Are we social media addicts?
I am. I’m not going to lie. My Facebook account is always open, even if it’s minimized on my computer, and when I’m away from my computer, I bring Facebook with me everywhere I go on my iPhone. You can call me a loser and you can call me a narcissist, but I much prefer “addict.”
Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews. 
Is YouTube turning politics into a joke? Every since Obama introduced politics to social media more and more political candidates are trying to go viral with their campaigns on YouTube, but for many it just isn’t working.
With the crucial midterm elections coming up in less than two months, The New York Times points out that when researching candidates on the Web, things aren’t always what they seem, as URLs that contain candidates’ names often point users to Web sites created by their opponents, or even out-of-state members of the rival party.
The Times reports that BobMenendez.com does not bring Web surfers to a site for Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), but to Sharon Angle for U.S. Senate, a page for the campaign of Sharon Angle, who is running for Senate in Nevada as a Republican. One of the main uses of the site is to discredit Democrats.
Similarly, as reported by the Times, bradellsworth.org is not pro-Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Ind.), but instead linked to Bad for Indiana, on which the state Republican Party claims that Ellsworth is a “reliable rubber stamp for liberal policies,” among other things.
The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse told the Times fewer than 50 percent of senators and some 40 percent of representatives own their “fullname.com” domain names, and the numbers are 32 percent and 22 percent, respectively, for “fullname.org,” and president Josh Bourne told the Times, “I’ve been amazed on how many congressmen don’t have the same sense of brand as businesses have.”
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YouTube is no longer just the domain of news bloopers and Old Spice parodies. Political candidates across the country are seizing on the platform to save money and send a targeted message to a specific audience: voters.
Politico reports that Google will release metrics next week showing that political campaigns have moved beyond using just their own YouTube channel and Google AdWords to reach voters, and are now “repurposing their TV ads to use as pre-roll ads for YouTube clips.”
Another political campaign watchdog group has joined the ranks of those calling for more regulations of online content published by politicians. The Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), a California-based group, released a report Monday detailing their recommendations for political messages transmitted via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and their compatriots. The bulk of their recommendations boil down to one point: social media should be regulated in the same way as traditional media. This approach – lumping social media in with all other media – has been a popular one lately, but is it the right move? Read on for more details from this report and analysis.
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