Facebook Is Engaging Major TV Networks Into Social Conversation

Facebook Is Engaging Major TV Networks Into Social Conversation

To View This Article: http://on.mash.to/16ZNMsj

Facebook will be sharing weekly data with the country's four largest networks - ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS. Facebook will give them information about certain shows and programs. Likes, comments and shares are how Facebook currently measures these interactions. The top 45 programs across all four networks will be reported on and each network will be able to see data on there competitors. The most recent earnings call pointed out that between 88 and 100 million users tune into the site during prime time television hours.

As a person who watches a lot of TV this is a great benefactor for all major networks. Whenever there is a show on I go on my Facebook and write and talk to my friends about what is going on and what we did and didn’t like about the episode. This - to me is the best way to see what is being watched and what people like and don’t like about the shows.

I feel this will help networks get a better idea about what to put on. I hope that this will help all four networks get more creative when producing shows for the upcoming seasons. The writers for the shows can see what it is that people don’t agree with and hopefully listen. They will have front row seats of what people really want and they can write a beautiful show. As for the networks - well they have always been taking jabs at one another - I don`t really think that will change.

New Vending Machines Turn Purchases into Social Interactions:

 

How will this effect the future of vending?

 

View Article: http://on.mash.to/19QnLMC

 

 

Pepsi also used this technology at a convention

 to showcase their use of Kinect technology.

 

New vending machines are being created across the globe with innovative, smarter high-tech vending technology. SAP Hana is the developer behind this technology which will forever change the way we use vending machines.  

 

With interactive touch-screens that require no credit cards or cash, the experience has changed entirely. By downloading the SAP Hana App you simply have to place your phone up to the sensor and you are automatically connected with the machine. 

  It allows you to send your friends "gifts," which they can receive at any other vending machine once they swipe their phone. This makes going to vending machines a social event and I think it will definitely attract more customers.

When a gift is sent to someone, who also has this app, they will be alerted via text message. This helps the vending industry to become more relevant and involved in the booming social media world.

 

One of the best features these vending machines have is their ability to create a personal profile of you based on their ability to connect to your cloud. When you go to these machines they continue to take note of your purchases and create a history so that they can recommend different products to you.

 

 

 If this is beginning to sound futuristic to you, you’re not the only one. This technology is so innovative it will make us all feel like the Jetsons.

 

Although we don’t each have our own personal robot, these machines are coming pretty close to it. With this technology, vending machines will know what we want as soon as we swipe our smart phones.

 

SAP Hana has partnered with Venders Exchange so that these new machines can be put on the market. They were discussed at TechCrunch Disrupt technology conference in California.

"So the vending machine has a smartphone inside so we transmit every single transaction to the cloud and then we can run analytics,"

 Christian Busch, a senior technology innovation leader at SAP labs, explained at the conference.

"For example, to replenish the machines, we measure the inventory, and if the machine is close to being empty, we send a truck to fill it up."

These vending machines not only benefit the user, but also the developers and companies. The smartphone located in each machine can produce predictive analytics for these companies. They can then analyze what was the most picked product, what was the average time it took someone to choose between products and so on. This is so extreme that they can track these records of each customer and collect more data than has ever been possible before.

 

Coming Clean: NBA Star Lamar Odom Tweets His Thoughts On His Latest Scandals

    When you’re a sport celebrity, there’s nothing that you can do, (good or bad) that will go unseen. Our society is filled with people who are just waiting for you to fail. Former Los Angeles Lakers power forward, Lamar Odom, has recently been in the media over his DUI and drug scandal. On August 30^th, Odom was arrested for driving under the influence, and was later accused of taking cocaine. Just recently, Odom took to Twitter to express his thoughts on the issue; he blames his father for his unfortunate downfall. In an extended tweet he stated, “Won't continue 2 speak on this but I have got 2 let this out real quick. I have let this man and many others get away with a lot of (expletive). He wasn't there 2 raise me. He was absent ALL of my life due to his own demons. My mother and grandmother raised me. Queens raised me.”

        I’ve always been a huge fan of Odom since he was first traded to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2004-2005 season. During the years he wore purple and gold, he played some of the best basketball of his career. In the process, he gained the most valuable and compassionate fans that an NBA player could ask for. Not to mention, he gained even more fans after tying the knot with TV celebrity, Khloe Kardashian. Since Odom’s incident, I feel that it will be extremely hard for him to recreate a positive image for himself; he’ll be criticized as just another professional athlete that let money and fame get to their head. It’s sad to think about, but instances like these happen every day for pro athletes. Since Odom left the Lakers and hopped from the Mavericks to the Clippers, he lost a vast amount of his charisma and passion for the game. With NBA training camp right around the corner, Odom has yet to sign with any team. Which makes us wonder: will he ever play again?

           Furthermore, if Odom plans on getting his life back on track, I would highly recommend that he get involved  with the community. By getting involved with the community (community relations) to talk about substance abuse and driving under the influence, I feel that he would regain a lot of respect back from the public. This is also were social media comes into play. For instance, if Odom were to attend a high school to talk about substance abuse, pictures could be taken and posted all over Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It's all about releasing a positive image. This all might sound easy, but in reality, gaining respect is not going to happen in a blink of an eye; it's going to take time. Ultimately, Odom's goal is to show the public that he did in fact go through a hard time, but was able to persevere and become a better individual.

 

 

For more information: http://bit.ly/1badUEN

      

Insta-Ads: Making Users Feel Uneasy

Insta-Ads

Instagram Will Soon Be Getting Ads

Instagram is everyone's "go-to" place to easily add simple effects to photographs. Before Instagram came along, professionals with years of experience, who used high-quality cameras and programs such as photoshop, only knew how to add effects to photographs. Now, anyone with a mobile device with digital camera capabilities can use this application. The photo-taking experience and the way we view quality in a photograph has been revolutionized by Instagram. Will this revolution continue, after the implementations of video capabilities, with the addition of ads in every corner or will people turn away and find another application with the same capabilities?

Emily White, the company's director of business, told the Wall Street Journal that Instagram will be getting advertisements by the end of this year. She states that the advertisements will be placed in a few corners of the applications design, "where members can find popular photos and videos." Though, Instagram's excuse is that since adding a fifteen second (the normal run-time of most television advertisements) video-taking capabilities, they are required to provide advertisements.

 With Facebook buying Instagram out for $1 billion, it is not a surprise that the first thing they will do is incorporate advertisements. When you log onto Facebook today, there are advertisements everywhere; their excuse, "to provide an individualized experience." Though to many, they are bothersome.

As Rebecca Greenfield, writer for the Atlantic Wire, stated, "Why else did you think Facebook spent all that money buying the app in the first place without killing the product  immediately? It bought the competition so it could sell the product." To defend that statement made, Facebook's new design for the iOS 7 software now allows users to add filters before posting a photo. Facebook is killing Instagram to reach the top.

It seems more and more people are trying to turn away from Facebook at all costs. Now, Facebook is catching up and buying top social media platforms.

Will Instagram be able to compete with the new iOS 7 update? You can now add filters at photos right on your device without using any social media. In comparison to Instagram there are not many filters offered from iOS 7, but will people forget about Instagram and turn to iOS 7 to ignore all of the advertisements? There are also many other applications available via the iTunes App Store with the same capabilities of Instagram without any ads surrounding the app. Will one of them come on top in the end?

It will be interesting to see what happens and how people will react to this change at the end of this year. When Facebook added advertisements to their platform, users said they were annoyed, but kept using the application. Do you believe this will be the same for Instagram?

                                                                                                                                               Chloe Smith


For more information on Instagram Ads:
"Instagram Will Soon Be Getting Ads" via Huffington Post: Tech http://huff.to/1azzRAe
"Instagram Terms of Service Change Sparks Revolt: 'The Instascam' Backlash As Told By The Users" via Huffington Post: Tech http://huff.to/WwlmG3

For more information on Facebook buying Instagram:
"Facebook Buys Instagram for $1 Billion" via DealBook http://nyti.ms/1d0laUh
"Instagram Hints at Advertising on Platform: Smart Monetization Tactic or Selling Out?" via Independent Fashion Bloggers http://bit.ly/Unyes1

Photographer Identifies People in Iconic 9/11 Image Using Social Media

 

Article

 

Throughout the last years, digital media has taken over the globe tremendously.  With the age of the internet, it brought on multiple ways for people to continuously stay up to date with things and have everything readily accessible. More importantly, social media has taken over. Social media is at the center of every controversy, life happening and other events throughout a person’s life and it has a strong impact on the world around us.

            In the article written by Fran Berkman, it is explaining how the powerful the usage of social media can be. On September 11^th, 2001 Patrick Witty took a picture of a group of people “expressing horror and disbelief” as the Twin Towers were collapsing.  In the article, he states that Witty posted the picture on his personal Facebook and it was shared of 10,000 times and that’s how he identified people from the photo.

By Thursday 9/19, Patrick Witty identified six people in the photo that he took on 9/11. This is a great example on how social media can be used for good causes. For something so tragic to happen, people can unite through the usage of social media gather the necessary information that one would need to accomplish its goal.

FOX Sports Brings Real-Time Facebook Streams to the Sidelines

While you may have already noticed the integration of social media into your sports broadcast, Twitter is not "the only game in town" when it comes to a presence on television.  Facebook and FOX Sports just announced a new six-month deal that will allow Facebook and FOX Sports to go into a partnership that will hopefully be beneficial for both sides.  While not a new idea to team a broadcast network with a social media platform, it is, however, a new venture for both FOX Sports and Facebook.

The announced plan will see Facebook surveying the audience for analytical data to be broadcasted on air, as well as streams of comments from users of the interactive site.  This new model will be started on FOX Sports 1 channel, FOX's new twenty-four hour network dedicated to sports, and hopes to utilize the 1.6 billion connections between users and sports entities already existing on Facebook.  No money will be exchanged between the network and popular web site, at least for duration of the initial contract.

Is Facebook merely just following the path already made by Twitter with their respective deal with ESPN?  This seems to be the case, with Facebook implementing tools used in Twitter, such as searchable hashtags and verified accounts.  With Facebook being arguably one of the top social media networks, it's hard to believe they're finally promoting through a convergence of medias.  Fans of sports can be influenced to use Facebook more, while sports fans now have Facebook to coincide with their sports viewing.  Time will tell, after the six-month period is over, whether or not the partnership is helpful to both companies. 
For more information on the relationship between FOX Sports and Facebook, click the link below.
on.mash.to/1eDhUS0

Apple is upsetting app developers!!!!

     Apple has held the top spot for smart phones and technology solutions since they launched the IPHONE in 2007. As more IPHONE'S were released such as IPHONE 3 and 4 more stronger and efficient and applications has been developed to work on the IOS platform.  Applications and software on aren't transferable to every version of the IOS platform. The IOS has to support the updated version of the application that is developed, so if the developer updates the application for the IOS 7 platform then anyone with old hardware would be limited to the latest version. This is leaving IPHONE users with having to upgrade every couple years to have access with the latest version of the application and software.                                                   



        

      What does this means for customers??? This means that customer will have access to the latest version of applications for there equipment. Working in customer service I am frontline with customer everyday listening their comments on the equipment. I also hear what they want to see change from the number 1 smart phone leader. Resurrection of the applications will give customers flexibility and convenience to the device. Some customers aren't happy that applications update and want to use the old version, resurrection will make it possible for customers to use the old version as well.

As for developers the resurrection applications is leaving them worried about the bugs and glitches that wasn't addressed with application. This could potentially ruin the number of people who would actually download the application. Developers are worried that they won't have the tools to support older version of the application after they moved on to a new version of the software. Working closely with technology I find that most people will grow to like the latest version of an application over time. Resurrection application is another way to make it difficult to assist or educate a customer on the equipment. The possibilities that the older version of an application may have glitches and bugs that not even the developer can't support will have a negative impact on the customer and the developer.
Tiffany

Oh Miley.....

As we all know, Miley Cyrus was definitely stole the show at the VMA's this August. Her performance  was definitely one for the record books. She came dressed in a latex bra and matching underwear reading to perform her latest hit, We cant Stop. Her dance with Robin Thicke was seen as extremely inappropriate by the public, actually, almost unbelievable. This article also highlights the fact that Miley "stole the crown" from Lady Gaga; who performed years before. There was a strong feeling of connection between Miley's performance and Lady Gaga's, but nonetheless, Miley's was the show stopper. Pictures and tweets were buzzing around twitter that night, everyone was in complete shock and total disgust. One picture that I actually saw on twitter was a shared photo from Will Smith's family who attended the VMA's when Gaga performed. (shown below)

 Viewers were trying to compare both performances, insinuating that both Gaga and Miley were absolutely baffling and negatively jaw dropping. The fact that kids were subjected to such provocative behavior on stage is very upsetting to society, and is up for discussion. However, there are others who believe it's an innocent form of self-expression. People all over the world have mixed feelings regarding Cyrus who was not afraid to flaunt her new self on stage. The real question is what does Miley think? Bill Werde, is among the many few who thinks Miley's performance is acceptable. He says, "she doesn't care what u think, and that's her brand. She just delivered." Miley has made it very clear that she is not the little teen pop star on Disney Channel anymore. Her performance symbolized this sort of transformation from little girl to a sexy twenty-year old. It is evident her brand has shifted. She is optimistically taking control, breaking through the walls of her youth like wrecking ball. 

For more info on Miley: http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/26/showbiz/music/miley-cyrus-mtv-vmas-gaga/index.html

Extra Scoop on her new song Wrecking Ball: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My2FRPA3Gf8

publication: http://on.mash.to/1eX4Ohb on 9/14

Is Facebook Stepping Up its Game to Compete With LinkedIn?



Facebook will soon be launching its new feature called Graph Search. Apparently they have already started to leak out this new feature but have plans to fully launch it at the end of 2013. In my opinion this will give Facebook a competitive edge when it comes to sites like LinkedIn. The purpose of this feature is to expand your network. Especially in college we always hear how important it is to network and meet as many people as possible because sometimes who you know is more important than what you know.

With Graph Search you will be able to look up companies your friends work at and be able to see others who work with them. If you don't plan to use it for business purposes you could also look up your favorite restaurants or hobbies that you have so that Facebook can find who else enjoys these things. I can see this benefiting the average person that uses it with good intentions but I can see it failing if someone takes advantage of the search engine. This could easily be used by sexual predators to find out where your friends work and who else has the same interests as you do. This can become a very big danger. The only problem is, someone is always going to take advantage of something and you can't hinder progress in fear of it.

By releasing this feature Facebook will become a top competitor with LinkedIn. Not only can you use Facebook for personal use but now you can create your own business network! This was a very smart idea for Facebook and I can't wait to try it out.

Never "Fro"get: NBA Team Creates Controversy On 9/11

        Last week, as we remembered those who passed during the September 11th tragedy, we couldn’t help but to express our emotions via social media. With that being said, millions of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts flooded the social media world: those in which included professional sport teams. However, some received more negative publicity than positive. For instance, the Los Angeles Lakers found themselves in a sticky situation after a tweet they posted on Thursday morning. The Lakers simply tweeted, “#NeverForget” with a young photo of Kobe Bryant. The photograph created controversy due to the fact that Bryant had a fro, which made it seem that the public should never forget September 11th, along with Kobe Bryant’s fro. The Lakers never intended the post to be humorous or defensive, and deleted the tweet immediately. An email was then sent to USA Today from the Lakers spokesman, expressing his apologies for the contentious tweet. Although this was not a full-blown crisis, a sport organization should always have an effective crisis management plan.    
       This type of crisis on an online social medium was almost a blessing in disguise for the NBA team. Even though a vast majority of the public saw the post, the Lakers were able to quickly delete it as if nothing ever happened. However, the only downfall was that the public could have saved the photo before the post was taken down. This could potentially be problematic due to the fact that the post could be easily shared through more social mediums such as Facebook and Instagram.
      Despite the fact that the Lakers, "Never Forget" tweet sparked negative criticism, I feel that they handled the situation calmly and effectively; which hopefully put the public at ease.


For more information: http://bit.ly/145s87N

You have the floor

Welcome to the COMM 295 Fall 2013 class blog! This assignment will encourage students to pay regular attention to social media and multimedia news, which is vital for anyone working in a communication field.

Students are instructed to analyze and comment on a piece of news from the social media/multimedia/digital journalism world. They will briefly summarize the news story or other item that the post is about, especially why it is an interesting or important development in the world of social media/multimedia. The instructions also call for including a link so that anyone interested in exploring it further can go to the original source.

In past semesters, we have used a closed blogging system for this assignment through Blackboard.

Students have frequently questioned why they were not blogging in a more open environment, and so one of the changes in the course this year is to do exactly that -- in this blog.