Social Media Analysis: Facebook IPO

Social Media was also used extensively in the Facebook IPO news. The stories posted on The Washington Post website, Gizmodo, CNBC News, and YouTube all ran in conjunction with other media channels that they all were cross-referencing. Oddly enough the social networking site, Facebook, did not have much news posted on about the IPO. The sites were able to link to other sources that were discussing the news about the failing IPO in its first week, and the sites were a driving force in how people were receiving their information. Stocks on the one hand can be a very complicated thing to master, so news about the Stock Market tends to be for enthusiasts. The hype that was attached Facebook’s IPO is credited to social media covering the story leading up the first day. I believe that social media plays a tremendous role in impacting the perception of a target audience. 

Along with so many reports about the IPO, came the concern about accuracy and credibility. Since the stock market is so complex, one has to rely on what he or she is reading about the IPO to have credible sources. The cross-referencing that occurs on the sites, television, and newspapers is a prime example on how one can compare different medias with one another to critically come up with an opinion about a story. Since not many people now much about the stock market, this technique of reading multiple sources can be very useful in deciphering the truth.

The story about the Facebook IPO is portrayed online to be the story of a college stared company that has made it in big business. IPOs in the business world is a symbol of how popular a company is by allowing the public to take ownership and it allows that company to make a lot of money. The television reports on the story mostly focused on the minute by minute numbers that the IPO was selling at. After the initial hype subsided a bit, the attention was focused on Zuckerburg’s wedding that after the IPO. All in all, the stories seemed to correlate with one another, allowing a reader to get a big picture of what is going on in the world of Facebook. 

Citizen journalism regarding the Facebook IPO story was did not impact the user experience from the audience’s perspective because not many people understood the mechanics well enough to report on the story. People may have had personal opinions that is one were to only read those, his or her opinion would tend to sway towards the one side of the story. It can be a dangerous thing if people do not take into account all sides of a story  before developing a personal belief.

Social Media Analysis: Al Qaeda Bomb Threat

Social Media is used extensively in the Al Qaeda bomb threat.  Even though the bomb scare was tipped off by an informant; social media was forced not to report on the intelligence until after the bomb threat had been stabilized. The power of social media is evident in the CIA’s plea to Associated Press in not reporting the news until the operation was complete. The reports about the would be bomber exploded (no pun intended) on the internet because the capability of receiving the news on any portable smart phone is the main source of how people receive their news. 

Since the AP first released the news about the informant, everyone has been reporting the same. The credibility that AP comes from great journalism exemplified over the years. The necessary tools that it uses does include social media to add to its credibility.  The reports of the Al Qaeda bomb threat were varying in presentation, but the facts were reported without miscalculations. Most of the reports cited or sourced AP as its primary source. 

The Al Qaeda bomb threat story was presented accurately and with minimal differences on its online counterparts. In ABC World News with Diane Swayer, the story first broke out with the report being about how a bomb threat was distinguished by the authorities, with same details available online. Then, the following day, as the story developed, the story had changed to include information that an informant was assisting the CIA. The new details was updated online using similar verbiage and pictures.

The bomb threat did not bring much citizen journalism although those who did comment or mention about the Al Qaeda had opinions that ranged from being accurate to being far off from the truth. Even though citizen journalism is covered by the First Amendment, the credibility is low. Being an informed readers does call for one to take a look at other opinions and to be able to discuss and debate opinions to come to a more concrete opinion closer to the truth.  

Social Media Analysis: Trayvon Martin Case

Social Media is used extensively in the Trayvon Martin Case. Twitter would be updated by the press every so often, and not only that, the public would chime in with their opinions, as well. The allowance of only 140 characters is a main reason why social media is widely used in journalism. Allowing this limit enables the journalist to post a quick tag line that entices the reader to investigate on further reports. For instance, the Twitter feed for #TrayvonMartin was linked to Anderson Cooper’s blog, AC360. When Cooper would tweet about the case, the tweet had links to his blog that would allow a reader to follow the link and read more about the case. 

Fact checking, accuracy, and credibility is a harding thing to do on the Twitter feed. Since the limit on the amount of information shared at one time is enforced, the amount of information is further limited with tweets that link to another website. On the other hand, that link shared is very useful. The website shared with #TrayvonMartin led to Anderson Cooper’s blog, and within Cooper’s bog was more links to other reputable sources that added to the credibility of that single Tweet about an update on the Trayvon Martin case. 

The message of the Trayvon Martin case on Twitter is conveyed to be a popular and interesting one because of the frequent updates and multiple links to other websites. The frequent updates did not necessarily reflect on the journalists’ updates; in fact, it was the obvious response to the journalists’ articles that created a buzz on Twitter. Twitter thus was and has become a necessary tool in the journalism industry. The story was presented in different ways by the varying online counterparts. 

The presence of Citizen journalism is a major one in regards to the Trayvon Martin case because the story itself created a lot questions regarding racism and ethics. Since the case involved a possible hate crime on a young African American, the majority of citizen’s reporting on Twitter were African American. Biases and personal beliefs were heavily prevalent in reading about the case. It would be hard for the audience to decipher what is part of the case and part of the citizen’s personal beliefs. Even though it is a part of free speech, the responsibility is placed on the reader on whether or not they will believe the reports about Trayvon Martin. 

Facebook IPO: Follow Up

A look through different media vehicles

Blog:

For the third straight day, Facebook stock has fallen. According to Gizmodo, the blog says that “Facebook’s stock continues to suck harder than a Northwestern University freshman on a 5-foot bong in his profile pic.” Today the stock did not do well as “our own lives were literally put on sale.” According to the blog, Facebook IPO was playing in favor of big investment firms and not the public: “‘Facebook was whispering in the ears of the lead managers of its investment banks, on the understanding that the results of those whispers would remain available only to select clients until after the IPO was over,’ writes Reuters' Felix Salmon.” This extremely bias moves seems to play against Facebook’s bigger picture: “It was built to accomplish a social mission.”  

Social Media:
For those wishing to buy Facebook shares. Youtube has a plethora of “How To” videos that discuss possible ways of how to go about and buy Facebook stock.  The site allows for one to comment and ask questions regarding Facebook stock.  If investing money seems to be a scary thing, it is probably an accurate feeling.  The YouTube “vlog” gives comfort and wisdom on how to purchase and maintain Facebook stock. 

Facebook IPO: Follow Up
A look through different media vehicles

Newspaper:
As the hoopla of Facebook’s IPO caused the multimillion dollar company to raise its IPO to $38 per share on Friday, May 18, 2012, the stock market closed with Facebook’s shares down 11 percent.  To put this into perspective, Facebook share price dropped down to $34, which totals to about a loss of $11 billion.  Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg lost about $2 billion.  Even as the company lost money on the second day of trading, it raised $16 billion. Facebook is valued as a $93 billion company, which is a college born idea that has the same magnitude as McDonald’s.  As young as this company is, Facebook is still an experiment, leading the way for Social Media profitability.  In The Washington Post, Peter Whoriskey reports on the “bump in the road” loss at the close of the stock market on Monday, May 21, 2012. Whoriskey continues to report that the Facebook initial public offering will continue to be an experimental process in which the young company is the pioneer of.

Television:
CNBC along with the Associated Press state that most stock investors are not buying into the Facebook IPO.  Facebook continues to be the underdog on its second day as a public company.  NASDAQ is not helping the issue. As it struggles to rebuild its reputation, the handling of the Facebook IPO was an overload on the NASDAQ systems. Thomas Joyce, Chief Executive of Knight Capital Group says that “This was arguably the worst performance by an exchange on an IPO ever.”  Like others, Joyce’s firm lost money in the Facebook IPO process because they did not know which trades were going through for two hours on Friday.

Facebook IPO

A look through different media vehicles

Newspaper:  The Washington Post

Television:  CNBC News

Blog: Gizmodo

Social Media:

Al Qaeda Bomb Threat: Follow Up

A look through different media vehicles

Newspaper:

The Wall Street Journal. has efficiently reported on the recent news of a would-be airplane bomber.  Something that is notably different in the newspaper’s reports is that it uses opinions and feelings from airport guests.  It answers questions about how public opinion is affected by bomb threats.  Since the recent news about how the CIA was working with an informant does nothing to ease the worry about future terrorist plots, reports on machines used by airports that are designed to detect sophisticated chemical bombs such as the one that was going to be used are being published every day since the first report this week.    

Television:  

ABC World News with Diane Sawyer released a television broadcast on its evening national news report on Monday, May 7, 2012, concerning the would be bomber on a U.S. bound flight from Yemen.  Yemen has been increasingly a driving force in terrorism towards Americans.  Brian Ross gave the report on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on that Monday morning.  The report since then has been plastered over all news media for the last few days, with developments reported about every day.  The more recent report is that a Yemen informant working closely with the CIA successfully captured a would be bomber with months of preparation and information.   Now that the public has resurfaced fear of terrorist bombers post 9/11, the media has been covering this story closely from many different angles.  One being that reliability on metal detectors for nonmetallic bombs is compromised.  The media continues to investigate on these terroristic stories. 

Blog:

Political Blogger Dylan Byers blogged on Monday, May 7, 2012, at 4:51 p.m. (EDT) on the initial reports done by the Associated Press. Byers relays that the White House and the CIA agreed that AP was not to release the story about intelligence regarding a plot to bomb a U.S. bound airplane before Tuesday, May 08, 2012.  Although AP did not do as it was told, they released the story one day before, instead.  This blog was written only hours from which the AP report was released and before the news story developed further in finding that the bomber was in fact a double agent for the CIA agent.  Dylan Byers has not written any other story regarding further development on his blog on Politico.com. 

Social Media:

Twitter is the best place to receive updates on news reports since many reporters have Twitter accounts that are used to quickly send a message to the masses without superfluous information.  The ongoing investigative report on the foiled CIA double agent Al Qaeda bomber, Twitter had “#underwearbomber” trending when the media released the report.  Many people from all over the world on Twitter were referring to the bomber who was caught with a sophisticated bomb that was integrated into his underwear in 2009, along with the news about bomber on Monday, May 7, 2012, with comments like this one from @realhartford: “‘The agent is now safely outside Yemen and is being debriefed.’ That’s writing gold right there. #underwearbomber.” Since then, the trending feed has been updated about every couple of minutes with some kind of remark on the incident although official reports on Twitter have been released about every hour or so. The developing story continues to trend on Twitter.