Posts by JennaMandaglio

Social Media- the New Source for Breaking News

Aug25
2011 Leave a Comment Written by JennaMandaglio

Social Media has been steadily creeping up on the “Things That Encompass and Take Over Our Lives” list ever since it emerged. Not only is it for finding new music, connecting with our old friends we normally would not even bother trying to reconnect with, or broadcasting our every thought with trending hash tags. It is now a source for breaking news.

Following Osama Bin Laden’s death, it was announced that a Twitter user actually live tweeted the events of Bin Laden’s capture and death. Little did he know he was the only person to cover the actual events as they happened. There have been literally millions of tweets and Facebook statuses about Steve Jobs’ resignation, which just happened. When an earthquake hit the east coast, users turned to Facebook messaging to get in contact with their loved ones when the cell phone service was down. Tweet was even just added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

People are no longer relying on the front page of the Sunday paper or the 5:00 news for the day’s and week’s events, they are relying on their live Twitter feeds and Facebook updates on their laptops, desktops, tablets and smart phones. They don’t wait until they get out of bed anymore; people check their smart phones before their feet even hit the floor.

Tell us : what do you rely on for the most recent happenings? Your television set, a newspaper, or social media?

Posted in Uncategorized - Tagged , , , , , ,

Social Media Goes Old School

Aug17
2011 1 Comment Written by JennaMandaglio

Screen Shot of the BookLamp Site

In this day and age, there is a social media outlet for quite literally nearly everything. Connecting with old friends, interest-based sites, finding new music, you name it you got it.

Until recently, there hasn’t been a social media site for books. That’s right, books. You remember, those things with paper pages and words that tell a story?

Launched yesterday, BookLamp is basically creating a Pandora for books which will be based on what they call “Book DNA”, which is further separated into various story components and the style of the writing. When you go to the site (which is still in Beta), you can browse by author, genre or title of a book you have read. The site will then recommend other books similar to the one you entered based on the Book DNA.

BookLamp's "Book DNA"

Although the site is new, the technology behind it is not. BookLamp is utilizing technology that has been used previously in the process of publishing. If used properly, it can help literary publishers target and market people with specific interests based on BookLamp’s users’ previously read books.

What do you think about this startup social media site? We think it’s great to see this digital industry turning to its roots!

Posted in Social Media - Tagged , , ,

Social Gaming: Coming to an Ad Campaign Near You!

Aug09
2011 Leave a Comment Written by JennaMandaglio

By now, everyone in the Facebook world knows what FarmVille is. And if you’re one of the few people that don’t, please remove your head from the hole it’s been dwelling in for the past 3 years. Even people who aren’t on Facebook have heard of FarmVille. Whether they have friends that play it, get annoying notifications from their mother saying that they just sent them a new crop, or if they’re that person who spends more money on their virtual crops than their real-life groceries–even if they don’t partake in social gaming, people are familiar with what it is.

As Mashable says in their article from August of 2010:

“But it’s a mistake to think that casual, social network-based games are just for web geeks. A new study from market research firm NPD Group shows that one out of every five Americans over the age of six has played an online social game at least once. Altogether, that’s nearly 60 million Americans, adults and kids alike”

Did you get that? 60 million people are social gamers. And that’s just in America. From a year ago. Imagine how many people have started since then and all the people around the world not included in that statistic. Keep in mind the social media industry is one of the most frequently changing markets known to mankind.

Actually, the most recent Socialnomics video featured this little tidbit of information: Worldwide, there are only 1.5 million real farmers. Want to take a guess on how many FarmVille farmers there are? Multiply it by 53 and you’re still not there. That’s right. 80 million international FarmVille farmers.

So, how is social gaming changing our lives now aside from scheduling our lives around when our virtual farms require harvesting?

Yesterday, everyone’s favorite late night college pizza supplier, Domino’s, introduced a new week-long-only ad campaign. Via Facebook game. People who play the game (which features “The Noid”- Domino’s old mascot), and “Like” the Domino’s Facebook Page, will get the chance of winning one of over ten thousand free pizza coupons which will be given out by the minute to the consumer with the highest score.

Considering the fact that social gamers will buy $6 billion in virtual goods by 2013, Domino’s may be onto something here. Companies can start producing their own social games to both promote and possibly even generate revenue by virtual goods for their benefit.

What do you think of this unusual take on social media promotion? Does it stand a chance in the long-run? Let us know what you think.

Posted in Facebook, Social Media, Uncategorized - Tagged , , , ,

Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead! Which old Witch? The Bin Laden Witch!

May04
2011 Leave a Comment Written by JennaMandaglio

Facebook Page Devoted to the Death of Bin Laden

Alright, so it may not be groundbreaking news now that Osama Bin Laden is dead, especially after the viral surge on Sunday night, following the discovery.

Facebook statuses, Tweets, and breaking news television segments galore followed the announcement of Bin Laden’s death. Even the morning after, there were tweets and statuses galore dedicated to this, including tons of news articles reporting on the matter. There is even a pinpoint on Google Maps where Bin Laden died.  Basically, the only way you could have not found out about this is if you were hiding out in the desert, under a rock.

Mashable, everyone’s favorite source for news in social and digital media, conducted a poll about how people found out about Bin Laden’s death. Interestingly enough, television– the medium that everybody would normally find out by if it were 10 years ago – was number four, following first place Twitter with 36% of total votes and second place Facebook with 19%.

The announcement of his death was actually live streamed by The White House, something we never would have seen on the internet if this were even 5 years ago. People no longer are expected to have access to a television set, just to social media.

For example, the other day I got a CNN Breaking News notification sent to my iPhone saying that there was a DNA confirmation on Osama’s death.

Do you think social media will take over the role of television as well as other various mediums to tell citizens about breaking news? Or do you think television is indispensable? We’d love to know your opinions!

Osama's Hideout

Mashable Poll regarding how people found out about Bin Laden’s death – as of Monday, May 2, 10 AM http://mashable.com/2011/05/02/osama-bin-laden-death/)

Twitter – 36.11% (5,018 votes)

Facebook - 19.18% (2,665 votes)

Other source - 16.25% (2,258 votes)

Television - 14.89% (2,069 votes)

Phone/Text - 11.3% (1,571 votes)

Instant message – 2.27% (316 votes)

Total Votes: 13,897

Posted in Facebook, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized - Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

It’s the End of the World as We Know It: Do You Feel Fine… About How Social Media Will Take a Role in the 2012 Election?

Apr27
2011 Leave a Comment Written by JennaMandaglio

Remember the days when presidents and other elected officials used corny campaign commercials that bashed their opponents and put up local signs on 20 feet away from eachother? Remember when we had to tune our rabbit-eared television sets to one of the 25 channels to watch a live presidential debate or speech?

Remember when we thought that was innovative?

We also thought President Barack Obama’s social media campaign in 2008 was ground-breaking. But by now, it’s no surprise that social media is pretty much taking over the world – even the world of politics. And it has no plan of stopping by the looks of it.
Obama recently participated in a town hall meeting at the Facebook Headquarters on Wednesday, April 20th with Facebook CEO and Founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Want to guess how he got the word out? Not with a public service commercial or a flimsy grass sign, that’s for sure. That day, just an hour and a half before the event started, the status on his Facebook page (which has over 19 million fans) read “Inviting you to a town hall meeting on the economy that I’m holding at Facebook’s headquarters this Wednesday. It’s going to be live streamed, and I’ll answer questions from folks across the country.” It received over 13,000 likes with over 4,000 comments. Obama is the first president to visit Facebook Headquarters, reminding us of his Social Media 2008 campaign success.

How does the Republican Party feel about this? Probably a bit threatened. “The notion that the Internet was owned by liberals, owned by the left in the wake of the Obama victory, has been proven false,” Patrick Ruffini, a Republican political online strategist, commented to the New York Times. Sarah Palin recently launched a new website, to make it easier to make donations, which has only added to her Twitter followers and her 2.9 million Facebook fans.

So what changes can we expect to see in the 2012 Social Media Campaigns from both parties?

Anna Ruth Williams, Senior Account Manager at Communications 21, said that we will see many of the same tools Obama used in 2008, but this time around with many more improvements. But what about the new mobile sensation with products like Android phones, iPhones and iPads? Well, the White House has that all figured out. They recently developed a White House app, allowing mobile users to receive alerts when the President will speak. According to the White House site, “Americans can get alerts directly from the White House, check out behind-the-scenes photos and videos, and read the latest news from the blog or the Briefing Room.”

Only time will tell how both parties decide to implement the social media and mobile craze. What do you think will happen? Drop us a line below and let us know!

President Obama at Facebook Headquarters 4/20/11

Posted in Facebook, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, Uncategorized, White House - Tagged , , , , , , ,
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