AS IT STANDS: Unleashed: Social Media has Arrived & it’s Not Pretty!

  By Dave Stancliff/For The Times-Standard
 It’s official. Social media reached a watershed moment when diving into the mainstream media’s news pool to report on the Boston bombings and the subsequent manhunt for the suspects.
For better or worse, more Americans get their news from FaceBook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, 4chan, Reddit, Tumblr, and Twitter. Social media started out as a way to connect with friends and morphed into a multi-faceted platform offering everything from consumer products to breaking news.
It’s the breaking news part that worries me. I followed Twitter every day last week because it was getting news out faster than the traditional media sources. The downside of what I observed was the wild rumors spreading faster than the confirmed news reports.

  It was like the Wild West, as authorities encouraged citizens to help look for the two bombing suspects with their social media sources. Smart phone photos suddenly became viral as multiple suspect photos popped up. Chatter on  Reddit and 4chan was full of wild speculation. Traditional news sources struggled to keep the story going throughout the week and began to use what the social media offered.
  It was apparent to anyone who used the social media last week that it was in the vanguard of live videos and photos, out-scooping traditional news sources with ease. Talk about ugly. There was a lot of chaff in cyberspace and sorting it out was no easy job.
Real clues, tips and speculation flooded the web as common citizens turned into vigilantes. The legion of amateur sleuths cast suspicion on four innocent people, spread mistruths, and at times caused panic in real time and cyberspace. It was like sharks in a feeding frenzy. 

  The reason I believe this is a turning point in news coverage is because it’s the first time in the age of smart phones we’ve had a major terrorist attack. The social media’s hunt confused the authorities at times during the chase. 
A beast was released. A new threat to our privacy as common citizens emerged in the aftermath. “This is one of the most alarming social media events of our time,” said Siva Vaidhyanathan, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia in a recent interview with the LA Times.
“We’re really good at uploading images and unleashing amateurs, but not so good with the social norms that would protect the innocent,” Vaidhyanathan explained. The wild speculation that Muslim fundamentalists or right-wing extremists were responsible traveled like wildfire on the web.
I know advocates of social media and crowd-sourcing like to point out how quickly they can get information in a crisis situation. It’s true they can. The problem is the information isn’t always correct. Nor will it ever be a trusted source because of the lack of vetting stories, comments, etc. It will always be a problem regardless of what its supporters say.

The day has come when the internet has surpassed cable. But how can you tell if a source on the internet is valid? You’ve got plenty of pranksters on the web who like nothing better than causing trouble in the real world.

  My takeaway from this whole situation is that Americans are rapidly deserting traditional news sources. This is the 21st century and people are in a bigger hurry than ever. Instant news feeds that increased hunger. Experts admit this is not going to change as more smart phones come on line.
I think what worries me most is that people forget the images and names they throw out stay there forever. Corrections can be made later, but are less likely to be viewed than original content posted. Especially if some form of real world action resulted from the misinformation.
  For example, the tweet that made the stock market temporarily plunge on April 23rd when hackers got into the Associated Press (AP) twitter account and claimed bombs went off in the White House and the president was wounded. Two million AP subscribers went nuts!

  The social media also lets a mob rule mentality take away our privacy and put us on edge, wondering if we’ll be the next victim of rumors or wild speculation on a social media source. No more innocent until proven guilty. The faceless social media becomes the hunter and the judge.
  There is no controlling social media, any more than there is a way to control the internet. For better or worse, we have to learn to live with the mixed blessings that come from our social media sources.
  As far as traditional news sources go; newspaper, TV, and radio will continue to provide news with a measure of vetting not seen on the web. However, as we all know, the traditional news media outlets also have their problems. Corporations and politicians control their content so we have to be wary of their agendas.
  As It Stands, the writing is no longing on the wall, it’s on the web.

Websites carrying this column:

TwitUps : Unleashed: Social media has arrived and it's not pretty!

This entry was posted by Tom Endris on April 28, 2013 at 1:26 pm

Social media started out as a way to connect with friends and morphed into a multi-faceted platform offering everything from consumer products to breaking news. It's the breaking news part that worries me. I followed Twitter every day last week because …

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Liver transplant denied because patient was using medical marijuana - it cost him his life!

      Good Day World!

The tragic fate of Norman B. Smith is all you need to know about to see how senseless it is to make consumption of marijuana a crime.

In New York they get that:

New York Patient Advocates & Health Care Professionals Rally for Medical Marijuana Bill

Patients suffering from severe debilitating or life-threatening conditions could be treated with medical marijuana under legislation introduced by Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard N. Gottfried and Senator Diane J. Savino.  New York’s bill A. 6357/S.4406 is co-sponsored by 68 other legislators.  The bill was reported from the Assembly Health Committee today by 21-4, including 3 of the Committee’s 7 Republicans voting in favor.

“If the patient and physician agree that the patient’s severe debilitating or life-threatening condition should be treated with medical marijuana, the government should not stand in the way,” said Gottfried.  “It is cruel to deny treatment to patients who are suffering or to turn them into criminals.”

Medical Marijuana and Health Insurance

By the end of 2012, 18 states and the District of Columbia permitted the use of marijuana as a viable medical treatment option for chronic illnesses such as AIDS and cancer.

What is viewed as an alternative treatment has been gradually gaining approval for over fifteen years as an acceptable method for reducing pain and nausea, and increasing appetite. Other benefits include a lesser toll on the liver, kidneys, and other organs usually subject to failure from other medications.

Though legalization has given suffering patients assistance in various states thus far, there is still a long road ahead for those seeking to have their medication covered by health insurance. Currently, health insurance plans scarcely cover cannabis if they do so at all. With legalization comes soaring prices, and as any patient knows, medications paired with treatment costs add up quickly. Paying entirely out of pocket for medical marijuana has cost some patients several hundred dollars per month or more, depending on the severity of their illness. (Read more here)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Grockit Adds BBC Content to Learnist

Will offer a BBC Earth multimedia board to users of the social learning platform

By George Winslow -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/25/2013 7:44:57 PM

Grockit is partnering with BBC Worldwide to create a BBC Earth multimedia board for the new "Earth Science" category on Grockit's social learning platform, Learnist.

The move strengthens the content on Learnist, which was launched in May of 2012 and builds on the December 2012 announcement by Discovery that it would take an equity stake in the social learning platform.

Learnist currently has around 500,000 users and gets over 1 million page views a month.

"BBC Worldwide is always seeking new opportunities to pilot our content on new, innovative social platforms in order to gain a greater understanding of how particular content is received and used by new audiences," said Jenny Fielding, head of digital ventures at BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, in a statement.

Todays Topic: Twinkies (The Real Ones) Back on Store Shelves in July

They’re back…!

According to Michael Cramer, executive vice president of Hostess Brands LLC who told NBC News on Thursday "We expect to be making and selling Twinkies in July."

When Twinkies went out of production last November because it’s owners declared bankruptcy it was like junk food Armageddon. Store shelves were cleared by collectors and goodie gourmets within hours of the news last year.

And the great news today is the new company, Hostess Brands, LLC, will start hiring this weekend to resume operations with 200 employees at the Dolly Madison Bakery in Columbus, Ga., one of the locations shuttered in November.

Twinkies will once again be within our guilty reach, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Disaster adverted for junk food dogs nationally. The local economy will once again be stimulated thanks to those sweet gushy treats that health food advocates scorn, but most Americans love – if only secretly!

Do you think people will line up at liquor stores and supermarkets throughout the nation to be the first to sample those soft wonders once again when they’re available?

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Grockit and BBC Worldwide Announce Pilot Featuring BBC Earth Content on Learnist

(BUSINESS WIRE)  Social learning company Grockit, announced today that BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, has become the latest partner to offer content for its social learning platform, Learnist. BBC Worldwide has curated a BBC Earth multimedia board, as part of a new “Earth Science” category on Learnist. This offers fans of environment and life sciences the opportunity to interact with a host of BBC Earth content.

“We developed Learnist to bring personalized online social learning to millions of curious people around the world,” says Roy Gilbert, CEO of Grockit. “We’re thrilled to be working with BBC Worldwide to share their content with our thriving community of expert content curators and life-long learners.”

Launched in late May of 2012, Learnist lets people easily curate and organize online content to help people learn from and teach each other about a wide range of academic and casual learning topics.

“BBC Worldwide is always seeking new opportunities to pilot our content on new innovative social platforms in order to gain a greater understanding of how particular content is received and used by new audiences,” says Jenny Fielding, Head of Digital Ventures at BBC Worldwide. “We are delighted to be trailing a selection of our earth and science content with Learnist and its growing base of fans from teachers to students and life-long learners.”

Today’s announcement follows the recent partnership with Discovery Communications, Inc. More details on that partnership can be found on Grockit’s Official Blog here.

Edtech App Learnist Aims for Personalization, Growth With Latest Update

For any startup, getting a user to download their app is only a small part of the battle. A successful sign-up is a “sticky” sign-up, where a user continuously come back to the app over and over again.

How, pray tell, does a startup get that sort of stickiness? For Learnist, a visually oriented educational app, the answer is simple: Eliminate the biggest barrier to entry, the sign-up process.

Don’t misunderstand me here — sign-ups are obviously important (and they still exist in the app). But the company plans to launch an update to its iOS and Web apps on Thursday that aims to eliminate the arduous, usual upfront process of onboarding users, letting first-timers begin to use the service without needing to immediately sign up to get going.

The idea is pretty simple. Learnist is a Pinterest-cum-Twitter social teaching application that lets users curate different types of lessons in a stream-like feed of content. Instead of forcing its users to hand over all their info off the bat, the app asks you to pick a few topics of interest to follow — people, places, things, ideas and the like — and Learnist will auto-populate a stream of content for users to peruse as they explore the app. From there, it will suggest more things to follow, or more data to add (like your address book or Facebook account, which could help you find more friends on the service).

Think of it as fast-tracked personalization, without the immediate hassle of the sign-up screen.

That, coupled with the new content offerings from partners like Discovery and, as of Thursday, the BBC, will likely fill newcomers’ streams with enough material to keep them engaged and — hopefully — coming back often. At that point, the company thinks, a user will get the value of the service and will be willing to sign up.

Those are the good, “sticky” sign-ups for Learnist; the ones that turn casual visitors into repeat users. All it has to contend with are the myriad other content streams out there seen on Facebook and Twitter, as well as the other edtech startups that occupy the space. Ideally for Learnist, lowering the barrier to entry will make it that much easier to at least give the product a quick spin. (article source)

 

Really? Our nation’s youth seek refuge in Canada…again!

       Good Day World!

It’s a strange deja vu today…

 I recall back in the ‘60s when young men were crossing the border into Canada, seeking refuge rather than be drafted and go to Vietnam – our war of choice at the time. They burned their draft cards in public, in defiance of their orders to report to Uncle Sam.

Today young men and women get passports to Canada and go there to attend college because it’s cheaper than the cost of education in the USA. What’s wrong with this picture?

The number of U.S. students at Canadian colleges rose 50 percent in a decade, and now about 10,000 Americans attend Canadian colleges, according to the Institute for College Access & Success.

Why? Because it’s less expensive, and a bachelor’s degree from a Canadian university meets a global standard. Looks like the nation’s youth are seeking refuge in Canada again.

Related:
NYT: Free college options still exist for those willing to build ships, milk cows, salute

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Oops! Ricin letter suspect released & the search goes on…

         Good Day World!

A man described as bi-polar by his family, was released from jail yesterday after being charged with sending poison Ricin letters to the President and other public officials.

Kevin Paul Curtis, an Elvis Presley impersonator, was arrested last Wednesday at his home in Corinth, Mississippi by FBI agents.

(Photo of Curtis impersonating Elvis – Google Images)

Authorities searched the home of another Mississippi man, J. Everett Dutschke, as part of the investigation, reported WTVA.  Dutschke's name had come up earlier this week when Curtis' defense attorney suggested prosecutors look into him, WTVA reported.

The FBI admitted that here was no apparent ricin, castor beans or any material at his house that could be used for the manufacturing of ricin, like a blender or something. In other words, someone got his signals crossed!

Mr. Curtis seems to be taking the mistake well and when released he said, "I respect President Obama and love my country. I would never do anything to pose a threat to him or any other U.S. official.” He was probably still trembling in his boots after the grueling interrogation and just glad to go home.

(A.P. Photo of Kevin Paul Curtis)

Why is it that it took a week to clear him? Is the FBI really that slow? Or, were they just embarrassed that they picked the wrong guy and kept looking out of sheer stubbornness? Either way, it stinks. He, and his family, had to suffer through damning headlines as the media, both main stream and social, went after him like honey badgers!

I sure hope Mr. Curtis gets a big apology!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Fake Tweet causes temporary chaos – stock markets falls, recovers

A stock market and a nation already on edge was temporarily knocked off its axis on Tuesday by a single fake tweet. 

Following a hack attack, the Associated Press' verified Twitter account posted "an erroneous tweet" claiming that two explosions occurred in the White House and that President Barack Obama is injured. Moments later, the @AP Twitter account — with nearly 2 million followers — was suspended.

"That's a bogus tweet," an AP spokesperson initially told NBC News, a statement that was repeated by the company's corporate communications account. Though the false tweet disappeared, the false message continued to exist on the service in over 4,000 retweets. (Full story here)

The story continues: Rafter’s Redemption – Chapter 5

            Good Day World!

 Today I’m offering viewers a free read - my novella, “Rafter’s Redemption,” in a series form. One chapter per week. There’s 10 chapters, and this week features, Chapter Five: Plants and a Baby. 

 If you’re a new reader – no problem – I’ve got the back chapter links and prologue for you. To continue reading this fiction story, or to begin reading it: GO HERE.