Social Media Attacks

  Book review, sort of, this week: I just finished reading a book called The 50 Megaton Tweet, by R.C. Wade. It's an interesting perspective on the power and prevalence of social media in the modern world. The premise is that somebody sends a tweet saying that the US President has been killed while on an overseas trip, and the entire world descends into chaos as pictures and videos of the incident appear, seemingly as proof of the horrific encounter.
    It seems a little far-fetched, or does it? Many people rely on social media for their news source these days, and people learn about important events, deaths, and more through social media before the news programs air their broadcasts. The story asks people to take responsibility for their responses when it comes to using social media--to check their sources and not just idly retweet and spread a message without knowing for sure if it's true.
    However, something like an April Fool's prank can go viral in a matter of minutes because of how fast and accessible social media is. The book asks you to take a look at an extreme example of social media getting out of control and doing some real damage.
    While some of the events seem to be over-reaching as to what might happen in the real world, the prose is eerily realistic, sounding almost like a news report, throughout the book. For $0.99, it's a pretty good read and it definitely makes you think about the role of social media in society and how it affects people's perception of the world.
    In one respect, I agree with the book: people need to take responsibility for their actions, especially if it was prompted by something that isn't necessarily true, like a (SPOILER) hoax tweet.

Think before you speak, and tweet.

Hell No, We Won't Go: Stop the Lockout

I am sick of bureaucracy. At the top of my list right now is the potential NHL lockout. I am a puckhead hockey fan all the way. I don't care if it's minors or majors, the hometeam or not--when it comes to hockey, it's just fun to watch. And right now, the ridiculous owners and the not-quite-as-ridiculous-but-still-ridiculous players are debating how much money gets distributed among them all.
    The reason this one gets under my skin is I was old enough to remember the last lockout. I was in 11th grade, and I even wrote an English paper about how stupid I thought the lockout was. (If I ever find it, I'll repost it here--me at 16 is probably pretty funny.) Back then, I blamed Gary Bettman, the commissioner of the NHL. Today, I still kinda do. This guy's on a path to have 3, count 'em, 3, lockouts during his tenure, and the ones who suffer aren't the owners or the players--it's the fans.
    We support our teams. We buy their stuff. We watch their games on TV and when we can, in person. We love those guys. And when somebody says they don't get to play until they come to an agreement about cashflow, we get angry. And you don't want to see hockey fans angry. You wouldn't like us when we're angry.

   
What in the hell do you expect millions of hockey fans across the US and Canada to do when their teams don't get to play this winter? We would watch minor league hockey, but unfortunately, not all those games are widely televised. We could watch basketball or football, but we don't like basketball and football nearly as much as we like hockey. They're poor substitutes for a fast, fun and crazy sport we know as hockey.

    What really gets me is that the teams are still promoting the new season like they have no reason to think it won't happen. Come on, buy your season tickets! Check out opening night! Buy a new jersey for the 2012-13 season! You know what, you settle your petty financial differences and guarantee me a season first, and then I'll feel better about handing over my money for a few games.
    So, there are a few angry hockey fan movements rising up: one girl has started a petition to get Bettman to resign. There are Twitter and Facebook accounts cropping up, @againstlockout, @stopthelock2012, @unfollowNHLSept are just a few.

Check out these articles and blogs for more info:

• http://www.boston.com/sports/blogs/shesgamesports/2012/08/gary-bettmans-remarks-about-nhl-fans-nice-try-but-wrong.html
• http://nyrnation.net/nhl-fans-plan-social-media-protest-of-potential-lockout/
• http://unfollownhlsept15.tumblr.com/

    The Unfollow NHL September 15 group is one of the largest, with almost 2,000 fans in just a short period of time (I think I read a week, but don't quote me on that). These guys are asking fans to protest the lockout by unfollowing and unliking NHL accounts, team accounts, and player accounts, as well as boycotting NHL and team websites, and avoiding purchasing official NHL gear.

    While the group doesn't think their efforts will actually prevent a lockout, it's more about making a statement. The kind of statement that says, hey, we matter. We're your paycheck. Don't forget it. That, I'm all for. Hockey players already make a hell of a lot less than most major league teams, but that doesn't mean they're poor. They make good money. The owners make better money. And that's probably the way it'll always be. But for the two sides to get greedy and demand more, not only that, ask for cutbacks from the other, they're not hurting each other. They're hurting the fans that pay into the pot where all that money comes from.
    So, if you're a hockey fan like me, whether you support the Avalanche, the Kings, the Rangers, or whoever, stand up for your love of the game and join in on the protest of the potential NHL lockout this season.

Go Avs :) Hope you get to play this year!

Vitamin D Deficiency

It has been ugly and cloudy and gray for more than a week now, and steadily gray and rainy for several days. It is damned depressing. It's dampening everyone's mood and morale. And it's causing drowsiness. This is in a place where we generally get over 300 days of sunshine in a year. (Granted that number includes days where the sun was only out for part of the day, but nonetheless.)
    It's the first week of full-time work, and the first two or three days were overwhelming because I was busy. I was not as busy today, and I was hoping to wrap things up so I could begin another project, i.e. larger task that would take me longer than 15 minutes, but I spent so much time going back and forth to people's offices for discussions and meetings and assigning tasks that I don't know where half my damn day went.
    I thought that my colleagues were keeping me from doing my job, because they're entertaining and fun to talk to--and for someone who hasn't consistently had friends to talk to in person for a long time, having people like that around is really comforting. But, as a matter of fact, it might be my bosses that are keeping me from doing my job now. They keep assigning one thing after another, and having meeting after meeting and training after training that it keeps me there, listening to what needs to be done, and not able to actually do any of it! I like to get stuff done. I get a little thrill every time I get to cross something off a list or check a box as complete. And I don't even mind having a long list as long it's not all due immediately. But if people keep telling me what to do and not giving me a chance to do it, it gets really frustrating. I want to do it. I really do. So what might be better is to just make a list. Write an email. Carrier pigeon. Whatever. Just quit making me go back and forth so much so I can sit down and actually get stuff done.

UPDATE: I had to edit out some of this for security reasons.

    Rant over. Apologies for getting a little off topic. I'm going to blame it on the shitty weather. But that's the majority of shareable information that's on my mind today, so I figured it might make for the most interesting read. But interesting is a sliding scale. It's interesting by comparison, not by default.

I get by with a little help from my friends.

Twitter Down?? Sacrilege!

Twitter went down today. It keeps bringing up messages saying things like "overload". I don't use Twitter myself, though one of my coworkers in particular considers it a one-stop resource for everything you could possibly want to know about anything, but I know a lot of the people I follow on Facebook actually tweet their status updates, and something like HootSuite or another service posts their tweets on Facebook. (I find this hilarious. They don't want to use Facebook, but feel like they have to for publicity reasons, so they just link their Twitter account to their Facebook account. Is it laziness? I can't say for sure.)
    I cannot even imagine the outrage, frustration and outcry Twitter loyalists are experiencing today. It seems like it must be even worse than being without internet, which I don't understand, but will grant them. It's no fun being out of the loop. But at least everyone else is out of the loop too, so that ought to soften the blow. Ought to.
    Is this piece of information going to be beaten to death and reported and re-reported ad infinitum until something else (horrible?) happens that gets everyone talking? I don't know the answer to that one either. But for now, I'm just glad I don't have a Twitter account (yet) or else I'd be one of the many people freaking out and having a meltdown today because I had to go without it for a few hours. Apologies for the short post, but I had to revel a little bit in all the misery that's going on because of this, because for once, it didn't happen to me.

Tweet this. Oh wait, you can't :P