Rage against X factor

As a rule of thumb I stay away from Facebook groups, it doesn’t spark my interest if some people like to ‘draw on condensated windows’ or state ‘the official rules of calling shotgun’. But when I noticed that a vast majority of my friends were joining one group, it seemed to interesting to ignore. This group is called Rage Against The Machine For Christmas No.1 http://bit.ly/8c8bIm. This is their back up Facebook group.
This is a Facebook group who are pushing for Rage Against The Machines ‘Killing in the name of’ to be Christmas number one instead of the X-Factor winner Joe McElderry. In response to this group there has been a huge amount of publicity ranging from articles in NME magazine to interviews in The Guardian. This particular interview shows Simon Cowell accusing the group as conducting a direct attack towards him, also saying it’s a cynical campaign. This publicity has put pressure on Simon Cowell and the X-Factor but also Facebook; to the extent that the Facebook group ,with over 700,000 members, was not available for several hours on the day of the x-factor final. Facebook called it a ’bug’. I am sitting on the fence with this campaign but I still think that move by Facebook seemed a bit coincidental.
Cynics argue that the campaign is pointless because Rage Against the Machines are on a record label which is owned by Sony who also employ Simon Cowell. It seems that the majority of the people who have joined this group are aware of that fact and argue that they do this for freedom to choose what is Christmas number one, and not just have another X-Factor contestant automatically get it. I see this as a battle of opinions because after all music taste is just another opinion. In this instance over 700,000 people want ‘Killing in the name of’ to be Christmas number one, we will see how many people what another X-Factor winner to be number one.

Do you Twitter Obama?

It is no secret that President Barack Obama extensively used new media (like Twitter) in his presidential campaign. But now he is President how is his Twitter page holding up? Well it is clear that Mr Obama hired a good PR man because his Twitter currently has 2,764,812 followers and more people join each day. Twitter is an easy way to relay information to people who follow you. Barack Obama’s Twitter page is no different. There is information about nearly everything the President does, from what important meetings he has just attended to Michelle Obama receiving the White House Christmas tree. Most of the posts are short, mainly due to the Twitter word limit of 140 characters; because of this nearly every post has a link to a full length article using a website called ‘Bitly’. This mixture of formal and informal posting creates a friendly image of the President.
The layout of Barack Obama’s Twitter page is another way in which there is a sense of formality and informality combined. The soft blue colours are welcoming, but the transparent picture of Barack Obama pulling a stern face reminds you he means business.
By including a direct link to the official Barack Obama website, and even the white house Twitter page, the President can manipulate Twitter to enhance his publicity. The President’s Twitter is run by ‘Organizing For America’, this is an administration that was founded by Barack Obama after he was inaugurated. Its soul purpose is to create publicity for the President, for example producing Twitter profiles and having a website dedicated to Barack Obama.
The President’s Twitter page definitely gives the image that he is the man you want to trust, and with a catch line like “I’M ASKING YOU TO BELIEVE. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington … I’m asking you to believe in yours” it’s almost like he’s giving you the power he holds.

Is ‘Farmville’ worth your time online?

With technology evolving so fast, reporting has to evolve at the same pace. Unfortunately this has resulted in The Times Online starting to report on stories like how people are addicted to Farmville. A few facts are thrown around like, 69 million people play Farmville which is more than all the twitter users combined, and on average females aged 35 are more likely to play Farmville. Does this new style of reporting damage the reputation and image of The Times Online?
When I think of the Times I think of intelligent and informative reporting not reporting typical to The Sun’s style. The Times Online has proven it can report on new technologies without resorting to demeaning stories. For example the story published in early November on whether the internet is now a human right. This story reports on the dispute between the business secretary, Lord Mandelson wanting to disconnect persistent ‘internet pirates’, and the biggest British internet provider Talk Talk who threatened to take legal action under the ‘human rights legislation’. This story is much more typical of the current image of The Times Online and it keeps up to date with new media reporting. The story on Farmville does gain some credibility around the halfway mark where the reporting involves interviews with specialists from addiction treatment centres and the conclusion focusing on how advertising is scamming people out of their money. But throughout the story there is a feeling of confusion, this isn’t the typical reporting for The Times and yet no ones seemed to notice or take any interest.
Who is gong to complain about this new style of reporting? The Times Online can claim its keeping its reporting up to date with new media, Facebook isn’t going to complain because this story is free publicity. So we are left with a growing consensus that reporting on new media comes down to providing free publicity and stories on Farmville being relevant. I personally think that reporting on whether or not the internet is now a human right is far more credible to the image of The Times Online then a mediocre story about Farmville.

Threatened voices.

The internet has often been used as an outlet for people to express their views and opinions on any subject in the form of blogs. But we are now at the stage where our views and opinions are getting noticed by higher authorities. Due to the sometimes taboo nature of some people’s blogs they are threatened or imprisoned. This is where ‘Threatened voices’ steps in. This website helps these suppressed bloggers to be noticed by the world and express how freedom of speech online is being oppressed. In an effort to establish awareness quickly ‘Threatened voices’ is part of the quickly growing phenomena of Crowdsourcing.
For those that don’t know Crowdsourcing is when an organisation needs a task to be fulfilled but instead of doing that task themselves they broadcast the task to an unknown audience who complete the task for them.
So how does ‘Threatened voices’ use Crowdsourcing? Well its simple, there is a section which lets anyone ‘submit a report’ of someone who has been threatened or imprisoned. This section requires proof to backup any accusation so it can get validated and posted on the website quickly. Through Crowdsourcing there have been 195 cases of threatened or arrested bloggers. China, Egypt and Iran have the highest number of cases on ‘Threatened voices’ with a total of 85. Just to show the severity of this situation 35% of the reported cases on ‘Threatened voices’ have ended in bloggers being jailed. Blogs from people who have been prosecuted are available on this website; this gives the audience a chance to make their own opinion on the bloggers in question.
A website like this really struggles to generate interest because to governments and organisations of authority it gives them a negative image providing proof that there is control over freedom of speech. So ‘Threatened Voices’ adopts as many ways as possible to raise awareness by using Twitter, Facebook and also having Rss feeds available. This does broaden their reach but it gives the impression of narrowing its target audience.

The Anthony Nolan Trust and Facebook.

Facebook has been used for many reasons but none quite as noble as the Anthony Nolan Trust. The Anthony Nolan trust was set up to raise awareness of leukaemia; it is a non-profit organisation which proudly claims to be the most successful bone marrow register in the UK. In an attempt to broaden its awareness the Anthony Nolan Trust created a group on Facebook. This is an easy and free way to spread their message to a new audience. This changed the image of Facebook from just another social networking site to a positive platform for non-profit organisations to raise awareness; Facebook doesn’t have a problem with this because it gives them good publicity.
This groups clear aim is to get members to register and donate bone marrow. This makes it instantly noticeable as a charity and provides it with a positive image. The way this image is created is through user generated content. There is just enough information provided by admins to know the aims of this group but most of the content comes from people advertising their contribution to the charity. This is done in many ways, for example people posting comments involving dates and locations of upcoming charity events which they are taking part in. This is a very unique component to the Facebook group because it informs other people about events they could possibly take part in like, marathons or fundraisers. The publicity this Facebook group generates for external charity events is its most appealing and most noticeable feature. Another form of user generated content if through uploading personal pictures of charity events people have taken part in. With over 7,700 members there is a lot of content to encourage people to join.
The Anthony Nolan Facebook group does also advertise its official website and other related websites spreading its motto ‘The Anthony Nolan Trust takes back the lives from leukaemia’.

Is there anything Paranormal about these Activities?

Paranormal Activity was a low budget film which was in the making for 3 year until DreamWorks got hold of it. There was no drastic transformation because Steven Spielberg who was very interested in the film wanted to keep it in its original state. The film was made for roughly $10,000-$15,000 and has made over 70million dollars.
Is the success of Paranormal Activity really that astonishing, after all the Blair Witch Project was also a low budge film which proved to be very popular and it was released in 1999. But there is one thing that separates the two films, the way they were noticed. Paranormal Activity used a unique way to reach to its audience, the power of word of mouth. This power came mainly from social media most noticeably, Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. These social networking sites were able to spread the word, roping people in. The most interesting site was twitter because they prompted people to tweet what they thought of the film.
The Paranormal Activity official website didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. There is a news letter, a trailer, a plot overview. Only when you look on the press page do you notice something you don’t usually get on other movie websites. There is a whole page dedicated to demanding this film. Instead of going through the traditional channels to be viewed in a cinema, Paranormal Activity used Eventful. Eventful is a website which allows people to demand events in their local area. Paranormal Activity utilised this tool and managed to get over one million fans demanding in their local cinemas. This just shows how word of mouth can be very effective in generating interest even for movies.
Other ways Paranormal Activity generated interest was through viral promoting. This is a common way that new films entice people into wanting to know more. Usually done by showing small sections of their movie in different media, usually television adverts. Paranormal Activity only used the internet to show snippets of the film.
Looking at review for Paranormal Activity its unique and what could be describes quite risky form of creating awareness paid off. The popular review website Rotten Tomatoes said it was 90 minutes of relentless suspense with a 82% score. Other review websites have similar responses.
Now Paranormal Activity the power is no longer in DreamWorks hands its now in your, will you dare to lose sleep over Paranormal Activity.

Test blog

Just posting this blog to test out a things im unsure of.