Staying with the Times in Social Media

The quest of finding the perfect solution to measure return-on-investment with social media is an ever changing event. New websites and analytics tools are being created at lighting speeds. It’s important for those utilizing this new whirlwind of social technologies to be on their “A” game. A social media presence is an absolute must for any company or business owner looking to establish a relationship with customers. Any business with a brain is going to want results and data to measure the effectiveness and results from invested time!

It’s now easier than ever before to get lost in all the intricate webs of social media analysis tools. I’ve outlined a few that you might have never heard of.

• Feedly.com- is a Google Chrome extension that displays the latest updates from feeds, blogs, and sites like Facebook and Twitter in a magazine-like view. It integrates with Google Reader, Delicious, Amazon.com, YouTube, and other sites. The makeup of this site in very crisp and straightforward. If your looking to reach a specific niche market you can easily use this site to measure industry trends.




• Tweetdeck.com- Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations. This website helps to easily keep up with what people are doing.




I’ve always wanted to see what businesses are doing to fill these needs. Many companies don’t have individuals trained in using these new platforms there is only one option hire someone who does. I came across some very comforting and insightful statistics. A study done by www.epistar.com helps highlight the new trends companies are taking to establish an effective social media presence.

• 28% already have a social media or community manager in place and a further 41% expect to appoint one in the next 12 months.
• 73% of businesses are running online communities, or looking to do so in the next twelve months.
• The most challenging aspects of social media management are attracting users (32%), generating content (28%) and dealing with abuse (27%).
• Research released today finds that 69% of UK businesses have appointed or plan to appoint a social media or community manager in next 12 months.

*These statistics are from the United Kingdom. I found them to be very insightful and assume they would be similar to the U.S. market

“As more businesses start to take social media seriously, more will look towards employing community managers to ensure activities hit the mark. As this job function grows in importance, businesses will need to adjust to accommodate this person into the fabric of the company. Social media touches many or all parts of the organization, from marketing and IT through to customer service and HR. And that’s a good thing, as it forces companies to become more transparent and encourages them to listen to customers in new ways,” said Maria Wasing.


Here is a little video that shows us the new world of "socionomics"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypmfs3z8esI\

Written by: Keith Hayes

Media Blackout on Wall Street

The media has a social responsibility to the public to provide fair and unbiased coverage of current events. Interestingly enough, there is a large protest occurring right now on Wall Street that is barely getting covered by the media. A lot of police brutality is involved in this case which is likely a large reason for the media’s blind eye toward this situation.

Occupy Wall Street is a resistance movement based on the Arab Spring tactic in an attempt to restore democracy to America. The Arab Spring protest used civil resistance including strikes, demonstrations, marches and rallies to get their point across in combination with the use of social media to organize, communicate and raise awareness of the demonstrations. Protesters hope to change social and economic inequality, corporate greed and the influence that corporations and lobbyists have over our government. Occupy Wall Street is supposed to be a peaceful protest in which citizens of America make a change that they feel it vital to our county.

For how peaceful the protesters have been, the police have reacted offensively. There have been multiple reports of brutality to protesters and police horses from the people who are supposed to be protecting our rights ad humans.

Twitter updates referencing the violence include:
- Ryan Devereaux, Democracy Now reporter: “They’re using the horses to push us back. People scream, ‘You’re gunna kill somebody!’ ‘There’s no room!’ They’re right!”
- Bill Buster, media relations specialist for the Occupy Wall Street movement: “#OWS Police are apparently preparing massive nets, possibly to kettle thousands of protesters in NYC.”
- Carol Falk, protester: “Arrests on Wall street. They are pepper spraying #ows #OccupyWallStreet remain peaceful.”

“Our nation, our species and our world are in crisis. The US has an important role to play in the situation, but we can no longer afford to let corporate greed and corrupt politics set the policies of our nation” states a press release from the leaders of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Every aspect of this event is newsworthy, and yet the media seems to not think it significant. The hundreds of people arrested, many wrongly so, have stories to tell that no one will get to hear. The protest has been going on for a month and it remains known to few.

If the reason behind this media blackout is an attempt to hide the wrongdoings of our nation’s police agencies, then the media is acting highly unethical. There is obviously a lot involved in this story that people are unaware of and as it is the moral responsibility of the American media to provide citizens of our nation information they seem to be doing an awful job of it.



Written By: Danielle Ruckert