Uber “wasn’t ready” for a public emergency like Hurricane Sandy, Ryan Graves, the company’s head of global operations, admitted in a public interview in San Francisco today, but otherwise did little to backpedal from his company’s brash approach to pricing and regulation.
Find out how to use Google Tools to manage social media content and campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp, an interactive online event starting June 6. Monica Morse (left), head of social & SMB solutions at Google, will familiarize you with a wide range of Google tools such as trends, Google+ and Hangouts. Learn more about our our twelve event speakers and register here. 
When Sandy hit the Eastern seaboard on October 29, millions of people were without power within hours. With limited means of contacting family and friends, and minimal cell phone service, those affected by one of the largest hurricanes on record were left struggling to find ways to communicate with the rest of the nation. When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were nonexistent. But the social web of 2012 is a vastly different place than it was only a few years ago and the ability to share content online, as was demonstrated during Superstorm Sandy, is increasingly becoming the go-to means of communicating when communication isn’t easy.
Yahoo Plots Alliance with Facebook in New Search Deal (The Sunday Telegraph)
Sources have told The Sunday Telegraph that Marissa Mayer, chief executive of Yahoo, has held discussions with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, about how the two companies can work more closely together. The two Internet giants have already collaborated together on a number of small projects, for example to share Yahoo! news on Facebook, and recently agreed to settle a number of long-standing lawsuits over patents.
Did you get any work done in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy? SocialTimes polled 205 Sandy survivors to find out how people got back to work after losing power in their homes and offices. Where computers and laptops failed, many people used their phones or tablets to work remotely.
Woman Fired After Obama Facebook Post: ‘I’m Not Racist’ (Los Angeles Times)
A California woman fired from her job at Coldstone Creamery after using a racial slur to describe President Barack Obama on Facebook and writing “maybe he will get assassinated” said she is not a racist. “I’m not racist and I’m not crazy. just simply stating my opinion.!!!” Denise Helms wrote on Facebook.
On today’s social media edition of the Morning Media Menu, GalleyCat editor Jason Boog and I talked about social media’s role in spreading news during Hurricane Sandy and explored a new app for converting your handwriting to digital text on the iPad.
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Is Social Media ‘Turning Off’ Young Voters to Political Discourse? (The Seattle Times)
Young voters are more engaged with the election than ever before, thanks to social media. But are today’s conversations as deep as they were in the past? The New York Times The media are gearing up for election night, the finale of the year’s biggest story. Different this time will be the level of noise on the Web — more Web sites and individual users will most likely try to call the race early, creating a cacophony on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. AllThingsD Some of what you may read there as the day wheres on may be true, some will be planted in order to discourage or encourage voters from one side or the other at a vulnerable moment when polls. Nearly all of it will be exaggerated and some will be downright false. AllFacebook Facebook wants you to stay connected to the latest news and connect with friends around your favorite candidates via the app center. Facebook compiled the top applications of this election cycle in one section of the app center. AllTwitter If you’ve been seeing some nasty comments about the election on Facebook or Twitter lately, you’re not alone: discussions surrounding both President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney have been much more negative than positive on social media throughout the entire campaign. Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism studied mainstream coverage and compared this to social media coverage of the campaign. Read more
Superstorm Sandy has devastated much of New York City. Where some areas were left untouched, others are still dark. While transportation lines are long and power lines are down, the extra downtime seems to have brought out the best in New York’s tech and media communities.
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Facebook tests Timeline layout with single column of posts (InsideFacebook)
Facebook is testing a new format for user Timelines, which puts all posts in a single column on the left and any activity modules in a narrower column on the right. This layout addresses one of the common complaints about the new profile: users previously had to look back and forth on the page as they scrolled through to read their stream. CNET The test layout keeps the boxes that highlight friends and activities to the right. AllFacebook When a user has no more open graph actions to show, the right side of the page will revert to blank, instead of creating two sides of wall posts. InsideFacebook Facebook confirmed that it is testing this design with a small percentage of users but did not offer any additional information.
While many businesses felt the wrath of Sandy yesterday, as customers dwindled, public transportation was shut down and shops had to close, Netflix had one of its best days in awhile. According to Janko Roettgers of GigaOM, yesterday Netflix viewing was up 20%.
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