I was thirsty on my way to class the other day and decided to grab a nice, cold Vitamin Water. While browsing the flavor selection, I realized I had never tried the black cherry-lime before. After purchasing my drink and a sandwich, I opened that bottle, took my first sip, and fell in love. For those familiar with Vitamin Water, there is a funny, little paragraph describing the flavor and how it will benefit you. After reading it I found out that fans actually created the flavor on Facebook! The first thing that popped into my mind was, "I HAVE to blog about this!"

After researching this flavor made on Facebook, I realized I was a bit late with the news. Here's a video for people who did not know this happened...and I advise you all to try it! It's my new favorite :)

Kristin Chenoweth uses social media to fight back

Earlier this week, Ramin Setoodeh posted an article in Newsweek straight out saying that gay actors can not play straight characters convincingly. In the article, he mentioned the television show Glee and Broadway show, Promises Promises. Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth, who has worked on both productions, felt so strongly about the article that she took to Newsweek.com to voice her opinions on the subject.

Being a fan of "The Cheno," when I read her tweet on Twitter asking her followers to read her response, I immediately wanted to know what was going on. Not long after she tweeted about it, people such as Perez Hilton and Christina Applegate began to follow suit. I love that she took the time to defend her gay fans and co-stars using social media to make sure her voice was heard...and it was definitely heard. Setoodeh's article now has over 10 pages of comments both agreeing with Chenoweth, as well as arguing their own opinions.

Whose side are you on?

Really, New Jersey?

Okay, so it's not all of New Jersey, but a princial from a New Jersey school wants parents to ban their children from using social media outlets such as Facebook. He issued a letter to his students' parents asking them to make their children delete their accounts because, "There is absolutely, positively no reason for any middle school student to be a part of a social networking site! None." He also wants them to quit text messaging. You can read his letter here.

For one, yes, maybe middle school is too early for kids to be on social networking sites, but to ban them completely is absurd. Social media will not stop growing and will not stop being part of our everyday lives. Kids should be familiar with it and kept up to date with today's technology and its uses. If a parent gives their child permission to have a Facebook or Twitter account and let them text, he should not try to take that away.

Apple's iPad: HACKED!

Some geniuses have been able to hack the 3G version of the iPad to work on T-Mobile's network, and get this...they are even able to send SMS text messages. That's a pretty awesome discovery! According to an article on Mashable, they cut down their T-Mobile SIM cards to fit into the iPad's MicroSIM and insert them into the device. Though the connection takes a while to register, it apparently works well - just not on a 3G network.

Though Blackberry has my heart captive, I think iPhones are pretty amazing when it comes to applications. Though you cannot use and iPad as a phone, I'd love to play around with it while it is hacked on the T-Mo network.

Times Square Evacuation

Times Square was evacuated Saturday evening due to a bomb in a car, supposedly unrelated to a terrorist attack. The live webcams that stream video of Times Square 24/7 showed how deserted the always crowded area ended up after everyone was safely evacuated. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the bomb did not go off. I'm so happy everyone was safe and nothing happened. While the story is still developing, I hope the person who left the bomb in the car is properly questioned so nothing like this will have to happen again.

Here are some pictures taking during the evacuation from the webcam (more here):

Before
After
Scary!

How to be sneaky using social media!

Ever wanted to follow someone's tweets without them actually knowing you're following them? If yes, your wishes have come true! TweetStalk is a website started by people from a website called Sitening, where they make other cool web applications. All you have to do is download and install the Firefox add-on and BAM, you can 'stalk' tweets. You can even set up an RSS feed of the people you are stalking.

Have fun ;)

As YouTube would say, 'broadcast yourself.'

My social media professor has provided my class with two sites to study that help with press releases and communications campaigns that I thought I'd share. PRNewsWire definitely has a lot of offer, for a price, while some of PRWebDirect is free.

From PRNewsWire's official website:

PR Newswire provides our customers with the greatest opportunity to engage their target audiences through:

1. the largest network of media, bloggers, and Web sites
2. the highest-trafficked and most search-engine referred Web site in the industry
3. the most comprehensive social media sharing capabilities and search engine optimization for all press releases
4. unparalleled multimedia production and distribution capabilities

From PRWebDirect's official website:

For a fraction of the cost of traditional press releases or internet advertising, you can send your news release through PRWeb and accomplish the following:

1. See your news on top-tier news sites like Yahoo! News
2. Increase your visibility and rankings in search engines like Google
3. Get your news to top journalists and media outlets
4. Drive qualified, ready-to-buy traffic to your Web site

If I had enough money and I was writing a press release and wanted to make sure it got out to everyone, I'd get the most expensive package because the offers on these sites are great. If I had to write a press release right now as an undergrad in college, I'd click the "free publicity" link on PrWebDirect.

A press release how-to

Do you know how to write a press release?

If you ever need to write a press release and have no idea where to begin, check this site out. Brian Solis uses simple directions (and provides examples) of how to compose a direct, thorough, and to the point press release. I love how he covered all bases of a press release and provided the links to help.

Another site that offers tips as well as another how-to is PRWebDirect. This site gives great advice and describes how a press release should be formatted.

What's the trend?

What The Trend's Week in Review show Twitter's top 100 trends. The trends on the website are ranked, have points, the time they were trending is shown as well as their peak index, category, and description. According to the site's notes on the top 20 list, "this list includes both the top 10 regular and hashtag trends, plus a few extra this week. Thus, you can derive a full list of hashtag-related trends, and a full list of non-hashtag-related trends from this chart." The picture below shows the top 5 trends.
I found this site very interesting. It is great to see what the trending topics on Twitter are, why they are trending topics, and how long they have been trending topics. As a Twitter user, this is definitely going to be a site that I frequent.

Who to follow on Twitter

Whether you're new to Twitter or just looking for more people to follow, there are two sites you can check out for influential tweeters.

Twinfluence

Twinfluence is a website that allows you to measure the combined influence of a twitter user and their followers. According to the website, as of right now, 243,700 twitterers have had profiles analyzed. Unsure of how influential someone your following is? Type their name into the search bar and find out!

WeFollow

Unlike Twinfluence, WeFollow is a Twitter directory and search tool. Twitter users are separated into different categories such as Celebrity, Music, Entrepreneur, Social Media, and News. Top Twitter Users as well as Top Tags and Top Cities are also featured.

Both sites are very helpful when searching for people to follow on Twitter.

Wikipedia: Server Not Found

Though Wikipedia is working now, it was not working earlier today. People on Twitter were producing dozens of tweets per minute on the uncommon error message they were getting when trying to access the site. According to the Wikipedia Tech Blog, "overheating in the European data center and broken DNL resolution" caused the unexpected outage. They were then forced to move user traffic to the "Florida cluster" but shortly after, the Wikimedia sites stopped working globally. The problem was eventually resolved, but it was a major inconvenience for the people that needed it at the time it was down.

If I needed Wikipedia and found out that the "server was not found," I would probably fall into a state of panic for a minute but then remember that I can still Google search anything and everything I need to find at the click of a mouse button.

Lady Gaga breaks another record

Lady Gaga, social media genius, broke a new record this week. The controversial music artist has been a regular on the "100 Million Views Club," a list of videos put together by a company called Visible Measures. Updated monthly, the "100 Million Views Club" contains the most watched viral videos of all time. If you think that is noteworthy, try being the first and, as of now, only artist to reach one billion online video views. Three of her music video views, including "Poker Face" (374,606,128), "Just Dance" (272,941,674) and "Bad Romance" (360,020,327) add up to over one billion.

As a fan of Lady Gaga, I think her music video views are well deserved. While many people may not like her music or persona, there is no denying that her music videos are creative and interesting to watch.

Google's new experiement

Google Bookmarks is experimenting with a feature called, Lists, currently being used by its English users. Lists allows people to privately save links in buckets, share them, or publicly post them around the web. According to Mashable, some features include "list comments, in-line Youtube and content previews, as well as recommended links and location features." If Google detects that you search the same kind of topics frequently, it will automatically save the search in your bookmarks - into Lists. For people who research and use Google often, this can be a huge timesaver.

I think this new feature is very convenient and will become a very useful tool in everyday life. Using Google Lists, I will be able to save searches for one topic specifically in one place. I will not need to search through my browser history, but rather click on one link and have all the information I need at the tip of my fingers.

How much information is too much information?

While browsing the web earlier today, I came across a website by the name of Spokeo. Started in 2005 by a college student who wanted to keep track of his friends on various social networks, it was simple idea with a simple objective. Today, the technology of the site has expanded and now includes phone books, marketing surveys, and business databases. According to the official site, Spokeo's mission is to "organize the world’s people-related data, and it will continue to integrate additional types of data to better connect people."

At first glance, Spokeo immediately caught my attention. Why hadn't I heard of such an amazing site before? It's been five years since it was created!

I immediately began searching names, phone numbers, and email addresses of myself, as well as people I know. What I found however, was shocking - and quite scary. Along with full names, ages, addresses, and in some cases annual income, Spokeo offers real-life pictures of where people live and their photos. While some of the information provided is a bit off, the major details provided seem to be correct. I don't know why I was so shocked at first. I know nothing on the internet is really private at all. I suppose it was seeing a picture of my actual apartment building and address as any person around the world could see it really blew my mind. Essentially, it is a more advanced type of phone book, and completely legal...I am just not sure I want people to access my information so easily and so in-depth.

I urge all of you to browse this site and look at all the features it offers. While most information is free, paid memberships are required if you wish to get more information on who or what you are searching for.

How do you feel about your information being available for strangers to see?

Is Social Media Addictive?

Retrevo Inc., a Califoria company that runs a consumer electronics shopping site, surveyed 1000 people and according to them - social media is addictive. According to the survey results posted on The Bulldog Reporter:

• 48% of people check/update Facebook and Twitter after they go to bed
• 56% feel the need to check Facebook at least once a day
• 7% of people reveal they would not mind being interrupted during sex by an electronic message
• 40% do not mind being interrupted during meals due to a text message

Eighteen percent of the people surveyed are under the age of 25 and 11 percent are over the age of 25, and they all admit they cannot stay away from sites like Facebook without checking every couple of hours.

Do you check your Facebook or Twitter account as soon as you wake up, throughout the day, and before you go to bed? If so, you are one of the many people that cannot function without their daily dose of social media. I know I am constantly checking my BlackBerry's Facebook and Twitter applications to see what my friends are up to, keeping up with current events, and updating my own statuses. When I do not have access to a television or computer, I receive my news updates through those outlets. If I do not have those outlets available all the time, I feel disconnected from the world.

Social media is essentially participating in conversation using the internet and sites such as our beloved Facebook. Do not be ashamed of your addiction- keep conversing!