Everything these days seems to have to revolve around social media in one way or another and one would have though that the huge ad platform of the Super Bowl we would have seen much more of advertisers trying to connect using social media hooks.

Well it turns out that this isn’t the case as fresh analysis from the Altimeter Group shows that 32% of the 87 ads that were run during the Super Bowl stayed away from not only social media but also any online references of any kind.

As Drew Olanoff noted at The Next Web this showed that some companies are still “playing it safe” when it comes to including their online presence in their major advertising messages.

In what I’ll call “playing it safe”, it appears that most companies who did make reference to a presence on the Internet, chose to use their own URL rather than a hashtag or Facebook URL. Why is this? It has to do with controlling the message, obviously.

If I’m company and I’m spending a lot of money on the biggest television stage in the United States, there’s absolutely no way I’m going to ask millions of people to use a hashtag. There’s just no context to be had there and nothing to be gained. As we’ve seen with a recent McDonalds hashtag gaffe, it might actually cost you more money and brand integrity to defend something gone awry.

I have to agree with Drew on this and additionally I find it interesting that rather than push their company’s social media pages on places like Facebook they were opting to only show direct links to their own domain pages.

This hearkens back to a long held belief by many online people that companies and people should have direct control of their online identities and “Google juice” rather than farming it all out to social media data silos like Facebook and Twitter.

While Facebook and the like might be good for spot promotion type things I don’t believe that companies, or individuals who make their living from the web, should be putting all their eggs in the social network providers control.

image courtesy of The Next Web

In year of Social Media everything Super Bowl advertisers stayed away from it is a post from: The Inquisitr

Quick, what’s the first thing you do in the morning? Have a smoke, get some coffee, or check your Facebook updates?

It would be seriously interesting to see how many smartphone users indeed wake up in bed and look at their Facebook walls through one barely-open eye. And it seems that while we were busy sharing George Takei’s photos and playing CastleVille, we’ve all developed a bit of a creeping addiction. A study may have actually confirmed that Facebook has addictive properties, not entirely unlike that of alcohol and tobacco.

The Guardian reports that researchers distributed more than 200 BlackBerry handsets to 18 to 25 year old users, and what’s more interesting, the young adults actually used the BlackBerrys to like, go on Facebook and check things. Participants were pinged over periods lasting 14 hours or seven days, and asked to respond about how strong their social media craving was at that particular time. More than 10,000 responses were logged, and more than 7,200 responses indicated a strong urge to update.

While sex and sleep often won out over posting an update or farming crops, alcohol and booze were less compelling- mainly perhaps because, researchers surmise, they carry more financial and other types of costs to indulge, while Facebooking is still free. (Provided you post this picture to your wall and say “we won’t pay for Facebook.” Kidding!)

Researchers noted:

“With cigarettes and alcohol there are more costs – long-term as well as monetary – and the opportunity may not always be the right one. So, even though giving in to media desires is certainly less consequential, the frequent use may still ‘steal’ a lot of people’s time.”

Are you addicted to Facebook, Twitter or other forms of social media?

Facebook More Addictive Than Booze and Cigs? Study Says Perhaps is a post from: The Inquisitr

We’ve seen people go to some seriously crazy lengths to make their significant other feel lousy about a breakup but today’s news might be the craziest.

A member on the  fiverr.com website, a destination where people can say crazy things they will do for $5 and then have people purchase their services, has agreed to be a fake Facebook girlfriend for just $5.

According to user Cathy01, she’ll be your Facebook belle for 10 days and even write up three fake but affectionate messages on your wall.

Cathy actually isn’t the first person to take on the task, a start-up called Cloud Girlfriend was launched in March 2011 that actually’s lets users design their ideal girlfriend who then interacts with them via their Facebook wall.

Ultimately Cloud Girlfriend failed because Facebook’s own TOS says you can’t create fake accounts. Cathy on the other hand is a very real person using her own account to make your ex-girlfriend jealous.

It would be interesting to know if she changes her home location and other information to make the entire situation seem more “real” because for all that work $5 really doesn’t go a long way.

In the meantime Cathy has already received 5 orders but we’re not exactly sure how she’s going to pull them all off at one time since you can only list one significant other at a time and the longer people wait the less it will make their former girlfriend jealous.

By the way, that’s Cathy in the photo above, I would say she’s more than good enough in the looks department to make many former girlfriends jealous.

Would you be willing to pay $5 if it meant making a former significant other feel bad about your recent breakup?

Facebook Girlfriend Now Available For Just $5 is a post from: The Inquisitr

A study by Forrester Research that consisted of about 100,000 people from Asia, North America, and Latin America, found that users in China and India are far more likely to create content via social media than consume it. Also, people in increasing markets also tend to be creators.

Social media takes the core philosophy of the Internet, information for anyone and everyone, and takes that to the next level. The findings of the study also found that people in the West consume more content. With platforms growing at an exponential rate, it’s quite easy to consume a considerable amount of content on any given day. Followings get bigger, friends lists get larger, and so on.

People in the West still create, just not to the extent of those in Asia according to the study.

“In the six years that Forrester has been collecting Social Technographics data, a lot has changed in the world of social media. Social networking has morphed into a global phenomenon. Today, 86% of online US adults and 79% of European online adults engage with social media. And consumers in emerging markets are also on social media — not just catching up. In fact, they lead the world in social media usage and engagement.”

The USA isn’t the leader in social media activity. Asia is an interesting market since there’s so many people and better technology coming to more and more people. Countries from the Asia region continue to adopt social media and use it in their daily lives and is not likely to slow down anytime soon.

Social Media Users In Asia Create More While The West Consumes More is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook has long been a breeding ground for social gaming addicts, long lost friends we often wish would have stayed “long lost” and a platform to spread birthday wishes with a simply bland “Happy Birthday” wall post but it’s also perhaps one of the best ways to find a kidney.

According to a recent report Facebook Kidney requests have already led to three people receiving the help they needed while many more requests are popping up on the site on a daily basis.

According to the Associated Press Seattle father Damon Brown was waiting on a long list for a kidney donation when he wrote on his Facebook wall:

“I’m a strong guy, but I would have to say, it’s been rough this year.”

After that message was posted he then started the Facebook page “Damon Kidney” which attracted more than 1,400 friends. Eventually a family acquaintance stepped forward and Damon said she did it for his kids:

“She said it wasn’t really for me … It was for my kids, because they deserve to have a dad around.”

When asked if she was worried about giving up a Kidney she said no because she heard that most women who suffer kidney failure usually lose both kidney’s anyways.

As more people in the United States learn that private kidney donations are legal more of these groups are expected to pop up. In fact 6,277 transplants out of the 16,800 performed in 2010 came from private donors.

Just remember you still can’t sell your Kidney for money or gifts, even if it’s a private surgery.

Facebook isn’t the only online outlet for Kidney help, a patients recently found a willing donor through the social posting website Craigslist.

Would you be willing to give up your kidney to someone that you didn’t know that well if they seemed to have a good future ahead of them?

Facebook Becomes Kidney Hunting Ground, But In A Good Way is a post from: The Inquisitr

Why anyone is surprised by this tidbit of information is beyond me but it seems that a growing number of people are implicating social media services like Facebook and Twitter as part of the reason for their divorces.

According to a new study from Divorce Online the numbers are on the increase with Facebook being cited in 33% of “unreasonable behavior petitions” in 2011 which represents a rise of 13% over the service’s previous figures from 2009.

They arrived at this number by surveying a sample of 5,000 divorces where Facebook behavior with the opposite sex played an integral part of the divorce claims.

The top three reasons were:

1 – Inappropriate messages to members of the opposite sex

2 - Separated spouses posting nasty comments about each other

3 – Facebook friends reporting spouse’s behavior

Divorce Online’s spokesman had this to say about the numbers:

“Social networking has become the primary tool for communication and is taking over from text and e-mail in my opinion. If someone wants to have an affair or flirt with the opposite sex then it’s the easiest place to do it. Also, the use of Facebook to make comments about ex-partners to friends has become extremely common with both sides using Facebook to vent their grievances against each other. People need to be careful what they write on their Walls as the courts are seeing these posts being used in financial disputes and children cases as evidence.”

via The Next Web

Don’t think that Twitter escaped being a scapegoat though as it showed up in 20 petitions also as part of spouse’s behavior as a reason for the divorce.

Twitter and Facebook increasingly being cited in divorce papers is a post from: The Inquisitr

For as long as people have been using the term social media as some sort of movement that utilizes the web for social change I have cringed and shuddered to the very bone because nothing could be further from the truth.

The fact is that social media is just a cutesy way to say social marketing because that is that social media is – a new way to market to a large number of people while providing them with the illusion that they have friends, thousands or more of them, that care what they think or like. It’s a great con but a con none the less and propagated by social networks like Facebook, whose only purpose is to get you to believe that it is okay to share absolutely everything about your minute to minute life because that is what all your friends want to know.

Well them and the companies that flock to services like Facebook because they are being lead to believe that this is the next great frontier and if they don’t stake t heir claim then they are old and tired and no-one will care about them.

If you ask any of the people that know me, beyond just the surface crap that floats around on the various social networks that I suffer being a part of, they will tell you that I have an extremely low opinion of social media; and I do. I truly do.

What I do believe in though is the social web; which is as different from social media as night is from day. The social web is about using the tools and technology that have been created, and are being created daily, to enable us to change our lives and our society for the better, not to be a part of just another marketing campaign that benefits no-one.

The social web in some ways is the polar opposite of social media. Where social media is about marketing, promotion and appeasement the social web is about the people, our society as a whole, and the betterment of both those things.

Except that we have become enamored with all things social media after all it provides us with the self-gratification that we are important, that we can make some faceless corporation listen to us, or so we believe. Sure we’ve been given a common ground and a louder voice when it comes to dealing with the powers that be, corporate or government but the driving force behind it all is me-ism and corporate bottom line.

The result is that we have successfully been side tracked from a much more powerful platform for real change – the social web. Instead of thinking of services like Facebook and Twitter as the vehicle by which we can force companies to listen to us as individuals, while those services profit enormously, we need to treat them as tools, as vehicles for change.

This is the part that Arab Spring got right. It is this concept of Twitter, Facebook, and other networks as tools for change rather than self-promotion that made them such a valuable tool to those countries, and still do.

We on the other hand are still stuck with the idea that social media is the game changer, which it isn’t; but that could be changing. There is a glimmer, just a glimmer mind you that we are finally understanding that if we really want to make changes to a society that is stacked against us we need to stop thinking and acting like everything is about us as separate entities – we aren’t.

There’s an old saying – united we stand, divided we fall and for the most part social media is all about the individual, promoting the individual and not about society as a whole; which is exactly what we are. This is the secret that Arab Spring holds and to a certain extend even the OccupyWallStreet movement does. This isn’t what the companies and government want but this is exactly what the social web can give us – a unified front with which we can bring about change.

The problem is that for all intents and purposes the OccupyWallStreet movement has been successfully marginalized, and in a very calculated manner, and as a result the social web is voiceless.

When we talk about using the web to bring about change many people like to point to groups like Anonymous as being the voice of change. The only problem with that is, that like OccupyWallStreet groups like Anonymous are easily ridiculed and marginalized, something that they don’t help with due to their actions.

So where is the voice of the social web?

Is there one?

I would say yes there is and as I said earlier we are starting to see a real glimmer of the possibility of the social web coming to life. We first saw I believe when Bank of America announced that they were going to start charging their customers a service fee to use their debit cards. The reaction was palpable and swift much to the surprise of everyone as it swept through powered by the use of the web.

In the end the banks backed down, the consumer won and we knew it.

Then along comes SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and once more the winds of social unrest could be heard gather in the halls of the Web. From the people who helped create the web to those that earn their living because of the web everyone came out against what was, and still is, a bad idea that the entertainment industry paid Congress wanted to pass.

It was only because of the web and sites like Reddit that SOPA has been forestalled, not beaten, just delayed so the battle isn’t totally over yet; but something fundamental is changing.

Up until recently the “Internet” has been some intangible type thing for most people, and I mean none techie type people. It was just something out there that we went to in order to entertain ourselves, maybe buy some goods, or for others do some work.

Those of us in the tech industry know it is much more than that. It has become the very backbone of our world with nothing we do on a daily basis not being touched by the Web in some fashion or other.

But that feeling, that knowledge, that realization of just how important the Internet; a free and open Internet, is to our society has reached past just the techies and now larger number of ‘ordinary’ (non-techie) people are realizing its importance.

They are realizing that the Web is changing their lives like nothing else ever has and it is empowering them in ways that they’ve never been empowered before; and once they look past the shallowness of the social media shell game they are realizing that for the first time in human history they have the power and the voice to change society.

The balance of power is shifting. The social web is starting to coalesce. The only problem is that like those that were the founding voices of the Arab Spring we need our own voice of the social web and I believe we might be seeing it develop on sites like Reddit.

I say this because I think that the Reddit community itself is just realizing the amount of power it has to organize social change. The community first began to see the glimmer of its potential with the whole SOPA and GoDaddy situation and now it is stretching its muscles by looking to be come the voice of social change by holding politician accountable for their actions.

In this case they are organizing to pinpoint politician from both parties that are benefiting from support both SOPA and NDAA, and through the community apply pressure to those politicians to change their stance or face serious opposition when they seek re-election.

This isn’t something that Reddit has done before, or at least of this scale or this socially oriented. It’s one thing to have secret Santas or other such warm and fuzzy events that gets the Reddit community motivated. It is another thing altogether to organize on the level to be able to challenge political figures and policy.

Do I think that Reddit will be successful in forcing real change on a government policy level? I don’t know. I hope so, I really do but as with all young movements and voices that are just discovering their own power the road forward will be hard and will have its share of failures, but in the long run we have been surprised by far less efforts.

As Mike Masnick at Techdirt wrote:

It’ll definitely be tough to unseat incumbents, but even if the internet community can make it into an actual fight, politicians will start to take notice. And, even if it fails this time around, watch out for what comes next. Like many “open” systems, the first version may not be pretty, the second version may be a little buggy, but once you get around to the third version and beyond, they often start being a lot more powerful than anyone expects. Politicians who underestimate the community of folks at Reddit and similar sites may be in for a surprise before too long…

Now do I think that this effort by Reddit is the beginnings of a real social web movement here – I would like to think so but the realist me; who knows too much history, isn’t so sure.

I hope we are seeing the beginnings of a social web, I really do because if it does take hold I believe we will see change like we have never seen before. So yes I am hopeful that the social web is awakening and that sites like Reddit are helping to bring it to life.

Reddit and the possible awakening of the ‘social web’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

I don’t hold the highest of opinions for social media, I figure it is just the newest and hottest ways for us to be conned into handing over our information under the illusion that the free stuff we are being given in return is actually worth something so that we can be marketed to.

So needless to say when I saw this infographic I couldn’t resist the temptation to share it with you.

Enjoy.

via Bit Rebels

Social media is ruining our minds and we have the proof [Infographic] is a post from: The Inquisitr

It seems that those silly people down under are getting a little too carried away with this whole social media thing, that is if a new study from Sydney-based company Tick Yes has any validity.

It seems that this social media marketing company (which should immediate raise the hair on the back of your neck) surveyed some 885 Australians about their social media habits and came away with some pretty interesting findings. Well interesting to them I guess from a “marketing” point of view anyway.

To give you a bit of an idea of the <ahem> results here is some tidbits in descending order.

• 51.6% access social media at work
• 41.9% while watching TV
• 34% on holiday
• 33.8% in bed
• 23.3% during meals
• 14.8% while shopping
• 21.5% in the bathroom
• 3.2% in a place of worship
• 2.8% (64% of them men) ‘during intimate moments’

Ya. so it seems that some idiots out there will stop what they are doing with a partner and check out what their Twitter stream or Facebook wall is saying.

Okay let me be the first one to say this … if you stop sharing a delightfully intimate moment with your partner then you are a great big loser. Really. Loser.

There is no other way to put it.

Loser.

Here’s a couple more take away points from the survey:

• 48.2% use social media to talk about a new purchase (56% of them women)
• 25.5% have used social media to contact a company for customer service or to ask a question
• 48.7% of people say their social media usage has increased in the last year
• 4.9% of people admit to being ‘addicted’ to social media, while 31.3% spend at least two hours a day on it

Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go out and get a few boxes of salt.

via All Twitter / image by Monika Wisniewska - Shutterstock

Some Aussies will stop whatever they are doing – including sex to check Twitter is a post from: The Inquisitr

Frequent Twitter users who have used the social media tool to complain about their customer experience with a company want those companies to be listening to their comments and addressing it as well.

According to a study by Maritz Research, only 1/3 of respondents actually received some type of follow-up after they tweeted their complaint while 83 percent who received a follow up to their tweet said they liked or loved hearing from the company they complained about. Just under 75 percent of those people who received a response were very or somewhat satisfied with the response they received. A little more than 15 percent said they were either very or somewhat dissatisfied with the company’s response.

For the two-thirds of respondents who didn’t receive an answer to their complaint, a similar number, 86 percent, also would have liked or loved to hear from the company. However, a striking 63 percent said they would hate or not like it if the company contacted them about something other than their complaint.

The research reinforced the trend that’s happening now– people are openly complaining about companies to get immediate attention. For companies, however, any support request be it on Twitter, Facebook or other social media tool should be treated with equal attention.

Twitter Users Complaining on Companies Publicly is a post from: The Inquisitr

You know there might be something to this whole social media thing; or at least that’s what New York’s police department seems to think.

Don’t think that they are going to get all buddy buddy with you on Twitter or Facebook though because this new social media strategy from the NYPD is all about catching those evil kids who don’t know enough to keep their mouths shut when on Twitter or Facebook.

The purpose of the new unit is mine the social networks for youths ( I so want to be able to say that with the voice of Joe Pesci) who for the lack of any real intelligence decide to brag about their wrong-doing.

Newly named Assistant Commissioner Kevin O’Connor, one of the department’s online and gang gurus, has been put in charge of the new juvenile justice unit. He and his staff will mine social media, looking for info about troublesome house parties, gang showdowns and other potential mayhem, sources said.

via New York Daily News

And apparently high on their list is to keep track of all those crime inducing rave parties.

New York Police Department to get down with this new fangled social media thing is a post from: The Inquisitr

We imagine Derek was trying to perhaps message a girl named Tara, but lovely  nonetheless.

[via]

Taco Bell Social Media Win [Pic] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook has filed a lawsuit against “Shagbook.com” alleging that the site has infringed on their trademarked name and now Shagbook is firing back, claiming that “Facebook” is a “generic term.”

According to Facebook the site has:

“The intent to call to mind and create a likelihood of confusion … and/or trade off the fame of Facebook.”

Shagbook site creator SNRG Ventures claims that the site’s founder came up with the website name from an notebook he used to carry around.

The Facebook tactic could backfire with SNRG arguing that the name should never have been trademarked in the first place since it was originally a generic term used for other sites, including the Harvard facebook.

Facebook Sues “Shagbook” Over Trademark Infringement is a post from: The Inquisitr

McDonald’s has been the victim of misplaced Twitter rage, thanks to an image that went viral Sunday on the microblogging service.

The image above was rapidly tweeted and retweeted with the hashtag #seriouslymcdonalds, apparently by a bunch of people who are not only brand spanking new to the internet, but unaware of 4Chan and also ignorant of laws preventing people to implement seriously racist policies and then post signs advertising them in the country’s most prominent fast food chain. McDonald’s had to have their social media director tweet on a Sunday about the hoax in an attempt to set the record straight, and were then forced to cobble together a statement to refute the silly pic:

“The sign is obviously a hoax. The phone number goes to a phone sex line.

“As a company and a brand we have a long and proud history of diversity inclusion across our system on both sides of the counter.

“From our management crew, franchisees — across the board, we’re very proud of our record of diversity. This is unfortunately an example of how rumors can outspeed the truth. Over the last 48 hours we’ve been tweeting and striving to clarify that this is a hoax.”

Rick Wion, the social media manager over at McDonald’s, has been rapidly Twitter-denying the picture’s veracity, but the hashtag persisted onto the Trending Topics list over the weekend. Did anyone in your feed fall for the hoax?

“Seriously, McDonald’s?” Picture Hoax Plagues Double Arches on Twitter is a post from: The Inquisitr

It seems the quest to squeeze consumers of every last dollar by airlines doesn’t exclude military personnel returning from the fight in Afghanistan.

American soldiers who risk life and limb so Delta can continue to rake in profits were displeased with a policy that had them shelling out nearly $3,000 in fees to check baggage. The frustrated servicemen took to YouTube to vent about the situation, and the tale of poor treatment unsurprisingly went viral almost immediately.

Delta seemed to be fine enforcing the policy until the practice pissed off everyone on YouTube and other social media sites. As soon as their actions were highlighted, the company quickly tried to mitigate the damage via a press release- but didn’t state any policy amendment other than what the soldiers originally believed to be true:

After careful consideration, effective immediately, U.S. military personnel traveling on orders in First and Business Class can check up to five bags at no charge and 4 bags in economy class. This change also adds dependents traveling with active military on orders. Each bag may weigh up to 70 lbs. (32 kg) and measure up to 80 linear inches (203 cm), which offers added flexibility over the standard 50 lbs. and 62 linear inches (157 cm) allotment. Because of weight, balance and space constraints, Delta Connection carriers will accept up to four bags at no charge. You can read the updates to the travel policy on delta.com.

Delta continues that they “hope these changes to our policies reflect the true respect we hold for our service men and women and again demonstrate our appreciation as both a company and as individuals who benefit from the freedom our troops defend.” Do you think our troops deserve more of a concession from commercial airlines when flying back from duty?

Delta Charges Soldiers $2800 For Checked Bags, Hastily Cobbles PR Release When Caught is a post from: The Inquisitr

This story wins the WTF category for the entire year so far.

So apparently, just so you know, the Secret Service has a Twitter account. Can anyone even begin to understand exactly what the hell the Secret Service should even be tweeting about? Are there very many more agencies that rely as much on keeping things under wraps? The word secret is right there in the name.

Anyway. Today on the Secret Service’s Twitter account, the person tasked with tweeting for the intelligence and counterintelligence agency accidentally posted something not meant to be shared. The unidentified agent said:

Had to monitor Fox for a story. Can’t. Deal. With. The. Blathering.

I know what you’re thinking… get this man a medal! But alas, the opinion wasn’t official. Although there was some speculation it was fake, the Secret Service stepped up, claimed it, and apologized in a statement:

“An employee with access to the Secret Service’s Twitter account, who mistakenly believed they were on their personal account, posted an unapproved and inappropriate tweet. The tweet contained no vulgarity, security or pertinent agency information. The tweet did not reflect the views of the U.S. Secret Service and it was immediately removed.

Hopefully, this dude didn’t get into any trouble and higher-ups saw as much humor in it as we do.

Secret Service bashes Fox News in accidental tweet, apologizes is a post from: The Inquisitr

Initial reports that the Royal Wedding would be safe from the twittering masses due to cellphone jamming plans in place are apparently not true, according to officials in charge of wedding security.

It was initially reported that there would be signal-blocking technology implemented from early Friday at Westminster Abbey to prevent information leaks and the possibility of noisy cellphones going off during the ceremony:

The move was suggested by senior members of the royal family and approved by police and security personnel over the last few days, and also met with the approval of television broadcasters keen to avoid any unfortunate sightings of guests on their phones — or even untimely ringtones disrupting the service… A police official confirmed to Yahoo! on Wednesday that the blocking technology will be in place from early Friday morning and will remain switched on for the entirety of the ceremony.

The information seems to be incorrect, however. CBS News spoke to local authorities to confirm the rumor, and an official dismissed it:

Met police spokesman Eddie Townsend said Thursday morning, “The story is not true, rubbish.”

Chatter about the huge event is already reaching a fever pitch on social media, with “Westminster Abbey,” “William & Kate” and “#royalwedding” all trending a day ahead of the event on Twitter.

Scotland Yard: Reports of cellphone signal jamming at Royal Wedding ‘rubbish’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Social media tools like Facebook are lauded for, among other things, making contact with diverse groups of people in your life streamlined and easily accessible, an utterly simplified way to express shared joy at a new baby or career coup, or merely reach out to someone you’ve missed lately.

On Sunday- my birthday- I’d planned on engaging in the latter. Driving home from dinner with my family, I heard a song in the car that reminded me for several reasons of a very important man in my life. My first adult boyfriend, and never quite the “one that got away.” (The song, by the way, was “Dilemma,” by Nelly and Kelly Rowland and it spoke to me and go ahead and judge me, I don’t care.) I say he never got away because technically he didn’t, or I from him, and intermittent frenzied contact in our later years was always transient, aching, full of sadness and what ifs. What if you married me instead? What would life look like now?

An interesting prospect, and one that would not have worked nearly as well in the time we met. As Skype, Facebook, email and YouTube evolved, so too did the ways we could torment one another with what-ifs. Songs. Sad pictures. Musings about babies we never had the chance to make. I headed home entirely planning to leave the song that had saddened me on his Facebook wall, a testament to the feelings I always held about our ill-fated coupling- I married the wrong man to cope with what at the time felt like losing the only man I could ever love. Facebook itself would say it was “complicated.” But every few years, it would come up- trying again? Making it work? You move over here or I move over there? It would be different, we’re older now. Topics I thought we had forever to discuss. Both of us had intervening relationships, but a few times a year we’d connect, and it never felt like we’d spent any time apart at all, nor did it feel like a betrayal to others with whom we were involved. It just was.

What I found when I navigated to him, maudlin link in hand- an impromptu Facebook memorial- was the very last thing I expected. Dozens upon dozens of “RIP” status updates marked the page, each one attesting to something I was rapidly losing my suspension of disbelief regarding. Sometime in the weeks prior, he’d died, and I knew nothing of it until I went to his page directly. I can’t say Facebook is any better or worse for discovering someone you loved has died. I had a good amount of space to process it initially without input from anyone, no one had to witness my raw reaction. And I can’t complain, because I then notified a mutual friend via text. Perhaps a better friend would have thought it through and called.

But social media still too inserts itself even into other layers of grief. When my initial shock subsided, I consumed. Images. Information. Felt abject fear that one day his page would disappear and I’d be left with nothing- the 404ing of your most treasured memories- or that his page would be converted into a “Facebook memorial” of the official sort and all traces of his input would cease, as in real life. Guilt, so much guilt. Everything means something in hindsight, and I had every one of our last interactions, time-stamped, over which to pore- assess where I had been self-centered, unfeeling, distant or too busy to give a man who always gave me his love five minutes of listening time. Every missed connection in my mind was the equivalent of losing something of great value- my last chance to speak to him, hear his voice, see his face on a webcam 3,000 miles away- a dated reminder of every chance I’d let pass over a gulf of time that seemed inconsequential then.

It encourages wallowing, to be sure. But the remnants of the people we love left behind on their social media profiles is also a completely priceless gift- a YouTube account means you will never have to go without hearing their voice again, a selection of pictures means you won’t forget the expressions they favored in candids- those bits stay the same, but they conjure up memories almost too easily. Ungratefully, I mourn all the lost media, deleted emails or notifications that could have gone into my under the bed cigar box of memories, because we’ve grown accustomed to this information being available. An information hoarder I may be, but here I was tricked by the false prospect of forever- there was no cap on these things in my mind, no set deadline where my dynamic connection would be converted to an archive.

It’s been six days, and I can’t form and opinion yet on whether social media will be beneficial to the grieving process for users as it develops. Have you had any similar experiences with social media and grief or grieving? Does the presence of someone you loved and lost on the internet forever give you solace, or only remind you the digital copy is static, fixed, frozen in time? Have you found a way to give voice to the pain of loss over this medium as a whole, or spent days and sleepless nights ruminating?

Does Facebook help the grieving process, or stall it? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Because Twitter followers really only matter on Twitter.

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Explaining your social media life IRL is a post from: The Inquisitr

This is kinda like Domo, except instead of matching up people who like manga and Mountain Dew Throwback with one another, it notifies individuals who can perform CPR when someone in walking distance requires life-saving resuscitation, as well as listing the locations of nearby defibrillators.

The function is actually part of a more comprehensive app released by the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District. But the CPR buddy system option is a really interesting function of the app- users can opt-in if they are able to perform the life-saving procedure. When a call comes in indicating a person in distress in a public place requires CPR, says San Ramon Valley Fire Protection information officer Kimberly French, CPR-capable users get a push notification:

“If you’re at Starbucks and next door at the deli somebody goes down, you’re getting a notification,” French said. “You’re that close to the person needing the assistance.”

The potentially life-saving app sprang from an incident in which San Ramon Valley’s Fire Chief Richard Price observed an emergency vehicle responding to a situation next door to where he and some companions in the IT field were dining:

“It was surprising — disturbing I would say — that somebody could be in great need so close,” Price said. “One of the IT guys is a paramedic, I [had] a defibrillator in my car; we’re all CPR trained and we could have made a difference, but were unaware of it.”

This isn’t the only time location-based apps have been applied for emergency situations. Last spring, Foursquare users near Times Square were pinged when a bomb scare prompted an evacuation. Twitter has, of course, been instrumental in dispersing information during recent events like the earthquake in Japan and incidents of unrest in the Middle East, but location aware apps take the real-time element a step further by targeting the information directly to people who are nearby and most likely to use or need it.

See? Social media: it’s not all pissing contents over mayorships.

iPhone ‘Fire Department’ app matches those who need CPR and those who can perform CPR is a post from: The Inquisitr