I made the point last night during SWIM that I think the media only started adopting social media at its fervent rate upon the use of social media by the Obama presidential campaign.* His campaign used social media comprehensively and did it right. Obama as president hasn’t let the social media advocates down: he proves that social media isn’t just for getting elected with the launch of White House 2.0.
By far, the best part of White House 2.0 is the Official White House Photostream on Flickr. Social media is “about” a lot of things, but for President Obama it is about conveying his personality and bundling his messages up in that personality under an assumed premise that if we like him as a person, we will like what he has to say as a president, too. That is what these photos seem to say. And social media is good for that purpose. We see him laughing; it seems genuine; we believe everything is going to be okay. Our photogenic president appears serious when it is appropriate, accessorizes fashionably for events, and exudes confidence (or ego) in his overall presentation.
In addition to the Flickr stream, on Friday the White House announced an official Facebook page, MySpace page and Twitter account. There are also video postings by the White House on YouTube, Vimeo and iTunes. All of this was announced as an effort to be more transparent and to engage the public. And, they are allowing comments on all of these sites. What I am not seeing in all of the comments are responses from the White House. It makes me wonder if they are monitoring all of this feedback and providing a real two-way communication, or if this is simply another way to “push” information under the guise of engagement. If they are not responding yet, I predict they will be soon: this White House knows how to use technology, the Internet and social media.
* While I recognize that many journalists and some media outlets had already recognized its power, for the rest of the slow-to-change media bunch, Obama’s success with social media was the turning point. And now they just can’t stop talking about it.
It is that time of year when high school students are starting to learn whether they have been accepted to their dream colleges. But now, rather than knowing with just a glance at the thick or thin envelope that arrives via snail mail in the privacy of their homes, students are learning of admission decisions online. And they are checking constantly for the updates while in the classroom. Then, they are posting the results to their Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts. Reported in the LA Times today, however, that public notification could cause tension among friends:
“…for every member of the Facebook nation, even a successful admissions season poses challenges: Should you post your good fortune on your home page before learning whether your best friend got in? Or check your iPhone for online decisions, with everyone watching? If you put your college wish list online, will you be humiliated if the rejections come thick and fast?
…
“Some students will frantically check their e-mail or BlackBerries at school, a scenario that recently inspired a plot line on “Gossip Girl,” the television show about a New York City prep school. (Checking their Yale applications, lead characters Serena and Dan learned they were admitted, while Blair was wait-listed, launching her on a self-destructive cycle of vengeance.)”
Teens have grown up sharing everything about their lives: the good, the bad and the ugly. Does this encourage honesty because it becomes harder to lie when everything is revealed online eventually? Mabye that is an upside of living very public lives. But, just as I took ettiquette classes as a child when manners were nearing extinction, I wonder if teens should be offered classes that teach them how to protect themselves in this online world as privacy is nearing extinction.
As reported in BusinessWeek, social network users are spending less time on sites like MySpace and Facebook in an effort to avoid advertising. “The average amount of time each user spends on social networking sites has fallen by 14% over the last four months, according to market researcher ComScore. MySpace, the largest social network, has slipped from a peak of 72 million users in October to 68.9 million in December, ComScore says. The total number of people on such sites is still increasing at an 11.5% rate, but that’s down sharply from past growth rates.”
“MySpace and Facebook recognize the issue but say increased targeting and other innovations will spur users to pay more attention.”
We will see what happens, but maybe online games are the new social networking sites when it comes to hot places to advertise.
“MySpace…is posting all of the commercials broadcast during the game on a special section of the social-networking site at no extra charge to those advertisers. Google’s YouTube, Time Warner’s AOL and Yahoo are doing the same for their commercial polls. Hosting these sites build viewer traffic, which then allows them to sell more paid advertising.” — The Wall Street Journal
