Senator McCain’s CNN Interview

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In the wake of the controversy surrounding the 2009 Iranian election, reports of the historic event flared over Twitter as news of police brutality and rigged results spread worldwide. Telegraph reports that citizens on the ground witnessing the event take place Tweeted horror stories about election, including the heavily followed Kenta Kahar, who wrote “#iranelection yesterday my friend saw a girl that fell into street and a guardians stands beside her and shoot into her leg.” In response to the uproar surrounding the election, former presidential candidate John McCain used Twitter to announce that he would be giving an interview on the situation in CNN. McCain’s tweet quickly made headlines as a surprising forum to announce such a weighty discussion.

German Election Results

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In June of 2009, ABC News reported that the sanctity of the German election was compromised due to the results being posted to Twitter before they were officially announced to the public. The dangerous tweet caused extreme concern among German politicians that the web service could put the fairness of their future elections in jeopardy. In response to the scandal, German government officials have called for a ban on exit polls and have demanded pledges of secrecy from politicians and opinion pollsters.

The story explains that as the election was taking place, Chancellor Angela Merkel met with the members of the Christian Democrats party and explained that she pretty much already knew how the results would turn out. “We can safely assume that there will be no black-yellow majority,” she told her party members, a quote that was quickly tweeted by someone in attendance. Making such information public during an ongoing election can sway voters and drastically influence the outcome of the event.

Utah Prisoner Execution

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Earlier this month, the Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff tweeted his decision to execute a convicted murder being tried in his state. ReadWriteWeb posted a powerful message that shocked and outraged many Utah citizens, apparently feeling that such heavy matters are better left off light-hearted social networks. Regarding the execution, Shurtleff tweeted, “I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner’s execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims.”

Some people feel that the Attorney General’s Twitter page is a moral atrocity, given his important position in government, and that the posts he makes are unprofessional and shameful. Lending credence to these concerns is that fact that Shurtleff has a history of posting sensitive information for the Twitter world to see, and prefaces his posts with the message “WARNING! This page informs on real world of crime and punishment. If you cant stand the TWEET, get out of the TWITCHEN – Harry Trumen.”

New Employment Offer

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Those who keep abreast of Internet memes may remember the tragic story of “Cisco Fatty,” the man whose thickheaded error in judgment likely cost him a big job at networking giant Cisco. MSNBC covered the humiliating incident that occurred in March of last year, calling it a “cautionary tale” for all those who use the service regularly. It all started when user “TheConnor” tweeted the following message on his account: “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”

Less than a few hours later, Tim Levad, a Channel Partner Advocate at Cisco, spotted his Tweet and responded, “Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.” Though “TheConnor” scurried to delete the tweets and set his account to private, the Internet community had already found his identity and turned him into the latest Internet laughing stock, complete with the nickname “Cisco Fatty.” Learn from “TheConnor’s” mistake and remember that some things are just better left unsaid.

The Retirement of Lance Armstrong

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According to the BBC, Lance Armstrong used his Twitter account to announce his retirement from the Tour De France after 2010. “This will be [my] final Tour de France. It’s been a great ride. Looking forward to three great weeks,” tweeted Armstrong earlier this month. Armstrong is a seven time winner of the famed bicycle race, cancer survivor, and Tour De France record holder. The 2010 Tour De France started July 3rd, with Armstrong riding his final race for Team RadioShack. Go Lance!

“Arrested” and The Avoidance of Jail

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James Karl Buck, a graduate student of UC Berkley who was arrested in Egypt for covering an anti-government protest, organized his rescue from jail over his Twitter account. CNN reports that as Buck was being escorted to jail, he used his cell phone tweet the word “Arrested,” and nothing more. The announcement of his arrest was all it took for Buck’s colleagues to spring into action, spreading news of his arrest around the Internet and establishing a blog to update the world on whatever new information Buck was able to tweet.

Somehow the Egyptian police neglected to take Buck’s phone during the arrest, and the student was able to tweet every few hours about the process of his arrest. While in detention, Buck’s messages eventually resulted in his friends hiring a lawyer to work on Buck’s behalf to get him off without jail time. CNN quotes Biz Stone, cofounder of Twitter, as claiming that Buck’s story “is proof of the value of Twitter.”

Marriage Proposal

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Marriage proposals are often seen as an opportunity for the groom to put his own unique touch on the question that aims to seal his love for his woman. While some choose a romantic dinner or picnic under the stars, Twitter fanatic Max Kiesler choose to pop the question over the Internet. That right, the website normally used to discuss dinner plans for the evening and comment on test runs of new gadgets has been used to tie the knot between two tech-obsessed lovers.

Mashable posted a transcript of the proposal, which read “To @EmilyChang, after fifteen years of blissful happiness I would like to ask for your hand in marriage?” EmilyChang accepted the proposal, replying “Yes, I do!” Although it may seem like an odd way of proposing, after 15 years of waiting we suspect she would have appreciated just about anything that put a ring on her finger.

What’s your opinion on the biggest announcements made on Twitter?

]]> http://blog.dlvr.it/2010/07/7-big-announcements-made-on-twitter/feed/ 2 http://blog.dlvr.it/2010/01/brett-favre-is-to-old-media-as-aaron-rodgers-is-to-new-media/ http://blog.dlvr.it/2010/01/brett-favre-is-to-old-media-as-aaron-rodgers-is-to-new-media/#comments Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:17:55 +0000 Bill Flitter http://blog.dlvr.it/?p=150 Doing a bit of catch-up on reading while watching one of my favorite quarterbacks – Brett Favre. I am a Packer fan but since they are out of the playoffs, I will cheer for Brett Favre all the way through …

Doing a bit of catch-up on reading while watching one of my favorite quarterbacks – Brett Favre. I am a Packer fan but since they are out of the playoffs, I will cheer for Brett Favre all the way through the Super Bowl (notice I didn’t say I was going to cheer for the Vikings. I couldn’t post Favre in a Viking uniform either.)

While watching Favre throw a few touchdowns in today’s game (4 at the time I wrote this), I was reading Paul Gillin’s piece on “The Decade that Transformed Media.” What struck me after reading Gillin’s post are the many correlations between Brett Favre (traditional media), today’s transformation of media and Aaron Rodgers (new media.) Since I am Packer fan, I had to throw Rodgers into the discussion.

Favre is one of the most durable and decorated quarterbacks to play the game while playing 17 seasons with the Packers. There are plenty of stats that proves that claim including career touchdown passes and completions. He is a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Gillin says in 1999, traditional media was at its peak. Traditional media posted impressive numbers and was never better.

“In December, 1999, few people had heard of Google. Online advertising was banners and e-mails. Big media brands dominated the Web.  US newspaper ad revenue would hit record levels in 2000. Newsroom employment would peak in 2001 as newsstand sales of the top 100 magazines approached 30 million. No one had heard of blogs. People used mobile phones to talk.”

However, in 2007 after a 17-season career in which Favre (old media) dazzled fans with his grit, heart and rocket of an arm, he retired. The Packers (you, the reader) were forced to go in a new direction – Aaron Rodgers (new media).

In 2007, for the first time in 17 seasons, the Packers had a new quarterback under center. Rodgers has big shoes to fill. How could the rookie quarterback replace such a legend? Flash forward to 2009, the Packers made the playoffs and Rodgers was selected for the Pro Bowl. Rodgers is showing lots of promise. Packer fans rejoice.

In 2009, Social media pundits rejoice too. Gillin posts some pretty impressive numbers for the rookie media.

“This year, people spent six billion minutes on Facebook, downloaded one billion YouTube videos and logged over 1.4 million blog entries every day. The iPhone became the first mobile phone to be used more for data than for voice. The Internet became the second most popular news medium behind television. Wikipedia posted its three millionth article.”

Obviously, the Favre story didn’t end with his retirement in 2007. Favre ‘re-invented’ himself and is still throwing touchdown passes in a playoff game in 2010. He is having one of his best seasons ever. He is the oldest quarterback in history to play a divisional playoff game at 40. His numbers this year are impressive for a quarterback at 40.

As durable as Favre is, he won’t be around in the NFL forever.  Is the writing on the wall for traditional media too? It is not looking good according to Gillin, “…US newsroom employment fell to a 25-year low and magazine news stand sales dropped to 63% of their 2001 peaks. Reader’s Digest declared bankruptcy. Comcast said it would buy NBC.”

How will the story end for traditional media and Favre? Will traditional media re-invent itself? Maybe e-readers like the Kindle will save traditional media companies. The numbers look impressive so far in their short history.

And maybe Favre will hoist the Vince Lombardi trophy one last time to end his storied career. Just as everyone thought Favre couldn’t do it at 40, look for traditional media to make a comeback in some new form.

As far as Rodgers is concerned, time will tell.  It sure looks promising.

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It has taken 40 years for us to finally realize the Internet’s true potential. The Internet was born to be social just as a caterpillar is born to become a butterfly. It was bound to happen. The Internet was waiting on us to build the tools to make it more social and connected.

The Internet is taking on human-like qualities – the need to be connected or feel like a part of something, the ability to communicate and stay close to loved ones or business associates.

Email was the first BIG step in connecting people but it still lacks true social gestures. The tools  today to hold a ‘conversation’ have gone way beyond email’s capabilities. Email has remained relatively the same since day one. Email was not built for socializing and has recently been surpassed as the social connection between friends.

However, there is still a place for email. Email is one piece of the puzzle. Some say email is the backbone of social media. For example, I receive an email from Facebook telling me someone wants to connect or someone just wrote on my wall. A recent study shows Gen Y’ers would be more reluctant to give up email and text messaging than social networks. The youth who have grown up with Facebook would rather keep email.

The same study shows the average Gen Y who has also grown up with text messaging sends and receives 740 text messages per month! Isn’t that putting us right back in the Stone Age with short simple flat text messages? Or is it progress – always connected, just a thumb away from any friend.

The point is we should not be surprised the Internet is becoming social. We are social people. We are finally realizing the Internet’s potential and giving it wings. All the tools we have been building and using for years have led us to this point. Email, Texting, social networks, blogs, etc are part of the social media ecosystem. Take one away and the Internet becomes less social.

Social Media will have an equal or greater impact on us as search has or even email. However, in the social web like the social world, the impact will be distributed across many people, many companies, and many platforms. Contrast that to search where one giant emerged.

We are at a time where the Internet is seeing it greatest potential and emerging into a social butterfly it had always aspired to be.