Cristin Norine Spends 30 Days in a Social Media Prison

Christin Norine, a resident of Portland, Oregon, has isolated herself in a glass window display for 30 days to explore how social media has changed the way we communicate.

"We think we are being social on these gadgets," she said. "And it can be a really great thing when people live in different states, but when you are at dinner or you are trying to have a conversation and you are being distracted by these other things. Or maybe you are just not going out as much because you are staying home and are online."

As people walk by the storefront-turned-gallery, they can watch Norine 24/7 in her small self-imposed prison "cell". Her only contact with the outside world is through social media. She spends her entire day on twitter, facebook, skype and updating her blog. At times, she tries to take a break and just relax on the couch or exercize but she has found herself "addicted" and unable to stay away from the computer.

Norine is anxiously awaiting December 1st, when the project is over and she can engage in human interaction.

Christin Norine's Blog
CNN Article

FCC considers texting to 911

The FCC is considering texting 911 for help in addition to calling.

With this digital age, 70 percent of 911's phone calls are from cell phones. Now, texting and video from your phone may soon be acceptable. In 2001, 911 allowed GPS to track where callers are located when calling for help. Clearly, this has been beneficial to helping those in need.

911 still cannot handle text messages or submitted videos, but the issue is being considered. The ingenious thought sparked 911 call centers when they realized students from Virginia Tech were desperately trying to send text messages when the shooter entered the room. Unfortunately, local dispatchers never received the messages.

In Tuesday's press release, it said, "The technological limitations of 9-1-1 can have tragic, real-world consequences, ... If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding."

It's possible allowing text or video messages could save more lives. What do you think?

Here's the article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/11/23/fcc.911.texting.wired/index.html

U.S. Post Office Goes Green for Christmas

The Postal Service is making changes to save the environment and money.

USPS offers environmentally friendly packaging in the design of both their Priority Mail and Express Mail supplies, and a majority of ReadyPost boxes, envelopes and labels..

All their 27 billion postage products, including stamps, personalized envelopes and stamped postal cards, are now certified to be safe and environmentally responsible.

Customers can order free online shipping that can be pick up and delivered by the Postal Service the next day. Even the trucks use alternative fuels like electric vehicles and zero emissions. They also have trucks fueled by natural gas, propane, ethanol, and fuel cell.

The Postal Service also supports recycling with bins in more than 10,000 Post Office lobbies.

It is good to hear that USPS is green-washing too. I hope this trend continues to spread.

You would think the NFL would get it right

This past weekend, when the Vikings played the Packers, a major spelling error occurred. Five-time Pro Bowler Kevin Williams played with his name misspelled on the back of his jersey. One would think that with a simple name like Williams, it would not get misspelled, especially when they have more complicated names such as Tahi, Kleinsasser, Shiancoe, or Loeffler. Hopefully the NFL will pay more attention next week.

To read more on the story, follow this link.

Twitter Helps Sell Cars

Auto makers used to use celebrities to help market their cars, but now they are turning to the high profile social media gurus. They want to turn away from the famous and more towards the average. They chose certain people that have a big influence through the web to drive the new cars around their hometowns, and post videos on their pages. Auto makers now see that the people buying their cars need to be able to relate to the people promoting them. It is also going to cost the auto makers a lot less money to hire average people to take the cars for a spin rather than a huge celeb.

Chinese Woman Sentenced to Labor Camp Over Tweet

It's story's like this that make you appreciate that we live in America. A Chinese woman, Cheng Jianping, was sentenced to labor camp after retweeting an angry tweet her fiance sent. Her finance was sentenced to jail but was released after 5 days. Cheng is waiting her appeal. Twitter is illegal in China and anyone caught using it can be arrested.

Fed. Trade Commission Social Media Restrictions

When reading this weeks WSJ article on Tweeting to Sell Cars, I was most interested in the last paragraph. The Federal Trade Commission is paying close attention to advertising that is posted in non-traditional contexts ie: face book, twitter, blogging etc. There are guidelines that state that "bloggers must disclose any compensation they receive in exchange for writing product reviews."
Also, celebrities must disclose whether or not they are being paid to speak on behalf of a company or product via social media.

I think these guidelines are interesting and necessary. If people are posting what are thought to be unbiased personal opinions about products, I think it is necessary that followers know whether or not they are being influenced by a paycheck.

Do you think these guidelines are necessary? Do you think the Federal Trade Commission is going to be able to discern and regulate contractual tweets/blogs from personal social media?

Tweeting to Sell Cars