This is a guest post by Evan Siff. Follow him on Twitter @Stairway2Evan.
Social media users are most likely familiar with the name Joseph Kony as of early last week, or perhaps they’ve already watched the 30-minute documentary by Invisible Children that has been reported to be the most viral video of all time. My Facebook news feed was bombarded by friends telling me how much I had to watch and share the video and, admittedly, it was hard not to get choked up when the loveable Jacob Acaye is on screen, as the filmmakers did a terrific job playing upon the viewer’s emotions.
I remember reading about the Ugandan Civil War (which has been going on for over 25 years), Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) for the first time in 2006, when I used it as a current events lesson in an English class I was teaching. It was among the most disturbing reports I had ever read, children abducted in the middle of the night and forced to beat their parents to death and/or kill their siblings if they refused to join.
While Invisible Children attest that the purpose of the Kony 2012 campaign is to bring a sociopathic war criminal to justice, it has also drawn some skepticism. The blog Visible Children provides a very critical perspective of the campaign and its founders, and raises some issues that are very… interesting, to say the least.
I believe that Invisible Children is legit and they truly want to bring Kony to justice and raise awareness of the situation in Uganda, but shouldn’t the Ugandan story be told by the people living it every day, and not through Western eyes? Wouldn’t it make more sense to channel efforts into teaching and training people in these situations and under these circumstances, giving them the tools to tell us their stories, empowering them, enabling them to easily and directly communicate with the rest of the world?
By no means am I suggesting that people shouldn’t support or donate money to Invisible Children, but wouldn’t we be better off putting the power of social media and digital communication into the hands of the people we want to help? Groups like Barefoot Workshops, a New York City-based, nonprofit organization founded in 2004, teach individuals and organizations around the world how to use digital video and new media to transform their communities and themselves.
A long-time friend of mine, Ranjan Roy, participated in one of the workshops in South Africa and has nothing but stellar things to say about it. “Barefoot Workshops has the seemingly simple, yet extremely powerful goal of helping teach people how to tell their own stories. They provide filmmaking workshops that are fee-based for those who can afford it, with revenues covering basic costs, but more importantly, they help fund scholarships for South Africans and Ugandans to learn to tell the world about their experiences through video.”
Social media is a useful tool for people to raise awareness of a situation and start a global conversation, but slacktivists tweeting about the Arab Spring and sharing videos on Facebook didn’t foster social change or topple regimes – it was the brave souls who were living under those regimes, risking mutilation and death to organize protests and share what was happening with the rest of the world. Kony hasn’t been active in Uganda since 2005 and has evaded capture to date, while what’s left of the LRA is supposedly scattered around the DRC, CAR and South Sudan. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be brought to justice, but Kony 2012 almost seems ‘too little, too late.’ Perhaps if the Ugandans had had the training and means to capture and share their story in real-time through new media channels, the world’s attention would have been grabbed when it was needed the most.
This is a guest post by Mandy Miller. Follow her on Twitter at @MandyMayM.
Remember the “Live Under a Rock? Geico commercial? Well, in case you do live under a boulder, you may be wondering what this Kony business is about. Naturally, it stirs larger political and foreign relations and policy debates, but you have to give it to Invisible Children, it truly deserves the title of an “EPIC” social media campaign – at least for now. According to GigaOM’s estimates, the seemingly long (by YouTube standards) 30-minute video created by the group and shared widely on Facebook and Twitter was viewed 80 million times in just five days. In case you haven’t seen the video, give it a ‘quick’ view here.
I’ve worked and lived with many friends that have visited and worked specifically within Uganda as well as many other foreign counties within Africa and abroad. The tale and truth here is that these types of atrocities are nothing new. While generic in ‘corporate speak,’ I’ve seen many a social media case that attempts to ‘drive awareness’ to bring attention to them and, of course, bring a call to action. Never have I seen such a viral reception of a campaign of this nature.
The interesting thing about watching the Kony campaign is that it’s REALLY working. I’m not naming any names, but via my social media networks, I’ve been witnessing individuals who have previously voiced no concern or action in foreign policies, affairs, events, etc. now pushing on this content – pushing it hard, at that. The individual that spearheaded this effort, Jason Russell, produced an amazing video. In broadcasting, capturing human interest can be very difficult. Have you ever noticed how long a network news segment is? The average segment is a single minute – some are longer at two minutes. Now, think of the amount of information that goes into that. It takes talent to pull together a video that not only looks good, but ‘touches’ the viewer. I believe Russell has done just that.
While it’s too tough to tell where this campaign will go and how its success will be measured, an interesting point to think about is how this kind of multimedia will begin shifting how we market brands and interact with end-users and the general population. While it’s nothing new, even to people under rocks, the future of media is constantly evolving. With The New York Times recently putting the philanthropy beat on the chopping block, marketing communications professionals, and, more specifically, non-profits, have to be thinking of new and creative ways to cultivate conversation. My guess is that we are going to begin integrating multimedia and social media much more. You can see this in practice with the recent rise in infographics – packing a lot of useful nuggets into an atheistically pleasing package.
What other ways have you seen or think you will see media shift more towards integrating multimedia and social media?
This blog post was contributed by Alison O’Leary, who works in Racepoint’s UK office.
After a week working with Irdeto (a Racepoint client) out of their Beijing office, I’ve come back with a different view of the great Chinese firewall. True, my broadband speed was pretty slow, I couldn’t access Citrix from my hotel room at all and trying to get onto Twitter actually crashed my laptop, but it’s not the picture of doom and gloom painted by much of the Western media.
Yes, Western companies are having to abide by Chinese censorship requirements, with Google the most talked about case in point, and we all know the Chinese government operates the world’s most extensive system of Web monitoring and filtering, but social media is really making a difference to its overall impact.
China already counts the world’s biggest Internet population, at 470 million users – already more than double that of the USA – and consultants BDA China predict that Internet users will reach 800 million by 2014. And those users are making the most of it. According to a recent report, the Chinese are twice as likely to use chat and three times more likely to micro-blog, blog and use video conferencing than American users. The Netpop Research study shows that mainland Chinese citizens are “more likely to share information broadly and openly.” Something of a surprise given the country’s censorship has been such a topic of contention. Nevertheless, the study estimates that up to 92 percent of Chinese netizens use social media, meanwhile, only 76 percent of US netizens do the same.
What really came across when talking to Chinese colleagues and ex-pats during my time in Beijing though was the huge popularity of bulletin boards. There are 117 million of them in China and it is here that many of the population express themselves, sharing often contentious news and views. Some deliberately translate everything in English so that stories can disseminate at a quicker rate before being found and censored. Check out www.chinasmack.com as an example. When you add the 221 million blogs and 176 million social network users who also use these platforms to spearhead criticisms of many companies and spread ideas and news, it’s clear to see the game changing impact social media is already having.
As time moves on it will be interesting to see how things develop but one thing’s for sure, with the world’s largest Internet population grabbing the social media gauntlet, the great firewall of China has the hardest job on earth trying to keep control of it.
A YouTube video of Israeli soldiers dancing to Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” has quickly become widely viewed – but is not without controversy and criticism.
The soldiers appear to be patrolling the streets of Hebron (the largest city in the West Bank) when a song is suddenly blasted over speakers, and the soldiers break out into a choreographed dance. They are fully dressed in their uniforms and carrying weapons during the duration of the video.
While the video is entertaining, the soldiers are currently facing disciplinary charges. Additionally, the chosen location for the video (Hebron) won’t help the soldier’s cause, as the conflicted area is the centerpiece of many ongoing disputes. A location such as Tel Aviv would have been a better location for the video – but any video at all might have still been frowned upon by army officials.
This is not the first time social media has been a problem for the Israeli army. In April 2008 an Israeli soldier was jailed for posting a picture on Facebook that contained sensitive information.
Back in October 2008, I wrote a post about charitable organizations embracing donations via text message to help meet their end of year fundraising goals. This week the island nation of Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake and two high profile charities, the Red Cross and Yele (founded by Haitian musician Wyclef Jean), urged those wishing to send aid to make a donation not via check, email, or even online donations, instead they asked for one simple item – a text message.
By text messaging a special code to the Red Cross or Yele you could make a donation to relief efforts in Haiti with the push of just a few keys on your phone. Last week I wrote about some of the exciting mobile technologies unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and its clear that the mobile trend is not just for tech, it has spread to non-profit.
The Red Cross text message donations are being managed by a company called mGive. mGive’s chief executive, Tony Aiello, told Jenna Wortham of the New York Times, “Catastrophic fund-raising is different from the everyday fund-raising that we help facilitate. This is a huge tragedy, and we simply hope to help provide relief. . . Mobile giving is currently outpacing the early days of online giving.”
How popular is the donation method exactly?
In an interview with MSNBC’s Suzanne Choney, Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless said, “All mobile texters in the United States have contributed $4 million to the Red Cross Haiti earthquake relief effort, the largest outpouring of charitable support by texting in history — by far.”
Nelson went on to say, “Previous donating-via-text message efforts raised $400,000 after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and $200,000 after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami by all wireless customers in the U.S.”
And it doesn’t end there. To get out the word about donating via text, concerned individuals posted the text message codes on a plethora of social networks, making the plea viral.
Jennifer Van Grove of Mashable wrote a post today praising the Red Cross’ decision to use mobile and social media to raise awareness and more importantly, to raise funds. Van Grove said, “The Red Cross’s involvement in the relief effort is to be commended. Not only did it immediately set up the simplest donation method possible, but its social media presence and outreach, when combined with the State Department’s involvement, has turned this into a viral funding initiative, topping Twitter trends and inspiring action.”
This week it has become clear the most effective method of raising funds is to reach people where they are: on their phones and on social networks. When launching a fundraising campaign, in the wake of a crisis or otherwise, fundraisers should consider that their staring point is in fact mobile.
Back in April, I had written about an Israeli solder that was put in jail for posting sensitive images and/or information on their Facebook profile. Apparently, the army has continued to monitor the social network pretty closely.
Another young Israeli has gotten into trouble for evading the army, which was discovered when someone looked at her Facebook profile. According to Jewish & Israel News, Israel’s army is using Facebook to track down draft dodgers:
The army visited the Facebook account of a teenager who was dismissed from army service after declaring she was religious despite attending a secular school, and discovered that she did not lead a religious lifestyle…Pictures on her Facebook account showed that she did not dress in a style acceptable to the religious community and that she attended parties on Shabbat. The army has since drafted her.
This case is justanotherexample of why people need to be careful about what they put online. In fact just to be safe, assume everything you post can and will be seen by everyone. That would sure help avoid one of these messes.
The ratings for the Beijing Olympics are way up over Athens. The Los Angeles Times reports that NBC’s 12-day average prime-time viewership is 29.3 million for Beijing, up from 26.1 million in Athens. With so many people watching the likes of beach volleyball champs Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, Gymnastics studs Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, and the dominating swimming performance by Michael Phelps, it’s no wonder why the Olympics are so popular.
However, if there is one complaint about the coverage, it’s that NBC hasn’t aired enough live events – something ESPN is hoping to capitalize on.
John Skipper, ESPN’s executive vice president for content says that “[ESPN’s] DNA is different than theirs [NBC]. We serve sports fans. It’s hard in our culture to fathom tape-delaying in the same way they have. I’m not suggesting it wasn’t the smart thing for them to do, but it’s not our culture…We would never put an event on tape delay. When we put ‘live’ on the screen, we mean ‘live right now.’ We don’t mean live three hours ago.”
While I was watching the Olympics last night, I noticed that the men’s 200 meter run was not shown live, but an interview with Shawn Johnson (about her Gold medal high beam performance) was. I understand how popular Johnson is in these Olympics games, but the 200m was a really exciting race and the U.S. finished in 2nd and 3rd. Bolt also broke Michael Johnson’s world record time, and the athletes that originally placed 2nd and 3rd in the race (one from the U.S.) ended up being disqualified for stepping on the line. How was this not live?
NBC has made big news with extended online video, including 2,200 hours of live coverage, thanks to Microsoft’s Silverlight. However, the reality is that ESPN has a valid point – we want to watch these sports live, not hear about the results online then watch the event afterwards, already knowing the results. That’s part of the beauty of sports – the excitement that no one knows what will happen next.
Noel Hidalgo was walking around Tiananmen Square in China on Saturday when he came across a free-Tibet protest. He decided to Twittertheprotest, and also broadcast it live over Qik.
It turned out that the live broadcast ended up being his ticket home.
Chinese authorities deported Hidalgo as a result of the live video streaming, sending him back to the United States. So while it has been reported that many Chinese have been very eager to please visitors during the Olympic Games, it turns out that anything involving Tibet is crossing the line.
As the Olympic Games kickoff tomorrow in Beijing, the best athletes around the world will be competing for gold, silver, and bronze medals in their respective events.
While you’re on the couch, no doubt witnessing some of the greatest athletic performances of the year, or ever, you’ll also be watching some other competitions coming straight into your living room.
Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain will be competing for your vote – and spending a combine $11 million in the process. NBC sure is lucky that the Olympics fall during the same time as campaign season!
Meanwhile, Olympic sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Adidas, and McDonalds (powering Olympic athletes? Suuuuuure) are giddy at the sight of having an attentive television audience and the ability to market their products to Asia. These types of ‘global sponsors’ have paid an average of $72 million each, but one study found that only 15 percent of 1,500 Chinese city dwellers could name at least two of the 12 global sponsors.
So while you’re watching some of the world’s greatest athletes over the next couple weeks, try not to think about the companies and politicians competing for your money and votes – just enjoy the moments that the summer Olympics bring us ever 4 years.
Even while the Olympic Games will be taking place on the other side of the world, viewers will now be able to watch whatever events they want, thanks to some cool new technology.
No, not YouTube – that’s only available to countries that don’t have access to NBC and their long line of advertisers.
Instead, NBC’s Olympics Web site will feature 2,200 hours of live coverage, thanks to Microsoft’s Silverlight, their equivalent of Flash (However, this will only be available to viewers in the U.S.).
Thanks to this technology, viewers will have the ability to:
- See multiple camera angles & rewind video.
- Watch whatever sport they want whenever they want.
- See 3,000 hours of ‘on-demand encores of full events and highlights’.
- Switch between up to 4 live streams.
- See the standard world feed that is sent to all broadcasters, with no TV commentators.
- Access statistics, biographies and other information.
This enhanced Olympics viewing experience will be great for people looking to catch certain events that aren’t always on TV, especially as NBC aims to stick countless hours of competition into nicely organized time slots during their prime time hours.
