The Caffeinated Carbivore

The French have quite a few odd rules, as Matthew Fraser points out, but this one strikes us Social Media bandits to the core: Not being able to say Facebook or Twitter on air?! The social media hold a great deal of power in today's society: 1. Political power, as evidenced by the Obama campaign and the rallies in Egypt 2. Social power (how many couples meet or maintain relationships online?!) 3. Educational power (interactive lessons, teacher immediacy...studies show that students may even learn better with social media. How many times has Google gotten you over that brainfart, "Who was the director of that movie...gosh I can't remember...this is going to keep me up tonight...better just Google it."). The evidence is in our culture. Language serves those who use it, and social media have certaintly taken the driver's seat in creating new turns of phrase like "I'd "Like" that","Tweet this" or "Facebook me". An even stron...

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...