Social Media to the Rescue

Two weeks ago, the tragic Boston Bombings occurred at the Boston Marathon. Hundreds were wounded and a few killed. What was amazing to me about the attack was how the news was spread about what was happening in regard to the victims, the suspects and all the details in between.  Not only was social media one of the main ways people were being informed about what was going on, but the police and the FBI used crowd sourcing through social media to identify the suspects. Twitter and Facebook have become such a major part of our everyday lives that they became key factors in informing the public about updates regarding the investigation. Participants in the marathon posted videos and pictures of the attack and the people that were hurt by it. The police used the social media platforms to reach people to come forward with these pictures or any information they had regarding to the attacks. The FBI also released photos of the suspects all over the media and in less than 24 hours the suspects were found.

Just looking back at how far social media has impacted our lives is absolutely incredible. It is not just a place to see what your friends are up to, but a place where police can crowd source an investigation and use the publics help to solve cases. I don't know how the suspects would have been identified and caught so quickly if it wasn't for the help of social media to spread the word and capture information.

Facebook in Politics?

On Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg launched his own political group, Fwd.us. He is teaming up with other Silicon Valley leaders to boost his group that is aimed at revamping immigration policies, boosting education and encouraging investment in scientific research. The group, pronounced "forward us", is pushing for an immigration policy that creates better boarder security and creates an easy path for immigrants to achieve citizenship. Zuckerberg is also calling for a higher standard in education; he believes there should be more of a push for science, technology, engineering and math in schools. Zuckerberg has received support from Google Inc. chairman Eric Schmidt, Netflix Inc. CEO Reed Hastings, Yahoo Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer and LinkedIn Corp. CEO Reid Hoffman. It is crazy to me that these multi millionaires are using their money and influence to enter the political ring. Yes, some lobbying is needed to be done in order for anything to be completed in the Senate or House these days, but does that mean the latest creators of technology and social media companies are the answer? Social media has become a major part of our every day lives, but is the next step for them to influence our politics? 

Final Four Atlanta

So this weekend, college basketball fans all over the country will flock to Atlanta to join in the celebration of the Final Four tournament. I am fortunate enough to go to school an hour away from Atlanta so I can participate in the festivities as well.  I received a volunteer position with the Social Media Street Team that is in charge of creating and publishing content of all the action going on over the weekend.  Friday I got the chance to help out with the PR group and assist with media. My job was to follow and direct media around for the concert performances. On Saturday, myself and three other girls, were in charge of going back to Centennial Park for the concert and pass out t-shirts and get people to like the Facebook page, download the Final Four app or follow them on Twitter.  We also got to come up with competitions for fans to participate in to win free Bracket Town tickets. It was such an amazing experience to not only help out, but to see what goes on during a major event, like the Final Four, and how they come up with their social media strategy.  I was lucky enough that the company liked my photo of the concert so much, they posted it up on the Facebook page.  Just seeing a photo that I took getting published for the Final Four just made the experience all worth it. I was able to learn so much of what goes behind the scenes and how you have to create a schedule of content you are putting out hours or even days in advanced.  I was so happy I could get a chance to be apart of history and also that I was able to have this opportunity to get a sneak preview of an industry that I would like to be apart of in the future!

The Facebook Phone

Facebook has just invited press on April 4th to attend their event, to “Come See Our New Home On Android”.  Speculation has been going around for months if Facebook would be creating their own phone, and now, they kind of have.  It is just rumors at this point, but speculations say that Facebook will be announcing at this event that they have just created their own phone with HTC. Sources have said the phone will be "a modified version of the Android operating system with deep native Facebook functionality on the homescreen that may live on an HTC handset." Because of this, people are assuming this is the Facebook phone we have been waiting on a couple years for. The phone will have extra Facebook functionality in it, such as possibly the home screen being Facebook-ified.  News feed and data would be displayed right on the home screen if this is true. If this is true, Facebook will be getting the revenue their newly public company has been searching for.  It just makes you think, could Twitter, Instagram or some new social platform be next in creating their own type of software for a phone? Also, I think this could definitely give the Android market an advantage over Apple. Guess we will all have to wait till April 4th to see if it's true! (I know I sure hope it is...) 

March Madness 2013 Apps

The time has finally come...March Madness is back.  The exciting time of year where work productivity plummets for three weeks due to the fact there are 67 basketball games to watch and every single one matters. You could even add an additional week in for the selection process for everyones brackets.  With the amount of apps on the rise, it's only fitting that instead of just simply creating a TV schedule to watch the games, you need to choose what bracket app, live streaming app, stats app, and restaurant location app you are going to need to maximize your own March Madness experience. The question is though: how do you chose from the several options given to you?  For example, to create a bracket and join in groups, you could choose from ESPN's Bracket Bound app, NCAA March Madness Live app, or CBS Sports app, just to name a couple.  Once you figure that out, when the first round of games start, how can you watch 3 games at once? Well, that's easy....watch one game on TV, one on your computer and one using an app on your phone.  The boom of technology and the use of apps have made the ultimate sports fans' dream come true. 

It doesn't just stop there, now you have to think about, where can I find a good sports bar to watch the games, or what are some restaurants that could deliver to make your viewing party at your own home even better? App creators are taking advantage of this tournament from every angle. You could use the app, Sports Bar Finder from DIRECTV, to use your GPS location to find what bars near you have the games available to watch. There are so many apps to help you stay updated during the tournament and the best part is the fact that most, if not all, are FREE! So don't kick a gift horse in the mouth, use these apps to your advantage! 

Facebook the New Local News Source?

Lately, I have come to notice that Facebook isn't what it used to be.  When I first created my Facebook account,  I used it for posting funny pictures on my friends walls and being able to talk to them online. Now that I have been in college for a couple of years and haven't seen my high school friends in quite sometime, my Facebook page is now being used for finding out updates of what is going on in my hometown when I'm away at school.  I feel like the purpose of Facebook has taken a turn.  It used to be a social network to connect with friends but now its just a way to keep updated with peoples' lives.

If I want to "chat" with someone, I don't use Facebook chat, I have texting to do that.  Now with so many people having iPhones, I can have group chats on my phone instead of having them online.  There is no need for status updates anymore because that is what Twitter is for.  Twitter allows me to give updates to my followers about what I am doing or thinking and I can follow celebrities or sport stars to see what they are doing.  Having Twitter for status updates, Instagram to share pictures and Four Square to let people know where you are, is there really a need for Facebook anymore? The only relevant use for Facebook now is to find out news.  When a classmate on mine from high school past away, I found out through Facebook.  My friends shared information about the funeral and what my community was doing to help out the family. If it wasn't for Facebook I would have probably never have found out what happened since I live states away from my hometown and no news program down here in Georgia would report that kind of news.

With all these new social media platforms becoming such a growing part of our lives, it has almost come to a point where, do we have to pick and chose which platforms we use? Or are some just fading out? Since there is such an increasing usage rate with Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, will Facebook be the next Myspace and go extinct? Only time will tell, but at least for me, Facebook has become more of a news source than anything.

Do the Harlem Shake

Just in this past week alone, over 4,000 of Harlem Shake videos have been made per day. The 1980's 'Harlem Shake' dance has made a comeback, but will it last?  Here, at The University of Georgia, the Swim and Dive team made a Harlem Shake video and in one day it had over a million hits.  Not only did it go viral over the internet, but it made national news and was aired on The Today Show on NBC. The next day, our football team, basketball team and several groups of students had made their own versions of 'The Harlem Shake' and put it up on YouTube for the world to see. What is so crazy to me is that the actual song "Harlem Shake" by Baauer was made in 2012 and no one had really heard it but in one day after all these videos went viral, his song became the #1 selling song on iTunes this week. It just goes to show that social media has become such a major part of our daily lives, it can be so easy to start trends.

Every day this week I can't log on to my Facebook or check my Twitter without another 'Harlem Shake' video being shared or talked about from my friends.  It is just so amazing to me that in less than a week, such a huge following of people have become obsessed with this new trend of videos.  This past weekend while I was watching college basketball, Auburn fans were filming their own version of the 'Harlem Shake' during a timeout. It has become such a craze that I wonder if a university or college didn't make a video it would be frowned upon. I do think about how long the hype about these videos will last. To me it seems like this is a fad and after a few more days the videos will die out and something new will come along. In my generation we have such a short attention span that usually these trends don't last very long. I will however enjoy them while they last and see if anyone can top the UGA Swim and Dive's version of 'The Harlem Shake'.