Blog
Researchers turn to tweets to study mood swings
In what appears to be a first in the academic community, a group of researchers are using Twitter to determine the mood of ordinary Americans in different parts of the country. Scientists at Boston’s Northeastern University decided to sift through millions of tweets posted by Americans throughout the country and found that the majority of citizens tend to be happiest during either the morning hours or in the evening, but the gloomiest point appears to set in during the mid-afternoon. It appears as though more Americans post positive tweets ether when their energy levels are higher, or when they are off work. The study, rather predictably, also found that American Twitter users are in the best mood during the weekend.
Blogging represents evolution of journalism
Roy Greenslade, a freelance writer, blogger and a columnist at The Guardian, wrote a piece this week examining whether blogging can really be seen as professional journalism, despite the fact that bloggers regularly mix news reporting with biting, often passionate commentary, all in a single post. Greenslade argues that blogging represents an evolutionary development in journalism and that while it does not replace the newspaper, blogging certainly allows for far more rapid communication and rebuttal from readers, whenever they wish to express their displeasure with a given piece. As such, bloggers are held to rigorous standards, as well as checks and balances directly from readers, even if they do not have an editor-in-chief watching over them. While comments from readers take days to appear in print in the case of most newspapers, commentary on blogs is instantaneous.
Social media impacts consumer choices
The world’s two most prominent social media websites, Facebook and Twitter, have a clear impact on consumer choices and the commentary or content that users see posted on these sites can often encourage them to shop. Both a Gartner research study and another survey conducted by Deloitte found that companies that do not use social media tools in their marketing campaigns are missing out on a large consumer base and opportunity to expand their business. Deloitte added that early August, more than even, is the time for companies to plug into social media, as parents and students will soon be in a buying frenzy as the back-to-school shopping periods looms.
Freelance writer unravels mystery of a destroyed community
Africville was an African-Canadian settlement located near Halifax, until the government decided to demolish the impoverished community, despite protests from locals. While most Canadians have heard of Africville, it took a young freelance writer to actually bring the community’s history to life, through extensive research and interviews with one of the most outspoken protesters against its demolition. Freelancer John Tattrie had always heard about Africville’s demise, but something about the reason to demolish the community in the 1960s never made any logical sense. While authorities argued that bulldozing the impoverished area served as urban renewal, the locals saw the destruction of their community as nothing short of a human rights violation.
Queen and Church attempt to modernize using social media
Queen Elizabeth II is increasingly embracing the various forms of social media, in an effort to bring a monarchy sometimes perceived as cold and distant closer to ‘ordinary’ Britons, and citizens of Commonwealth countries. After launching a Twitter account and then later an official YouTube channel dedicated to the Queen, the monarchy has now also signed up to Flickr, one of the world’s most popular photo sharing sites, and uploaded more than 600 images, many of them offering rare glimpses into the personal lives of the current monarch’s predecessors.
Grassroots fashion blogging popular in China
One of the most popular forms of blogging in China has to do with grassroots fashion; rather than posting blog entries about the most famous designers or divulging details on the lives of prominent models, ordinary citizens use their own blogs and engage in micro-blogging in order to show how creative their sartorial habits truly are. According to a report in China’s English news publication, XinHua Net, a 24 year old resident of Shanghai has become one of the most popular bloggers in China, after launching a blog on Weibo, the Chinese version of Wordpress.
Freelance writer abducted by Yemeni secret police
Yemen’s secret police reportedly abducted and interrogated a prominent freelance writer earlier this week, according to information obtained by the Reuters news agency. Freelancer Abdulelah Shai was simply standing outside a restaurant in the town of Sanaa on Sunday, when three cloaked and armed men reportedly grabbed him, threw him into a car and drove off. Bystanders and the freelance writer’s supporters assumed that he had been kidnapped by a criminal group, but in fact he had been taken into custody by Yemen’s Political Security Organization. Shai was detained and interrogated for hours and his secret police captives only released him on Monday morning. Kamal Sharaf, another freelance writer and one of Shai’s close colleagues, witnessed the kidnapping. At first, many of Shai’s fellow writers and journalists assumed that the kidnapping was the hallmark of a terrorist or criminal organization and few assumed that Yemeni state security would turn to such brute force against a freelancer.
Thousands of blogs mysteriously shut down
According to media reports, 70,000 blogs hosted by a blogging platform called Blogetery were shut down this past weekend by the web hosting company Burst.net. While original reports indicated that the blogs were closed due to copyright violations, Joe Marr, the company’s chief technology officer confirmed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had called the firm’s attention to several blogs which included dangerous and illegal content. The FBI first contacted Burst on July 9th, in order to inform the web host that Blogetery included bloggers who posted bomb making instructions and purported messages from Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. One of the most insidious blog posts even encouraged the assassination of American citizens.
Old Spice makes social media history
Can a run-of-the-mill bottle of men’s body wash change the way companies around the world use social media in their marketing campaigns? If the recent series of online ads and tweets rolled out by Old Spice that tell men to go ahead and “smell like men” are any indication, then the answer to this question is a resounding ‘yes.’ Old Spice launched an online advertisement campaign on YouTube which attracted 70 million viewers so far and continues to draw in hundreds of thousands of hits each day. What many believe made social media history was Old Spice’s decision to get the ad’s star, football player Isaiah Mustafa, to answer the questions of fans and hundreds of viewers on Twitter and Facebook, using humorous short video clips. Each video refers to a specific question and viewer, and many of these short clips appeared online only minutes after the question was first posted.
China shuts down vocal freelancers and bloggers
According to Associated Press reports, China’s communist authorities have launched a widespread campaign aimed at silencing the country’s most vocal and critical bloggers and freelance writers. Micro-blogging sites have started to flourish in China over the past year, with many local companies taking a page from western giants, like Twitter and WordPress. But one of [...]
