Evidence: Social Media and Osama's Death

In a post I made yesterday I talked about how I learned about Osama's death via Twitter and that a lot of my friends had also learned of his death via Twitter and/or Facebook. I just came across an article titled Turning to Social Media for News . This article talks about how when Osama died, the White House immidiately announced that Obama would shortly be addressing the nation. However, they failed to mention what the address would cover. CNN reporters were curious, and turned to social media cites to reveal the news. Just like myself and my friends, these reporters learned of Osama's death by logging onto their Facebook and Twitter pages. The article describes Facebook and Twitter as "early warning systems for breaking news."

This excerpt from the article perfectly sums up my argument on social media:

"Twitter saw the highest sustained rate of posts ever, with an average of 3,440 per second from 10:45 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Eastern time. There were more than five million mentions of Bin Laden on Facebook in the United States alone, as news of the raid at his hideout spread starting around 10:30 p.m."

Also, thanks to social media cites, I was able to see what was going on in DC and NYC. Twitter allows users to upload "Twit Pics," and several friends of mine studying in the DC and New York areas uploaded photos of all the American pride that emerged right after Osama's death was announced. Twitter allowed for me to feel as if I was right there in the middle of it all, when really, I was sitting in the library studying.

Social Media Intern

The title of my position at my internship this summer is "Social Media Intern." Just a decade ago, social media didn't even exist, and now there are positions just for social media. When I spoke with my future boss on the phone about my qualifications, one of the only questions she asked was about my experience with social media. Of course, just like the rest of my generation, I am extremely comfortable and familiar with using social media cites like Facebook and Twitter. On top of that, thanks to this blogging assignment of SSP 327, I was able to say I was familiar with blogging and that I'm currently maintaining a blog for one of my classes. She was really impressed with this and I was offered the position. While I'm not 100% sure yet of what my position will completely entail, I know that part of my job will be maintaining the social media cites of the company. I'm really looking forward to doing this since I have experience in this field on a day to day basis.

It's Impossible to Avoid the News

Earlier in the semester we had a discussion about whether or not you can avoid the news. I argued that you cannot avoid the news, and my example was when I was our of the country without a computer or a phone over Spring Break, I still managed to hear about the tsunami in Japan almost immediately after it happened. Whether it's via the Internet, TV, radio, newspaper, or word of mouth, news gets around and travels fast.

Another example of this is the death of Osama Bin Laden. The night it was announced Osama was dead, I was in the libary studying for an exam. I noticed a lot of activity on my Twitter page and decided to take a break and read some tweets. Sure enough, Osama was dead and the whole world was talking about it. #Osama was trending just minutes after his death was announced. The entire world was aware of this. Years ago, who would have thought that the way anyone would hear about major events like Osama's death would be via social media cites?

I asked a few of my friends how they learned about Osama's death and the majority of them said social media cites like Twitter or seeing people's status updates on Twitter. Forget about waiting for the newspaper to publish the story the next day, why wait for that when we can get an instant stream of the world's news?

Did She Facebook Me??

I recently was speaking with a women who is in charge of an internship opportunity that I am interested in and one brief, casual phone call and a few emails later, she offered me the position. My first thought - how does she know I'm fit for the job without meeting me in person and speaking with me? How does she know I'm a normal, sociable person? (considering it's a social media/marketing position, these are necessary qualifications)

Honestly, right after I even got this lady's name I immediately looked her up on Facebook to see if we knew anyone in common. Yes, this may sound a little creepy. But my question is, did she look me up also to try and learn more about me? And if so, did she approve of my facebook profile and offer me an internship without meeting me in person? I was discussing this with a friend today she has been in contact with a man regarding a summer internship and she also admitted to looking him up on facebook. I don't even think this behavior can be considered creepy anymore, but rather normal. Our world is becoming more dependent on social media everyday. It's pretty unbelievable (and convenient) that I could be hired without having a face to face interview.

MTV and PSB

The other night while I was watching your typical trashy show on MTV, The Real World, a public service announcement came on as one of the commercials during the show.

Before I talk more about this PSA, here is a description of the show, which is a series that airs in different cities each time the show runs: "Each year, series producers choose a group of seven people in their 20s, from different backgrounds and countries, to live together in a major city. The series presents their spontaneous, unscripted interactions with one another and the world around them."

I was really happy and almost relieved to see a commercial that I'm pretty sure it was a "live above the influence" commercial that encourages people, specifically teens, to stay away from marijuana and other drugs. I know that this may seem hypocritical that anti-drug videos are being broadcast during shows where the stars are doing drunks and partying, but I still think that it's better to show these advertisements somewhere rather than nowhere. Plus, teens may be influenced to indulge in activities, such as doing drugs, that they see on shows like the Real World and many others. Maybe, and hopefully, these teens are discouraged from doing drugs when they see these PSAs.

Internship Hunting

I'm actually curious as to what the answer to the question I'm about to ask is, and frighteningly, I can't come up with an answer myself.

I just spent an hour using online search engines and visiting websites of companies looking for internship openings for this summer. The Internet makes this really easy to do; there are cites whose purpose is just to compile a list of internship openings that match your interests and location. My question is, how did people search for internships, or even jobs, in the past? My resume is on my computer, and when asked for cover letters or writing samples, all I have to do is click a button on my computer and upload these documents to an email or to a profile on a website. Then, using the Internet, I can log back in and check the status of my application.

This is definitely a topic I'm going to bring up at the dinner table with my parents when I'm home this weekend. I think that the main difference in applying to internships now versus 20 or 30 years ago is that today, it is more expected that students obtain internships during their college career, and employers are seeking to hire students who have previous work experience. I know for my mom, getting an internship while she was in college was completely out of the question. Instead, she had to work as a waitress and earn a salary so she could pay to send herself to college. I'm really curious as to how people went about seeking jobs in the past because I feel like the Internet has made this process really easy for me and I'm sure for others also.

Okay...If I had to guess, I'd say the primary outlet for hearing about job and internship openings would be newspapers or word of mouth. Any other ideas?

Stereotypical Representations

Before I get into the main idea of this post, stereotypical representation, I really need to comment on the fact that the material in 3 of the 4 classes I’m currently taking right now overlap with each other!

In class on Tuesday, a group presented on “Media, Ethnicity, and Diaspora.” One of the topics they covered was “stereotypical representation.” Specifically, they talked about how the media portrays certain images of Western Life that creates stereotypes. This immediately reminded me of a discussion my Global Studies class had a few weeks ago. We were talking about an article by Appadurai (who was also featured in our text for his “scapes,” called “Grassroots Globalization in the Era of Ideocide.” The article “hates on” American life. It argues that people like the freedom America has to offer, but they don’t like what Americans have done with this freedom, especially in the case of sexual morality. In other words, the media has created a stereotypical representation of Americans, and makes the life we life undesirable for outsiders of our culture.