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Social Media Helps Victims In Haiti

haitiearthquakeWhen there seems to be some type of major catastrophe anywhere in the world, it seems like everything else just stops and everyone wants to help.  Yesterday’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti is just the latest example.

And many people are finding that social media sites are the best way to get involved.  With the use of social media, the citizens of Haiti can tell the story, if they are actually able to get an internet connection.  Many have however.  Jonathan A. Lusma, a victim of the Haiti earthquake, posted the picture to the left on CNN’s citizen journalism site, iReport.  Katie Hawkins-Gaar, a CNN iReport producer, talked to Lusma and said that he, “shot these photos on the morning of January 13, the day after the earthquake struck. Because of the multiple aftershocks, he said many people spent the night outside of their homes.”  Lusma’s photo’s are just one of many that are being used in CNN’s continuing coverage of the Haiti earthquake.  (more…)

Facebook Users Get Free Security

14736_229135845249_220342685249_4727313_2980373_nIn today’s economy, there is nothing like the word ‘free’.  And when it comes to your own security, you can’t pass it up.  Facebook has teamed up with McAfee security, one of the world leaders in computer safety, to offer a free six month subscription to McAfee’s security software to all of Facebook’s 350+ million users.  And if users decide they want to continue their software after their subscription ends, they’ll be offered a special discount.

It’s a big move on both Facebooks & McAfee’s part.  McAfee’s say’s they are giving software that costs about $35 on the site.  If you take that and multiply it by 350 million, that’s just less than $12.25 billion dollars before tax. (more…)

Social Media In The New Decade

fexit10 years ago at this moment, the world was relieved that nothing that they had feared about, regarding Y2K actually happened.  People were now placing their money back into the bank, while others had an endless supply of food they had stocked up on just in case.  It’s crazy to think that if someone would have said “Facebook”, “YouTube”, “Digg”, or just the words “social media,” we most likely would have given them a funny and strange look. 

It was in 2004 when social media was created.  Linkdin & MySpace took to the web and since then there has been explosion of “social media” & “social networking” sites.  When I graduated high school in 2005, if had ever wanted to share a video with the class for a certain project, I’d have to visit the library, maybe a video store, and rent the video, while worrying about some return date.  Today, my brother who is in his sophomore year of high school is able to use YouTube to share a video with just the click of a mouse.  Our world has advanced so much in the past decade, and social media has played a significant role! (more…)

Facebook Takes Gold From Google

facebookmedal copyAs we all know Google has been the number one internet site in the US for as far back as many of us can remember.  Hitwise announced via Twitter, that Facebook was the number 1 visited site on Christmas Day, for the first time ever.  Now it’s obvious that people wanted to wish their friends and families “Merry Christmas,” which is the reason for the top spot.

Hitwise hasn’t released any actual numbers at this time, but regardless, this is a very important mark in Facebook’s history.  As Facebook continues to grow pasts it’s 350 million users, the site could very soon dominate the most US visited site list.  (more…)

Facebook’s Trends of 2009

3d-text-effect-2009 copyAs I predicted earlier this month, everyone is pumping out data from the what happened this year.  Last week, I shared with you some of Twitter’s most tweeted words.  Now this week, Facebook has decided to share some of the most talked about topics through status updates. 

“Status updates on Facebook help people understand their friends and the people around them–how they’re feeling, what they’re doing and what they’re thinking,” says Facebook’s Lars Backstrom in a Facebook statement. “In the United States alone, people on Facebook are sharing hundreds of millions of words every day, thousands per second, in status updates. When taken as a whole, these words offer a unique barometer into the issues, world events and thoughts that are connecting people.” (more…)

Senior Citizens Use Social Media & Web Too

Computer-older-womanHave you ever heard someone say they are too old to figure out how to use a computer?  As a 22 year old, I find it hard to imagine life without a computer, since I’ve always had one in the house since about 3rd or 4th grade.  I know we were one of the last families in the neighborhood to get one.  My brother, sister and me were definitely brought up in a different age than my parents.  While my mom became accepting to the computer, my dad says, “computers are the end of the word as we know it!”  Asking my dad to find the power button on a computer is impossible, which is why I was flabbergasted to learn that my 15 year old brother taught him how to text.

While my dad is more than a decade and a half away from becoming a senior citizen, a new survey recently showed that seniors enjoy using the internet, and some of their favorite sites include Facebook and YouTubeNielsen estimates that today nearly 17.5 million seniors are active on the Internet, which is up from 2004, when it was estimated only 11.3 million seniors used the internet. (more…)

Facebook Friends Cause Appeal?

gavel copyOnly in 2009 could social networking site Facebook interfere with a trial. Right now, Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon is being convicted of embezzlement.  Defense lawyers say that Dixon used donated gift cards which were supposed to go to a local charity, on her and her family.

The trial has already had a rocky start with one juror possibly being charged by withholding a possible conflict of interest.  In 2006 Shawana Tyler, entered a contest sponsored by the city for a shopping spree to fill a shopping cart up with as much food as you can in 2 minutes.  Tyler thought the grocery store sponsored the contest and doesn’t remember seeing the mayor there.  But photos from the event, archived by the Baltimore Times show the two standing next to each other, while Dixon gave a speech. (more…)

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