Friday, August 19, 2011

Weekly Reader

Why Social Media is Like High School
"Well, here we are again. Social (a.k.a. clique) Media! Grown up popularity contests all over again- with the most gigantic popularity clique EVER!  Ever get that “nobody  likes me” blues from Facebook? Your invitation for friendship “denied!” Ouch! No Re-tweets from your Twitter? Crickets – from Linkedin? Seriously, how does someone get 39,458 friends or followers?  All I can say is Welcome Back, Mr. Cotter [Kotter]!"-- Joleen Halloran, Social Media Today, 8/19/11

Is Facebook Mature Enough to be a Portal Solution?
"It seems like Facebook is everywhere these days. With more than 750 million active users the site is a juggernaut. Facebook is an unstoppable social force that when used for good has been the catalyst for a 7 year social media revolution. Higher education has adopted and adapted Facebook for a variety of reasons including: marketing/communications, course participation, academic advising information, roommate matching, and retention/community building, alumni development, and commencement live-streaming." -- Eric Stoller, Student Affairs and Technology, 8/17/11

How to Combine QR Codes with the Power of Facebook
"Are you looking to leverage the popularity of QR (Quick Response) codes with the wide-spread adoption of Facebook? Over the past several months, QR codes have inserted themselves squarely into digital media conversation (even appearing on late-night TV). In this article, I’ll unpack how to get your QR codes to go viral on Facebook. I’ll start by walking you through the process and an example campaign, and conclude with an analytical discussion examining five need to know factors." -- Kane Russell, Social Media Examiner, 8/18/11

Designed QR Codes: The Next Level
"Say what you will about QR (Quick Response) codes: they are just a fad, they will be forgotten once augmented reality takes hold or they’re just an extra step in inputting a URL but they are here and people are enjoying using them, so make the most of them! QR codes, if you haven’t heard of them or clicked the link above to see the whole explanation, are scanned via a reader application (usually on your smart phone) that will take you to a video or web page.They have been used in Japan for over a decade (invented by a Toyota subsidiary, Densu Wave), and now the rest of the world is catching up. Why not just have the URL and let people hand key it in on their cell phones? WHAT? And make people actually expend energy? Charlatan!Seriously, you can’t fight technology so make the best of it." -- Speider Schneider, Web Designer Depot, 8/15/11

An Email Experiment Helps a Duke Economist Ponder His Students' Cheating Hearts
"As the fall semester approaches, a word of advice to students: If you’re absolutely determined to cheat,  do it in a course taught by a professor who’s obsessed with cheating. Your behavior will depress him, but he’ll at least have the consolation of a deeper understanding of the problem." -- David Glenn, Wired Campus, 8/10/11

Unsinkable? Peer to Peer Review
"It turns out book publishing isn't crashing and burning after all. A new report out from the Association of American Publishers and the Book Industry Study Group finds that over the past three years and during the worst recession since the Great Depression publishers are making money, even growing. This is a surprise considering everything I hear from the published - advances are down, midlist writers are being dropped, writers who have been doing well are getting less marketing support, and aspiring writers are increasingly assuming they'll never be published the traditional way. It also is a surprise considering what we've been hearing from publishers, some of whom won't let libraries loan ebooks until they can figure out how to make more money, even though an ebook already costs a library far more than the same book in print and loaned under the same constraints." -- Barbara Fister, Library Journal, 8/11/11

No comments: