DSA Online | New Media Updates

Kathryn Slater’s adventures finding & buying an iPhone4.

On Friday, I just happened to be passing by the Simply Computing on Broadway and noticed that they were a Rogers certified vendor. My heart dropped down to say hello to my stomach in nervous anticipation. If you have been following my Twitter feed (or know my previous hurdles when it comes to my mobile service), you might already know that I was seriously considering lowering my mac fangirl flag due to Rogers Mobility’s service at the Pacific Centre.

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Lately, there has been a counter-buzz about social media suggesting that we are seeing a decline in usage amongst Canadians, so we put our Raving Rabbids research hats on, played some video games, and (after putting our wii-motes down, & doing some real research) came up with some solid information. Essentially what we confirmed was that the face of social media is evolving, not necessarily declining. In January of 2010 almost all Canadian online teens (85%) had a Facebook account, so what we are seeing now is some stabilization and seasonal habit changes. ComScore shows that in January that youth (aged 2-17) logged 49 monthly Facebook visits per user, spending a monthly total of 8:15 hours chatting and updating their status. These numbers in June are lower at 39 monthly visits at 6.5 hours total, though during the same period for the same demographic total internet use has also declined from 80 visits a month to 63, so the Facebook decline mirrors overall internet use. This reduction may be a decay in interest in Facebook, although it also could be a seasonal trend which will change again once the blustery weather of fall and winter hits. I know I’ve been spending more time on the patio than I have playing Farmville lately. That brings me to the next point. Now that the teens have been on Facebook for a few years, the demographic that is seeing the most growth is the females aged 50+. They are finding old classmates and keeping informed of what their kids are up to. More and more studies are starting to pop up showing Moms as key brand influencers via social networks. I know many people who are taking a look at how they use Facebook, and some are deciding that they would prefer it to be used more as a social tool, to coordinate events etc rather than a way to interact with their best buds. Click here to read the rest of the article

Several days ago, the breaking news on Digg.com was the discovery of a network of conservatives that had been collaborating to control the content that reached the front page of the large social news aggregator. http://www.slideshare.net/mzkagan/what-the-fk-is-social-media-now-4747637

This is a significant find as Digg sneaks into the list of top 50 largest websites in the US at number 50. The site serves as a social aggregator, gathering news and entertainment articles from around the web and allowing users to vote up articles, creating a system where users determine which articles reach the front page and get national attention. Reaching the front page can lead to a huge surge in site traffic, often crashing the website from the volume of visitors. Digg is an example of social media where the masses determine what information and entertainment should gain exposure.

I myself use Digg almost daily as my primary source for what’s trending on the web.

What is significant here is that a relatively small group of people were able to manipulate the information being received by millions of people. This group understood how Digg works, and were able to use this to push their personal interests. Unethical? Yes. But it’s a powerful example of how understanding social media can be used to affect it.

Digg articles have comment sections that show that most topics are constant battlegrounds between supporters and opponents of many things, including products (take Mac vs. PC for example). It would now seem that a determined group could essentially control the message that millions of people are receiving regarding a number of products or services. What if Toyota had buried all mention of a recall while pushing forward their own message targeting other car makers? Could Apple have controlled the spread of their iPhone 4 antenna problem? It would certainly be a huge undertaking, but then again, how much time and effort did these companies spend trying to manage the message? If nothing else, this small group of conservatives has shown that it is possible to at least make a dent in the information being passed around the web every day.

Question: We asked DSA network staff if they could name their favourite gaming console (ps3, xbox, ds, wii, computer etc.) and their favourite game.

David Stanger

I’m a gamer from way back and still have my original Atari unit from the early 80′s that played Asteroids, Space Invaders, Pacman, Tetris and a host of other early entries into the market.

Next up in the mid-80′s was a Nintendo system that saw me spend many late nights and early mornings working through the first edition of Super Mario Bros. The theme song is forever etched into my grey matter.

By the 90′s I had started to move into computer games, and got seriously hooked on Myst, as well as playing a lot of EA sports games on the computer. I never really got into online gaming though, and never have. Wasn’t into the Sims either.

Pretty much stayed with computer games, until early 2007 when we were one of the lucky ones who managed to find a Wii, and we’ve been logging endless hours on it since. We have every attachment for it, and I stood in line for several hours one morning in May 2008, to be one of the first to own a Wii Fit board. Most recent purchase was Tiger Woods 2010 (insert any of one the jokes here about it having extra holes to play…….) Click here to read the rest of the article