Social Networking

Twitter’s Big Week

Twitter users from around the world have been seeing some major changes to the website lately, and this week the popular microblogging website rolled out some major features that could be very useful in the future.

A few weeks ago, Twitter launched Twitter Lists Beta, which allowed users to organize a group of followers into specific categories and last week it went live to the entire Twitter community.  This week, 2 new beta features went into effect, which if all goes well should be seen by all users very soon.  First, a small number of users have been granted a feature which allows them to see when someone they are following has updated a post.  The feature will automatically notify them of new tweets since they last refreshed their page from the people they follow on their Twitter.com homepage.  Users be able to click the notification and Twitter will automatically refresh their page without them having to do anything else.  The feature is almost identical to the automatic refresh on the Twitter Search feature. (more…)

Social Media & Breaking News

Social media sites have become an important tool for breaking news, many times breaking a story before the mainstream media picks it up.  Sites such as Twitter have also been important communication tools for those affected by the events as they unfold.

Yesterday, news about a shooting in Fort Hood, Texas, shocked the country and almost instantly became a trending topic on Twitter.  The massacre, which killed 12 and left 31 wounded, sparked interest and supporters from around the world — many of whom ended up  leaving comments on the Army’s social media sites.  The Facebook group “Prayers for Fort Hood” was started soon after word spread, and currently it has just more than 20,000 supporters.   The U.S. Army‘s Facebook page was also flooded with support and prayers from people around the world. As one person wrote, “My prayers go out to the family and friends of the fallen heroes. It’s time we remember to pray for all our soldiers regardless of where they are.”  (more…)

GOP Using Social Media To Tackle Health Care Reform

Washington is up in arms about the $1.3 trillion health care plan, and it doesn’t look like the fight between Democrats & Republicans is going to end anytime soon.  The Republican Party have joined the rest of the world in the social media and blog world in hopes to share the more details of 1,990 page proposal that most American’s are unlikely to read.  House Majority Leader John Boehner started a campaign on behalf of the GOP on the website Amplify.com, which is an interactive blog-like platform.  They plan on breaking down the bill section by section, and explaining each page in an understandable language to get feedback from the American people. From there, visitor’s are able to comment and share sections via on several social media sites, including Twitter & Facebook.

Boehner’s new media director, Nick Schaper said, “As our members read the bill and uncover harmful provisions, Amplify allows us to clip specific portions and explain what they mean in plain English. It’s our hope that through this effort, we can help Americans understand just what 1,990 pages of bureaucracy really means to them and their families.” (more…)

Twitter Lists Make Sorting a Snap

By now, Twitter users will have noticed a new feature being touted at the top of their live feeds. At long last, it seems that the social networking site has placed some credence in the ability to sort through and filter information. My primary quibble with Twitter up to this point was its lack of a dependable search feature. Whether users were trying to look up their friends’ accounts or looking to sift through previous posts, a headache was sure to follow.

In the last few days alone, Twitter lists have made my social networking experience much more efficient. The lists allow users to narrow and refine the influx of information that comes into their feeds. I’ve created several unique lists, and each one has a distinct purpose. Since I mainly use Twitter to stay in touch with old friends and to monitor developing news stories, it’s helpful to separate those two ends. (more…)

Spammer Looses $711 Million To Facebook

Late last week, a San Jose, California judge awarded Facebook $711 million.  This comes after Sanford Wallace, a spammer who had hacked into users profile,  posted phony wall post and messages to those users friends.  In March of this year, Wallace along with Adam Arzoomanian and Scott Shaw had all been sued and had been put on a restraining order by Facebook.  The restraining order was put into place, so that if any of three hacked into Facebook again, they will be thrown into jail immediately. (more…)

Facebook Gearing Up For New Policy’s

The first week of November is always a busy and important one in America.  With elections happening across the country, it can be an overwhelming week.  Although, this year we don’t have to make any important Presidential choices, Facebook is gearing to let users vote on a new set of policy’s. 

Earlier this year, Facebook had established the System Of Governance, after users were outraged by the new set of privacy policy’s were put into place.   Soon after, Facebook had allowed users to not only comment on how they would like the policy’s to be, but also vote on the proposed changes.  (more…)

Social Media Phones

There is a pretty good chance you know several people with an iPhone or Blackberry.  The iPhone, known for all the apps and being able to connect with anyone just about anywhere, is a great tool to use in the world of social media.  The Blackberry, a more business professional phone, also has apps and connects owners with their social networking sites.  Well there are 3 new phone devices expected to hit the market that will keep users even closer to their social networks more then they are now. (more…)

Social Media & App’s Reaching The World

It seems that we can find just about anything on social media sites.  Whether it’s breaking news about Balloon Boy, looking for the latest gossip about Jon & Kate, or commenting on our friend’s status’, the world is only one click away from seeing what we post.  And while the point of social media is to have your voice heard and to share content with the rest of the world, Toyota & MySpace are trying to get voices heard even more.

Toyota, the Japanese car manufacturer, is using its social media app to showcase drawings on jumbo-trons in New York’s Times Square.  The Experience Prius app, which came out in August has added a new feature this week, which will allow you to take what’s on your iPhone screen to the big screen.

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Nigeria Uses Social Media For Electricity

Nigeria is thought of one of the poorest countries in the world.  Surprisingly, Nigeria is the most populous and oil rich nation in Africa, and every day millions are left out in the dark because the government does not offer constant electricity for many places through the country.  But now thousands are trying to use the power of social media to encourage the government to bring electricity through the nation.  

The Light Up Nigeria movement is an effort to bring constant electrical power to Nigerian homes and businesses.  Since the 1980’s the Nigerian Government, has been inconsistent in the supply of electricity, because of the corruption and sabotage within the governmental system.  Light Up Nigeria, which is citizen formed, states on their website that  ‘everyone in Nigeria is affected by the lack of constant power supply so everyone in Nigeria is part of the movement.’  That has become the way of life for Nigerians and a known fact about the country.  The lack of electricity has been blamed for the nation missing out on new investments and business opportunities.  (more…)

Twitter Favors Democrats

Twitter is in some hot water in California, after the Center for Governmental Studies realized the popular social networking site was suggesting members of the Democratic Party, who are expected to run for California’s governor next year, over the Republican Party candidates.  When someone signs up for Twitter, the company suggests certain celebrities, politicians and other high profiled citizens for new users to follow.  A random list of 20 out of the 500 high profiled users is shown and users can choose to follow as many or as few of those recommendations. 

Some of those 500 high profiled recommended users include San Fransisco mayor Gavin Newsom, and California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who both have either announced or expressed interest in running for California Governor next year on the Democratic ticket.  The two, both have a huge following, as Newsom has over 1.2 million followers, while Brown has close to 966,000 followers.  Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner, and Tom Campbell who are all plan on running for governor on the Republican ticket are not suggested users and all have under 4,500 followers.  (more…)