What's hot in the news? SOPA

On Wednesday, Jan. 18, major websites joined forces in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) by blacking out their websites to the public.

Sites like Reddit and Wikipedia were among the big guns that contributed to this online protest.  It is kind of a scary time for the Internet because if SOPA is passed, the Internet as we know it will be dramatically changed.  Websites like YouTube will be gone, also photo/file sharing sites.  On Thursday, Jan. 19, Megaupload was shutdown and persons linked to the website were arrested.

Under SOPA, Internet providers are able to shutdown domains, with no due process or appeals.  After the blackouts on Wednesday, websites like Google, Wikipedia, and Reddit all gathered millions of signatures to try and kill the act, there was also an increase in phone calls to state representatives about the act.

At this point in time SOPA has been shelved indefinitely because of the huge amounts of anti-SOPA/PIPA protests that occurred on Wednesday.

For more information, check out these sites:

SOPA Strike

SOPA and PIPA Explained

Rest in peace Mr. Dunn

We all heard about the tragic accident that resulted in the death of Ryan Dunn from MTV's Jackass.  This death hits home to many people of my generation because we watched him, Bam, Steve-O and Johnny for years while we grew up.

I have decided to write my condolences to his friends and family, and also to say that it is NEVER okay to drink and drive.  Not even one drink.  It is very irresponsible, and so incredibly avoidable.  The only good thing to come out of this is that, maybe now, people will understand because someone that so many people know was killed as a result this action.  We all hear the stories of people from our communities dying tragically via drunk driving, but I think when someone famous passes as a result, as sad as it is, people pay more attention.

I hope that this intense grieving and loss is lessened in time for his family, friends, and loved ones.

RIP Ryan.

Confession

I had started to follow Ragan's PR Daily News because it was recommended by my professors, and at first it was just for the assignments.  After many-an-email of the top 5 stories, I have become enamored by some of the sarcasm that is featured within the feed. I am 21 years old and now have an appreciation for humor that is smart and not slapstick. I just want to say thank you, PR Daily News, for making me enjoy my major even more than I already do.

Ahh, yes.

Long time, no post.

Sorry all, during the last semester of my classes I had an internship with the Chamber of Commerce in Winona, MN.  It was a great experience, and I was extremely busy.  But, now that it is summer it is time to brush back up on my blogging skills!

More to come!

How to garner more retweets

For those of you in the "Twitterverse," having someone retweet you can be a nice confidence booster because usually they're retweeting you because you were A) funny or B) smart/clever.

So, how do you get MORE people to retweet you?  Well, according to the article, "How you can attract more retweets"  there are ten things to keep in mind to garner more retweets.

Numero uno:  Timing.

Think about when you're on Twitter.  It isn't usually at 4 AM, you would normally be on it during the work day (Shhh... Don't let your boss know this!) between the times of 12PM and 5PM.  Well, this is the same with the rest of the world.  

Number 2: People really like sharing links.

Retweets more three times more likely to happen if there is a link involved.  If you follow the right people, the news will come to you.

Number 3: Keep it personal.

People are pretty into themselves, so they respond to the words "you" and "yours".  It will engage the  follower and get them to click on the links!

Number 4:  Slow down.

Don't be the annoying person on Twitter to tweet every minute.  Your followers will become immune to what you have to say and may miss out on the information you are trying to share with them.  If you tweet less often, your thoughts are more likely to be shared.

Numero cinco:  Tweet about Twitter

If it's about what you're using, people are likely to respond... Pretty simple!

Number 6:  Hashtags can help!

Trending topics can open up a whole new universe on Twitter.  If you tweet something with a hashtage, a follower can click on it and see what everyone else is saying too!

Number 7:  Include a call to action!

"CHECK THIS OUT!" or  "read this" can make people more likely to click on your link and retweet.

Number 8: Include a RT please

Asking kindly is a nice, but kind of pathetic way to get someone to retweet.

Number 9:  Leave a little space

Leave room for followers to leave a comment, that way it's interactive.

Number 10: Adjectives FTW

Adjectives are the missing ingredient in a great recipe. Without them your tweets can be bland and unentertaining, but with the right ones... BAM! You've got one delicious tweet.

Tragedy in Tucson

My condolences and prayers are with the families of the victims of the tragic shooting in Arizona.  This was a senseless act of violence, but a few brave people stepped up to the plate and saved lives.  We can all learn from tragedies like this, but I want to strongly encourage you to not make assumptions and rash opinions on political parties and political views.  We can sometimes get carried away with things like this, and can often take things too far.

Celebrity Twitter "deaths" come to an end...

Celebrities like Alicia Keys, Kim Kardashian, Justin Timberlake, and many others agreed to "kill" themselves digitally, meaning that they wouldn't update their blogs, facebooks, twitters, and other social media sites until the charity, Keep a Child Alive (helps raise HIV/AIDS awareness in Africa and India), reached $1 million dollars in donations.

Well, much to THEIR surprise, it took a lot longer than expected.  It actually took a whole week to reach its goal.  By the sixth day, the charity had only raised around $450,000.  Half, roughly, of what they really wanted or needed.

Now, celebrities like Kim Kardashian, who can rake in about $10,000 per tweet, were starting to get anxious little fingers because of the money they were losing.  Some people involved thought that the campaign would raise enough money in 24 hours, but obviously that wasn't the case.  

Is it that these celebrities really don't have that large of a twitter presence as they thought?  Personally, I find that the celebrities shouldn't have not tweeted... they should have promoted and asked their followers to donate rather than assuming that they would take action.  It probably would've happened faster and they wouldn't have needed a $500,000 donation by Stewart Rahr, a billionaire that owns the pharmaceutical company Kinray.

Oh well, I'm happy that they raised money for a great charity, and now people can go back to reading the thoughts of these celebrities that we care about oh so much.