Mediaboss Marketing

Some years ago, in the pre-Internet days, I attended a conference on news and media. The speech by one speaker stays in my mind till today.

He opened with: What do you know about Iraq, Iran, Israel, about China, Tibet, Kashmir, or indeed, what do you know about the world, especially parts of the world you have never been.

I believe what we know is what we get from the news.

Yes, we live under the shadow of the news providers. They set the agenda; control the type of information, and the quantity of the information and the quality of information given us.

He, who controls the flow of information, controls our minds, shapes our worldview and ultimately influences our actions or in-actions.

Even our future generations are not spared from this fate.For what is news today will be history tomorrow. They too, will perceive the world filtered by this media curtain.

Now over twenty years on his words still ring true. Our consciousness of events very much depends on whether or not the events are carried (or still carried) in the news media. Take for instance the major news for over a month that of the MH370 disappearance.

Now it is nearly two months old. The search and recovery teams are still hard at work, scouring the bottom of the ocean; the families of the passengers are still grieving with no closure in sight but the general public is fast forgetting the incident because it is no longer worthy of front-page headline.

Similarly, the recently case of the kidnapping of two women off Sabah by the Abu Sayyaf bandits is all but forgotten because it no longer news worthy. Of course, newspaper is guided by the principle of regency. As it is often said, yesterdays news in no news. So really out of sight, out of mind.

The influence of the media is more profound than that. Many people succumb to the belief that an event is true only if it is being carried in the newspaper or television.

Read more here:
Prometheus unbound

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a televised meeting with regional media in St. Petersburg, Russia, April 24, 2014. Reuters/Michael Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called the Internet a CIA project and made comments about Russia's biggest search engine Yandex, sending the company's shares plummeting.

Play Video

Businessman Bill Browder says his life has been threatened as a result of his claims of corruption in the Russian government. Scott Pelley report...

The Kremlin has been anxious to exert greater control over the Internet, which opposition activists - barred from national television - have used to promote their ideas and organize protests.

Russia's parliament this week passed a law requiring social media websites to keep their servers in Russia and save all information about their users for at least half a year. Also, businessmen close to Putin now control Russia's leading social media network, VKontakte.

Speaking Thursday at a media forum in St. Petersburg, Putin said that the Internet originally was a "CIA project" and "is still developing as such."

To resist that influence, Putin said, Russia needs to "fight for its interests" online.

Play Video

During his trip to Japan, President Obama said he is preparing to impose new economic sanctions on Russia. CBS News chief White House correspond...

Go here to see the original:
Putin: Internet is a "CIA project"

Senior Design Demo
Senior Design Demo for Wireless Media Control Gloves.

By: Randall Ettori

Continue reading here:
Senior Design Demo - Video

The failed #MyNYPD Twitter campaign is the latest example of a big organization attempting to rustle up goodwill, only to find that the open nature of social media makes it impossible to control the conversation.

The New York City Police Department's nightmare began Tuesday with a request from its official Twitter account:

While the NYPD did receive a few feel-good responses, other Twitter users quickly took over the campaign. An Occupy Wall Street Twitter account helped fuel the onslaught.

The NYPD said in a statement that it is "creating new ways to communicate effectively with the community ... Twitter provides an open forum for an uncensored exchange and this is an open dialogue good for our city."

It's hardly the first time that such "uncensored" responses have derailed organizations' social-media campaigns, as a trio of recent high-profile #fails proves.

Back in November, JP Morgan invited Twitter users to participate in a question-and-answer session with one of its executives, using the hashtag #AskJPM.

Clearly, JP Morgan didn't realize the level of lingering anger over the role played by big banks in the financial crisis -- and a feeling that the people responsible had not been taken to task for their actions.

"Did you have a specific number of people's lives you needed to ruin before you considered your business model a success?" one woman asked. Another tweeted: "Does it feel better paying the biggest bank fines in history so far, or did the satisfaction of the crimes outweigh the fines?"

After only seven hours of online vitriol, JP Morgan called it quits.

R&B singer R. Kelly landed in his own social-media hell in December, when he invited fans to tweet him questions as part of a promotion for his new album "Black Panties."

View post:
#MyNYPD: Why It's Impossible to Control Online Conversation

The failed #MyNYPD Twitter campaign is the latest example of a big organization attempting to rustle up goodwill, only to find that the open nature of social media makes it impossible to control the conversation.

The New York City Police Department's nightmare began Tuesday with a request from its official Twitter account:

While the NYPD did receive a few feel-good responses, other Twitter users quickly took over the campaign. An Occupy Wall Street Twitter account helped fuel the onslaught.

The NYPD said in a statement that it is "creating new ways to communicate effectively with the community ... Twitter provides an open forum for an uncensored exchange and this is an open dialogue good for our city."

It's hardly the first time that such "uncensored" responses have derailed organizations' social-media campaigns, as a trio of recent high-profile #fails proves.

Back in November, JP Morgan invited Twitter users to participate in a question-and-answer session with one of its executives, using the hashtag #AskJPM.

Clearly, JP Morgan didn't realize the level of lingering anger over the role played by big banks in the financial crisis -- and a feeling that the people responsible had not been taken to task for their actions.

"Did you have a specific number of people's lives you needed to ruin before you considered your business model a success?" one woman asked. Another tweeted: "Does it feel better paying the biggest bank fines in history so far, or did the satisfaction of the crimes outweigh the fines?"

After only seven hours of online vitriol, JP Morgan called it quits.

R&B singer R. Kelly landed in his own social-media hell in December, when he invited fans to tweet him questions as part of a promotion for his new album "Black Panties."

Continue reading here:
Yikes! NYPD's Twitter fail