Social Media Helped Boston Bombing Response

As you may already know there was a tragedy that occurred earlier this month. There was a Boston Marathon bombing that injured over 100 people and killed 3. There was a chaos of people and cell phones weren’t working. People were said to have rushed home to post a Facebook status informing their family and friends that they were OK and there phone was down.

A friend of a victim stated,

I have been following my friend's Facebook [account] who is near the scene and she is updating everyone before it even gets to the news.

As word spread of the blasts on Monday morning, social media seemed to have shaped every aspect of the response from runners giving updates of the race-turned-nightmare on Facebook to authorities using Twitter to give constant updates. Runners were reporting about the incident prior to the news channels releasing any new information. Terrorism experts said that social media helped in Boston to determine their steps after hearing about the explosions.

Bill Braniff, Executive Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism said

Authorities have recognized that one of the first places people go in events like this is to social media, to see what the crowd is saying about what to do next.

Before Authorities took their steps, they looked to Twitter to search for corroborating information in order to take a corrective action.

Above photo is a screenshot of a Tweet that was sent from the Boston Police Dept. in search for the suspect.

 

It’s amazing how people learned information about the blasts on social media before hearing it on any traditional news outlets. The event became a trending topic on twitter, #BostonMarathon. The information was spreading beyond the affected area and became a trending hashtag within the online community that expanded across national borders. There is a greater sense of unity. Its unfortunate that days like this, brings us together.

Overall, social media is a tremendous help for investigators throughout their evaluation process. Photos and statuses that are posted can be used to help identify the perpetrators of the attack. Just like Sandy, people were documenting the aftermath in posts and pictures of the events.

Where Social Media Will Take Us

Remember everything I spoke about in my previous post about the power of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms to help develop modern businesses. It’s evident that Facebook creates opportunities for companies. Social media sites continue to increase sales for companies and widen their networks of connections.  The fact that Facebook hit 1 billion users means businesses have more potential users to appeal to. Customers appreciate how easily accessible information can be found online. The benefits of sharing information online are that it’s quick and easy. This generation wants everything at the tip of their fingers. Social networks are becoming a new kind of virtual currency for companies and corporations. You may ask yourself how much social media will evolve over the years? Companies are behind the eight ball when it comes to adapting to the newest technologies and change. Social media provides companies with power and allows them the opportunity to become market leaders and influencers.

Companies should know the following about social media:

1. They know what their consumers are interested in. They know what you’re interested in buying, selling, and seeing. With a simple "like" on Facebook or "follow" on Twitter companies know what their consumers are looking into.


2. Companies know before they know. They do their best to know things before their consumers know. Companies want to know what the customers thinking of. They are sites like Chango with information about what their prospects and consumers are looking at. This benefits the company because it will lure the potential consumer into their services or products.


3. It’s not who you are it’s what you know! The power of networking will benefit you in the long run because the contacts you gain may help you book an interview or meeting with a potential employer. To measure your online influence, visit Klout and login with your social media accounts. The site will generate a score that measures your influence among the media platforms you are active in. It also has a this cool feature, “pulse”, in which you can keep up to date with the world’s top influencers and see where they stand among the rest.

Here you can see how influential Justin Bieber is compared to our President on social media

These many changes continue to shape how companies and well known corporations such as CBS, NBC, and etc., conduct their business. We live in a social media driven world, embracing change is optional but then again so is survival.

Revisited Wiki Post

In my previous post in regards to my Wikipedia edit, I explained how mind boggled I was. It was so easy to edit information on the World Wide Web. It’s fascinating as this site is very “creditable” because many people use it as a source. As I mentioned in my previous post, Wikipedia is used by professors and students to retrieve “valuable” information for their research.

Being that my topic is revolved around the addictions to social media, I looked into theories related to excessive need to be plugged in. “Uses and gratifications theory” , is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy needs. I wanted to analyze this theory and see how true it holds to my recent research and observations of Generation Y first hand.

The section that I felt needed revising was “New Media Examples of UGT”. I felt this section needed to provide users with real life experiences. I added the personal touch that would relate to the users instantly.

BUT, as I recently visited the page they changed my revision to:

New Media Examples of UGTThe application of New Media to the Uses and Gratifications Theory has been positive.^[20] The introduction of the Internet, social media and technological advances has provided another outlet for people to use and seek gratification through those sources. Based on the models developed by Katz, Blumler, Gurevitch and Lasswell, individuals can choose to seek out media in one outlet, all falling within the proscribed categories of need. The only difference now, is that the audience does not have to go to multiple media outlets to fulfill each of their needs. The Internet has created a digital library, allowing individuals to have access to all content from various mass medium outlets.”

Not only does technology provide an outlet for people who seek the need to fulfill that satisfaction but it also impacted our lives and how we communicate. I feel as though the examples provided aren’t sufficient enough. 

Dislike: Facebook Likes Reveals A Lot

Now if this isn't creepy than I don’t know what it is. There was a study to show that Facebook could predict everything from your race to your sexual orientation, political affiliation to your personality type from a simply “like”.

Researchers had studied more than 58,000 people who volunteered in taking the “my personality” survey application on Facebook, in which subscribers allowed access to their list of likes. The purpose of the research was to see whether such information, which is publicly available on many Facebook pages, could predict a number of aspects about its users lives that can presumably predict their sexual orientation, ethnic origin, political views, religion, personality traits, substance use, and even intelligence level.

I find it intriguing that such information that was once personal to us is now in the public eye. Online behavior like Facebook “likes” can make the connection deeper than I thought.  The link in which the user “Likes” can relatively give information about relationship statuses, logic, and personal preferences. Some "Like" pages may be "Gay Love", "Pro Obama", "Single Ready to Mingle", and etc.
Some links are very personal and will automatically give fellow Facebook friends an impression of your personality.

Although the research is fascinating in how much Facebook can reveal but it also strikes a concern about privacy. But- in the meantime, I highly suggest that everyone is aware of how companies and entities with whom you share your “like” information may ultimately use this data. We must understand that our hidden meanings behind our desires and “likes” may end up teaching us about ourselves. 

Encyclopedia of false information?

Wow! Those are the exact words that came to mind when I easily edited the information on a Wikipedia page. I can't believe how simple and quick it was to change a source of information. Students, professors, etc. use Wikipedia as a "valuable" source to retrieve information, articles, biographies, and so much more! It's intended to be a encyclopedia but how so when just about anyone can "correct" the information? Wiki is definitely on the top of most browsed sites. The moment you "Google" something the first link that usually appears is Wikipedia.

Any who! I went on to change the "Uses and Gratifications Theory" page on Wikipedia because it approaches how people seek out media to satisfy specific needs.

Below you will see the section BEFORE any changes.

“===New Media Examples of UGT===

The application of New Media to the Uses and Gratifications Theory has been positive.<ref name="WestTurner392401"/>  The introduction of the [[Internet]], [[social media]] and technological advances has provided another outlet for people to use and seek gratification through those sources. Based on the models developed by Katz, Blumler, Gurevitch and Lasswell, individuals can choose to seek out media in one outlet, all falling within the proscribed categories of need. The only difference now, is that the audience does not have to go to multiple media outlets to fulfill each of their needs. The [[Internet]] has created a digital library, allowing individuals to have access to all content from various mass medium outlets.”

Now below you will see the changes that  I made to "New Media Examples of UGT" in bold. 

“===New Media Examples of UGT===

The application of New Media to the Uses and Gratifications Theory has been positive.<ref name="WestTurner392401"/>  The introduction of the [[Internet]], [[social media]] and technological advances has greatly impacted the efficiency of our communicative acts. Instead of having to have a long conversation with a client about his kids and home life, before asking a quick questions about an order, a brief and quick email can be sent to accomplish the same task. While this has made business interactions easier but it also harmed our personal interactions. The many technological changes have been both for better and worse.

I'm still flabbergasted by how easy it is to change information on a site that millions of people turn to for research and such.