Poor Candy Crowley

I watched the debate for 30 minutes before I started yelling at the TV and decided it was best to switch to something on Netflix.

However during that 30 minutes it was easy to see the ways in which body language, tone and language played a major role.  To begin, as expected both candidates appeared to be exhibiting power poses either when sitting in a relaxed comfortable manning, or as they talked to the audience making eye contact, using flowing sentences, and augmenting their speeches with hand motions.  It was also entertaining, as many other people have previously commented, to watch the presidential candidates vehemently argue, point fingers, raise voices, and circle each other. 

The results of the debate however were what interested me most.  People believe that, while close Obama won this debate, an argument I found paradoxical.  This idea proves Cuddy's hypothesis that presence is what matters.  Obama was cool and calm during the debate while Romney constantly tried to overspeak and interrupt his opponent.  However the reason I found the idea of either candidate winning the debate was because neither discussed their plans for the country.  They of course discussed the other candidates faults along with what they if President wanted to do but not how they would accomplish it. 

The only thing I learned from this debate is the Mitt Romney needs to buy a copy of Robert's Rules of Order, and the American Public is easily fooled by superficial statements such as "I know how to save the economy and I will create jobs."

P.S. For anyone confused by the title of my post, Candy Crowley was the moderator for this event.

How Social Media will save the Economy

Quentin Hardy's article in the New York Times "McKinsey says social media could add 1.3 trillion to the economy" discusses the results of a study by McKinsey Global Institute. The study suggests that improved communication and collaboration from social media in business sectors could add $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in value to the economy. 

 The value comes from added productivity, improved consumer focus, and better functioning teamwork.  Additionally McKinsey states that by 2018 companies will have over 1.5 million jobs available in data analyst.  Currently large companies, like Microsoft and Oracle, have been spending huge amounts of money renovating the way they are viewed in virtual communities.

These companies are changing the ways they are viewed online and developing internal communication systems which allow for increased autonomy and communication at the same time.   Another author of the report, Michael Chui, said "The industries with the highest percentage of interactions workers have the highest spread of profits per employee."  While briefly discussed in class, this study and article correlate the idea of social media and business profits.   

Cyber Friendship

In Danah Boyd's article, Friends, Friendsters, and Top 8: Writing community into being on social network sites, the author begins discussion with the question "Are you my friends? Yes or No?" and uses it as a tool to argue that these choices are the background of social networking sites. This rise of social media as a major source of interaction for teens has resulted in a new definition of friendship. The dictionary has classically defined friendship as a relationship between two people who hold mutual affection for each. However in the sense of social media friendship has a much more quantitative definition: Two people who know each other well enough that they allow each other access to view one's profile. While this definition is much easier to gauge it however does not truly define friendship. In fact at times, a friend online may be a complete stranger in real life. Additionally the advent of Social Media communication has resulted in an inability of personal communication. While before friendship was created in the real world and then grown in cyberspace, now many times the opposite is true. In some situations friendships only exist online. While on the surface this may seem harmless, it decrease ones interpersonal communication skills outside of the cyber world. If this problem is not resolved individuals will face numerous obstacles when attempting to network or interview when they enter the job market.

Mitt Romney Gangnam Style

Well this video has little to do with social media but I still feel everyone in our class needs to see it.

Police Tweets

The New York Times APP on my Iphone allowed me to stumble upon this article about the city of Seattle's Police Department using Twitter. 

The City has begun using "Tweets-by-beat" to help keep citizens of the city informed of crime.  John Diaz, Police Chief, told the times that "more and more people want to know what's going on in their piece of the rock, specifically they want to know what's going on in the areas around their home, work and schools." He believes this is just another way to get as much information out as quickly as possible.

The system does have a few safety nets built in. For example to prevent media crowds at the scene of an accident or crime, the system has an hour delay on all tweet updates.  Another safety net, intended to protect the victim, were the exclusions of sex crimes and domestic violence.

One down side of the system is tweet comments, which could aid in an investigation, are stored by the system and not checked often.  Additionally critics of the program say the program could make people feel more vulnerable.

Personally I find this to be an innovative way to help keep citizens informed.  Previously the only way to stay informed about crime in an area was a media outlet such as a newspaper or news station. This approach requires an article to be written and the crime to be news-worthy enough to be included in the report.  The twitter project has the potential to dramatically cut the time problem, and as always with the internet, provide a level playing field for every crime story, no matter how small or insignificant it might be.