Tweeting the revolution: Social media and Madison’s protests

When the protests in Madison started, I don’t think anyone – myself included – expected them to endure for so long or to have so much of an impact. But as the protests gained momentum, the news media has started its speculation about whether Madison represented the frontline of a new political conflict. But even if …

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What is an informed news consumer?

As I mentioned in my previous posts last week, I was on vacation for the first 10 days of the year – and it was a blast. However, it did come on the heels of the holidays, in which I travelled and spent time with family and friends. These travels led to a break in …

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Strategy lacking in social networking campaigns

Much ado has been made about the power of social networking and its import in activism, be it political or social. But as politicians, activists, and corporations flock to the new medium, not enough attention is being paid to the most important facet of strategic communication: how does this technology help us achieve our goal? …

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Media and Search Credibility

This will probably come to no surprise to anyone who’s taught an introductory university course that requires students to do research, but for all the time they spend online, students remain uncertain about how to find credible information. A new study by Northwestern University researchers demonstrates that when performing a wide range of information-seeking activities …

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Facebook: Growing out-of-control?

With the recent news that Facebook has surpassed 500 million readers, or 1 out of every 13 people on the planet, it is worth considering its implications. Facebook remains the most popular social networking site across a host of countries, beating out other sites such as Twitter, MySpace, and Flickr (for a comparison, see here), …

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