• Six Out of Ten Smartphone Owners Check Facebook Every Day
    Rumors of Facebook's demise (which I have admittedly helped circulate on occasion) may be somewhat exaggerated, judging by data showing that the social leviathan dominates mobile usage, with key engagement metrics still trending upwards.
  • Obama "Hates" Social Media? Sure, We All Do
    The Internets got into a tizzy over the weekend over one NBC political director and White House correspondent Chuck Todd's reaction to President Obama's jokes about social media at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Here's a sample one-liner of the presidential wit and wisdom: "I remember when BuzzFeed was just something I did in college around 2 a.m.
  • Nine Out of Ten Moms Use Social Media
    Mothers of young children, including new and expecting moms, are more likely than the general public to use social media, according to the 2013 Social Mom Report from BabyCenter.com, based on a survey of 1,480 online adults conducted jointly with comScore.
  • Fake AP Tweet Rattles Stock Market
    By now it should be clear to everyone that social media, in addition to its many remarkable qualities, also holds dangerous potential for spreading misinformation and causing panic. In the latest such incident, hackers who gained access to the Associated Press Twitter account caused a short (but sharp) sell-off on the stock market with a fake tweet about an explosion at the White House.
  • San Francisco Plans Social Network for Emergencies
    Social media's extraordinary versatility makes it a perfect channel for communication during emergencies: social platforms allow the authorities to disseminate important news and information while connecting ordinary people to each other, enabling collective responses and sharing of resources. With that in mind, the city government of San Francisco is creating a social network Web site and app specifically for emergencies, according to Mashable, which reported the news last week.
  • Kids Who Use Social Media Want To Be Famous
    Kids who use social media tend to be more interested in becoming famous than peers who don't use social media, according to a new study by researchers at UCLA's Children's Digital Media Center, first reported in USA Today.
  • Sometimes You Should Just Keep Your Mouth Shut
    One of the most dangerous misconceptions in marketing and life in general -- let's call it the "fallacy of utility" -- is the notion that just because you have a tool that does X, you should always be using that tool to do X, because otherwise you aren't getting the full value of the tool. One variant of this is the old adage that when you own a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
  • Social Media Is for Catharsis
    The rise of social media is nowhere more evident than in the way we deal with tragedies like Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon, which killed three and injured hundreds. No surprise, the overall effect of this communications revolution is one of magnification and amplification, as reactions which in a previous era would have remained submerged, private, or local can now be shared with the world. In fact, whatever social media's effects in terms of disseminating news and information, this function -- simply allowing ordinary people to express our feelings in upsetting, disorienting times -- may be its biggest benefit.
  • Docs Shouldn't "Friend" Patients
    While it's taken for granted that most consumer-facing companies should have a presence on social media, and the same goes for many professionals, that's not the case for one key group. Physicians should not "friend" or otherwise contact their patients via social media, according to a policy paper on guidelines from the American College of Physicians and Federation of State Medical Boards, titled "Online Medical Professionalism: Patient and Public Relationships."
  • College Freshmen Women Use Media 12 Hours a Day
    "According to a new study, freshmen women spend nearly half their day -- 12 hours -- engaged in some form of media use, particularly texting, music, the Internet and social networking." - ScienceDaily.com, April 11, 2013
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