Mountain Dew: not just a product, it's a lifestyle.

  It is roughly 4:00pm on a Friday, and Mt. Dew simply makes one post that draws an overwhelming amount of support: "It's Definitely DEW:thirty." I happen to be sitting at my computer enjoying an ice cold Mt. Dew, so I was inclined to like this status, and when I did I noticed that 1700 other people did as well within just five minutes of the post. Over 200 people commented, sharing how they were also drinking Mt. Dew, and debating how Dew:thirty was not accurate. However, it is not even clear if this status refers to a time of the day. It's interesting how a simple misleading or obscure comment by a company can cause people to make a leading comment. It is also interesting how many people are enjoying this product right now and can share that with each other from all over the world. Facebook has brought fans, consumers, friends, etc. closer together.
A company's reach can be so large, and targeting consumers at a certain time of day (when maybe some people need that extra caffiene kick or just want to enjoy a soda) can be effective. Just looking at Mountain Dew's Facebook statuses shows great marketing tools that involves it's consumers and makes Mt. Dew appear more as a lifestyle than just a product or a soda. Here are some of their posts that has gotten over 12,000 comments on some of them: "You pick: cold green can or cold green bottle?" "Nothing goes better with a dew than___," "DEW: it's the only way to live," "sometimes one just can't sleep enough..." Social Media allows companies to give products a life they never had, allowing consumers to claim ownership in its branding, and making it more than just a product, a lifestyle.

Allowing social media in the operating room

Usually operating rooms are closed to the public, but yesterday one surgery was broadcasted live on Twitter right from the operating room. Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center performed brain surgery to remove epileptic sections of the brain to control seizures on Geoffery Nester whos medicine was not controlling his seizures. The surgery was performed while the patient was awake, and the hospital’s social media manager, Peter Balistrieri, was present in the operating room tweeting live news about the surgery, commentary the doctors had to communicate, and even what the patient wanted to communicate. He also tweeted back answers to what followers had to say, receiving both positive and negative feedback about allowing physical social media tools to be present in a sterile environment.

The hope in this case for providing a live feed of the operation was to broadcast and get the word out about this option and help ease fears and encourage those suffering like Geoffery to go through with the procedure. Only 10% of those who should get the procedure actually do. Aurora’s social media manager comments, “Our social media program is right up on top with some of the major players in the United States. We've taken a lot of steps to be more transparent and social media has been an excellent way for us to get out there." This is an interesting way to merge social media with surgeries, how do you feel about it?

For more information check out these articles:

http://www.wisn.com/r/29313013/detail.html

http://livewire.wisn.com/Event/Aurora_Health_Care_LIVE_Temporal_Lobectomy_Surgery?Page=3

http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/130675193.html

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/health&id=8371141

Using Twitter to find parking on campus

I recently saw a bumper sticker at Western Kentucky University that read "if you see my professor, tell him I'm searching for a parking spot." To any hilltopper, this is funny and true. Parking at WKU is a fervent topic that stirs many frustrated feelings and tiresome stories about arriving to campus hours early to drive for what seems like hours searching for a parking spot; making students AND professors late to class and meetings. I hear students debating who has not moved their car in the longest, because they got a front row parking spot and do not want to move it, or fighting about who gets to drive that day so they do not have to re-park. Well here is an interesting solution to all this madness--using Twitter or social media to help people find available parking spots.
I got this idea from Louisiana State University, who has more than 23,000 parking spots on their campus and believe the solution to aiding students in parking is in fact social media. I refer to the recent article (http://www.wafb.com/story/15465490/lsu-parking-employing-social-media), which explains that the school has begun using a twitter account that students can subscribe to and follow to get update on not only traffic reports, but also on open parking spots in different locations. They already have 500 followers and continue to grow. However, that is not all. They have also added a phone app for smartphones called "Trans-loc" that tracks their buses in real time.
I am curious how a system or application of social media such as this would work at Western Kentucky University, and not only change the way students get to and from class, but how they work with and feel about WKU Parking and Transportation. I see how social media could easily be a solution to this parking problem, and maybe cause some students (and may professors) to take down negative bumper stickers about WKU parking.

"Would 9/11 have been more traumatic with social media?"

NY times re-tweeted Joshua Brustein this afternoon asking "Would 9/11 have been more traumatic with social media?" in reflection of an article he wrote about in his blog on New Your Times (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/on-911-the-seeds-of-the-infinite-grapevine/?src=tp) looking at what's changed in the past ten years since the tragic day of 9/11. Brustein was a personal witness of the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11 in New York, capturing it in photos. He notes that that September was one of the last times he had to actually wait on film to be developed, which is how he participated and contributed to sharing of that event to friends and family. Today, he would've been able to participate in a way we call "citizen journalist" (coined in 2003). In recent years since then, traumatic and major world events have been able to be captured in real time and shared across technology and social mediums to connect people around the world to the news, to understanding what is happening, and to witnessing via Tweets, blogs, youtube videos, FB statuses, etc. reactions and people's first hand experiences. Brusetin quotes Andy Carvin , a strategist for social media at NPR, about social media reactions to these events today: "If you see 30 or 40 people describing what was happening it almost becomes a form of situational awareness, like you’re floating above it in a helicopter." Considering this, the reaction and response to 9/11 would have been different if it were to occur today.
In 2001, people reacted through phone calls, submitting photos and videos online and via mail, email discussion groups, and online communities in real time. This was realized more so when curators at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History began putting people's images and videos of the attacks together, and realized there was a change happening in the way major events were photographed. As an associate curator there, Shannon Perich explains, "We quickly understood that this was a transitional moment. We understood what digital photography meant to the world at that point.” Back then, ten years ago, the activity happening was similar and basic to todays, however on a smaller scale. Today, social media brings events closer and seems to eliminate some distance, and intensify the emotional impact. Which brings up the point, is that really a good thing? Could social media have made the 9/11 events and aftermath too traumatic for some to handle? Some say it would have been too horrific and are grateful Facebook and Twitter were not around ten years ago. Brustein references a couple individuals' opinions in his article, such as Katherine Weymouth, publisher and executive chief at Washington Post Co: “'Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and all the technologies that have yet to be invented make all these events more real, and more horrific. Television pales in comparison,' she said, according to an account of the event posted on Poynter.org, a journalism Web site." Would real time updates and other aspects that social media brings to the world have added a level a trauma that would have been to overwhelming for people at that time? What do you think?