The Caffeinated Carbivore

What place do politicians have on Twitter? The primary one (pun intended haha). We've heard a lot of complaints about the costs of campaigns, specifically where the politicians are getting their money from. A politician likes social media for two reasons: 1. It's cheap 2. With the help of your Facebook fan list, Facebook offers a highly targeted ad to a highly targeted audience. Recent research shows that Facebook users may become resentful of the presence of big business on Facebook. The degree to which a politician is considered a big business or a representative thereof has yet to be seen. However, the study did find that young users in particular were open to brands which they felt represented themselves. The takeaway? A politician's ad on Facebook is more likely to be accepted by young users if they seem to be "one of the in crowd"...aka youthful, earthy, and not corporately oriented. A great example of politics, via social media is Comedy Central...

The economic down turn has negatively effected lots of businesses. While the news has a social duty to report the daily happenings, they are also a business. News papers have been altering their formats. Sunday papers are changing, and some aren't even printed! Then, of course, there's the online news sources. Not all businesses are suffering, however. Which business is booming, you ask? Social media. The New York Times has noted the change in how we read our news. Comedy Central for political knowledge , and a now a Twitter-style newscast for the NYTimes . The ap will be a more audience-focused reader. More backlash and evidence of booming social media? Our changing language. Words like " Islamophobia " describe a current social phenomena spread, and fought by, the media, and " Tumblr " is a social media company. These socially mediated terms have become such intricate pieces of our culture that they have made it to the Dictionary. A culture using...