2010. a Year of Social Entertainment

As 2010 is coming to a close, we have picked out a few of our favorite things to keep from 2010, and take into the new year. These are some entertainment outlets that really brought people together this year. Some are fun, some are controversial and others just promoted a great discussion about diversity.

 GetGlue 

This social media application, which was launched in 2009, but gained most of its popularity this past year, has been credited as the first social networking tool to really make a connection with culture. Get Glue is a social entertainment app which (much like Foursquare) lets users 'check in' to movies, books, TV shows and even wines to share their cultural experiences with their friends. Why didn't we think of this before?

I absolutely love the app and the idea, even though it is still in its early stages. The best part is that, different from Facebook and Twitter, but similar to Foursquare, users can receive social rewards called stickers and even earn discounts and coupons after they have reached certain levels. This is definitely a great app to keep and take with you into the new year. 

Modern Family

One of the best shows of 2010, this show really does portray what the nuclear family of today really looks like: unconventional. Here is a synopsis of the show:

The story follows the families of Jay Pritchett  his daughter Claire Dunphy , and his son Mitchell Pritchett  who live in a Los Angeles-area suburban community. Claire is a homemaker mom married to Phil Dunphy ; they have three children. After splitting with his longtime wife, Jay has re-married with a much younger Colombian woman, Gloria Pritchett , and is helping her raise her pre-teen son, Manny Delgado . Mitchell and his partner Cameron Tucker  have adopted a Vietnamese baby, Lily Pritchett-Tucker. (source)

Modern Family does a fantastic job of addressing how diverse American families truly are. While many still strive to meet the high expectations set for them by the Leave It to Beaver days, with shows like Modern Family it is clear that we have come a long way as a society in terms of admitting who we really are. It addresses issues like homosexual relationships, split-home families, bi-cultural relationships and ageism with humor and compassion. This is my favorite show on television right now and I cannot wait for more seasons to come in 2011.

Urban Dwelling Minorities Most Likely to Use Twitter

It's 10 a.m. on a beautiful Sunday morning. You pour of fresh cup of java, head to your computer read the New York Times, and then, the 8% of you that find yourselves poking around on Twitter, look down at your hands to realize that you are probably Black...or Hispanic.

A study was released recently, by the Pew Center for Online Research that showed that Blacks and Hispanics were twice as likely to use Twitter as Whites. Furthermore, online consumers in urban areas were more likely to use Twitter than those in the suburbs or rural areas.

The study sought to answer two important questions in regards to Twitter usage: First, who is using the popular social media platform? And secondly, what are they using for? Check out some of the results from the study below.

Who is Using Twitter?

Minorities: Only 5 percent of White Internet users said they use Twitter, topped by the full 18 percent of Hispanic respondents and 13 percent of black respondents did.

Urbanites: Twitter is used by 11 percent of online consumers in urban areas, but only 8 percent of those in the suburbs and 5 percent of those in rural areas...

Ireland Wants You to Tweet Your ...Irishness?

If you are part-Irish, want to be Irish or just want to go to Ireland, you need to check out this campaign.

Tourism Ireland recently launched a marketing campaign encouraging people to connect with their "Irishness" in hopes that this relationship will lead to a convenient visit to the motherland.

The ‘My Irish 140’ campaign aimed at sparking the imagination and creativity of Irish descendants to follow myIrish140 on Twitter and tweet, in 140 characters or less, what makes them Irish. Each tweet must contain the hashtag #makesmeirish.

What's great about this cause is that it is a fun and imaginative way to spark interest through social media.

Everything is centered around the number '140', which as we all know is the max number of characters allowed in a tweet. The festivities began at 1:40pm last Friday and continued on for 140 hours or 5.8 days. On the campaign's website, myirish140.com, the top tweets will be featured and a list of 140 things to do and see in Ireland are continuing to be released.

Collide with These Colorful Reads of the Week : Dec. 12th

Check out some of my favorite articles this week and let me know which one was your favorite!
 

Social Media + Love of Food Bring Together Diverse Group for Weekly Meals

Greetings were awkward, and there was fidgeting in chairs as strangers gathered around a long table in a gritty Midtown dive.

But as soon as steaming platters of barbecue chicken, candied yams and cornbread hit the table, conversation and laughter came easy.

FoodieMemphis participants share dishes served family style, which helps promote conversation, McRae says...

How Social Media Can Facilitate Difficult Conversations About Race

A recent, much-buzzed-about trend story by Associated Press reporter Jesse Washington started with a statistic — 72 percent of black children are born to unwed mothers — and incorporated a Twitter debate.

Washington, AP’s national writer on race and ethnicity, said he had been wanting to write about the statistic for a while. Then he learned that a newly created “No Wedding No Womb” hashtag (#NWNW) drew 110,000 users and vehement diatribes within weeks.
“I knew I had my hook,” he said in an e-mail interview....

Al Qaeda Looks to Make New 'Friends' -- on Facebook

If you're on Facebook, Al Qaeda wants to friend you.

Terrorist groups are using Facebook to share operational information and to target, recruit and radicalize members of the general public, according to a Department of Homeland Security report obtained by FoxNews.com.

The DHS report, "Terrorist Use of Social Networking Sites: Facebook Case Study," notes while terrorists have been using social networking sites for quite some time, their strategies for exploiting Facebook have evolved and that they have learned "the inherent value in exploiting a non-ideological medium."

Lifestyles of the Mobile and Multicultural

A study was released today by Moguldom Media Group (the owners of Bossip.com) and its partner Briabe Media that sought to answer the question:



Why do multicultural consumers use their mobile phones?

Multicultural mobile users mostly use their phones for
social networking and text messaging.

The results were not incredibly surprising, but still worth noting, especially for advertisers.



 Most "multicultural consumers" or minorities, use their phone for entertainment and social networking more than anything else. In fact using a phone for the Internet (61%) was neck-and-neck with using it to place actual calls (62%). Of course, both were trumped by minorities' favorite mobile pastime - text messaging (68%).

 "There are two relatively new phenomena that we are seeing evolve with these consumers. Mobile entertainment and social networking are both growing in importance now that they have these powerful devices", said James Briggs, CEO of Briabe Media.



"Taking these into account, advertisers would be wise to look closely at offerings such as Facebook Places that can leverage the affinity consumers have for mobile social networks. Further, they should also consider linking their brands more closely with quality mobile content and entertainment platforms. Advertisers have struggled with these in the past; however, I believe that given the increased power of the networks and devices, we are in the midst of the perfect storm for mobile branded engagement opportunities."

Other findings:

• Ninety percent access mobile social networks on their phone, with Facebook not surprisingly holding the top position.
• Texting is now the mobile service used most frequently for 68% of the respondents, followed by placing calls (62%), then surfing the mobile internet (61%); 
• Approximately 65% spend six or more hours per week on the mobile internet, with 18% spending twenty or more hours online via a mobile device; 
• When asked, "What do you want to know more about when on the mobile internet?" 39% of the respondents cited entertainment, followed by news at 17%;  
• Approximately 92% are aware of mobile ads on their phones and 85% respond to them although the vast majority, 63%, respond only rarely;
• Nearly 30% presently make purchases over their mobile phones.

A few questions I have.

How do these results match up to non-minority consumers? What are we really looking at here and how do Asians compare to Whites to Blacks to Hispanics? Maybe these stats don't even represent a multicultural thing and maybe it is just an everyone thing?

I have requested a copy of the report so hopefully I can get some more in-depth information and provided update information soon.

What do you use your phone for? And do you think that your culture/ethnicity race has anything to do with it?

SmartPhones = Only For Hipsters

At least that's what the advertisements would have us think.

SmartPhone marketers have made it clear that their target audience is a well dressed, concert-going, yoga-doing, skinny jeans-wearing hipsters. And hey, I'm not hating, but at least do it like some of these companies and really reflect on how the youth of America walks, talks and acts. Don't give me those corny commercials with hip-hop-like language and people randomly busting out into synchronized dances at parties (Miracle Whip). Give me glitter, red lipstick, and boys. Then I will be convinced that you want me to buy your phones.Read the full article here to check out some more of the most popular smart-phone ads for hipsters.

The Portrayal of Black Women on YouTube

So I was recently introduced to one of those disturbing-but-supposed-to-funny YouTube videos of a black woman sitting on the toilet, singing (literally) "Sittin' on the Toilet", while pursing her lips. I won't link to it, but you don't have to look hard to find it.

Then I started to think about all of the other YouTube videos I had watched like Sittin' on the Toilet or Scarlet Takes a Tumble or Leprechaun in the Hood  or heck even the Bed Intruder video, and I wondered-- is this really what American boys and girls, sitting in their homes, surfing the internet think of the Black community?Is this what they think of Black women?

So I went to YouTube and poked around a little- hoping that this was just my assumption and that there was some chance I was wrong.

Here are the most common adjectives I came across after some simple searches I did for "Black Woman":

• Big Black Woman
• Large Black Woman
• Fat Black Woman
• Crazy Black Woman
• Loud Black Woman
• and the ever-so-popular Black Women Gets Arrested 

and "Black Girl" :

• Ghetto Black Girl
• Crazy Black Girl
• Big Black Girl
• Hood Black Girl
• Poppin' It Like a Black Girl

The results were, to say the least, disheartening.

To be fair in my informal research I searched for White Girl and White Woman, and came across the random plethora of results typical to any YouTube search and nothing at all like what I had found in my previous search. This is not meant to pin Black against White or vice verse. But it would be interesting to discover why this disparity exists in the online video community...

The Top 5 Facebook Pages for Latinos

Fifty-two percent of Hispanics use Facebook at least weekly, spending an average of 29 minutes on social networking versus White Americans who spend 19 minutes. Even among Hispanic adults age 50 and over, Facebook has become their main online destination (via AARP ).

But what are marketers doing to leverage all of that social media use? Surprisingly not much. Multicultural marketers are experimenting and having a hard time trying to figure out what the Hispanic population wants in an online brand experience.

But the one's who are getting right are the ones who truly embrace the Latino culture and spirit. Check out some of these brand's who have really done a great job of capturing the needs and wants of Latino consumers.

1. éne.bé.a : A Facebook page for the NBA brand, re-branded for the Latino population
2. Being Latino: One of the first and only places for bi-cultural Latino's to express and talk about being Latino in America
3. Tu Pantene: A page that adds a cultural twist to understand the diverse needs of Hispanic women's hair
4. Toyota Latino: Ninety nine different decals with the names of Latin American countries and major cities are offered for free
5. AT&T Latino: Though it only has a fan base of about 1,500 so far, with some more focus, this Hispanic-centered campaign shows promise

The Hispanic population doesn't want to be singled out, but they do want to feel like they are apart of the conversation. These pages do a great job in addressing that need.

Read the full story here.

How Meeting a Stranger Online Could Make Your Life Better

Remember Chatroulette ? A New York Times article came out recently called Chatroulette Hatches Similar Web Services. The article goes in-depth into Chatroulette, the service that allows users to randomly video chat with strangers in the hopes of sparking up an interesting conversation and discusses a few new start-ups that have been spawned from the idea that you can generate meaningful relationships from randomizing technology.

Some of the most interesting ones?

• Facelette - Allows users to randomly chat using the iPhone Facetime feature
• Chatfe -Users start convos based on randoms questions
• VChatter - eHarmony meets Chatroulette (sans optional nudity) AND matches users up based on their Facebook profiles

One that I just tried, Feedback Roulette actually allows users to randomly critique others' websites in exchange for getting their own critiqued. Novel idea? Maybe. Or maybe its just a really great spin on an old idea.

With all of the social media random meet-ups happening, companies are trying to find their own niches. Look at online TV viewing. There are already chat rooms, forums and tweet-ups. When Google TV hits the market, some interesting applications will most likely be bringing these same people with common interests into one social sphere to discuss what shows they are watching.

But unlike these preset meet-ups, I suspect that the -roulette era may find users engaging in more meaningful and quality conversations. These mini one-on-one experiments could flop and be a pool of pointless digital discussions, or the need to converse could lead to more thought-driven interaction.

What is even more interesting about this idea, is to see if online users' shared desires-- whether a website critique, a meaningful relationship or simply the need to meet someone new-- will transcend their physical judgments and predispositions. What if you meet someone randomly whose lifestyle you disagree with? What if the person you encounter someone\\ doesn't usually associate with people like you?

It may be a way to open the door for discussion. Maybe I am being to optimistic. I guess we will have to wait and see as the online-roulette experience unfolds.

What do you think? Will the -roulette craze spark a new wave of discussion-based human interaction, leading to more tolerance and understanding? OR is it just a bunch of pointless conversations floating around the social stream?

Make Me White, Facebook!

It’s another day in the land of “Only White is Beautiful.”

Vaseline is offering a Facebook app in India that allows users to whiten their profile pictures on the site. Apparently with just a few clicks, brown faces can turn progressively lighter. Think Michael Jackson or Sammy Sosa but faster. Much faster.

Now please don’t think Vaseline is doing this to promote white supremacy in India on purely ideological grounds. There’s profit to be made from a racial hierarchy that places white at the top. The Facebook app is part of Vaseline’s summer campaign to promote their new skin-lightening cream —-and here’s another twist—- for men.

Facebook Can Predict Your Ethnicity?

Yes.

Facebook developers have found a way to predict your ethnicity, based on your name. According to SmartBlog, FB pros are using U.S. Census data to use your first and last name to decide the likelihood of your race.

For example, if a FB user's last name is Mueller, Census data says that person's ethnicity has a 97% chance of being White. But if the user has the first name LaToya, than that person is most likely Black. Another interesting name, Washington actually showed a 89% chance of being Black.

By applying their predictions of ethnicity to users’ friend networks, the team found:

The ethnic makeup of Facebook users has steadily become more diverse and now generally reflects the U.S. population, unlike a few years ago, when Caucasians and Asian/Pacific Islanders were over-represented.

Diverse Students, Meet Concerned Faculty

So earlier this week I spoke on a panel with three other students in a workshop aimed at creating a discussion and educating faculty members at my communications/journalism school on what it feels like "Being the Only One" from a student perspective.

I spoke about my experience identifying as a bi-racial student on a pretty segregated campus and the difficulties I had when I first came to school of being accepted and approached among students who maintain such persistent categorizations. The other students on the panel discussed what it was like to be black, Muslim, and one guy even talked about what it was like to be one of only four male public relations students in his class.