Universal Health Care Video

The year 2009 marked a milestone in the United States in regards to the current health care system; the number of uninsured Americans eclipsed the 47 million mark. Not only are 47 million Americans uninsured, but another 25 million are underinsured, meaning they do not have adequate health insurance. The reasoning behind this rapid increase in uninsured and underinsured Americans lies in the fact that while insurance premiums are increasing six to eight percent every year, the average salary cost is only three to five percent. Insurance cost increases are more than doubling that of salary increases, and with the current recession, one can bet that from this year to next year, salary prices will drop drastically.

During his campaign for President, Barack Obama made it clear that he wants and believes that every person in America should have adequate health insurance. He proposes that a single-payer, universal health care system is used in America, but as of now, health care reform has yet to incur. Health care reform is something that could take several years to implement, and even longer for America to properly transition into a new system. Many Americans are opposed to the idea of health care reform, especially one that grants health insurance to every American citizen. They argue that universal health care will cost America more money than it would to amend the current system and that creating such a system would give the government control. I have spent this entire semester researching universal health care for my Capstone class and have found article upon article that dismiss these claims as inconclusive and insufficient in presented statistics. The fact is that over time, a universal health care system would pay for itself in the long-term. Sure, it will cost trillions of dollars to start up, but when you compare its cost to that of the cost with the current system, it is easy to say that we are saving money. Also, because a single-payer system is publically funded, the employers would end up receiving a nice profit in the end.

I hope the video above gave you a little bit of insight and provoked you to think about the 47 million uninsured and 25 million underinsured Americans. What can you do to help these people? Support any state legislation that proposes universal health care, as well as any on the national level. Thank you for viewing and leave comments by clicking on the “comment” link below.

The News Release Gets A Facelift

The news release is something that has been around since 1906 and is something that will continue to be used by PR professionals, but many feel that news releases need to be more active in pulling in their targets. News reporters these days are constantly on the go and do not have the time to sit down and read news release after news release, all in the same boring format. A "facelift" is needed, which is why many PR professionals are switching to the social media news release. The social media release, much like the "old school" style of news release, gives reporters the who, what, when, where, and why, but now they are social media friendly. Some of the features include: RSS feeds, photo libraries with high resolution images, MP3 files/podcasts, video footage, and links to previous coverage on the topic with the ability to use social bookmarking websites (digg.com, del.ici.ous). Although I like the idea of the social media news release, I feel that the generation of PR professionals that are not social media saavy would fall behind, especially since they'd have to re-learn the process of making such news releases.



What do you think about the social media release? Do you think it's a good idea, or do you think PR professionals should stick with the original news release?

I'm a Facebook Addict...Are YOU???

Facebook, since its launch in February 2004, has become the largest social media website in the world. I'm on it, you're on it, my friend's dog is on it, and so is my third cousin twice removed (but then again, who is NOT on Facebook?). I do not consider myself to be a Facebook addict, but while browsing CNN.com on Thursday, I came across an article that made me think otherwise. The Elizabeth Cohen article, titled Five Clues That You are Addicted to Facebook talks about Facebook addiction and how one can tell whether or not they are addicts.

She mentions five clues in particular in determining whether or not one is a Facebook Addict:

1. You lose sleep over Facebook - You should not be neglecting your health because of social networking, but I know there have been nights where I've stayed up all hours of the night talking to friends, writing on walls, and poking all the cute girls.

2. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook - It's hard to pinpoint exactly how much time is too much time to spend on a social networking website, but many say that more than an hour is too much. I know I spend more than an hour on Facebook a day. Who doesn't?

3. You become obsessed with old loves - I've never personally experienced this, but there have been cases where people, currently in relationships, will talk to exes via Facebook and damage their current relationships. It's not wrong to reconnect or "add" an ex on Facebook, but it's when people become obsessed talking to them online when things get dicey.

4. You ignore work, or in some cases school, in favor of Facebook - There have been instances where I know I have tons of homework to do. I'm not going to lie, I have another tab open right now to my Facebook homepage. I'm not saying it's okay to check your page every now and then, and certainly not the case Cohen is making, it's just when you let Facebook take over your life and you neglect doing the actual work when it becomes a problem.

5. Lastly, the thought of getting off Facebook puts you in a cold sweat - Try going a day without Facebook. If you experience stress and axiety, then there's a problem.

From these steps, are you a Facebook Addict? Why or why not?

My New Favorite Facebook Feature: Remove Friend

It's true. I've become addicted to deleting friends from Facebook. Why? I've noticed a lot recently when posting a status that I would get people, whom I'd never met in my life, replying, commenting, or "liking" my status. Then I would notice that one way or another we were "friends." At first I did not care about some of the random people commenting to me (in fact, it was cool at first), but once I noticed the same people commenting I became concerned. Were these people sitting around all day waiting for me to update my status just so they could be the first to reply? I don't know what the case may have been, but I found it downright creepy.

Solution: Remove Friend. Just last week I deleted over 300 "friends" because let's face it, they were not my friends! Alphabetically, I haven't even made it through the F's yet.

Have you ever found yourself in the same situation? What do you think about the Facebook status feature in general?

Video Shmideo...Why the Craze???

When thinking about some of the more popular trends of the past two to three years, viewing and posting videos online has increased in popularity and become sort of a craze across the world. Posting videos online, according to Deirdre Breakenridge in her book PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences, video postings online date back to earlier uses of Video News Releases (VNRs) in the 80s. Pharmaceutical companies and large corporations used VNRs in their communication efforts (161). Using videos in communications "is growing immensely among consumer and business audiences."

Breakenridge also talks about Jason Miletsky, the CEO and Creative Director of PFS Marketwyse and his top 10 reasons for the recent surge in video, as well as podcasting. His reasons, with brief explanations are as follows:

1. Improvements in Technology - With the accessibility of DSL and other lightning speed ways to connect to the Internet, downloading and uploading video clips take less time than ever. The improvement of computer monitors also provide an improved method for video to display.

2. More Accessible Production Capabilities - Smaller built-in cameras, Final Cut, and iMovie are just some of the features available in the present-day that make videos easier and more fun to create

3. Improved Compression and Playback - Improved players, such as Adobe's Flash player, plays FLV files and the Flash CS3 video encoder significantly reduces the size of videos without compromisng their viewing quality.

4. The YouTube Factor - Four words: Web Video is here.

5. The iPod Revolution - iPods make viewing video "on-the-go" easy and fun (same with podcasting)

6. Increased Competition for the User - As the Web expands, so does competition. Competition allows more opportunities for users to experience everything out there.

7. Less Time Alloted by Visitors to Understand Content - Reading long copy on web pages can be boring and tiring. Cutting out all of this copy will give the user more accessibility to the website's features by allowing them to test the waters

8. Higher Degree of Internet Marketing Sophistication and Integration - Video on the Web was a diamond in the rough. Marketers are beginning to embrace this concept.

9. Expanded Use - Businesses have begun to return their attention to productive uses of video web posting.

10. Age-Ins Have Entered the Landscape - The hotshot twentysomethings "are pushing the envelope of video, podcasting, and the Web further than ever.

Do you agree or disagree with any of Miletsky's reasons? If you could add any, what would they be?

The Revolution of Social Networking

Over the past decade or so, social networking has began to revolutionize the way (and the means) of which people interact. As opposed to face-to-face social networking, the fastest and popular forms take place via the Internet, with the predominant websites being Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter. These places are a great stepping stone for social networkers. At these sites, they can customize their homepages, list their hobbies, post pictures and videos, and share links with their friends.

Chapter Eight of PR 2.0, Deirdre Breakenridge discusses ways of how people and companies are learning how to reach audiences through social networking, most notably by blogging. She writes, "A blog is the best way to say, 'Here's who I am and here's what I have to say'" (124). As a newcomer to the ever-growing Twitter, I have began to notice more and more that my followers and those that I follow post external links to theirs or their company's blog. I haven't had the time to personally check out every single blog, but the ones that I have seen tend to be very professional and display the individual or company in a positive manner. This idea of "blog branding identity" is very crucial when identifying with your potential audience. You do not want to portray yourself or your company in a negative light with horrid grammar, inappropriate pictures, rude comments, or off-the-wall blog postings. These are things that could hurt the reputation of the company or individual and would turn the audience away.

What do you think about "blog branding identity?" Have you ever been turned away from a person or a company because of how they portray themselves in their blog(s)?

Podcast with Janis Krums

This past Saturday (March 28th), my Internet and Social Media class podcast group had the opportunity to sit down and interview, using Audacity and Skype, Twitter-famous Janis Krums, the first man to tweet and post a picture of the airline crash at the Hudson River several months ago. The interview revolves around Krums' experience with Twitter after posting the picture and how citizen journalism is important to social media. To check out the podcast, click here!

The show notes for the interview are as follows:

(00:10) - Ben introduces the show, speakers, and special guest, Janis Krums
(1:58) - Ginny interviews Janis about his experience after posting the famous Twit Pic
(5:28) - Reanne and Janis discuss social media and citizen journalism
(9:15) - Austin presents concluding thoughts, outro, and thanks Janis

How can we be so sure about our Twitter "followers"?

In several of my blogs earlier into this semester, I talked about the rising social media/social networking website of Twitter and what people use it for. I first opened up an account just to see what the hype was all about. I twitted, but at a very minimal level at first, not really seeing what the big deal was and why people were so hooked (it just seemed like following and making Facebook stati). Then it happened...

As South By Southwest and spring break began to approach, more and more of my friends kept saying "We can keep up with each other on Twitter," in regards to our time off from school. In order to start showing more interest and to keep my friends informed of my spring break at SXSW, I began twitting about events I was working, bands I had seen, celebrity sightings (which I had a few...ask me about them later), all of the big parties, as well as rumors about any "undercover" events taking place. So much stuff happened during SXSW and suddenly I began to notice that my updates were pouring in my the ton, as I had become addicted to another social media platform. I caught myself daily saying "I need to tweet about..." or "Find me on Twitter," words that would never have found their ways out of my mouth during the Web 1.0 era. Not only was I keeping my followers informed, but began to follow not only my friends, but celebrities, social media groups, PR professionals, musicians, and comedians. Although the numbers may not seem high, I follow 92 people and am being followed by almost 40.

Much like Facebook Mobile and MySpace Mobile, Twitter is available for mobile use as well, making it easy to tweet from wherever you are! I like this idea, but it does seem to pose a threat to people being followed on Twitter by psychos who appear to be everyday people. For example, Shaquille O'Neal has a Twitter and is always tweeting about the exact location of where he is eating dinner, hanging out, or partying. Suppose that someone out there, following Shaquille on Twitter, has a personal vendetta with him and wants to hurt him, they'd know when and where to find him. He is not the only person that posts tweets like this, so it's very important to be cautious of what you're posting and who your followers are.

As far as privacy issues are concerned, do you think that Twitter is taking all necessary precautions? Do they have a good enough privacy policy? If you could make any suggestions that could improve Twitter's policy what would they be?

SXSW - Screenburn Interactive Arcade!

I just got back from Day Three of the SXSW Film and Interactive Festivals and spent most of the day at the Screenburn Interactive Arcade. The two popular games being played were Guitar Hero III and Call of Duty 5. As I was there watching the video game competitions, I noticed that a majority of the people that were playing the video games were between the ages of 12 and 16. I remember when I was in that age range and the level of video games that I played were nowhere in comparison to the level they are at now, especially Guitar Hero.

I discussed this with a friend that was volunteering at the event and we feel that the high-advancement in the types of video games being played is going to enhance the learning capacity of children. The thing that started our discussion occurred while watching the final round of the Guitar Hero competition. A majority of these kids learn and play Guitar Hero through a connection that allows them to play with people all over the world, which is a form of social media that has continually been growing and evolving. Being able to connect with people all over the world allows each individual the ability to compete and test just how good they really are at the game. This idea of competition makes real-life head-to-head competitions somewhat easier for these gamers. The two kids in the finals (no older than 16) were playing on expert and were competing for the highest score. Now, I've played Guitar Hero my share of times, but I can only play at the "medium" level. On expert, the gameplay is very fast, but somehow these kids were able to keep up with the game and coordinate their brain, eyes, and fingers in almost perfect sync. The ability for them to play such a complex game with ease makes me think that if they can learn a game like that, then they can learn almost anything and with as much ease as they can learn Guitar Hero.

What do you think about the advance in video game technology? Do you feel that the high complexity of these games stimulates the young mind faster?

YouTube and Universal Making Sweet Music...Videos

This past week, YouTube and Universal began discussions on the possible formation of a music video website. The website, which has not yet been named, will include music videos from artists signed to the major record labels. YouTube and Universal began talking about the new website at the end of last year, but nothing came out of the initial meetings. Under the possible partnership, YouTube would be responsible for the technology that would sell advertising to the viewers of the website.

Personally, I feel that this music video website is a waste of time. YouTube currently is where I go to check out new music videos from not only the big bands (signed to major record labels) that I like, but the underground and not too popular bands as well. The new website will only show music videos from bands under major record labels. Because I like bands big and small, I hate the idea of having to surf through two different websites to find a new music video I want to watch or to hear new songs from my favorite bands.

What do you think about this idea? Do you think it complicates the idea of viewing music videos online, or is it a good move for YouTube?