OVER AND OUT!

On behalf of all the contributors to this blog, I would like to thank all of our readers!  We have had a great time blogging each week about the contradictions between old media and new, while trying to entertain you all as well.  Thanks again for reading each week (or even if you just read once)!  This will be the last post for the page.  Good luck on all of your adventures with social media, technology, and whatever else floats your boat!

Don't Go!!

So this weekend is one of the most anticipated and hyped-up weekends for all fellow badgers: Mifflin. At the end of each spring semester, Wisconsin students go wild and have their last celebration before finals start. The festivities occur on Mifflin street. This is the one time of year where the campus is united through this one particular event and parties hard. Well according to the Dean and the police, us badgers like to party a little bit TOO hard and has been posting potential risks about attending "Mifflin." As we have been discussing this week about utilizing social media to organize protest,  the Dean has been using social media in a similar manner by protesting for students to not attend Mifflin. Dean Lori Berquam posted a viral video warning students not to go to Mifflin. Her main advice was "Don't Go. Just Don't Go." Students went crazy over this video. Many found it to be humorous while some found it actually alarming and took it seriously. Today, the dean sent out e-mail regarding Mifflin again and continues to warn the students not to attend. She wrote, "By now, I'm sure you've probably heard my feelings about May 5thMifflin Street block party. Or seen the autotune or dubstep remixes." I got a kick out of the last part " the dubstep remixes." This video has been a huge hit on campus and I feel its popularity is  all for the wrong reasons. Students have gone to such extreme measures of mockery that some have created Mifflin T-Shirts with the Dean's face on it from the video and says "Don't Go" on it. As we question  social media's strength of  reforming change and as a forum for organizing events and protest, is the Dean's message actually effective!? Are students just going to retaliate back and go to Mifflin despite the risk of getting in trouble with the police!? I guess we will find out more after this weekend!

Facebook Advertisements

Facebook is making improvements for advertisers to optimise their ads. Advertisers want to know more about how these campaigns and advertisements on Facebook are doing, so Facebook decided to help them understand. Advertisers will now be able to "like" or comment back on something and will be able to trace the actions back to whoever wrote the comment or followed their campaign. Facebook's goal is to have these ads become more interactive rather than promotional tools. The users will not notice many differences except maybe brands having timeline pages and more interactive videos and attention grabbing graphics. The ads will not be like they were before. They will consist of interactive videos or status updates in order to gain more attention.

I thought this was an interesting topic to discuss because when Facebook started advertisements were not the most important aspect of Facebook. It was about creating a social network to share and promote ideas with friends and people who you interact with on a daily basis. I guess I wonder if I will start to get annoyed with Facebook when this all takes action, because I really do not want to have to sift through ads when scrolling through my news feed. What do you guys think about this new plan that Facebook has?

To find out more information about this read this article! http://mashable.com/2012/02/29/facebook-ads-explainer/