About Social Media Today
Government 2.0
Social Advocacy & Politics: No Jokes for Congress (Especially Not on Twitter)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH9) tweeted a joke from the White House Correspondents Dinner. But then she erased it 8 minutes later. What if more members of Congress could embrace the boldness of a funny tweet, without running away from it as if scared of their own shadow? We might see more real discussions among our elected officials as they work to solve our very real problems.[read more]
Are Social Media Users Better Citizens?
A new study found that 40% of adults used social media as part of a political campaign during the 2012 presidential election. Interestingly, online engagement was largely found to have been done by the well-educated and affluent amongst us.[read more]
Social Advocacy & Politics: A Virtual Political Debate Via Twitter
Joe Kyrillos kept asking his opponent Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) to debate him last summer, but Menendez wouldn’t do it. So when Menendez announced he was having an #AskMenendez Twitter town hall, Kyrillos, with the help of the Heritage Foundation Action Fund, announced he was going to use #AskMenendez to have a virtual debate.[read more]
Online Platforms for Social Change: A Paradigm Shift in Government
Government 2.0
After the Prime Minister announced that DisabilityCare, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), would be partially funded through an increase of 0.5% in the Medicare levy, the CEO of Myer, Bernie Brookes, was reported to have told a Macquarie Investment seminar that the levy was a bad idea.[read more]
Who Has the Right to Be Anonymous?
Hacktivist group Anonymous
With the recent controversy over a bill to increase cyber security, called CISPA, businesses have the right to hand over your information to the government. This leaves your actions and privacy vulnerable to prying eyes, while businesses are free to share data. Is this fair?[read more]
Egypt: Social Networks for Democracy (and Marketing) [VIDEO]
Tarek Nasr
Tarek Nasr is a man living between two massive social changes. As a citizen of Egypt he is living through the upheaval in the fledgling democracy founded in 2011. He is also Managing Director of Planet 360, a social media and digital strategy agency in Cairo. We spoke via Skype with him about the political role of social networks in Egypt today--and how his agency works with companies to market through social networks.[read more]
Five Social Media Lessons From the US Ambassador to South Korea
The US ambassador to South Korea has been criticized for blogging about his vacation in the midst of a crisis. Business executives and government officials can learn a few things about social media from the ambassador's mistakes.[read more]
Social Media's Top City: #NYC
Being a New Yorker, I follow all the city’s Twitter handles and Facebook pages, and tweet using the #NYC hashtag, but I couldn’t remember the last time I really partook in anything substantial from the cities offerings, so I decided to do a little digging and see what it’s all about.[read more]
Social Media Morning Report
Facebook fans are getting regionalized, resurrecting the Digg effect, Google+ pushing communities, and more.[read more]
Quick Hits — December 24, 2012, Part Two (More on Campaign 2012)
An Epolitics.com Christmas present: lots of fantastic reading on the 2012 digital campaign. C.f. our earlier post-election Quick Hits, and also today’s Quick Hits Advocacy Edition.[read more]
The Use of Social Media in Disease Prevention
Whilst many of us still use social media for commercial purposes, there are growing signs that social science is taking off in a big way, none more so than in predicting and mitigating the spread of infection.[read more]
Online GOTV Resources: Time to Get Out The Vote
Shutterstock
Hard to believe, but election day is less than a week away, and across the country, campaigns and outside groups are running a full-on GOTV blitz. Let’s give ‘em some help — below is a short list of useful online resources for getting out the vote, from templates for field canvassing plans to mobile apps for voter protection. You can’t...[read more]
Social Media’s Role in Crisis and Misinformation
Throughout the past week, social media was literally at the center of the storm, empowering those in real danger to share their stories and find help and other resources like shelter, power, food and water. That is the power of the social web! The hashtag #Sandy has united all tweets about the storms and the recovery from the crisis; you can continue to follow the hashtag to track new developments related to the storm.[read more]
President Barack Obama will win the Election, Here’s why:
In this instance - by sending social media followers a direct message about supporting the democratic process his digital team serves up another victory. It’s not pushy, or invasive, and it costs nothing. He’s hitting the voters where we live – online and in social networks.[read more]
Google’s Utopian Quest: Benevolent Tech Monopoly of the Future?
Google’s rapid and seemingly-endless rise to power begs some fundamental questions about the future of the tech industry, and in a larger sense, of humanity. As the standard bearer (by way of sheer size and influence) of the emerging “open source” business model, is Google the personification of the future of tech,...[read more]
Beth Comstock, CMO of GE on Marketing Made Simple TV
Beth Comstock
Beth Comstock, SVP and CMO of GE, one of the world’s top companies shares key tips, including: 1) Why it’s important for marketers to step back and see the big picture 2) The importance of keeping an open mind and being receptive to fresh insights and ideas. 3) Why every marketers, big and small, needs to be everywhere and easily found. Why you don’t need the resources of GE to do great marketing.[read more]
The Changes to US COPPA Legislation – Do you have questions or comments?
The FTC is consulting about its proposed changes to COPPA legislation, which have potentially huge impact worldwide for providers of online services for audiences which include children under 13 yrs. You have until 24 Sept to have your say. What are the issues?[read more]
Social Media Tips for Politicians
Social media is a major tool in the modern-day politician’s arsenal. It provides an opportunity to connect with voters on a one-to-one basis without the need to walk for hours around the neighborhood... Provided here are some tips for the social media newbie politicians. If your local politician does not ‘get it’ yet, please be sure to mail them a link to this article.[read more]
FTC revisions to proposed changes to COPPA
Introduced in 1998, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires that parental permission is sought before the collection of data for children under the age of 13. Now the FTC are proposing changes which will have massive implications for websites and app owners ...[read more]
The New Digital Influencers
Are bloggers seriously all dead? Does Social Media fatigue really exist? Probably not. The new world of apps, the rise of broadcast industry and the revenge of niche communities lead to new kinds of digital influencers.[read more]
“Creating a company around a concept of value in relationship would only work if the CEO walked the walk (see IBM's CEO studies.) The Rev Ferrara is such a CEO.”
“Well, I agree! Google plus is a great place to promote business. If a business is missing Google plus business page, it is missing out on drawing millions of eyes to their site. The greatest advantage on Google plus is that it separate people and other companies into specific circles and it allows to allows to send updates to all circles or business specific ones. Putting +1 icons within your ...”