Friday, May 21, 2010

Key findings from group research projects

  • Privacy on Facebook: The group examined public Facebook information for a sample of W&L students, faculty, and staff. While they found the people they studied shared less information than expected, they also discovered that "almost one-third of users shared some element of their Wall." Those users were essentially allowing "a complete stranger to view their activities on Facebook..." "...we could view new friendships, Facebook statuses, and even links to photo albums that otherwise would have been private.
  • Advertising with online social media: How do the top 50 "Most Valuable U.S. Retail Brands 2010” useFacebook, Twitter, and YouTube to interact with consumers? The group expected to find the highest-ranked brands to be the most active in social media. But top retailers Walmart, Target, and Best Buy did not have the biggest social media presence. Instead, Victoria’s Secret, Dell and Lowes, had the highest social media engagement.
  • Anonymous postings on College ACB: The group analyzed postings on this anonymous comment board by type of school. They found nearly twice as many sexual comments posted by schools with strong Greek communities than by non-Greek schools. Greek schools also commented on social life and people in more than 9 in 10 postings, while non-Greek schools did so in about 6 of 10.
  • Digital media and college health campaigns: Interviews with a selective sample of health administrators led the group to conclude that, “…digital media in health campaigns are still in their primitive stages.”
  • Recording artists’ use of social media: This group examined the Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube content for more than 50 top Billboard artists over four music genres (country, rock, hip hop/R&B, and pop). They found hip hop/R&B artists to have the largest social media networks. Across all genres, the artists’ biggest use of social networks was for tour or concert promotion.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Virtually attending Free Press Summit

Our class is watching live stream of afternoon events and tweeting to #J270.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Student teams produce podcasts on digital media issues

Listen to the latest research and opinion on digital media and society in these J270 student productions.
  • Blair Brzeski, Lara Jordan, and Marquita Robinson explore privacy issues on "W&L LOL - Washington and Lee lives out loud."
  • Chris Alexander, Hunter Serenbetz, and James Van Horn talk to a business strategist at Yahoo! about digital advertising in their program, "Legislating the Web."
  • Emmie Curry, Kirsten Kyne, and Courtney Ridenhour investigate the generational digital divide.
  • Burl Rolett, Kenny Sharpless, and Thad Walker delve into music piracy and its impact on artistic and business decisions.
  • Jessie Wang and Randi Wilson talk to a Stanford University researcher about his study on multitasking.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Net Neutrality

NYT article provides a good overview of the issues.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

What type of Web animal are you?

Take the test.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Digital Nation

Here's a link to the program:

Survey about you

Please take a few minutes to complete this survey.