In the past, dealing with news such as the recent Swine Flu Epidemic would require audiences to check the news regularly, speak to friends, or read local newspapers. But, thanks to social media (specifically, Twitter) we are exposed to immediate updates on where the epidemic is being reported, what is being done, and how we will be affected. By searching trends within Twitter, one can view a constantly refreshing page of updates in relation to swine flu, all hashtagged “swineflu.”

Although I am an avid user of Twitter and have been halfheartedly paying attention to the Swine Flu coverage for my own well-being, I do it with an understanding that the information represented may be incorrect. Because of Twitter’s accessibility, any registered Twitter user can distribute information regarding the epidemic. This information then has the possibility of being read by millions of people.

For example, in Austin where I reside, there have already been several misleading reports of the epidemic. First, there was a young girl infected. Then there was dispute about the young girl. Next, there were children at Dell Children’s Hospital being quarantined, and later there weren’t children at Dell Children’s Hospital…..you get the picture. In fact, several local journalists have practically been on damage control all day today. Omar Gallaga, the continually insightful tech journalist at The Austin American Statesman, actually wrote a “Don’t Panic!” post making many of the same arguments I made above.

What interests me the most about this phenomenon, however, is my own reaction to the news. As I said before, I read each tweet with the understanding that it may be false…with the exception of a few. As if it were 1999, I continue to put my trust in the hands of professional journalists and pay particular attention to the information being given from accounts such as The Statesman and CNN. In my mind, these professionals use Twitter just as if they were writing an article: they check the facts first. Unlike an emotionally driven user crying wolf, journalists must submit to reporting the truth. Simply put, changing mediums does not mean changing standards.

So what does this really mean? Well, as a student in media communication, I have begun to pity my fellow student journalists. Each day, an additional newspaper files for backruptcy, editors are forced to teach the news rather than report it, and students are increasingly switching specializations. Honestly though, this epidemic has only solidified my faith in journalism. Yes, 90% of the public can now do your job and simply report the news. But, will they report it accurately? Will they have the resources to gather all the facts? Probably not.

Swine Flu may come and go, but journalism is here to stay.

We are all aware that celebrities such as Britney Spears, Shaquil O’Neal, and Demi Moore jumped on board the Twitter train. However, until now, they merely co-existed with the remainder of the population.

This week, Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk), decided to challenge the news network, CNN, to a race to 1 million. Kutcher commented on the state of our media by insisting that he could impact just as many people as an entire network. As with all celebrity brawls, however, there were petty shots. Larry King attacked Kutcher by saying “Do you know how big we are? Do you know what CNN is?!” Nevertheless, Kutcher continued the fight and prevailed early Friday morning around 2:00am. CNN also reached 1 million followers…only a half hour later.

The race itself did not bother me. We should be used to these online cattle drives by now considering the floods of Facebook groups touting “1 million to bring back the old Facebook!” or “1000 and I’ll shave my head!”

In actuality, it was the backlash of this experiment that has disheartened me. After seeing Kutcher’s success, Oprah decided to make a huge statement, and join Twitter. Although Oprah’s actually significance is debateable, her influence within pop culture is undeniable.  In my opinion, her decision to take part in this new media experience will revolutionize Twitter. We may see soccer moms organizing weekly snacks via Twitter, single dads trading healthy recipes via Twitter, or maybe retired grandparents grumbling about last week’s Bingo game via Twitter. Whatever the outcome, us social media enthusiasts will need to make some room on board the nerd ship.

Unfortunately, we are already experiencing growing pains. Some “haters” just launched HereBeforeOprah, a site dedicated to demeaning Twitter users that are likely joining due to Oprah’s popularity. And just in case you are worried that followers doubt your authenticity, you can tweet the result to everyone (hooray for self-importance!)

Yes, Twitter is still not entirely mainstream and yes, the majority of users work in technology. But, that is not its goal. Twitter is not meant to be an elitist society of users that wear FailWhale shirts and have Tweet-ups to talk about how they use Twitter.

If soccer moms want to join Twitter, who cares? The best part about using Twitter is that….hold on, this may be difficult to grasp….you CHOOSE who to follow. It’s not like Facebook where you are bloated with external group requests and follow requests and highligher parties with friends from 6th grade. Twitter allows you to create your own network of followers.

How is communication expected to advance if users feel that only a certain number of people are entitled to its use? I am excited to see the outcome of this revolution in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for more insight into our constantly evolving communication system.

The question remains, however, what do those styles mean for you? Is runway fashion really intended for everyday wear? Generally, no. Prompted by a class assignment to create a short web video, I have created the following examination of everyday fashion and style:

According to an article from MSNBC, Obama is quite the Blackberry enthusiast:

“Mr. Obama’s memorandums and briefing books were seldom printed out and delivered to his house or hotel room, aides said. They were simply sent to his Blackberry for his review.”

In fact, according to records, Obama responds to e-mails and staffers until early in the morning with the convenience of his BB. Throughout the campaign, Obama’s advisers urged him to steer clear of blogs and write-ups on-line, not wanting to jeopardize his focus. However, Obama (true to his savvy form) felt it necessary to stay up to date.

Unfortunately, the rules have now changed. As incoming President, Obama faces legal jurisdiction surrounding all communication to and from his office:

“For starters, there’s the Presidential Records Act, which requires all official correspondence be made available in the public domain. It means those 3 a.m. Blackberry emails he was known for on the trail will probably have to stop, or at least be curtailed in some way.”

In addition, answering a constant flow of e-mails can be extremely distracting as well as time consuming for a President that will already have an overwhelming agenda. Dina Owen, leader of the American Studies program at Georgetown University suggests that Obama’s e-mail may need to go:

“It’s a time burner. It might be easier for him to say, ‘I can’t be on e-mail.’ ”

And yet, it appears that Obama plans to work through these concerns.

“…aides to the president-elect said he hopes to be the first president ever to have a laptop at the ready on the historic Oval Office desk.”

This would mean that our perception of the Presidential desk and his Oval Office would change forever.

Can you picture a laptop on the President’s desk? It feels as though this simple addition will illustrate yet another benchmark in this presidency, finally taking politics into the twenty-first century.

What are you thoughts? Do you have concerns about President Elect Obama using technology in his new administration, or do you feel that his using a laptop and trusty BB is a positive movement into the future ?

*Photo credit: Gizmodo.com

Cesar Torres, 24, is one of the co-founders of Conjunctured, a coworking company and Austin’s first coworking space. By day, he’s also a freelance brand designer, art director, graphic and web designer and serves as creative director of TechStyles Apparel. Cesar lives in east Austin with his Mac and his dog, Tumbler.

What role does social media play in your professional life?

Social media played an integral part in the creation and development of Conjunctured, the coworking space I helped create. Since very early on, various social media tools helped us pool together a collection of people who were interested in the development of an Austin coworking space. These same tools helped us keep in contact with the community and gave us a platform to talk about everything we were learning on our journey from the inception of the idea in March to our opening in August and beyond.

Social media helped us attain the right connections to the people that were important to our success, whether that was family, supporters, members, friends outside of Austin, the national tech community and even media and press contacts (we obtained writeups in the Austin American Statesman, two writeups on the Mashable frontpage, I made some guest posts on Dell’s Digital Nomads blog and the Austin360 tech blog and we landed spots on KXAN News and NBC Nightly News as a result of our online contacts!).

How has your use of social media improved your career?

Outside of using social media tools to help promote Conjunctured, coworking and Austin, social media has been a huge help in my personal career as a designer. Through social networks like Facebook and Twitter, I have been able to create a strong presence as a freelance designer and have been contacted many times over for work via these networks. Social media helped me make connections and keep my ear to the ground as to who was in need of services I could provide.

I think people hear the words “social media” and immediately are concerned about privacy issues. I feel that the transparency of social media tools helped people get to know who I was and gave them a better understanding for the kind of work that I liked to do. Once they got a sense for that, they had the communication tools (my blog/portfolio, my Twitter or Facebook accounts, etc.) to contact me regarding work they personally needed done or leads they had.

What has your role been, specifically, in the Austin tech community and where would you like to see it go in the future?

To date, I am called on to provide feedback on branding and design elements for companies and tech starups in town and around the world, which I totally love doing.

A big portion of the membership-base in Austin for coworking is web designers, developers and other tech knowledge workers (naturally, these people have the freedom to work outside an office environment, given their flexibility thanks to technology). I get to meet these creative and talented people and hopefully help them come together and know each other—whether that’s within the walls of Conjunctured or on a one-to-one basis when I’m out at tech events. I’ve even collaborated on some cool projects with a handful of these people.

I feel Austin is at a critical mass where so many things are going on, even outside of the tech landscape, that the city is trying to figure out what kind of place it wants to be when it grows up. While much of the city is still in development, whether that’s figuratively or literally (with the countless highrises going up), I would love to have more of a say in the way the city is portrayed once it gets closer to self-actualization. I’ve been living here since I came to the University of Texas in 2002 to study Advertising and I’ve watched the city evolve right before my eyes. As a result of my background, I’m huge into branding and it would be interesting to officially be in charge of the “branding” of the city, whether that’s indirectly like I’m doing now with Conjunctured, or directly in a more formalized setup. 

As a professional in the tech industry, what would you recommend to students entering the work force in the coming months?

Millennials have the unique situation of being an age group to know life with and without the internet, which puts us in a great place, I think.

I mentioned before the concerns of privacy on the internet—definitely be careful of what you or your online friends upload to the web, but also, don’t compromise who you are either. We hear countless stories of people being fired because of their MySpace profiles. Personally, I wouldn’t want to work for a company that wouldn’t hire me because I had party pictures on my profile, but do remember that once college is over, you have to draw more of a distinct line between your professional life and your party life. Two words: Facebook lists. Learn to love ‘em.

Also, I would say, once school is over, you’re at a unique age where you can make mistakes—and it’s okay to make them! Dream big. This is a great time to go out and experience new things to help you gain perspective. Travel, meet everyone you can, talk to people (if you’re willing to listen, older people know what the hell they’re talking about, as it turns out), read a lot, journal your thoughts and ideas about the world and your life, get a mentor or five, learn to look at your folks as peers, surround yourself with the right kind of friends and just come to figure yourself out. Come to learn that anything ever is possible, as long as you work your ass off to get it. It may be hard work, but in the end, it’s better to have tried than to sit around unhappy, wondering “what if.” No regrets!

What social media tools do you find the most useful in both your professional and personal lives?

I was one of the early adopters of Facebook when it launched at UT, so it’s safe to say I’m addicted to that still. I love how it’s transitioned and evolved with me as I’ve gone through school and into a more professional role; I find that it’s definitely a reflection of myself. I’m hopelessly addicted to Twitter (follow me @cesart) and I’ve been blogging for about seven years now. You can find my posts at http://c3sart.com. I have replaced reading the paper on the weekends with Google Reader and I unconditionally love any tech startup that comes out of Austin.

Is there anything else you would like to share with readers?

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes: “No man ever followed his genius till it misled him. … If the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy, and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs, is more elastic, more starry, more immortal,— that is your success.” -Thoreau, Walden

Although I kept my TV tuned to CNN all evening, I also followed election activity and results online. Below are a few tools that I used, but I would love to hear what others followed as well:

Five Thirty Eight

Five Thirty Eight illustrated “citizen journalism” at its finest. By providing insights and statistics, FTE allowed viewers to follow the data as well as make sense of it. Its three-person operation made presidential, senatorial, and house predictions throughout the day and into the evening. 

Video Your Vote

Video Your Vote allowed users to share their voting experiences with the world via personal videos. VYV featured an interactive map indicating where videos had been uploaded and what they pertained to, such as “Voter Intimidation,” “Notable Voter,” “Polling Place Problems,” etc. This access to actual voter experiences created a sense of transparency to the election, knowing that real
people everywhere were experiencing the same things I had.  

Twitter Vote Report

Much like VYV, Twitter Vote Report encouraged Twitter users to tweet their experiences with specific hashtags, such as ”#wait:120 meaning that the wait time is 120 minutes.” These tags were then aggregated and mapped, showing users what voting experiences were like in real-time. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, this election utilized social media in a way that was never done before. Therefore, tools such as these come as no surprise. It is exciting and overwhelming to consider the depth to which media can proceed-especially with politics as a catalyst. 

What role do you see social media playing in the political sphere, as this country moves forward?

UPDATE: Per the comments below, check out Change.gov to see how Obama is already implementing technology into his administration.

…which causes me to wonder just how much social media will influence the outcome of Tuesday’s election. Are others as inundated by technology as I am? Will what users see online affect their decisions? And most importantly, how have the candidates taken advantage of social media to reach voters?

Social Media has changed the political landscape. Sure, we still watch poll coverage on CNN, but what about that SNL video feauturing Palin? Or, how about the last Obama rally? Most likely, we turn to YouTube in cases such as these.

Dr. Paul Haridakis, an associate professor of Communication Studies at Kent State University insists that YouTube is an integral source of information in this election:

“Many people,” Haridakis says, “will watch videos and use traditional media like TV to acquire political information about the candidates, but they also are going to the Internet and using social networking sites to see who people they know support. The information gleaned from their social networks may be the information they find most credible and persuasive.”

Similarly, Twitter has undoubtedly played an extensive role throughout this election process. I wrote a few weeks ago about the Twitter election page, which allows members to view and tweet a live stream of comments pertaining to the election and candidates. The election page was especially popular during debates, hosting a “play by play” of what the candidates had to say. In fact, as Sarah Wurrey of Media Bullseye discussed earlier this month, Twitter was also used to verify claims made by the candidates:

“Since Twitter has launched an election page, NPR has called for Twitterers to live-fact-check the debates and bloggers are regularly featured in the networks’ election coverage, social media is inescapable in this election season.”

Social Media serves as the perfect political tool. It increases transparency and increases communication. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have participated in this online forum. But, has it made a difference?

Katelyn D’Eramo of Tech Pr Gems recently asked the very same thing-citing both candidates’ social media expertise. Of Obama, she says:

“Senator Barrack Obama has fully developed social media in his campaign for President. He tweets on twitter, sends text messages, sends daily e-mails , updates his blog, has RSS feeds on his website and has a Facebook page. He is connecting in a multifaceted way to voters…He’s asking for community involvement , asking for registered people on his site to help out whether it be to call three voters in a swing state or dig an article.”

D’Eramo asks whether this increased use of social media will specifically influence younger voters to form an opinion and vote on Tuesday. Does their apparent knowledge of social media prompt your personal support?

How do you feel about the use of social media in this election? Personally, it has allowed me to gain a greater awareness of the candidates’ professional experience, personal behavior, as well as exclusive views of events that the industrial media did not cover.

Which brings me to the question at hand: Has your online media use influenced your vote in this election?

This podcast is a collaboration between myself, Sloan Chouest and Adam Raven. Refer to the Show Notes below for an outline of our interview and links mentioned throughout the podcast:

0:00 Intro

0:35 Describe Waggener Edstrom and your role at the firm?

a. Waggener Edstrom (WagEd) specializes in technology and is incredibly relationship oriented. Specifically, WagEd has a long track record with Microsoft.

b. Kristine Gloria is the liaison with account work and digital strategies.

1:17 How has social media evolved and what is your role?

a. Social media has grown from social networks such as Facebook, to micro blogging on Twitter, and has developed into a tool for both personal and professional purposes.

b. WagEd often uses LinkedIn to do bio searches on their clients and future employees.

c. Kristine’s role has been to implement these tools in the business. She is not an early adopter, but watches the space closely.

2:27 How did you gain an initial awareness of social media and how have you implemented it at Waggener Edstrom?

a. SXSW 2007: Sarah Lacy/Mark Zuckerberg Interview and the importance of Twitter

b. Took this momentum to the office.

i. Began a WE Digital Think Tank

4:06 What forms of social media do you use and how does it benefit you as a P.R. firm?

a. Twitter: “Everyday, every hour”

i. Relationships with reporters

b. Facebook

c. LinkedIn: Bio searching specifically

5:11 Commercial

a. FriendorFollow.com

5:41 What is Waggener Edstrom’s involvement with the blogosphere and how do you approach bloggers with pitches?

a. Active bloggers on external side of WagEd as marketing

b. Use of blogs internally

6:13 What do you think the relationship between bloggers and P.R. firms should be?

a. Understanding the avenue of communication is key

b. Building relationships is essential

c. Bloggers write what they want to write-it’s not personal

6:50 What social media tools do you use on an everyday basis and how have these tools expanded your personal and professional relationships?

a. Keep things professional

b. Social media has helped expand Kristine’s network

i. Helps others understand social media tools

7:41 You mentioned social media as a double-edged sword, can you elaborate on this?

a. Blurs personal and professional life

b. Social Media is extremely self-involved

c. You must be in tune to your own personal brand

i. Austin 3.0

9:12 Where do you see social media going in the future in both public relations and personal lives?

a. Kristine does not see blogging as taking over the journalistic venue

b. The public will begin to understand idea of the “double edged sword.”

9:53 Outro

“Most companies don’t understand how online communities work, how they make a difference, and how to engage with them. Among the companies that have tried to work with communities online, many have found that the conversation is dominated by extreme enthusiasts rather than average users, and have concluded that online community is a distraction from their real customers.

That turns out to be a very dangerous mistake.”

Rubicon insists that although research shows 80-90% of the material online IS created by only a small minority, this material is extremely influential in initiating and maintaining public opinion. In fact,

“Online comments and reviews posted by the enthusiasts are second only to word of mouth as a purchase driver for all web users.”

Most importantly, however, is the understanding of how online communication should function. Most companies feel that they need to communicate with their audience. And although this is an ideal situation, it is not always the most beneficial. Instead, Rubicon suggests that companies need to view communication in terms of who is listening and who will respond:

“Online discussion is a poor way to communicate with the average customer, because average customers don’t participate. But it is a great way to communicate to them, because average customers watch and listen. Most content and discussion sites should be viewed as performances, in which the site’s organizers interact with a relatively small number of users in order to educate, persuade, or entertain everyone else.”

Other interesting findings include the top three types of sites most visited: “Social networking (such as Facebook and MySpace),  General news sites (such as CNN.com and NYTimes.com), and Online Banking.” More interestingly are “which sites are eventually visited by the largest percent of web users:” “Mapping (MapQuest and others), Retail (Amazon.com and others), and Reference (including Wikipedia).”
Rubicon’s study presents extremely important data pertaining to the use of online communication and social media tools. Specifically for businesses wishing to improve their online presence or even begin an online discussion, knowing how to interact and who to interact with will be essential. Read the entire study here, and decide for yourself.

Now, ask any entrepreneur with a great idea and he/she will tell you that the most defeating feeling is to not be able to get an idea out to the public. After all, where is an idea without implementation?

On that note, I recently discovered Kiva, a non-profit that enables individuals to loan a small amount of money to an entrepreneur in need. Over time, the entrepreneur pays this money back to the individual(s) that lent it initially. Unlike my friends and co-workers here in Austin, however, these entrepreneurs are spread across the globe and are working to pull themselves and their families out of poverty. From a seamstress that needs money to fix her sewing machine to a young father in need of money to keep his general store open, the money loaned through Kiva serves an important purpose in lives around the world.

Kiva is not an angel investing service or a bank loan. It is merely a service that supports and facilitates human kindness. Coincidentally, TechCrunch discussed Kiva for Blog Action Day today as well and has formed its own lending team if any readers are interested. 

No innovative individual deserves to be ignored because he/she cannot afford the materials, space, or help necessary. Further, if this innovative thinking will provide a stable income and/or improve one’s means of living, can we not sacrifice $25 to their cause? Support Thought. Support Business. Support Humankind.