Archives for August 2011

Are Municipal Entities Getting Social Media Message?

Are municipal entities around the country getting the message that social media plays an important role in communications during and after natural disasters? My personal experience trying to get information about Long Beach Island (LBI) following Hurricane Irene where my in laws have a cottage makes me wonder. Only one island municipal entity, the Harvey Cedars Police Department, is on Twitter. None, except the Borough of Harvey Cedars, appear to be on … [Read more...]

Tweeting Libya’s ‘Digital Black Hole’ Revolution

"RT @mashable: Unconfirmed: Tweets Say Gaddafi Has Left Libya [BREAKING] - http://t.co/zOpe3NO," read a surprising tweet flashing across my smart phone screen Saturday afternoon. Since Mashable is a very reputable social media and technology blog, I immediately retweeted the message to my Twitter followers and began running searches to find out more about what was going on. Last January and February I'd followed the Revolution 2.0-powered uprisings in Tunisia and … [Read more...]

‘I’m Gonna Be Your Friend’: A Model Campaign

I absolutely love Save the Children's new social media campaign harnessing the power of celebrities and a Bob Marley song to raise funds for the devastating food crisis affecting millions of children and their families across East Africa. The "I'm Gonna Be Your Friend" campaign, which kicked off today, is named after the "I'm gonna be your friend" lyric in Marley's 1973 song "High Tide Or Low Tide." Using the moving song as the soundtrack to a YouTube video slide … [Read more...]

Video Clip of the Month: Drought & Filter Bubbles

With East Africa facing its worst drought in 60 years, I wince more than ever at a quote by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg: “A squirrel dying in your front yard may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa.” What Zuckerberg's assertion means on a societal level—such as during a regional famine overseas—is the topic of my August 2011 video clip of the month. It features Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is … [Read more...]