming activity and put all your favorite things into one profile that is just you. This site is unlike other social media networks in that it doesn't focus on connecting you with friends and family members.

I thought it was a nice change to have a site drastically different from all the other social media sites.

iTunes 10.5 Launches Ahead of iOS 5

iTunes 10.5 launches Ahead of iOS 5

Well, just when people started to think Apple drop the call on it famous iPhone series it makes a colossal splash with new products and services this month. Where do I begin…? Apple is releasing the iPhone 4s, iCloud, and iOS 5. Moreover, Apple just dropped iTunes 10.5, which will allow for the above products & services to even exist come October 14. By the Way, the article I posted is about the new iTunes 10.5 but who can’t stop to comment on the full body of work. In terms of iTunes 10.5, there are just a few minor changes: 1) download perversely purchased content such as TV shows and music, 2) by default, content can be delivered to all your devices that meet the system requirements (10.6.8 or later, Windows Vista & 7, any device with iOS 4 or later), and most important iTunes 10.5 will be the only way for devices to muscled up to iOS 5 (not necessary for device with iOS 5 already installed).

Now for the fun stuff… iOS 5 is adding over 200 more features to the iPhone (iPhone 3GS, 4, 4s) including reminders, gestures, and Siri (click on the links I provided for more information). Apple is also releasing iCloud, which allows users to sync everything on their device except photos & videos over the air. This new service also includes receiving software updates for the device, a serious innovation to the cell phone market. Last but not least, the iPhone 4s, which includes the A5 processor. The same processor in the iPad 2, which is a dual processors meaning it’s really two processors in one. Many people in the world have never even owned a computer with a dual processor let alone a cell phone with one. Moreover, if you know anything about Apple’s success, then you might consider a huge argument that would explain Apple's success – processing speed. That’s not to say, graphic cards, Apple owning both the software & hardware of their products, battery life, and overall user friendliness didn’t play a huge role in Apple’s success as well; but perhaps, the most obvious difference to the eye is how smooth the screen searching in comparison to other devices. The iPhone 4s is also getting a major upgrade in the camera department. It will come equipped with an 8 mega pixel camera with the added ability of editing pictures on the device such as removing red-eye, crop photos, etc…

Look out for the future of connectedness…

Next, we’ll be asking how to disconnect…

Something Stinks

Last Saturday Texas A&M and Texas Tech played in what might be one of the last meetings between the 2 schools in a while, and it didn't go without incident. Apparently the night before the football game, some unknown pranksters vandalized the Aggies buses (which were really Lubbock buses, the Aggies flew to the game). The fact that something sinister was done to the buses isn't in question. What is in question is exactly what was done. Both sides are making different claims to the severity of the pranks, and it starteed with the Aggies' AD posting on his Twitter about the incident (and he never even saw the damage). It just goes to show how quickly (and probably inaccuratley) a story can fly through social media. I have included a link to an Aggie message board for your entertainment. http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=1943969&forum_id=5

A Devastating Loss

With the death of Steve Jobs last Wednesday, many people took to social media to express their condolences, sadness, and celebration for the life of the Apple founder. Twiiter said it is the second most talked about topic, falling behind Beyonce's baby anouncement at the MTV movie awards, and ahead of President Obama's announcement of the death of Bin Laden. Many people also took to Facebook and Youtube, creating videos and pages to honor Steven Jobs. His death was the most talked about topic on all social media sites from Wednesday night into Thrusday morning.

This just goes to show how much our world is changing. Within minutes, everyone had access to the information on Steve Jobs' was death, without having to watch the news or listen to the radio the next morning. Also, people were able to reach out in many different ways. Although social media has it's negative effects, I think getting the news out in a quick manner is definitely a positive one!

To read the NYTimes article click here.

Top 5 Reasons to Unsubscribe

When I first made my Facebook it was for the purpose of keeping in touch with old friends, and networking with new ones.  However, with Facebook’s huge growth over the last recent years, it has become almost impossible to not see the occasional random friend request or message from strangers.  This is incredibly annoying for those that wish to simply log on and not be bothered by weirdos! Now, Facebook has offered a new option for these “crazy” individuals.  The Subscribe button!  This new feature enables users to follow someone and receive shared public updates without even friending this person! Just thinking about this is creepy.  So, have you thought of ways to perhaps avoid this??

Brenna Ehrlich, senior writer at MTV, teamed up with Andrea Bratz, senior editor at Psychology Today, and have unveiled a Top 5 TO DO List in order to make your followers hit the “Unsubscribe” button!

1. Musings about the weather
2. Passive- aggressive comments
3. Rants
4. Oversharing 
5. Cliched explanations of joy

Read more about this article at CNN online. 

Social Media News Site Gains Clout

Mashable was a one man blog that creator and chief executive Pete Cashmore turned into a popular news site about social media and digital culture. Cashmore is now 26 but at age 19 is when he started Mashable. The concept that made him want to start Mashable was how online social connections are fundamentally changing the way people communicate. He named his new blog Mashable because he liked the way other websites were mashing together maps and date. Cashmore was allowed to hire another writer when the blog soon started generating 3,000 dollars a month in advertising revenue. Mashable started to steadily increase its audience just like other social media sites at the time like Myspace, Facebook, Tumblr, Google Plus, and etc. In June 2009, Mashable became the most popular technology blog. Mashable has a visible role as an ambassador of social media and this role has helped Mashable to form partnerships with big brands and traditional media organizations like CNN and USA Today. Mashable which was only a one man blog now generates 40 employees because it generated enough revenue from display advertising, custom programs with markets, and event sponsorships and conferences.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/business/media/mashable-once-a-one-man-blog-gains-clout-in-social-media.html?_r=1&ref=socialnetworking

If you want to know my mood follow me on twitter.

Many of us post our current feelings as our status to let the Internet world know we are happy, sad, angry, excited, etc. But according to the New York Times there is now a study being done on tracking our mood changes. The study is being done by studying tweets on twitter, tracking particular words and associating them with a mood. For example anytime someone has the words, "awesome" or "agree", it is associated with positive moods. This study is watching everyone from the night owls to the early birds. Trying to learn more about already common believed mood changes like people being grumpy when they wake up or depressed during the winter months.

The Report that was done at Cornell University tracks mood rhythms, when certain moods peak and decline, not just in the day but during the year. Following the trends of certain moods and seeing when they were popular. For example more positive emotions are used around the spring equinox.

This makes me laugh and think are they are going to track my menstrual cycle next based on when I post moody status's around the same time of every month? One part of the article the I agreed with was that people post what they want others to think, it's not necessarily how they really feel . This is the major downfall with the success of the report.

I could see it being successful to advertisers if they could pin point a certain time of year or hour that they could reach their target audience. This study is taking the understanding of social sciences to a whole other level and so much research can be done for us to understand more.

Overall I thought the study was interesting and I'm interested to see what else they will come up with. And I will think about the next time I decided to add a mood indicator (smiley face) on my status or composed tweet.

iPhone announcement!

I hope some of you all got to check out the post that I posted on Tuesday about the announcement that Apple was going to make!

While I was watching it I was really disappointed that they didn't have a live video feed. With such highly anticipated news, I thought they would have provided an easy way for people to view. The link that I posted was a website that gave minute by minute updates, which was handy, yes, but it was frustrating when the page would shut down! Get with it allthingsdigital!

Haha but now the good stuff:

Along with announcements about iOS5 update info., Lion, iPad 2, iPhone, Mac and other various apple product stats, they also announced improvements to the iPod nano, and iPod touch.

And finally they got to the fun stuff... the iPhone. Shocking to most people, the "iPhone5" that everyone had been hoping for actually turned out to be the "iPhone 4S", basically an upgrade to the iPhone 4. Whomp whomp. BUT, that doesn't mean it's not cool! It will have faster graphics, a longer battery life (8 hours of 3G to 10 hours of video time), two antennas that will switch between receiving and transmitting for better call quality and faster data retrieval. Also if the iPhone camera wasn't already awesome, apparently it just got better. Because I don't understand all the high-tech mumbo jumbo, I'm going to spare you my crappy explanation and just post the link later if you want to read more about it... haha. And lastly, they talked about Siri, the new voice activated "intelligent assistant" that can help you accomplish tasks with just the sound of your voice. It seems prettyyyy awesome :).

The end of the announcement included iPhone 4S prices and availability information, this is when they announced that, yes, Sprint will officially be a carrier ALONG with AT&T and Verizon, none of this "Sprint gets it first!" nonsense.

I hope I helped provide some information for those of you who didn't get a chance to check it out! :)

My Virtual Neighbor

My Virtual Neighbor is a social media site aimed at neighborhood homeowners hoping to fight crime in their locale. Founder Amit Mehta claims that this new social website has reduced neighborhood crime by a large percentage. Mr. Mehta claims that this site is the cornerstone of "National Night Out", which, as a member of a HOA, I've known about for years. In my own neighborhood, we have used a Yahoo® Groups for years and it has been helpful in keeping up with events in the neighborhood.

A case study was done in Houston, Texas, for a period of ten (10) weeks and, apparently, Mr. Mehta has the stats to prove an 80% reduction in crime. Although my neighborhood moderator (of our Yahoo Group) does keep the homeowners well informed, many of us tend to ignore postings that look like complaints or robo-messsages from the association managers (a separate business) and sometimes miss really important messages (like local murders, utility shut-offs, etc. and other frequently occurring events that happen on the East side of ATX).

The article goes on to state that users have more privacy controls than Facebook® or Yahoo by allowing the users to be the moderators as well as the users. This feature encourages homeowners to feel safe when becoming acquainted with their neighbors, with the end result being a more secure neighborhood. For neighborhoods that do not have a virtual network in place for homeowners, this would be a good option.

To read more, visit http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/28/3945100/new-social-media-my-virtual-neighbor.html#ixzz1ZHbfLdlt     Posted by Michele Myette at 2:58 PM

World of War Craft

This is a video from one year ago, showing a family and how they have found unity and can come together via World of War craft, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).


I am glad that they have found a way that they can all interact and spend time together but it really disturbs me. The internet has changed the way we network and interact with people and I cant tell if its good or bad. Communities are being created online, where they cant be made in the physical world and that is good. it is important for people to find a strong support system and friends that they can talk to. But then people get lost in their virtual worlds and second lives, and spend all their time online. in my opinion, its not a healthy existence. we as humans are not programmed to function without other social human interaction and there is a limit to the interaction the internet can facilitate.


Interaction has come a long way, and I am sure there will be more advances to come, but it cant replace a real human experience

I do's with the Iphone

A new tend is starting in weddings. Many couples are not only saying i do at the alter but are excepting their spouses change of status at the same time. Also, many couples are having their guest tweet through out the wedding. weddings are also becoming easier to plan by just using social media.
I think this taking the status update a litte too far, but It is the new trend.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/10/04/2663665/social-media-mobile-tech-on-the.html

LEWIS PR Rolls Out New Global Social Media Services

Interesting and it is creating new jobs for those looking to work in PR and Social Media.

LEWIS PR Rolls Out New Global Social Media Services

Richard Branson believes having a personal social media presense is important.

Richard Branson started his first business in the 1970s with a record company. Now Branson has over 300 companies around the world. While many company executives tend to stay away from having personal social media profiles Branson believes that it is a good thing to communicate through these sites. Branson not only has his own blog but he also uses Twitter, Facebook and the newest social media site Google+.

Branson was asked questions in an interview about why he uses social media. He says the main reason is because there are so many Virgin companies worldwide but that his main focus is with philanthropy. Branson says he has seen how social media can spread awareness about how to use busniess as a force for good.

He also uses social media to share his life lessons he has learned in the business world and other times he might just tweet about his thoughts at the time or what crazy adventures he is getting into at that time.

Helping students or Invasion of Privacy?

According to a University of Washington and University of Wisconsin-Madison study, Facebook posts could reveal individuals who are at risk for alcohol abuse and dependency. A team of researchers studied Facebook posts, pictures, and conversations of students who wrote about "blacking out" or engaging in other unsafe activities while drinking. Researchers brought in students with these posts on there walls and gave them a 10 item screening test to determine who was at risk for alcohol dependency. According to the results 6 out of the 10 students questioned were at risk for alcohol abuse or other alcohol related problems. Researchers proposed that leaders in the university such as RA's keep watch over their peer's Facebook pages in order to monitor their drinking activity and approach them with concerns. One suggestion that was made to help this cause was for universities to have links to the health center or to have online screening tests show up as Facebook advertisements for students who use terms such as "blacked out" on their pages.

I thought that this study was really interesting in that you can determine something as serious as alcohol dependency just by looking at pictures and posts on Facebook. However, I couldn't decide if this was a invasion of privacy, a good outreach program or maybe a little of both. Facebook does give a large insight into the lives of many of our friends and family members but is it crossing the line to search a student's Facebook page to check for alcohol abuse? In a lot of ways looking at someones Facebook page is a pretty good indicator of what kinds of activities they engage in. By posting excessive drunken pictures, post, videos etc. the individual is portraying themselves in a way that shows that they may need some professional help. But on the other hand is it really fair to have someone monitoring your activity that doesn't know you personally? I think in a lot of ways it depends. I don't agree that a university has the right to interfere in a student's personal decisions however if they could protect someone from alcohol dependency then maybe it's a good thing.

Apple to announce iPhone news!

I'm just going to leave this right here.....

http://allthingsd.com/20111004/apple-lets-talk-iphone/

...and you all can check it out come noon!

And then I'll do my blog for Thursday about what happened!

Enjoy! :)