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/

The Avengers, Finally!

Alright so this topic doesn't exactly fit so perfectly with the theme of our blog, new and old media. However, I thought it would be okay to make an exception cause I mean come on its The Avengers. Since I heard about the film I have been pretty excited. The film is simply filled with some cool actors and a great director/writer that I am sure will work well together. Five big screen films have been made to help build the stage for The Avengers, so it's extremely important that it lives up to the hype. We will have to wait until May 4th to know for sure, but it looks as though The Avengers will pull it off.

The Avengers has already opened overseas with an amazing start. The film has already made roughly $178 million with the biggest opening weekend ever in 12 other countries including Mexico, New Zealand, and The Philippines. The Avengers definitely has a great chance to set some new records for the U.S. box office, but it's interesting to see what this movie has new to offer. I think the biggest thing is the amount of major characters. People are obviously also excited for Spiderman and The Dark Knight Rises, but both those films are about one main focus. No other film has yet to bring this many major superheroes to the big screen at once. It's an action movie that has potential to create some amazing scenes. I hope to be able to see it in all it's nerdy superhero glory this weekend. Are you guys planning on seeing The Avengers this weekend?

Hot Problems??

I am an avid YouTube user, and in the past week or so, reactions to a certain video have been everywhere. However, this video is one of the worst  I have ever seen. The video is called "Hot Problems," and consists of two teen girls from LA "singing" about the toils and turmoil of supposedly being attractive. The duo, who call themselves Double Take, have been dubbed the new Rebecca Black by many Internet dwellers, and "Hot Problems" is being called the worst song ever by ABC News. Even though it's so terrible, the video has 9,832,471 views, 448,109 of which gave it a thumbs down. 

The Internet fury ignited by the video has once again brought up the topic of cyber bullying, as was the case with Rebecca Black and "Friday." However, I myself find it difficult to express any type of sympathy for these girls. Being members of a media fluent generation, these girls most definitely know what happens to teens who post these kinds of videos. What else would motivate them to make such a thing but attention? These girls knew the consequences of such a post, but most likely saw the potential five minutes of fame as well worth the hate. 

What's your opinion? Did Double Take deserve the backlash they received for their song? Or are they being too harshly criticized for a little teenaged fun? Let me know in the comments.

~Morgen~

What's Popular??

One of the main ideas we are trying to get in this blog, is to show how new media has changed society in a whole new way.  What is important or "trending" on social websites each week may or may not have connection to what is important in the newspapers that week.  to show this, I have been watching what has been trending on Twitter this week, what people have been posting about on Facebook, and what has been popular in the Wall Street Journal and other news sites.
     This week, Twitter has had many trends as usual everyday but I've been watching for trends that are Madison specific as well.  Some of these trends include the draft, the Dean of Students and Mifflin.  On Facebook, all anyone has been talking about since it came out is the Dean of Student's message to the students on behalf of Mifflin.  There has been re post upon re post of the video itself, and then of course thousands of videos and memes made because of the video.
     In contrast to these things that seem to have been important to those of us who are obsessed with social media, the rest of society has been concerned with other things.  There is one thing that I saw which connected across social media and the news which was the draft.  Other than that, what has been important to the rest of society rests in recent politics, earthquakes in California, international news, and recent unfortunate events which have left some killed.  As you can see, what is important to society in the news is much more centered around the well being of everyone, and what should be important to all Americans.  On the other hand, social media trends are generally centered around raising awareness.  Whether that awareness is something that is funny, or something serious, trends are a way of spreading the word.
     Social media and everyday news can both differ and connect in some ways.  They can sometimes fight against each other, and other times work together.  The main idea here, is that they are different and will remain different, and this difference has effected society.  The effect is neither good or bad, but is has made an impact on all of us, especially those of our generation.

Cover The Night Results

After the Kony 2012 YouTube video went viral, I expected the support for it to grow as time went on. Unfortunately, it seems as though the movement has lost its momentum. Friday was the big day for the "Cover The Night" event that the video was promoting. The goal of the event was to cover cities in posters of the infamous warlord to help pressure the U.S. government to aid in the arrest of Joseph Kony. But in the end, the event did not end up producing the intended flood of Kony posters in many cities, including Madison.

As I got up on Saturday this weekend, I expected to see tons of red Kony posters everywhere. It could have been my high expectations, but it looked as though the event had not gained the members it needed to result in a successful impact. By the end of my Saturday I counted only 3 posters. Most likely some areas are covered more than others. However, I expected the campus to contain plenty of students willing to participate. It's also important to note that Fridays are obviously a big night for partying. I'm also guessing that having the event on 4/20 didn't exactly help their cause, but I think the biggest issue was timing. The YouTube video just came out too early, and by the time Cover The Night came around all the hype was gone. There just seemed to be nothing else to keep the public interest. I think that the video should have come out closer towards the date of Cover The Night. I remember when I first saw the video for Kony. I was so pumped, and I just wanted to grab posters and start putting them on people's faces. I was completely convinced that I would participate in Cover The Night. For me, the controversy regarding the Kony campaign's use of funds and the huge time gap drained my interest. Were any of you guys planning on Covering The Night?