Google Chrome just came out with a new commercial this week, revolving around the It Gets Better Project. This project is meant to encourage LGBTQ teens that are being bullied to keep going and that eventually life will get better. Dan Savage started this project when he became overwhelmed by gay teens committing suicide. Now anyone in the world can upload a video to let teens everywhere know that life is worth living.
Google Chrome used this story in their latest commercial and it was not only inspirational but it also fit their tagline perfectly – “the web is what you make of it”. Google is advertising their web browser but also making a very good point. The internet can launch and make successful campaigns. It has capabilities to connect all of us and social media is turning those connections into positive change.
If you want to see something really cool check out the commercial at 0:43 seconds – it’s Emerson College’s Love is Louder march!
My phone lit up as I walked through my apartment door saying – “A.P. Breaking News – Osama Bin Ladden has been killed.” My first reaction was to check my Facebook, not because I think that social media is more accurate than the Associated Press – in fact I wasn’t even checking my newsfeed, I was checking my death list.
I swear it’s not meant to be nearly as morbid as it sounds. Every year I take part of the death list competition with a few of my friends – this means that January 1st of each year we compile a list of famous people (actors, politicians, artists, etc) and who ever guesses the most people that die in 2011 gets a free dinner. And no we are not death list pioneers, merely followers.
But none of us saw Osama Bin Ladden’s death coming (but I guess neither did most of America). Below is my official death list, let me know what you think:
Wynn’s Official 2011 Death List:
Tina Turner
Margaret Thatcher
Keith Richards
Nelson Mandela
Janice Dickinson
Courtney Love
Woody Allen
Matthew Perry
Betty Ford
Charlie Rose
Wild Card: Alec Baldwin
The wildcard is designed to take the place of anyone on the list who has already died. But so far it’s May and no one on any of our lists is dead, so I guess Alec Baldwin is safe for now.
When Rebecca Black’s music video “Friday” went viral it was like a social media uprising. Parodies of the tween music video went up almost immediately. The video got so much buzz that Rebecca earned a spot on Good Morning America but the publicity she received wasn’t all positive. A lot of negativity came from the song that was meant to be an innocent attempt at a pop song. Rebecca told Good Morning America that she was letting all the negative feedback brush off of her.
One girl decided to take all the negative buzz about “Friday” and make it a huge positive for… christians? That’s right it’s all about “Sunday”. Sadie B used Friday’s popularity and took twelve-year olds to church instead of going out to party. I can’t wait to see what happens for “Saturday”.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the free wordpress blog platform (actually – I am using one right now!) but there is something powerful about hosting your own site. What does hosting your own site actually entail? That’s exactly what I wanted to know before I took on a larger online presence.
1. You have to pay for it. I know this is already a huge turn-off but the way I think of it is as an investment. If I pay around $90 for GoDaddy.com to host my website for three years and someone sees my portfolio/resume/blog and I get a job then its money well spent.
2. You have options. I chose GoDaddy.com because that is where I bought my domain name but there are easier and cheaper options. bluehost.com is a favorite from most social media revolutionaries I’ve talked to.
3. It takes some work. Instead of just letting wordpress or blogger take care of spam or viruses hosting puts you in charge of all of that. This is why it’s important to really play around with your dashboard so you know all the ins and outs of your site.
I’m still in the process of getting my site exactly how I want it, but in a few weeks hopefully you’ll see wynnharrison.com living up to its full potential.
Exactly a year ago, I was on my way home from studying abroad in the Netherlands when I heard the news about BP spilling gallons upon gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. That summer was a whirl-wind of wondering what was going to happen to the Gulf especially the ecosystems that were effected. Since then so much has happened; natural disasters in New Zealand and Japan, crazy amounts of budget reforms, and huge political change in Egypt. Just goes to show that the world is never truly falling apart and that things eventually will work out or the get plugged up.
This is a long-form radio piece I did last summer for Emerson’s radio station WERS during the ongoing coverage of the spill.
Twitter has cleaned up its image considerable since it first popped up on our browsers. At first Twitter users had a difficult time trying to figure out how to put their 140 characters a piece to good use. Twitter haters (or Twaters) often make the argument that this form of social media is narcissistic but when something is as interactive as Twitter you need to put a little bit of yourself in it!
Twitter is all about your personality. If you’re someone who is a bit full of yourself then yes Twitter will be a perfect outlet for narcissism, but so is Facebook or any blogging platform! If you use your online voice to tweet out recommendations to followers or support something you’re passionate about then I think Twitter is worthwhile!
Not to mention all the benefits Twitter has created; better customer service, greater access to jobs, and constant communication for all!
Check out the video below about Flutter! It’s a parody on Twitter and although I love to tweet more than anything, this is pretty funny!
Viewing how many Facebook friends you actually have can sometimes be terrifying. For example, I have nearly 2,000 friends…on Facebook. The distinction must be clear because “friend” is just a part of Facebook terminology, sorry to be the bearer of bad news but all these people are not actually your friend. There are the long-lost friends from summer camp, the people you met at a party once, and those “friend of a friend” type people who you don’t really know at all.
But how do you weed out the ones who you need to stay connected with versus the ones that you don’t? Yes, I’m talking about defriending (which sounds terrible) but we’ve all been there. Some like to “Facebook cleanse” this is where they go through their friends all at once to determine who they’ll stay connected to. Although effective, I think that it’s too hard to decide ALL AT ONCE who is “friend-worthy”.
My technique is unconventional but I think it works. On the right-hand side of your Facebook homepage you’ll find the “birthdays section”. If there is someone who is your Facebook friend and they are celebrating their birthday and you do not know them well enough to write a simple “Happy Birthday!” on their wall then you should not be friends.
I know it seems cold to defriend someone on their birthday but there is no happy way to “defriend” someone. Check out this blog, 500 Fewer Friends where the blogger writes about the “nature of defriending.” I know I’m interested!
Twitter is a constant conversation, which makes #hashtags part of the lingo.They’re
Photo Courtesy: socialmediadiyworkshop.com
so popular that sometimes I catch people actually saying “hashtag” before they speak! #toomuch! Below are my top ten favorite #hashtags of all time (in no particular order):
1. #twitterverse
The perfect and quickest way to sum-up the connection to everyone (and everything) through Twitter.
2. #soemerson
This #hashtag has won over Emerson college in such a huge way. In fact. @soemerson has formed just because of it. It’s how we explain via tweet how “only at Emerson” would there be… a presentation on backstreet boys during class or playing a game of Quidditch on the Common.
3. #ikea
I love Ikea so much and when I’m there I just NEED to tell the world – or at least my #twitterverse (see what I did there?). In these situations twitpic is a necessary tool.
4. #wilpersmafia
This #hashtag represents everyone who has ever used a tweet with #jwinterns or has taken John Wilpers internship class. I took it last summer and cannot not emphasize enough how much it helped me in the blogging and social media world.
5. #ESM
Also known as Emerson Social Media – it’s a class at Emerson that tweeted so much that it was featured in The Wall Street Journal (that really is #soemerson)!
6. #loveislouder
A campaign that came to my college campus but is also all over the world! Love is louder emphasizes that love and support are more powerful than anything that tries to bring us down.
7. #emersonlipdub
One of the most viral lip dubs in the country! And like most of these it’s all about Emerson College. I made sure to include the video below so be sure to give it a look!
8. #socialmediarevolution
I wouldn’t be blogging on the social media revolution frontline if I didn’t support this #hashtag gem!
9. #wynnis21
This was the #hashtag I created to get my ultimate birthday wish, to trend on Twitter! It only trended within the city of Boston but it was awesome!
10. #jr408
Those who tweet this out are probably in my Interactive News class at Emerson. They are all budding social media revolutionaries themselves and this #hashtag is ALWAYS a great resource for anything and everything social media.
The 1960′s was an era of protest. The baby boomer generation spoke out against the War in Vietnam, racial prejudice, and their government. The change they made with marches and rallies makes me wonder what would have happened if we handed the revolutionaries of the 1960′s a smart phone. Would it have made more of a difference in their cause for peace, love, and justice? Or would the technology become too much for the generation of flower power and picket signs?
I think that the tools each generation are given for protest that are most appropriate for their time period. Social media Revolutionaries may be active when it comes to retweeting, commenting, or posting but most of our activism only exists online. The baby boomers needed to march on Washington to make their voices heard and all we need is a hashtag to unite us. Does this make us apart of an apathetic generation? What do you think blogosphere?
This long-form radio piece that discusses the dramatic change in job hunting since the social media revolution. It was so exciting to interview Social Media Revolutionaries like Tom O’Keefe. You don’t recongnize his name? Well maybe you’ll know him better by his twitter handle, @BostonTweet is known by most of his followers as an informative guy who loves eating at Anna’s Taqueria. Find out how he got his job of tweeting to a city of followers! Click the Playhead below!
