CyberJournalist.net

Social Media may help officials identify Boston explosion perpetrators

CyberJournalist Editor — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:44:51 +0000

No only did social media help citizens learn about the Boston Marathon explosions quicly, but terrorism experts said the proliferation of photos and video on the web through social media may also help authorities identify the perpetrators of the attack.

“All the media provides a tremendous asset for the forensic evaluation of the explosion event,” said Roman. “Authorities can start examining the pictures and tapes looking for individuals near the receptacles where the bombs were found and individuals not fitting the profile of the general spectator can be identified.”

via National Geographic

Did Vine find its purpose in the Boston Marathon explosion?

CyberJournalist Editor — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:58:58 +0000

Christopher Mims, writing in Quartz, says that Vine is the perfect tool to capture the trauma of the Boston explosions, and could become the tool in the future that captures the most iconic “images” of events like this. He uses this Vine loop as his example:

Boston Marathon explosion from the news vine.co/v/bFdt5uwg6JZ

— Doug_Life (@Doug_Lorman) April 15, 2013

I would submit that this six-second loop, captured from the local news, tweeted tens of thousands of times, left open in a browser window to repeat endlessly, re-engaging the trauma of an event still in progress, has the potential to become what was previously the preserve of still photographs: the iconic image of a disaster. It is just short enough to be burned into the memory in its entirety, while capturing far more of an event than a single image can. It is the scratchy, penny-arcade version of today, playing again and again, until, like memory, it’s extinguished.

The best social media photos from the Boston Marathon explosions

CyberJournalist Editor — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:47:21 +0000

A great collection of photos from the explosions gathered by the Wall Street Journal using Storify.

Marathon Finish Line Volunteer did a Reddit IAmA shortly after the explosion

CyberJournalist Editor — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 02:41:14 +0000

Here is the full thread. Great use of Reddit by an eyewitness.

Boston marathon: Has social media coverage finally matured?

CyberJournalist Editor — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 02:36:47 +0000

“Compared to past breaking news events, today we saw an increased level of maturity from social media and technology-enabled reporting that may provide a glimpse of what breaking news coverage can be in the future,” says David Holmes in PandoDaily

Google has launched a ‘Person Finder’ for Boston Marathon Explosions

CyberJournalist Editor — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 01:27:40 +0000

Google has launched a “Person Finder” for the Boston Marathon explosions where people can enter information they have about missing people or search the user-generated database for people they are trying to find.

The hardest trick in mobile design: making the product simpler

CyberJournalist Editor — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 23:00:01 +0000

New York-based startup Foursquare began in 2009 as a mobile application for sharing your location with friends. It still does that, but in order to grow beyond its early users, who are heavily concentrated in the United States and Indonesia, Foursquare has added a slew of new features, fashioning… . . .

Read the full story…

Flipboard’s personalized magazines really take off

CyberJournalist Editor — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:10:45 +0000

Looks like Flipboard’s move to give all of its users the ability to create personalized, topical magazines was brilliant. Since Flipboard did so in March, more than half a million personalized magazines have been created, and Flipboard says that over 50 percent of its users are reading these personalized magazines daily, according to TechCrunch.

Some of these have been created by publishers themselves, with a few of the more popular ones coming from Esquire, Rolling Stone, Martha Stewart Living, National Geographic and others. Meanwhile, magazines created by users are also popular – TechCrunch contributor MG Siegler’s “Reading List” mag, for example, made #3 on the most popular list.

How social media ruined the media

CyberJournalist Editor — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:08:36 +0000

via The Joy of Tech

The smartphone is the primary screen for teens

CyberJournalist Editor — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 23:42:45 +0000

One in four teenagers are “cell-mostly” internet users, who say they mostly go online using their phone, challenging marketers’ assumption that the mobile is consumers’ “second screen,” reports The Brand Republic.

Mary Madden, senior researcher for the Pew Research Centre’s Internet Project and co-author of the report, said: “The nature of teens’ internet use has transformed dramatically — from stationary connections tied to shared desktops in the home to always-on connections that move with them throughout the day.

“In many ways, teens represent the leading edge of mobile connectivity, and the patterns of their technology use often signal future changes in the adult population.”