Staying Social Through Boston's Bombings.

When tragedy strikes and is highlighted on a national level, many feel the need to get involved. Whether you're a few blocks away or a few thousand miles away, the concept of humanity usually overrules any doubts you might have about ignoring a horrible situation. Because of this, we are innately inclined to help.

Social media has provided us all with a more immediate way to help, with real-time communication being possible for tens of thousands of people at a time. It truly is spectacular to see communication enabled among that many people from such different areas at once. Even a decade ago, I'm sure this possibility was not expected.

However, this type of interactive environment does have its ups and downs.

Boston and Social Media.

First of all, I'd like to note the fact that the happenings this week have evoked a great amount of nationalism among citizens of our country. As impressive as this is, it caused members of many online communities to put on their law enforcement caps and try to solve crime through their computers. The effort is appreciated, but they aren't police officers for a reason.

Due to suspected conspiracy theories that developed over the course of a few days, along with analysis of pictures released by the media to the public, a few ordinary citizens falsely had blame cast on them. There have been a few accounts of those citizens receiving much harassment regarding the crimes they did not commit. It doesn't need to be explained why this is an issue, as it is a violation of privacy for those affected and obstruction of justice on behalf of the information that came to be trusted by major media outlets.

There's something to be said for the more positive outcomes of social media's involvement in the news, though. Many were able to stay involved in the action as it developed, thanks to updates on Twitter, live feeds posted on Reddit (Live Feed), and links to the Boston Police Department's activity scanner being sent to anyone interested. Updates were real-time, with some of the updates even coming from Boston residents that were close to the police action itself.

News networks like MSNBC, Fox New, and especially CNN drew much criticism for being late to provide updates and information on the situations in Boston. Despite the fact that any news network stops reporting live well before the scene in Boston really escalated, many people were frustrated and outraged by their total absence from the police chase. This turned out to be of no issue for most people, though, since Twitter, Reddit, and the police scanner, along with a few local journalists, provided more than enough content to keep anyone interested informed.

Politics and tragedy aside, the way these events played out indicates just how news and online journalism could be shaped in the future. With urgent situations like this, interested parties didn't care about where they were getting their information from, as long as they were getting it. Videos, press releases, and articles would have been too long to keep attention and inform viewers, especially when all of those resources take too long to create.

The Internet certainly proved itself as worthy competition for major news outlets, which are often criticized for their biases and focus on ratings. News networks are businesses, so they do need to make money, but how can they compete with the vast amount of free information that others provide in times like these?

The main way that news outlets can keep up would be to not try and monetize the major news events as they happen. When searching out updates on situations like the manhunt in Boston, people weren't flocking to their televisions to stay informed. Instead, they took to the Internet, where names without faces were keeping everyone informed. If CNN had kept one to a few of its reporters on standby for the night, they could have stayed with the story better and provided their followers with better, more credible information.

Boston's tragic week has to be the event that has best-exposed the discrepancies between online media and televised news, and the major news networks should have some time to learn from their mistakes in handling it. In the future, look for them to be more responsive to major events, especially if they want to satisfy their ratings-driven objectives.

Google+ Gets Glamour-ous.

Google+ often draws much criticism for not having as much activity as other social networks, like Facebook and Twitter. I have seen it referred to as a ghost town, where people may create accounts that they quickly abandon because of a lack of appeal. One feature on Google+, though, that really stands out is the opportunity for users to initiate "hangouts".

Glamour Hangouts on Google+

Glamour Magazine, a fashion publication, has launched a series of scheduled hangouts with any of its followers over the next month. Any of these hangouts will give them a chance to showcase products that may be partnered with them, some of the expertise of their staff, or even just further gauge the interests of their readers and followers. At a time when print media is supposedly on the decline, this is a great way for them to increase consumer interest in the service they are offering.

When I first read the headline of the article linked above, my mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that Glamour and Google would be charging users for the ability to participate in these hangouts. As different as that is, that in itself could be considered newsworthy and a little innovative. While the ability to start a hangout with anyone is free on Google+, presenting these specific opportunities as premiums would have elevated the brand to a prestige not previously explored.

Instead, Glamour still finds themselves the first movers in an area that could prove to be quite lucrative. Product placement has been increasing in both quantity and quality over the past few years, especially since television commercials are no longer viewed as much as they used to be. Display advertising, the online equivalent of print ads, has very low relative success, as well. Much of it is ignored, since it may not appeal to the Internet user that is seeing it.

For those involved in these hangouts, though, the relevancy of what is being presented can not be questioned at all. If a Google+ user is interested, they will participate, so there would be no waste in promotional coverage. Glamour has everything to gain, though, since their followers and readers will either come to trust their expertise even more or invest in the products that are being presented to them.

It will be interesting to see how other brands might try to explore product placement via social interactions in the future. Google+ hangouts present the most interactive opportunity that could be available to a company right now, and the effectiveness of a brand with actual products to promote, as opposed to partnered brands, could vary based on consumers' reactions.

A Sign of the Times.

I've talked plenty about newspapers and print media and their struggles in competing with digitization. Many are still far behind in the transition to online publication, but the New York Times and Prudential teamed up to produce an interactive advertisement that certainly sparks some interest in the media legend.

NYT Interactivity

The idea of the ad on Prudential's end was to promote their products that help to sustain life longevity. Readers could see what was considered front page-worthy on the day they were born, thus showing how much things have changed since that day. In all the time I've spent on the Internet in my life, I don't think I have seen an advertisement work so effectively for both the advertising brand and its host. It encourages interest in both the New York Times and Prudential, and it does so without controversy.

Both brands are established already in their respective fields, but the awareness helps them both in ways that are tough to duplicate.

With many print media sources trying to find a way to move online, an advertising spot like this would encourage readers of the New York Times to visit their site again. Higher traffic will bring more readers, at least numerically, and also increase the opportunity to profit from ad revenue.

Prudential, on the other hand, promotes themselves through the successful execution of their advertisement. They successfully designed a piece of integrated marketing that addresses the interests of the viewership of another company, while also promoting the ideas of themselves at the same time. It's tough to do, but all in all, it's a great approach to a very modern marketing environment.

Reading Media.

As I grew up in the public educational system, I consistently believed that students suffered a vast disconnect with their instructors. I didn't necessarily think this was an issue that was unique to our generation, but it did seem like that disconnect was growing more and more the older I grew. The problem with technology advancement is that as the overall quality of available technology increases, the number of people both qualified and competent in using that technology decreases. For a generation of educators that grew up without much technology, it is often difficult to overcome this disconnect without first educating themselves.

Media Literacy

One thing in particular I recall from my early days of education was the struggle that accompanied finding solid research to support my projects for school. A great amount of information has been on the Internet for years, so relevancy was never an issue like credibility was. Research methods weren't integrated into my educational curricula until about middle school, after numerous science fairs and projects had already happened.

When students are given improper or no instruction and expected to use that as the foundation of their educational development, it corrupts their personal growth and prevents them from utilizing all of the resources available to them. This is why it is important to not just have standard "tech ed" classes in high schools, but to create spots in early education curricula to foster both interest and knowledge of technology and its many uses.

Bolstering media literacy will help combat the idea that not everything on the Internet is true. False information exists to mislead and fool those who don't know what types of sources or information to trust online. If the general population is more aware of what they can trust online, this trend of misleading information should both lose its effectiveness and decline in total presence.

Involving the younger generations in the knowledge of how to use computers and the Internet affects both educational and social aspects of their lives. Increasing the money dedicated to technology education will help sustain the virtuous cycle that the general field of technology has created for itself.