King of Pop

It is safe to say that Michael Jackson’s Facebook fan pages grew tremendously immediately following his death on June 25, 2009. As status’ began to appear with the news of the death, fans started to show their support by creating and joining Michael Jackson fan groups.

One group, entitled “In Memory of Michael Jackson”, with over 20,000 members, shows to have a tremendous amount of activity daily, with video postings, comments, etc. They have also established a foundation where a user can purchase a “white glove watch” which will benefit children in need.

Upon further research, I found that MJ’s death had such a great impact on certain internet sites, that they actually had to be shut down. People who heard news of the rumored death and went to their computer to search it on Google created so much traffic that Google had to shut that search down, and send an error message back to users. Twitter became so infiltrated with new “Tweets” after the death that it, too, had to be shut down temporarily, as the network was overloaded. Wikipedia crashed as it reported over a million searches for MJ’s biography in one hour, as did AOL Instant Messenger, for a short period.

This tells us that first place people will look to confirm news is no longer the radio, newspaper, or television – it is the internet. Most people have internet accessibility at all times, whether it is in their house or on their phone, and it is both the easiest and quickest way to receive information. While I heard about the death of Michael Jackson while watching television, I can not deny that my next move was to turn to my computer and research when, how and why it happened, along with phone calls to the mainland...seems like they're just a little ahead in getting the latest news.

http://www.facebook.com/In.Memory.of.MJ?ref=ts

Love again...

It seems that this case, or any real court case concerning libel is usually very hard to prove in the court of law. Unfortunately for Courtney Love, it seems that her online ranting went a bit too far to allow her to “cover her tracks” afterwards. After she was sued for character defamation through postings on various public forums by Dawn Simorangkir (whom her attacks were geared towards), she tried to save herself under the anti-SLAPP statute in California, which protects against “free speech”.
The article indicates that there were two things necessary for Love to be granted her motion to strike; her comments must have been made in a public forum, and concerning the public interest. Clearly, Love knew that posting on MySpace, Twitter and Etsy, as she did, would cause her comments to be very exposed to the public, as these are extremely popular social tools. In my opinion, once something is written on the internet, it can not be taken back, and Love is clearly just trying to reach for some kind of “life saver” so she does not get sued. Her actions were not thought out, and she should have to suffer for some consequences, despite her fame and money.

Since this article, the courts denied her motion to strike, and said that her words did not protect public interest. This is probably because she said nothing constructively critical about Simorangkir’s products, but rather just personal attacks on her, her products and her past life. There, however, has been no settlement resulting from this case yet, but my guess will be that they will be in favor of Simorangkir.

Facebook Policy

So often this generation either gets overly excited, or we're just plain lazy, and we completely overlook directions, guidelines, rules, and in this case policies. And on top of this, we're quick to point fingers and put blame on individuals for our own faults, when all we had to do was read the fineprint.

If you take a look at some of the Facebook profiles of your friends, and then take a look at the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, chances are they don't match up. Some examples from this page include:

You will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on Facebook.

You will not use Facebook if you are under 13.

You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission

You will not tag users or send email invitations to non-users without their consent.

I have cousins who are under age 13 with Facebook pages, but I overlooked the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, I didn't know. So many times I see individuals posting false information, false names, age and even location. How does Facebook stay on top of this, they can't really. I suppose they're really just trying to trust their users to be truthful.

The Privacy Policy states, "You own all the content and information you post, and you can control how it is shared..." While doing research I realized that so many questions and comments were so hateful towards Facebook and it's privacy policy. Complaint after complaint was about how Facebook doesn't protect their privacy, how there are loopholes because of constant changes, etc. Personally, I've never had a problem with Facebook. In an article by The New York Times, a user acknowledged how she was able to set everything on her page to private, but now due to changes, the public is able to see her picture (if one), name, gender, connections (if any) and user ID. But imagine if everyone was able to block EVERYTHING on their page and set it to private...there were be a bunch of question marks in place of the profile picture, you wouldn't know who is friend requesting you, it kind of makes this whole social networking thing boring don't you think?

Vice President for Public Policy at Facebook Elliot Schrange stated, "Our mission is for Facebook to be the best place in the world to connect and share with friends and family...nobody at Facebook wants to make our users' lives more difficult...we are not doing a good enough job communicating the changes that we are making and providing the user greater control over what and how they share appears to be too confusing for our 400 million users." I appreciate that they realize that they can do better at communicating with users, and that the feedback that they receive is not taken lightly. He also stated, "...Our fate is in the hands of the users, We're held accountable by the people who use our service. When they disagree with our decisions, they let us know..."

In reality, if you don't want something coming back to bite you...DON'T POST IT ON FACEBOOK! It's common sense people.

http://www.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/facebook-executive-answers-reader-questions/?hp

Dominos

Dominos has recently remodified their pizza recipe completely, in an effort to rid their existing reputation of having cheap, tasteless pizza. With this effort, they have been marketing their product immensely, both on television and also social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.

On both of these sites, which include links to one another, Dominos is working hard to promote their new recipe, and is not only offering extremely inexpensive online deals (2 medium pizzas for $5.99 each...which isn't the same in Hawaii of course) but also is conducting a marketing promotion called “Taste Bud Bounty” where a customer can earn “rewards” by getting a friend to try the new pizza. They have turned buying pizza into a game that will attract customers’ attention.

On Dominos Facebook, there is a distinctive link for this “Bounty Hunt”, as well as links to the Twitter page, website, e-mail and text offers and customer care, as well. Their Facebook “wall” is smothered in Bounty Hunt promotions, good customer reviews surrounding the pizza, and the like. They are using this device heavily to continue to post and remind people about their product.

The Twitter page, hosted by a member of the headquarters in Michigan, serves the same function – heavily marketing this promotion, and being sure to post a lot of “tweets” and respond to all of the tweets that they receive, to show care for customer responses. It is clear that Dominos uses both of these tools to their fullest extent to attract a young, eager crowd, and to get their message (or product) known quickly.

My first 3-D: Alice in Wonderland

I finally saw my first 3-D movie (I know, I'm a little behind in these type of things). I must say, I WAS ABSOULTELY BLOWN AWAY! We get the whole rundown about objects jumping out of the screen and whatnots, but I was that 22 year old that was reaching my hand out and oohing and awwing, while the 7 year old sitting next to me was looking at me like I had two heads. The 3-D movie was definitely something common for him.

When listening to the podcast "The Future of Animation," I was interested in the developement of the glasses, and the switch from the anaglyphic to polarized lenses. I seriously walked into the movie expecting to be handed the flimsy red and blue glasses, all the while trying to figure out why I had to pay so much more extra! When I was handed the terminator looking glasses I realized this 3-D stuff may actually be legit. It's good to know that this specific kind of technology is constantly being upgraded.

I went and saw "Alice in Wonderland." We all know the classic Disney tale of the little girl who falls down the rabbit hole in search of a little white rabbit, she comes across crazy characters, all of whom are in their own little world...THIS remake however, was NOT that story. The story takes place 12 years later when Alice is given a surprise engagement party and once again follows a little white rabbit and falls down the same hole, to the same place, where all the characters are awaiting her arrival in hopes that she will save them from the Red Queen. Tim Burton did an amazing job (as always), you can always expect the unexpected.

In the podcast, there was talk of one day there might be a possibility that viewers will no longer need the 3-D glasses to view a 3-D film. This amazes me, not only the technololgy, but the way the films are actually shot. Every scene set up for a potential 3-D shot. Studying film, and the actual scene set up, angles, and lighting, I know from personal experience that it could take hours to set up just one shot. I can't even begin to imagine the kind of work, time and creativity that goes into filming a 3-D movie. Not to mention the million or so hours to render the film. But, it's going to be well worth all the work, especially now that Samsung just introduced it's 3-D HDTV, along with Mitsubishi. Personally, I feel 3-D should be kept for the big screen. It's the only way to really get the full experience.

Why Heather Can Write

This was definitely an interesting chapter. I am a Harry Potter fan, but I only say that because I've read the books 10 times each. I've never thought to go as far as creating my own fansite though. This girl seems very mature for her age (well when this happened). Children have very vivid imaginations, but to run with the idea of a newpaper from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to never tire or bore, or never run out of events to talk about it is amazing. A world that doesn't even exist and these children are creating it.

In reading this chapter, I did start to question the depth and extremity of these writers. We as adults know it's make believe, but where is the line being drawn for some of these kids. I'm not trying to contradict what I said about the imagination of these children being amazing, but in some stories the children were bringing in actual events, real "problems." Things that we didn't necessarily hear about in the books or movies. This could easily be a tool for some children to cope with what could actually be going on in their lives, but is there a point where they could get so wrapped up that they want this world that they're helping to create be real, so real that they don't even face reality? It's just something that crossed my mind while reading the chapter...

As far as the issue with Warner Bros. I can understand where they were coming from when they were monitoring all the websites/fansites. They had to take precautions, however, they should have done their research BEFORE they started outing all these children and right of Freedom of Speech. Because in the end they made themselves look like fools. It's true that no one really knew how Harry Potter would explode into what it is today, but if anything, I would think that all these fansites and blogs would boost sales for Harry Potter memorabilia, wouldn't that be good for Warner Bros. if they bought the film rights?

Blogs in Latin America: Graffiti

Most of us might assume that we know quite a bit about Mexico and South America because it's on the same continent as the U.S., but I'm shocked at how much I don't know about these Latin countries.

Without getting into political depth and overall well being of these countries, something else caught my attention while scrolling through the blogs: Graffiti and Urban Art (voices from Latin America). It's not uncommon to hear a vast majority of people call graffiti vandalism. And though most of it CAN be, because that is what it has turned into, not all of it is. Graffiti started roughly about three decades ago in the United States and was/is considered one of the four elements of Hip Hop. Like all of the elements of hip hop, graffiti was founded on expression. It could be considered tasteful art, and artwork indeed. Today it can be found in almost every inner city in every country. I personally feel it has been abused. No longer is it an expression through art, but gangs have taken a liking to it and tag their names everywhere claiming their territory, it's simply writing on private and public property, leaving neighborhoods and communities looking distasteful.

According to one blog, the countries in Latin America however, are using walls to "represent the voice of the community, marginal groups, and young people that strive to be heard...," "Some of Latin America street art is distinct from what is created by the hip-hop movement, focusing on political messages and stories of struggle that speak directly to the viewer." It's not all about street credibility, but the pieces of these Latinos display messages that only make sense the community. The intricate letters and code numbers represent certain places and names that only the community can identify with. One artist describes that there is a certain power of being in the streets (artwork), and that one must handle it with responsibility and do what is best for the community. This means, "refraining from painting egocentrically and paint only what on wants and what only one can understand. The must be strong willed to represent what the community wants to see and needs to know."

Some of these pieces are beautiful, they are actual masterpieces. It would be nice to see this kind of graffiti come back to the states instead of rival gangs in competition seeing who can tag up the most places with their name.