Is Facebook Still Tracking You After You've Logged Out?

LAWMAKERS WANT FACEBOOK FTC PROBE

"When users log out of Facebook, they are under the impression that Facebook is no longer monitoring their activities. We believe this impression should be the reality," is the argument Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Joe Barton of Texas are making against Facebook. Apparently even after you log out of Facebook it still gathers information about you and the websites you've visited from the "cookies" those websites leave behind. The representatives are moving for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to begin an investigation on the actions Facebook has done, claiming those actions to be a "serious privacy concern."

A spokeswoman for Facebook counter claimed that Facebook hasn't stored any information it shouldn't have.

She also stated that Facebook "moved quickly to fix the cookies so that they won't include unique information in the future when people log out."

As of right now the FTC hasn't launched an investigation.

Saudi Princess Tweets: Female Driver's Lashing Sentence Revoked

Twitter is being used by Saudi Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel to turn the tide against women being prohibited to drive in Saudi Arabia. What originally was to be a punishment of 10 lashes given to Shaima Jastaina after she was arrested for driving, has now been revoked by Saudi King Abdullah. She hopes to gain additional support in this light through the use of social media as she promotes the Women2Drive movement formed a few months back by using Twitter.

The Noosh
John Leinweber

http://mashable.com/2011/09/28/saudi-princess-tweets-female-driver-lashing-sentence-revoked/?WT.mc_id=obinsite

More on Pro Athletes and Teams on Social Media

As blogged about a week ago Social media and professional athletes has become a new problem. Recently ESPN examined the different professional sports leagues to better understand the policies for player's use of twitter. Many of the leagues are the same and some quite different. They either embrace the new idea of getting your own voice out there, or simply hate the idea. In my opinion i do not like to hear what many of the players have to say outside of news conferences. Often many of their opinions cause harm to the integrity of the organization(team).

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

"The Social Corps"

The Marines banned the use of social media two years ago. They feared that it's personnel would misuse of the ever-growing communication highway. On September 27th "The Social Corps" was released, which is a hand book instructing Marines how to conduct themselves on the web. The hand book tells them how to handle crisis scenarios and social media, conduct in personal manner, and conduct in a professional manner. They are worried about breech of security issues and feel they need to control the issue. Unfortunately, I do see the problem that looms ahead because everything leaks. They state in the handbook that "With social communication, you essentially provide a permanent record of what you say--if you wouldn't say it in front of a formation, don't say it online." Easier said than done....
We have all had a bad day we post about, a friend tag a provocative photo, or an opinion that isn't very popular. Marines will too. We have all had laps of judgement. Marines will too. I am Glad that social media created more jobs in the Marines (by releasing this handbook and allowing social media), however, I see a huge public relations disaster in their future involving a individual's personal social media profile and something they said wrong.

Facebook Charging Hoax

Have you seen this posted from some of your friends on Facebook:

FACEBOOK JUST RELEASED THEIR PRICE GRID FOR MEMBERSHIP. $9.99 PER MONTH FOR GOLD MEMBER SERVICES, $6.99 PER MONTH FOR SILVER MEMBER SERVICES, $3.99 PER MONTH FOR BRONZE MEMBER SERVICES, FREE IF YOU COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT. WHEN YOU SIGN ON TOMORROW MORNING YOU WILL BE PROMPTED FOR PAYMENT INFO...IT IS OFFICIAL IT WAS EVEN ON THE NEWS. FACEBOOK WILL START CHARGING DUE TO THE NEW PROFILE CHANGES

It's amazing how many people post this and actually believe it. Apparently no one sees the Facebook homepage, where it says "It's free and always will be" directly under Sign Up. I also don't understand how people actually think that copying and reposting a message is the only way for Facebook to track that you logged in, they can do so just by you logging into your account. Facebook addressed the hoax on its own page saying "A rumor on the internet caught our attention. We have no plans to charge for Facebook. It's free and always will be." Also does anyone actually think that a company valued at more than $80 billion would need to charge users?

Facebook Updates Alienating Members

I was on Facebook earlier this week and it was so bizarre to me that it was updating and changing AS I was using it...so I googled these updates and found this article: http://www.daily49er.com/opinion/facebook-s-newest-updates-may-result-in-its-loss-of-popularity-1.2638646#.ToH_nWZ5E4Y that says that all these updates are confusing and irritating loyal Facebook users.

The quickness with which different technologies seem to fall out of popularity with the general population just illuminates how easily bored we all are. For someone who obsessively uses Facebook (it's my homepage...#pathetic) the idea of having to figure out an entirely new social media outlet not only sounds annoying but time consuming. Who knows where Facebook will be in the next few years...will Google+ actually take over?

Social Media and its effect on Search Engines

I work for a Web Development company in New Braunfels, Texas and was doing SEO on one of our clients when I came across something that interested me and thought I'd share it.

For a catering company in New Braunfels, I was trying to get them higher in the rankings for the search query "event catering new braunfels". They were 10th on the first page, once I google+1'd them however immediately they hopped to 5th on the first page. How? Well it appears that I came across another one of the many factors in Google's algorithm for search engine rankings. Further investigation showed that it went even further. For friends of mine, who follow and friend me on twitter and facebook, were effected by the search rankings as well.

Search engines are taking notice to the authority that social media have in today's world and rightfully so.

Social media for good or evil?

This article by CIO chronicles various uses of Twitter, both good and bad.

Outside Veracruz, Mexico gunmen were dumping bodies off a road and Twitter users were sending out warning before police could even arrive. Ironically, a law had been passed that same day banning Tweets that "undermine public order".

The article discusses the riots in England and when the Egyptian government blocked Twitter and Facebook. Several U.S. examples are used, including in San Francisco when transit police shut down cellular power to stop protestors from communicating.

http://www.cio.com.au/article/401937/twitter_used_social_good_incite_disorder/

Facebook's Frictionless Sharing

I read this article about how Facebook is beginning to do almost everything for you in regards to sharing your browsing activity with your friends. Every time you read an article on the web, you will no longer have to click "Like" to share the story with your friends. For this to occur, you would have to authorize a Facebook app for a news site, for instance, Yahoo news.

At first, I thought that's kinda cool but after a bit I realized why would my friends care about every single article I read on the internet? If I read a super boring story I don't want my friends to click on the link and share the same misery I just did for reading a story that's not interesting whatsoever. Not all of my friends share the same interests I do so I would hate to bother them with stories they would not enjoy.

I think Facebook is making too many changes at once and is going to lose followers if they don't start keeping their page the same.

Qwikster Conflict

Netflix has recently decided to split their subscriptions into two different sectors. People who want to order movies/tv shows on line, will continue to go through Netflix. However, people who want to subscribe to the DVD portion, will now go through Qwikster. It has recently come to light that someone already owns the Twitter handle @Qwikster, meaning if Netflix wants to gain control of the handle name, twitter user Jason Castillo will either have to give it up willingly, or be paid out for it (if he plans to give it up at all).

The article I read suggests that Twitter may force Castillo to give up the handle, but I feel as though that is fairly unlikely. Castillo also recently tweeted that he has been contacted by three different parties offering to buy the Twitter handle from him. He states that his biggest offer was $1000 but he didn't know if he should accept it. I think if he is really considering selling the Twitter handle, he needs to persue financial advice and wait for higher offer (because I'm sure one will come). I also think it would be in Netflix's best interest to gain control of the handle, because Castillo presents himself as quite the "stoner". This could potentially put Qwikster in a bad light if people aren't Twitter savvy enough to conclude that the Twitter handle @Qwikster is actually not a Twitter account run by Netflix.

To read the article about Netflix splitting into two, click here.
To read the article about Jason Castillo's twitter handle, click here.

Social Media and the Pro Athlete

Ever since Twitter has arrived it has been immensely popular with professional athletes, especially the NFL. A lot of players have embraced it, some to their regret with just how much information they have divulged. Sometimes these guys have to wish that there was a 30 second delay button so they have time to see it out there and have a chance to take it back. A few weeks before the NFL season started, Arian Foster (starting running back for the Houston Texans) tweeted a picture of an MRI taken on his injured hamstring. No big deal, right? Well, he sent this information out to the world without his team's consent. In the NFL teams look for every advantage they can get in order to win. This information was laid in the hands of the world (and the Indianapolis Colts, the Texans first opponent) in such a way that organizations will probably start to write clauses into players contracts that has financial reprocussions for such behavior.

Voir dire enters a brave new world

In the U.S. criminal justice system jury selection is a critical component in the process of trying a case. That process has become even more invasive in the internet age.

Lawyers in the Conrad Murray case, in which he is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson, are relying on research into the social media habits of prospective jurors.

As citizens, we always have to be aware of what we say. Now that what we "say" is often published and permanently cached on the internet we must be particularly careful. There are numerous examples of people making one critical misstep online and having to forever live down the consequences of that mistake.

While most of us would gladly make an out-of-character Facebook post if it meant we didn't have to endure jury duty, we must be careful about how we portray ourselves online.

With great (social media) power, comes great responsibility.

Source: CNN

Talk of the Town

For this small town it's like high school never ends. Gossip and bullying online is a problem that is getting bigger and bigger with every advancement we make to connect with one another online. It makes it much easier for people to harass others and get away with it.

This article focuses on the issues of small towns and their gossiping ways. These are the neighbors against neighbors anonymously posting stuff about each other. Studies have shown that this is a bigger problem in rural areas than large cities because everyone knows each other. The local gossip groups, who back in the old days would sit around a restaurant table to share all the juicy details have now gone to the Internet to let their opinions be known. They are now logging on the the Mountain Grove Forum, a forum on the website topix.com and letting out the dirty laundry. Topics like, "13 year old preggos by momma's man" or "methed out, doped out whore with AIDS" , this is not friendly talk about what is going on in the small town, this has turned into neighbors hiding behind their secret online personas to spread gossip about others. This site has been the cause for provoking fights, divorces, and in a more serious case suicide. A woman being tormented by the website with gossip about her divorce led her to kill herself and her children, but not before she went online to post "Now it's time to take the pain away".

Lawsuits have been filed but the company is not responsible for what is posted and can not be held for libel, but whoever posted the comment can be found guilty. The only thing filtered out is racial slurs and threats made on the site but that is only about 9 percent.
Check out the forum for yourself: http://http://www.topix.com/forum/city/mountain-grove-mo

Technology advances much slower in these rural areas, so these people are just embracing the power of the Internet and obviously abusing it. Christian Sandvig, who studies social media and how it affects people in these areas, says "There is something about rural culture that makes people want to have conversations in public."

This is a trend the needs to be stopped before more people get hurt. But as one of the local victim said in the interview, "It's a small town, rumors stay forever." Sadly for this woman that means every time she goes to the grocery store she knows people are labling her with the false accusations made against Mrs. James. Of course this is not just a problem in small towns, Nationwide we are seeing problems with online gossip, but the affect is so much larger in a place where everyone knows your name.

Article posted in the New Your Times http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/us/small-town-gossip-moves-to-the-web-anonymous-and-vicious.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=socialnetworking

pinOBSESSED.

I usually pay close attention to the stuff that my older sister posts on Facebook, because she posts a lot about my niece and nephew. One day she posted a status that said, "My new addiction is Pinterest, I have found so many projects for Kylie's teacher!" and I started to ignore it until I saw that she had like 10 likes and 5 comments. After reading that all of her friends were also obsessed with this website, I decided I had to check it out. Next thing I know I'm signing for an account and "pinning" stuff to my own boards.

Basically Pinterest is a page that has a bunch of random pictures posted. Different things like food, drinks, DIY crafts, home decor, clothing, and crafts for kids. And on that page you can click on any picture and you will be taken to a full screen version and given the option to visit the original site that it came from. And from there you can learn how to recreate or purchase the item that you saw in the picture that interested you so much. I sometimes also describe it as a "stumbleupon wall for crafty people and food lovers". For members, you have the option of creating boards that are fit for your own interests and then "repinning" items that you see to your boards.

Here is the perfect example of how Pinterest should be used: A woman is getting married soon, and she is looking for ideas for her wedding all on the internet. If she finds something on a website that she would like to save and share with other wedding-goers, she can copy and paste the site to her "Wedding Board". As long as she gives credit to the original site, then anyone that is following her board can see what she posted. She can also look on various Pinterest pages to find inspiration and repin whatever she finds to her board as well.

I hope that made sense...

Even though I am not crafty whatsoever, in the past month I have also fallen to the addiction to Pinterest. There is just something about finding something interesting and letting my imagination run wild with the possibilities. Based on my interests, I now have a board for Food, Anchors, DIY Home Decor, Children's crafts, and Party Ideas.

I love this site.

pinterest.com

Here is an example of something I would love to try and I would have never had the idea or inspiration to do had it not been for Pinterest!

Facetweet+: Social Media is Blending

I understand why Facebook is trying to take the most popular features from other social media sites and implement them. I get it, but its bullshit! Facebook should just be Facebook and quit making all these changes that no user I have talked to is interested in. It is a literal example of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

Facebook has constantly made changes that users dont appreciate, like the new picture viewer or changing the security settings to be more open causing people to have to go back and change them to the way they were before the "update", but these new changes are on a whole different level. Twitter recently reached its 100 million user milestone, and at the same time Facebook implemented its new Subscribe button and the list feature (Google Plus anyone??). I understand trying to keep up with the competition but this is ridiculous. Facebook is the biggest social networking site with the most users, so why steal or copy a different site? The changes are more likely to cause user decline than the same people joining multiple sites.

How do you feel about the changes?

P.S. Totally unrelated to facebook, yay rain!

Blog and DIE

Can social media kill you? For an unfortunate couple this past week, the answer to this question is YES.  We are all aware of the extreme danger going on in Mexico with drug cartels and drug trafficking, but this story has brought world attention to social media and the drug issues in Mexico.  Two young bloggers were attacked and found bound and hung from a bridge on Tuesday.  The reason for their murder, Twitter and a blog called, BlogDelNarco.com.  This blog has been used to report shootings and help others avoid the violence.  The message the murderers left by the bodies was to scare the "internet snitches" and steer them away from using social media.  If they choose not to they will result in the same fate.  Many of the bloggers were enraged by this action, and although it is very unexpected and sad they are aware of the power they have over these gangs.  One of the bloggers anonymously mentioned that "now is the time for us [bloggers] to show these cartels what we are made of".

Many of us consider social media as a hobby, but what these people in Nuevo Laredo, MX are experiencing is indescribable.  I am inspired in the way they are using social media as a tool to stop this violence thats going on and helping warn others of severe danger around them.  I would never imagine something of this extent to occur; however, it does show how much power the internet truly has.  Law enforcements were being tipped off by these blogs and able to target specific areas due to the information on these sites.  This outcome is very devastating, but I wish these people luck and all the blessings.  They are making a huge difference and putting their lives at risk.  More of this story is on CNN .

Teacher Restrictions

The Missouri Senate attempted to pass a law that would restrict teachers from Facebooking or interacting with students on websites that provide "exclusive access." The Missouri State Teachers Association (MSTA) reacted to this law claiming that it's confusing and too vague for teachers to follow. The law restricted teachers from interacting with students over the internet but also encouraged each school district to enforce its own policies regarding teacher/student interaction on Facebook, twitter, or other social media. Now after much revision the bill is finally making its way into law. Two major changes went into the revision of the bill. One being that every school district is now required to have restrictions limiting interactions with students over the internet. The second major revision that was made was in the verbiage of bill which included "employee of staff" along with "teacher interaction."

I feel that limited interaction between teachers and students over the internet is a smart move for school districts. The teacher/student relationship needs to remain professional and having access to a teacher or students personal Facebook hinders that relationship. This law will help protect the student and the teacher from becoming involved in a inappropriate relationship that could cost the employee their job. After a student graduates I don't see a problem with connecting with previous teachers via Facebook or twitter but during their time as a student in high school or middle school I don't think it's appropriate to have personal conversations with teachers over the internet at such a young age. While I do think that this law is a good move for school districts I see it being very difficult to regulate.

My experience with Social media Competition between companies.

Over the summer I had an internship with TaylorMade/adidas golf in California. From the day I got there till I left at the end of the summer 2 other interns and I worked directly with the companies social media pages. It was very interesting to see just how much thought goes on behind the scenes to come up with new posts, contests and just basic interaction with fans and consumers. Our job was to keep track of what other companies were doing well and come up with ways for TaylorMade/adidas to do a better job on social media sites. What I found while I was at the company is that social media is one of the main ways to gain more customers whether it be contests or giveaways. Everyday we were there we tried to come up with unique ways to not only get consumer interaction but also to get our page out there to more people.

It was interesting to sit in meetings and hear top exectutives ask us how we can do better on our social media sites. Although most of the guys at the top didn't know much about social media they know how important it is when you have a company as large and popular as TaylorMade/adidas golf.

The thing that was most interesting to me over the summer was just how much work goes into making sure social media users actually see your company page. A lot of times people will press "like" and never go to that page again but our focus was to make sure there was always something for people to see.

Facebook News September 14, 2011 Feed Update: Subscribe to Strangers, Filter Friends

There is something new on facebook called the Subscribe button. If your not friends with someone on facebook you can still receive news feed from them if your interested. Everyone is subscribed to friends but if you want to get public updates in your news feed from someone your not friends with just hit subscribe. You can also choose different updates with friends and others in News Feed for instance All Updates, Most Updates, or Important Updates. Facebook uses different signals to determine if a post is important or not. "These updates may include changes your about employer, school, relationship status or city." The only way to have a subscribe button on your profile page is to allow subscribers. Subscribes can only see what you share publicly. Honestly you should only add someone as a friend if you know them personally but if you want to know what they are saying then subscribing would be a good idea. I think this is an interesting thing they added on facebook and want to try it out soon.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/09/14/facebook-news-feed-update-subscribe-to-strangers-filter-friends/?KEYWORDS=social+media+news

Xbox 360's Gears of War 3 "likes" Facebook.

Facebook is being employed to broaden the influence of Epic Games' new and final installment of its trilogy, Gears of War 3. By "liking" Gears of War 3 on Facebook, you are given a "code" to unlock a unique character named "Griffin," that you can play as in the game. Also notable, his downloadable character is voiced by none other than famous rapper Ice Cube. If gaming companies do this more often, which I suspect  they will, video games in general will start to be played by more people on more systems worldwide; yes, even more so than now. Currently, there are several products competing for your home entertainment space: Xbox 360, Playstaion 3, Nintendo Wii, an internet capable Blu-Ray player, a Computer, Boxy Box etc. With such an amount of free advertising being paired up with the gaming industry, these companies will no doubt "take it to the next level."  %^D


-The Noosh-
John Leinweber

http://greatpost.info/unlock-griffin-for-gears-of-war-3-by-%E2%80%98liking%E2%80%99-gears-of-war-3-on-facebook.html

CRAIGSLIST on TWITTER! (or How to Spend $0 on Books for College)

Well, not exactly, but pretty close. According to an article posted by TechCrunch,
a new, free e-trade site was launched during a recent TechCrunch ‘Hackathon’ (http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/11/watch-the-techcrunch-disrupt-hackathon-live-2/).

This newly launched Twitter business, @Shopr.com, coordinates those hoping to sell and those looking to buy in specific regions or cities, similar to Craigslist. A quote from the article states, “The service’s founders tell me that in their initial research currently around 7,000 Tweets per hour relate to commerce and people looking to buy and sell items (over 5,000 selling-related Tweets are sent every hour).”

As an avid Craigslist user myself, I love free advertising and no commissions. I’ve paid for most of my required books for college by buying and selling all my books at discount rates. I shop around on such sites as Half.com, Craigslist.com, Amazon.com and Textbooks.com to buy my books and I sell them as soon as I’m done using them. All in all, I’ve pretty much broken even, give or take thirty dollars. This is far cheaper than buying e-books or renting books and both leave you with nothing tangible to sell.

The article goes on to state that sellers can tweet their wares on their own site and go on about their day. @Shopr mines data from Twitter and matches the two parties, notifying the seller if an interested buyer tweets similar or matching information. If the seller hopes to have the item found by @Shopr, the seller must clearly describe the item for sale, where it’s being sold and the asking price. However, the seller can also post their items directly at #!/shoprsell.

Buyers can go to #!/shoprbuy and post items they are searching for or simply tweet about the item(s) on their own page, again listing particulars. Buyers, too, can also go directly to @Shopr’s site to poke around.

Unbelievable as it sounds, my television died the day before the Superbowl® one year. Need I say more? Thanks to Craigslist, by the end of the day, we had a TV (which, as we all know, is cheaper than a divorce). It will be interesting to see how Twitter’s @Shopr competes against Craigslist as both platforms use the same process. Ultimately, it boils down to how quickly the seller would like to make a sale and how quickly the buyer needs the item.

(From TechCrunch) http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/11/shopr-connects-buyers-and-sellers-on-twitter/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

Social Media and 9/11/01

On 9/11/01 I was a senior in high school. The social media that were available than were different types of messengers. That day the first reports were viewed as rumors not real. I am not sure if social media would have helped or hindered on that day. I know that it would haved some of the international students to be able to get in contact with their patenrts quicker. I would have liked to have been able to send my family in Texas a message that I was safe. But it was nice that my brother was able to get a hold of me by phone.

In some ways I think it was good thar people were able to call their families and left a messages to say good-bye. I was on the East coast when 9/11 happened and for a while during and after communication was spotty at best. The internet was over loaded and cell phones couldn't handle the on slot of calls. So then maybe social media could have benefitted us that horrible day.I am more and more on both sides of the coin.

This article discusses what if's of social media on 9/11/01.
http://betanews.com/2011/09/11/there-was-no-facebook-twitter-or-youtube-on-9-11/

Organizing your friends

Lat week in class, we discussed qualifications to block someone on Facebook or Twitter, or to delete them completely. Well, Facebook was apparently listening to us because they're expected to reveal a new "friends list". It will enable users to organize friends, and separate them accordingly.

Close Friends and Acquaintances are two new lists, so now users can really segregate their social circles. The new list will is a "smart list", which automatically updates information. "You can, for example, create a list of friends that live within 50 miles of your location. You can then use that list to find out what’s happening nearby or share local parties with local friends without bugging friends in another city."

I'm not a big social media guy, and I usually don't care what Facebook does to make my life supposedly easier, but I think this is pretty cool. Now, instead of blocking or deleting people, I can make a list of "friends" I never want to hear from or see. You know, I really think this social media thing is going to take off soon....

http://mashable.com/2011/09/13/facebook-revamps-friend-lists-pics/

"I Mean We Aren't FBO or Anything..."

While growing up, I remember having an admiration for all the movies and stories that involved the romantic idea of a random introduction between two people, and the fact that the guy would always spontaneously show up with a boombox outside the girl's window to win her heart, or even to a boat dock seconds before her ship sailed, they lived happily ever after, etc. As I got older, I started to notice how guys would not talk to me in person as thorough as they would via text messaging, and simple phone calls had even become scarce. Now in this day and age, what is considered to be a serious relationship has given many people the option to become lazy, to be deceitful, and even open to heartbreak. By this I mean that a person may get overly excited when a person consistently texts them for more than a few days, and automatically jump to the assumption that they are now "talking", which means the step before people start openly dating, but aren't seeing anyone else, or so many are led to believe. Then the anxiety and obsession comes along, which causes people to constantly push refresh on their FaceBook page, hoping for a picture comment or a cheesey love song linked to their wall. Then here comes the next problem, FBO (FaceBook offiicial). If the relationship cannot be posted front page of the internet, then your relationship will fail and isn't a real relationship. This way of thinking absolutely baffles me and I really don't know what to think about it. To me, this is the same thing of first meeting someone and saying, "Hi I'm Kayla, but you might as well not even shake my hand because I have a boyfriend." Who says that within the first 5 minutes of an introduction anyway? I just feel like the purpose of FaceBook has changed dramatically and people are becoming way too drastic when using this particular social media. It's supposed to be fun, entertaining, and informative, not stressful and ruining someone's entire week because no one liked their new profile picture or the guy you friend requested has yet to accept it.

Mighybell

 Mightybell is one of the new social media tends emerging. Mightybell is a social network like facebook. Here, members post the life experience for others to follow. For instance people can post about their trip to Vegas. They will post a step by step day by day of their trip so that some one else can take the same trip. The information posted would be the best places to eat or the cheapest place to stay. Another example would  be a weight loss program or new health trends. Once people gain followers they will be able to charge people who want to share their experience. Depending on the experience they can charge any where from a dollar to a couple dollars. Unlike facebook, Mightybell is not free, but is only a dollar to join. Also it has its own app for the iphone

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2011/09/08/will-mightybell-be-the-next-facebook-or-the-next-foursquare/

Music And social Media

Many bands and festivals are hosting contests using social media. On C3's facebook there is a good example of this. they are hosting a contest where you post a peom to their page with the song title of a Pretty Lights song. If yours is chosen you can win free tickets to the show. These groups are also posting set lists and lineups on their social media sites inorder to include its web oriented fans.

Debating Politics via Social Media

In 2008 we saw Obama use Twitter for his campaign to presidency.As Twitter and Facebook continue to grow, more and more political parties are willing to use these outlets. On Sept. 12 the Tea Party will hold a live debate along with CNN. Many republican canidates will be present to answer questions from CNN Political Anchor Wolf Blitzer. They will also be asked questions by viewers via the social media outlets on CNN.com or the CNN politics Facebook page and their own hash tag via Twitter.

This new era of social media we now live in gives oppurtunity for people to ask questions that otherwise may not be brought up in this debate. It will also be interesting to see what type of questions are chosen to be asked and answered.

Social Media: Helping or Hindering Revolutions?

2011 has been full of revolts and revolutions around the world, (i.e. Egypt, Libya, and the UK.) This article by John D. Sutter of CNN explains how social networks such as Twitter and Facebook help fuel the fires of revolution, but also how they can slow down a revolution.

Navid Hassanpour, a student at Yale argues that social media hinders revolutions and slows them down, because of a lack of "face-to-face communication." He explains that people won't be motivated to actually be apart of what is happening, and will instead get distracted by everything else that is going on the internet.

On the other hand, Wael Ghonim, a Google employee who helped organize Egypt's revolution over Facebook, explains how these mediums of social interaction helped the revolution by simply stating, "'If you want to liberate a society, just give them the internet.'" Personally, I agree with his statement. The internet obviously helps spread ideas and news a whole lot quicker than say the evening news or tomorrow's newspaper, but more importantly when the government has to shut down something because it's threatened by the ideas that are being passed on you know that particular something is powerful.

Specialization in Social Media

"You can please all of the people some of the time or some of the people all of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time." This variation on Lincoln's famous quote contains a valuable lesson for social media giant, Facebook.

The site has dominated the social media landscape, leaving a trail of competitors in its wake. What it has failed to do, however, is to become more ubiquitous by incorporating services popularized by other sites. Facebook Places failed to dethrone Foursquare and Facebook Deals could not replicate Groupon's success. A recent CNN article from Mashable's Peter Cashmore explores those failures and speculates on the viability of a music service incorporated into Facebook.

The failures mentioned above indicate that the public is more interested in specialized websites that are superior at one thing, rather than the web portals (e.g., Yahoo!, AOL) of yesteryear.

Mayo Clinic recruiting via Social Media

People with rare diseases are being recruited by the Mayo Clinic by way of social media. Dr. Sharonne Hayes is using social media to find survivors of spontaneous coronary artery dissection, or SCAD. Doctors have yet to find out what causes SCAD, but hope to change that with the help of social media.

In less than a week, the SCAD study found 18 patients. Mayo Clinic is hoping to recruit a large enough patient group to cut the cost of normal recruitment methods and find more demographically diverse patient groups much quicker.

It is good to see that we are finding ways to use social media for the good of society, other than to communicate with friends and promote businesses.



http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/08/31/Social-media-Recruiting-tool-for-studies/UPI-63791314848933/

War of the Worlds II

It has been more than 70 years since Orson Welles' War of the Worlds radio broadcast caused hysteria for Americans who believed that the United States was being attacked by Martians. We've become a little bit more knowledgeable on how and where we get our news from today. Of course in Welles' 1938 radio broadcast, people swore America was being attacked by people from another planet and trusted their instinct and acted.

In 2011, Twitter has taken the place of radio for people finding out information that may or may not be true.

According to a recent article, two men were accused of being "Twitter Terrorists" because they posted tweets saying gunmen were attacking schools and kidnapping children. The event not only caused panic among parents but resulted in car accidents and numerous calls to emergency personnel.

The culprits, who say they got the information from other sources on the internet, could now face 30 years in prison for the offense.

Orson Welles never received a sentence for his radio broadcast so should these two individuals be punished? One would think that a majority of people would not believe postings by random people on Twitter.

A lesson learned here would be to choose legitimate sources for getting news.

Coffee controversy

I had an internship for the San Antonio Express-News during the summer. I wrote for the Metro section and Prime Time Newspapers, a collection of community papers. About a month in, a story ran chronicling a controversial tweet made by Brown Coffee Co. owner Aaron Blanco.

Blanco tweeted: “No human law can ever legitimize what natural law precludes. #SorryFolks #NotEqual #WhyBother #ChasingAfterTheWind #SelfEvident." The tweet was made about an hour after New York passed the gay marriage law on June 24.

Sprudge.com, a coffee news and gossip website, ran a 'campaign' against Blanco and his shop for a while, creating “#YesEqual” in response to Blanco's message.

The part I found most interesting was Blanco's response. He said he was sorry for offending anyone, as he was trying to make a philosophical statement, not specifically bash gay marriage. Then he said sales went up, and all the controversy was good for business. It just goes to show, all publicity is good publicity, even if you are a jerk.

Also, a newspaper ran a story about a tweet. It's crazy how social media has come so far.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Coffeeflap-hasn-t-cooled-1453882.php#ixzz1WugxCI91