Twitter Research: It's Getting Interesting

An interesting study was released today suggesting that Lubbock residents were more friendly on Twitter (ha-ha imagine that). For those of you who have never been to Lubbock, well welcome to West Texas where people are friendly. The study specifically focused on certain phrases used on Twitter such as “good morning” and “F*ck you” finding that Lubbock was consistently active in saying “good morning.” Houston, Buffalo NY, and Los Angeles were some of the cities ranked highest for dropping the F bomb.

I don’t think there is much to write about this, more just something that I found interesting. I think analysis of conversational lingo on Twitter may correlate with overall attitudes of residents within cities; however, this study definitely needs to be repeated several more times, on a larger scale, and over a longer time frame. Just found this fascinating so thought I would share!



 

 

 

 

Typical results of the “Good Morning” Twitter map from Vertaline

Great Twitter Feeds

No big post today, just an article everyone should read on the funniest corporate twitter feeds. I love it

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33488/14-funny-brands-you-cant-help-but-follow-in-social-media

Social Media Altering the Brain?

I recently read the article “This is your brain on social media” and found it interesting, but I’m not sure I believe most of it. The author claims that social media is rewiring our brains, which is true, but maybe not to the extent that is suggested in this article. Here is my breakdown:

We’re becoming dumber: I spend a lot of time on social media sites, including conducting research on social media use among health care professionals. I do not believe the statement “their brains are more numb than that of a pot smoker.” More research is definitely needed on this. I could see how multitasking and participating/being active in several social media accounts at once could do this, but it seems only temporary at best. Research has suggested that multitasking negatively affects the brain, causing disorientation and lack of focus. Also, citing research from 2005? Please. Let’s get some updated information here because popular sites such Twitter were not even around until 2006. Also, the public was not utilizing social media the same in 2005 as they are today.

We get bored more easily: Well this I believe. I think it is because we as a society are so used to be connected to others that when we are not, we don’t know what to do with our time. Easy enough to consider.  Moving on….

We are less satisfied: I would hope that people are less satisfied by connecting/conversing with people online then they would in real life. Several factors are involved in communication including tone, body language, facial expressions, etc. Most of these factors are missing with online communication which is why it would make sense that people are not as satisfied with an online conversations in comparison to face to face.

We are becoming more partisan: I agree with this to an extent. I think this statement forgets to consider factors such as age, education level, access to internet, and so on. For example, some of my dance students who are around 10 years old believe what they read in online news. They do not question what they read or research opposing viewpoints. They do not understand that sites such as Google and Facebook select content that they think would be of interest to the individual. However, these are kids who are at a lower level of education and a lower level of online freedom/access. Now if adults believe and quote everything they read online without learning about opposing views, well…hmmm…how to word this nicely….that’s just ridiculous.

Social Media in the OR

Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children took a big step yesterday by allowing a social media team into the OR to report on the surgery of a three-year-old girl. This live stream of updates was a first for any hospital in the Orlando Health System. Of course the parents signed consent, but physicians allowing live feeds and updates to be reported from their OR are still rare. It is instead an upcoming trend that most are still VERY uncomfortable with.

The social media team posted updates on Facebook, blogs, Twitter, and live video on YouTube. They will also be covering the little girl’s recovery over the next few weeks. I can only imagine the legal nightmare that the hospital went through to accomplish this task, however, it did seem successful. When handled appropriately, live feeds from the OR can be educational and informative. However, handled poorly, and well……..your just asking for it ha-ha.

Questions are being raised though. Are the images too graphic for social media? Is it fair to the child to show her surgery when she doesn’t fully understand the privacy issues? Has social media gone too far? Etc. The outcome from streaming this surgery has created word of mouth, views and hits on the sites were extremely high, and the story is being covered both nationally and internationally. So I guess the question really is “Was it worth it” and the answer as of right now is “Yes.”

Are We Too Connected?

My post today is a simple concept but one that I have found myself thinking about a lot. Are we too connected? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have my phone and ipad with me at all times. Plus, I have a laptop computer that I use at home. I realized when hanging out with a friend last week that maybe I should try harder to disconnect myself from the world for an hour or so. We couldn’t even watch a movie without my email making my phone beep! Then he would say “Do you need to check that?” and of course the answer was “Yes.” But do I really need to check my email when it comes through? Will the world end if I don’t respond to people in a timely manner past 5 pm? Probably not, but I find myself responding immediately to emails, posts, etc. It doesn’t really bother me too much because I make myself available for people to find me if needed, however, I know some of my friends are not the same. Once 5 pm hits, the computer goes off. Just think of how many devices you use per day and for how long to stay connected to others. What do you think? Are we too connected? I believe the answer to be yes, but is it sometimes bad to be so connected?

Facebook and Preconceived Notions

So my name’s Taylor, and about ten months ago (September 14th, 2012, to be exact), I was accepted into medical school at the Texas Tech School of Medicine. I was so excited I may have cried a little. About six months ago, I joined a Facebook page for the Texas Tech School of Medicine Class of 2016. And my excitement disappeared faster than a dad at a dance recital.

The people posting to this Facebook page were the most annoying people I had ever seen! I’m spending the next four years with these kids? This is the problem with meeting people on the Internet before you meet them in person. You develop opinions about them based on three or four comments on a public forum.

Take for example Jessica* (name has been changed- God forbid my future classmates stumble upon this post), who posted the most obnoxious and annoying questions on our page. Which textbook edition should we use? What are the professor’s office hours like? Where will I park during the year? And all I could think was “Really, Jessica? It’s February! Why do you need to know where you’ll be parking next August?” It was so irritating! I couldn’t handle her questions, and she had me worried that my entire med school class would drive me as crazy as she did.

But when I met Jessica at welcome weekend, I actually enjoyed her company. (It helped that she bought a few of my drinks). She wasn’t the annoying gunner I thought she was going to be, but it was still hard to get that image of her out of my head. To this day, anytime I see that Jessica has posted on our Facebook page, I groan.

Then there is this boy Drew* who was as awful in person as he was over the Internet. This kid got into a fight (and I do mean fight) with current medical students over what textbooks to use. All I wanted to say was, “I’m sorry Drew, have you been in medical school before? No? Then shut up!” Instead I closed my computer down and avoided him like the plague at welcome week. In fact, any time I saw Drew, he was relatively alone.

Did this guy completely alienate himself from the group before he’d even met any of them in person?

And if Drew could do that in five comments, could I?

 

Guest Blogger: Taylor Warmoth

Too Young For Facebook? Not Anymore

If any of you have been watching the news lately I am sure that you have heard the rumors about Facebook allowing new users under the age of 13 to join the site, and yes the rumors are true. Facebook has been tossing around the idea for a few weeks now and are trying to find a “safe, child-friendly space on the site” (The New York Times). Here are my thoughts on this:

1.       Allowing users under 13 is a marketers/advertisers dream! Target, target, target those kiddos and start getting them hooked on your brand while they are young and don’t know any better ha-ha.

2.       I personally don’t think these kids will know how to responsibly use the site but I guess that is where parents would need to step in and monitor the use (like they really will)

3.       Privacy risks are already a big issue and so imagine how bad it will get when a young adult posts things online that can come back to bite them in the butt later. They don’t understand the seriousness of privacy concerns or even how long a photo can stay out in the cyber world

4.       As a part-time dance instructor, I allow certain students from the dance studio to be my friend and see my status updates. However, if the young adults that I teach tried to add me, I would have to deny it. Sad face but in my opinion they aren’t mature enough to know me on that level and to respect my Facebook page. What’s to keep them from posting stupid, pointless things on my wall? They don’t need to know when I am out at happy hour. Ha-ha.

5.       Facebook should just create a Facebook for kid’s version that is completely separate and then transfer the profile, etc when they hit a certain age. The end (just a thought and pretty sure that would be complicated)

6.       Isn’t cyber bullying a huge issue right now? I don’t think allowing young adults another site to intimidate and harass others is a good idea.

I could literally go on and on about this but oh well. Honestly, from the PR side, I understand the pros of allowing under 13 users on Facebook. From my personal opinion, I don’t like the idea. What do you think?