Weekend Reading – December 4
#Vanish
“I’m driving East out of San Francisco on I-80, fleeing my life under the cover of dusk. Having come to the interstate by a circuitous route, full of quick turns and double backs, I’m reasonably sure that no one is following me.” So begins “Wired” magazine’s fascinating article, “Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened,” an article by writer Evan Ratliff.
Ratliff details how difficult it is for a person to disappear off the grid, as he tried to do for a “Wired” magazine experiment/contest in which readers were offered a $5000 bounty to find the writer during a month long period in which he worked very hard not to be found. How hard is it for a person to completely disappear during the age of social communication, picture phones and GPS? Find out in this very compelling article which reads more like a classic whodunit than a technology exposé.
http://www.wired.com/vanish/2009/11/ff_vanish2/
For extra detail, read the now defunct Twitter stream from the account Ratliff created during this adventure: http://twitter.com/evan_ratliff.
Beware Social Media Snake Oil
As you are probably aware, BusinessWeek has become part of the Bloomberg family, leading to many changes to their newsroom. We at MoPR were sad to learn that one of our favorite tech writers, Stephen Baker, was leaving. His last story was filed today, separating the hype from the potential among the onslaught of new social media tools, trends and advice. Per his M.O., Baker, gives us an insightful examinations of the facts, mini case studies and even a good measure of intrigue. Baker cites an exchange between a “little-known” social media player and one of its “towering chieftains,” Chris Brogan. Brogan is quoted saying of social media marketing and the ability to measure its results, “Is it an exacting marketing science? Not at all.” To what, exactly, was Brogan referring? You’ll have to read the article to find out.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_50/b4159048693735.htm
A Painful Social Media Foray for Seattle Journalists
It was stunning news here in the Pacific Northwest: four police officers murdered in a Tacoma, Wash.-area coffee shop. When news this big breaks, local media rush to cover it. Who would have thought that a tragic event such as this could form the foundation for an excellent case study in the use of social media. “TechNewsWorld” writer Renay San Miguel walks us through the role social media played in getting up-to-the-minute and accurate news out to the public.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/68805.html
In Case You Missed It: Black Friday
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the name given to the first “official” in-store shopping day of the Holiday season. Black Friday, unlike other “Black” days, does not signify a crash or some terrible cataclism. Probably named by retail salespeople who must work extra early, extra late and extra hard, Black Friday is the day when hoards of people rush into stores to take advantage of seasonal offers, sales and specials. But as Jonathan Spalter (of Mobile Future) writes in “The Huffington Post,” Black Friday was also a mobile milestone.
As Spalter notes, shoppers armed with smartphones (and some phones that are not so smart) were searching, paying and even receiving coupons. PayPal noted mobile online payments surged 650 percent, and mobile searches grew to 200,000 this year from 5,000 on the same day in 2008. Is Spalter correct, will 2009 be regarded the “tipping point for the mobile web”? Read his article and see if you agree.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-spalter/black-fridays-mobile-mile_b_377309.html
As always, we invite you to share your comments.
