April Fools

It's April, international occasion for joking. If you'd ask me, all of us could use a day like this after all the drama taking place recently. The more people you can pull one on, the better. Of course the internet, and especially social networks are great media to get the biggest possible audience to spread your best joke ever!

In the past, quite a few have used the above possibility. I went searching for some jokes, and came up with these!

1. 1957, UK: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

2. 2007, The Netherlands: A regional news paper headed that the skeleton of a dinasour had been found during construction work. The name of the species of the dinosaur must have been the Parglirpa. It was the first skeleton that had been found in the area, and it was supposed to be a great finding. Many archeologists and other interested people came to see the site, which had been opened for visitors on the first of April. The day after, the news paper revealed it to be a joke, and Parglirpa is the word Aprilgrap reversed, which is Dutch for April fools.

3. 2010, The Netherlands: Free travelling with concrete glue. Dutch people were messaged that you could travel for free! The only thing you had to do was to put some glue on your public transport card, and you could check in and out without any credit being deducted. The message was widely spread in all possible media.

These examples illustrate the development of jokes in media. TV used to be a powerful medium, news papers generate a big public, but the last joke reached the majority of the target public because it was able to spread via all sorts of new media which made it go national!

So next time you try to pull one on your friends (or the country), be sure to use your social media ;)


Used sources:
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/
http://hoax.blog.nl/nieuws/2010/03/30/1-april-gratis-reizen-met-betonlijm

Oscars, The Social Network and angry bosses

It has been a while already since 'The Social Network' appeared in cinemas. This weekend it got some attention during the Oscars. Even though it wasn't the biggest winner, it appeared to be one of the top movies presented in the past year.

All the (media) attention for this movie made me wonder how it influenced Facebook as a company. Some research lead me to an article published in September 2010 by the Wall Street Journal, named For Facebook, Movie Damage Control.

Hmm.. just what I expected, the movie doesn't exactly describe the easiest road to success for the creator of Facebook and therefore Facebook bosses didn't seem to be too happy. The thing I was a little surprised by though was that "The company didn't formally cooperate, either, but at least one executive engaged in detailed negotiations with the filmmakers over the script, an attempt to mitigate the damage the film could do." Does this mean that the film makers didn't bother to find out about the real story, the real Mark Zuckerberg. Maybe he wasn't even that interesting. On the other hand, it assures us the producer wasn't censured or influenced by Facebook trying to control the possible damage and promote a different corporate history. I guess we'll never really find out because 'the real' Mark Zuckerberg doesn't really feel like telling his story either. He declined interviews with American news papers.

So what the Facebook company really feared was that "the movie could hurt an initial public offering the company is considering." The 'counter attack' of Facebook is a book called 'The Facebook Effect'. It gives a more sympathetic view of Mr. Zuckerberg, and the author had exessive access to the information provided by Facebook management.

So.. The Social Network is fiction, but that doesn't answer what the impact on Facebook was. When we compare the growth in terms of active users with other years, Facebook kept growing constantly. The growth didn't decline directly after the introduction of the Social Network. One could state that the interest of people for Facebook grew after the movie. Recently, many articles report about the tremendous growth of Facebook. Social media, with Facebook on the front line, is likely to start a new era, and...

...Facebook didn't seem to get any worse, but simply more interesting!


To read more, go to: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704593604576141350618351030.html?mod=WSJ_article_related

Twitter, blogging and the revolution

Wednesday the 2nd of February it became all clear again. Blogging, twitter, and other social media are hot and happening. It contributes in providing the hottest news. In 'De Wereld Draait Door', a Dutch actuality programme, the influence of the new media on the provision of info about the demonstrations in Egypt was discussed. New information is not provided by the news papers or TV anymore, hell no... that takes way too long! Novelties are provided by 'live blogs'. To know what is happening on the streets at that very time journalists keep track of the Egyptians' stories online.

The hunger for fresh news isn't new of course. During the Gulf War, CNN was reporting back to the people every hour. This was unknown for the time. Critics though one channel would give a biased view of the situation. The possibility nowadays to keep track of all possible channels, even Ali's one, gives us a complete view of what is really happening. Still, Ali can write whatever he wants so channels, like online news papers, do acknowledge they need to filter out the true stories.

Besides, many journalists are in Egypt. They can directly respond to questions asked on twitter. Twitter can now be used as a public notebook and provide interessees with instant information. People can also put little (amateur) movies on, for example, youtube.com. Everyone can see with their own eyes what's happening!

Then another question arises: 'Does all this media instigate the revolution?' The answer reflects the bigger problem; lack of freedom. Few people have internet, and the ones who do are monitored closely to make sure they don't send the 'wrong' (in the eyes of the Egyptian government) information to the rest of the world. Still the government can't control the foreign TV stations, which enforces the people and gives them strength.

Lastly, news experts advise to keep track of AL JAZEERA and to follow the right people on twitter to get good information. This is new media, new journalism... a new world!

Here you can see the broadcast of 'De Wereld Draait Door' on 02-02-2011

New blogger on the block

While Jettie Pallettie is providing me with some great background music, I find myself doing the thing I 'resent' in others... Blogging! Since I'm already on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media, why not share some of the most interesting articles, experiences and outcomes of my work for Tilburg University with the world! The content of the blog wil prominently exist from the research I did at the University, I'll try to keep the topics as interesting as possible ;)

The actual reason for me starting this blog is an assignment; get to know social media, and learn how to use it for educational purposes.. well, so be it, let's make it a succes! I'll be searching for the best ways to promote my blog, so if any of you have great tips to optimize search engine hits and other ways to promote this, please be so kind to share :) All of us know more than just me!

Soon you'll find the first message, so be sure you check the blog every now and then!