Social Media & the End of Gender

For those of you who have yet to explore the world of Tedtalks (what have you been doing with your life?), TED is a non-profit that produces videos from annual conferences that brings together experts in various fields (originally Technology, Entertainment, and Design) with the goal of spreading ideas.

Johanna Blakey studies the impact of mass media on our world, and in this presentation she explains how social media is impacting gender. Traditional media uses rigid segmentation to understand audiences based on age, race, and gender demographics that create a vast generalization of people. Just because I am a female, doesn't mean I liked The Notebook. Social media on the other hand is much harder to track that information on users, instead it gains information on users likes and interests. This new media landscape can help replace the of concept that certain demographics like certain things, and replace it with taste communities that match our actual preferences. Ultimately, social media has the potential to end gender stereotypes, and allow us to re-define ourselves online.

The Daily- The First iPad only 'Newpaper'

Unveiled yesterday, Rupert Murdoch's The Guardian is a self-proclaimed type of "new journalism...[for]...new times." The newspaper costs only $0.99/week and features landscape and portait layouts for every page, each layout with it's own special features. The paper can also connect via your Twitter and update your favorite sports team's score in real time, bringing a whole new level of interactiveness to your average sports page.

Is this the future of the newspaper industry? Innovations like this are giving people less and less reason to call the iPad nothing more than a toy, and charging for online subscriptions AND advertising without the overhead of printing costs can be a good revenue source for the struggling newspaper industry. I am interested to wait and see the trends from this innovation after the hype dies down and there are competitors. The paper is, after all, funded by the same guy who owns Fox News.

AU in the Washington Post

American University was in yesterday's Washington Post for its use of social media during the most recent snowstorm.

Professor Zaharna's International Public Relations class has a Facebook page in which they use to communicate about certain events happening around the world and since the article has hit, requests to join the group and emails about the group have been pouring in. When the snow hit and school was canceled, Professor Zaharna held a "snow class."

Wikileaks nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize

Wikileaks, love it or hate it, has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by a member of the Norwegian Parliament. This site is an example of the broad reach of websites and the effect that they can have on people and government, even when faced with hackers.

Personally, I think that Wikileaks went too far and did some harm with the good that they were trying to do. What do you think? Do you think that Wikileals deserves a Nobel Peace Prize?

Google's spam problem

This is a fascinating article about Google's ongoing issue with spam.  The fact that people are now turning to Twitter and other sites over Google is really troublesome for the company.  It shows that even the Google algorithm can't overcome the invasiveness of spam.  If you were in the PR department for Google, aside from fixing the problem, how would you frame this issue in the context of Twitter's dominance?

Egypt: Call in your twitter updates!

Since the Egypt government has shut down all social media outlets, a new work-around has been established. Google, Twitter and SayAnything have joined forces to create a voice based social media platform. The service gives Egyptians three phone numbers to call and leave a voice message(like a voicemail!), which is then posted on the Internet as a recorded Twitter message. This allows Egyptian protesters the ability to still get their messages out. What will the social media revolution think up next!

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meetup.com

Meetup.com is a site that allows you to find meetings of specific groups in your areas. If you just type in an interest, topic, political affiliation etc it can direct you to these groups. Also if you have a group it allows you to attract new people that are interested in your cause.

http://www.meetup.com/find/