You say you want a Revolution

For those of you who do not follow music, the title of this particular blog entry is from a Beatles's song. The Beatles's were and are still considered one of the most innovative bands in music history.

As people have mentioned already in their posts we are graduating college in 13 days. It has been stated numerous times that our economy is in a recession. The Dollar is weak. The Euro and Pound are stronger than ever. What will happen when we graduate? The election will still continue and Steven Colbert will continue to crack jokes on candidates. But what will we do that will impact society?

The reason why we are the revolution is because we are living through the transformation and proliferation of new media. We are the ones who are creating this change. These are people who are considered the most influential people according to TIME MAGAZINE. I end my final blog posting with this question. What revolution will we soon to be college graduates instigate?

Social Networks Break Outside Internet Slowly....

To my blog readers I am sorry this posting is late but I was home for the Jewish holiday of Passover and was celebrating the holiday.

A few days ago I was loading my pictures onto face book. I then received an im from one of my friends. I could not believe it! You can now see who is online and communicate with them through instant messaging. As the author in this Economist article mentions "the problem with today's social networks is that they are often closed to the outside web." Though outside companies like BMW, movie studios, and other companies market on facebook with creative and interactive campaigns, users do not combine their outside activities on the outside world web onto facebook. This is why igoogle and yahoo are beginning to research ways to combine social networking onto the gmail and yahoo mail. The goal is to combine outside internet use with social networking.

GPS cellphones save the world

I don't know if anyone else is overwhelmed with all the new and innovative social networking technologies out there but I am. After reading this article, I started to think about how many people have access to this technology and how many do not. People who do have internet are sure to have access to all of these modernistic websites but not everyone can afford cell phones that have GPS systems and reach and locate everyone.

In regards to that I have to mention this other article in my blog posting because I literally stumbled upon it. The article focuses on how cell phone companies like Nokia are sending anthropologists to third world countries. They are not marketing to the locals they are there in order to understand the culture and see how their technology can be used in the country. If technology such as the Mobile GPSs system should be targeted to everyone it should be priced at realistic and affordable prices. If this does not happen they will not reach the people they are trying to target.

Social Media Consuming Politics

In a recent New York Times article "Finding Political News Online, the Young Pass It On" writer Brian Steltzer discusses the proliferation of political news on the internet. Young consumers e-mail videos and stories to friends by sending out a chain e-mail or message on social networking websites. They rely on these messages to stay current with the political race. Internet users are adopting a social filter while using mainstream websites and nontraditional media. This provides a constant viral chain and can be an advantage and disadvantage for political canidates.

You can have user generated content like the Obama Girl Video which spread like wildfire across the internet and the Steven Colbert for President facebook group which had more members than any other political candidate. Nevertheless, it can backfire on a candidate. The article "John Edward's Web General" explains how Edwards was attacked by not a politician but by a youtube user. The person posted a speech Edward's made and set it to the song 'I Feel Pretty'.

This demonstrates the capability the internet has to ruin a candidate's chance in the race. Politicians must be viral 24/7 if consumers are viral 24/7. A politician's career can begin to plunder just by the click of send to all friends in a facebook message.

Is who you know the way to go?

Employers are using social networking websites to breach every bracket. It first began with searching potential employees on facebook profile but now there are social networking job websites like Linkedin and Jobster. I find these websites to be useful for employers and employees. They allow recruiters to narrow down and evaluate potential employees. Some of these social networking websites are used as tools. These tools like Linked In help people connect with one another. They are allowing employers to find accurate information about people. However, I still believe in personal and face to face relationships. A person may sound good on paper or screen for that matter but it is not until you meet the individual will you know if the candidate is a valid match.

Even Barack Obama formed a Linkedin page!

Citizen Journalism is on the Rise

Last semester American University had two prestigious journalists speak at the school hardball Helen Thomas and MSNBC White House Correspondent David Greggory. When the floor was open for questions I remember a student asking how each of them felt about web 2.0 and the idea that John Stewart and his Daily Show was more hard news then the traditional nightly news. Gregory quickly answered the question and moved on to the next one.

Does this mean that journalists are actually scared of Jon Stewart? As Helen Thomas has says "there needs to be more hard news" and right now the traditional media is not producing hard news. This is why people are beginning to rely on non traditional media like blogs. News sites are now allowing users to write and report on there websites. The users are now the journalists. Citizen Journalism is the way our news media is now going and will continue to perpetuate.

Virtual Is The New Step to Reality

Remember when your professor said to the classroom that everyone would have to work in groups for the next assignment? A normal response from a classroom of students would be a moan. The professor would then respond how " you have a chance to see what it is like working in the real world." The question I am about to propose is that maybe students and professionals should require training in "virtual group projects". It is sometimes required for people to receive training in team building skills.

But has anyone thought of virtual teamwork skills? It is already hard for people to work together face to face. this article explains how a company who needs to work together online can create a successful team. According to a study in this article, "The Strange Beauty of Virtual Teams", it is more difficult for people to keep focused and on task with virtual groups. If someone is in a virtual group they need to be able to balance their online and offline work accordingly. If they do not, they will affect the rest of the team's project.