MegaNotice: Under Construction

Hello everyone!

Eden and I have been working on reformatting The MagaBlog website and putting together a team of  citizen journalists/journalists- in-training so there will be a variety of articles posted in a more timely manner. When we started this, it was more of a “jump-in-feet-first” thing than a “make-a-plan-and-then-start” project.  Hopefully, all the changes should be done by the end of August at the latest.  Be sure to keep following us on Twitter & Tumblr for updates during construction.

Thanks for being patient!

–Tobie

Tobie’s Google Buzz Updates: Hey! There’s an app for that!

–by Tobie James, Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Nowadays there’s an app for everything.  Well, almost everything.  No Google Buzz app has been released yet (although I’d bet anything that there’s one in the making).  But, if you’re a do-it-yourself-er, check out this little article I stumbled across a few minutes ago:  Make a Google Buzz (or anything you want) app!

If you want to make a site-specific browser (one of those apps that open a website or web-app outside your web browser  and don’t disappear if your Internet crashes) check out the directions in that article.  Instead of opening your Gmail account everytime you want to Buzz, all you’d have to do is click on the icon on your desktop, start menu, applications folder, or wherever else you specify.

I can’t vouch for how this works since I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks promising.  When I do use one of the sites (I’m leaning more towards Prism since I use Firefox) I’ll post something on the outcome.

Tobie’s Google Buzz Updates: Privacy Concerns

–by Tobie James, February 12th, 2010

If you’re one of the many Gmail users to start using Buzz since its release Tuesday, you’ve probably noticed something.  Those that you email frequently are automatically listed as followers, and that list is made public.  Not only that, but they automatically start following you.

This means there’s a good chance your boss caught that update about all the partying you did the other night–and saw the accompanying pictures on Picasa, or that video on YouTube.

Awkward.  And possibly damaging to your job.

One way to get around that is by not posting it at all, but that’s a lecture for another day.

Instead, you can thank Google Inc. for announcing Thursday that they have now made it easier to hide the “followers” and “followees” lists and block certain people from seeing certain updates, making it easier for you to keep your private posts (an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one) a little more private from your boss and coworkers.  It also means no one can see your contacts list anymore.

So, now that you’ve heaved that huge sigh of relief, go forth and Buzz!

Source: The Associated Press, Google tweaks Buzz after privacy concerns

Google Buys Aardvark

Today, Google confirmed that it has bought social media site Aardvark.

Created by former Google executives, Aardvark is a site that lets users ask questions and receive answers from their social network.

Earlier this week, Google jumped into the social media world with Google Buzz; making this their second move into the social media world this week alone.

What’s next for the “Great Google Machine?”

Google Moves in on Social Media Scene

–by: Tobie James, Thursday February 11th, 2010

The “Great Google Machine” is back in the world of social media with its newest product: Google Buzz.

In hopes of bringing order and organization into the most chaotic of web platforms, Google created a social media tool that lets users link their Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, and Google Reader accounts to Buzz, creating a stream of updates and information in one place, which is accessed through Google’s Gmail.

In other words, it’s like Twitter in that you can follow people and see what they post through your Gmail account.

Buzzers can also choose what kinds of updates they want to receive with a handy little “Not Interested” button that allows them to banish updates like “Standing in line at Starbucks,” “Walking to my car,” “Just ate cereal for breakfast,” and other annoying little posts that they just simply do not care about.  This way, Buzzers can follow their friends, but only read the important stuff.

It’s all a part of that “organization” thing they’re trying out.

Another Buzz feature that’s noteworthy is the location sharing capabilities.  Buzzers will have the ability to update their status with a link from Google Maps that shows where they are; which will probably give applications like Foresquare a run for their money.

While the concepts are great so far, there are the inevitable drawbacks that come with anything:

• Google Buzz users won’t be able to integrate Facebook into their stream; and it doesn’t look like they ever will.
• You can only follow your Gmail contacts.

Since this is a relatively new product, MagaBlog will be following it closely and posting as it evolves.  Who knows, maybe Buzz will be Google’s key to social media stardom.

For more information, including a demo video and reactions from Yahoo! and Microsoft, check out Mashable’s website–there are some interesting articles and information there.

Interactive: BBC Journalists to Use Social Media, Should We?

–by Tobie James, Thursday February 11th, 2010

Peter Horrocks, BBC’s new Global News director, tells journalists they can either start using social media tools in their reporting or find something else to do.

Horrocks believes that social media is here to stay and those in the industry need to start using things like RSS Feeds and Twitter as a means of research.

Thoughts on what this means for the future of journalism?  Should others start following Horrocks’ lead?

To read the full article, visit Mashable.

News Nugget: Streamy Awards

-Eden Phoenix, Feb. 8, 2010

The 2nd annual Streamy Awards (AKA the Streamys) are coming up on April 11th. The MagaBlog’s advice: get excited!

The Streamys are a wonderful creation that allow writers, actors, and other people involved in the production of web-television series (web-series) to have their own little Academy Award-like recognition ceremony. If you’re ready to write this off as unimportant, check out the website for yourself!

The caliber of talent, let alone stardom, that showed up to last year’s awards means that the entertainment community is really beginning to take the Streamys seriously. What does this have to do with social media? A larger article is needed (and will be written) to explain this. For now, just understand that there is an undeniably strong link between social media and new media. Social media and new media share an audience. But again, more on that later.

In the mean time, get excited!

Interactive: De.lici.ous on Twitter

- Eden Phoenix, Feb. 8, 2010

Do you ever wish that you could quickly bookmark your favorite links that you’ve seen on Twitter? Do you ever wish you could just save tweets to your De.lici.ous account (or whatever bookmarking site you may use)?

All month long tweets containing fun, informative, or randomly awesome links have been popping up on my Twitter feed and it’s becoming a pain to save all of them in the multi-step process that De.lici.ous requires. The problem is that De.lici.ous is a brilliant service that helps you save all of your bookmarks without having to crowd your favorites or bookmarks list on your browser, thus increasing organization. Perhaps there is already a way to quickly save tweets to bookmarks, but I am unaware of it.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Enlightening information? Please share your thoughts.

News Nugget: Facebook’s New “Via” Feature

-By Eden Phoenix, Saturday, Jan.  16, 2010

Mashable (arguably the web’s best source for all information on social media and related tech.) reports that Facebook has created a new feature called “via” that allows users to re-post links in a manner very similar to an RT on Twitter.

Click here to read the article.

Daily Do: Save Someone’s World

To save a life is to save the world. At least that’s what my family has always told me, and I believe that wholeheartedly. If you watch the news, then you know that Haiti was rocked recently by a 7.0 earthquake that basically leveled Port-au-Prince, a major city.  Haiti has long suffered some of the most extreme poverty in the world, and the nation cannot provide anywhere close to the necessary funds for its own recovery. I apologize for any errors in spelling or grammar. The MagaBlog cares far more about the safety of Haiti and the Haitian people than it does about form and style at this time. Some ways to help are listed below:

• You can donate $10 to Red Cross earthquake relief efforts in Haiti by texting the word “Haiti” to 90999

• (This has been verified by Red Cross).

• The charge will be assessed to your cell-phone bill

• You can donate $5 to the relief efforts by texting “Yele” to 501501

• (This has been verified by Yele)

• The charge will be assessed to your cell-phone bill

• Donate via CARE

• Donate (via Google Crisis Response) to any of the listed charities (including, but not limited to, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, World Food Program, Mercy Corps, and Save the Children)

The lives of human beings are at stake. Give what you can. If you can only afford to give $1, then do it. If you can afford to give $100, then do it. If you don’t feel that this is your responsibility, please reconsider. Give any amount. Let’s not let Haiti down. Thank you.

UPDATE: Plan will donate 100% of your donation to the relief efforts. This is rare, as most charities need to take a percentage of every donation to fund employees. Even non-profits need money in order to function, so this is a really great way to help out.

UPDATE: You can now text “UNICEF” to 20222 to make a $10 donation to helping children affected by the Haiti disaster.