Ew: Madonna Makes M.I.A. Her Back Up Cheerleader

by Rosemari

Seeing M.I.A. (again) in 2010

I have been a long-standing M.I.A. fan and when I heard that she was going to sing on Madonna's new album, I was intrigued.  After all, Swagga Like Us with one of the best hip hop songs of the decade and and her performance at the Emmy's on her due date was one of the most kick-ass things I've ever seen a pregnant woman do (if you missed it, here's the best video I could find).


M.I.A. pushed the envelope.  She never apologized for her style, her unique (at least for the music industry) femininity that didn't try to hide that she was a woman of color or be a sex kitten for someone else, and speaking up about the things that were important to her (particularly issues regarding Sri Lanka).  Sure, I once got sprayed by a supersoaker filled with vodka at one of her concerts.  But she was a nonconformist, international, young female rock star and sexy in her own terms.  And I needed that. And so did hip hop (can video vixens get any more trite at this point?). 





So, today I watched the new Madonna's video, Give Me All Your Luvin. It features both Nicki Manaj and M.I.A. as backup dancers to Madonna and appear to be more of an afterthought than anything else.  If M.I.A. had been featured in such a supporting role by a male performer, shaking her pom-poms in the background without much of an opportunity to really show off her musical creativity, I would have been disappointed. But this? Really, it's just insulting.  


Everything I loved about M.I.A. was twisted around in this video. M.I.A.'s cheer-leading uniform, her blonde wig, the product placement.  And, worst of all, those ridiculous spiked heels.  

Social Media Tools Review: Bitly

by Rosemari

 

The problem

Long urls are cumbersome.  They disrupt precious white space in the body of an e-mail and are difficult to share, particularly in a world where character length of updates from sites like Twitter and Facebook matter.

How Bitly solves it (or attempts to solve it)

Bitly is a service used to shorten lengthy urls.  Additionally, if you register for a Bitly, you are able to track how many clicks your specific link retrieves and information about who is clicking on those specific pages. 

According to the “About” section of the Bitly website, “bitly helps you collect, organize, shorten and share links. We are currently reinventing how people discover and share content on the web.” Let’s see how this could apply to a real world scenario.

Scenario

For example, let’s say your organization wants people to check out the new a new video on your main website. You can send a social media update that lists your traditional url to get to your website in order to access the video. However, you will not have the capacity to determine if the traffic on your site is due to the video or another factor (perhaps people looking on the website for details regarding an upcoming event, etc.).  Bitly allows you to share a unique link that will show you the number of clicks specifically for the video.

Additionally, let’s say you are trying to determine who is the best spokesperson for your organization via social media. You can have various Bitly links being pushed to by different handles, including your agency handle, your CEO, and your community mobilizers, to determine what handle is most effective and which audiences are most interested in your video. 

Once you’ve pushed your link, you can track how many clicks occurred in various time frames (some options are “total,” “past hour,” “past 24 hours,” etc.). It also allows you to see the platform individuals using to click through (for example, Facebook, Twitter, Direct, etc.) to your video as well as the countries they are clicking from.  These types of benchmarks are similar to the metrics available using Google Analyzer.

Other features

Bitly offers free account that allows you to shorten and share, create custom hash tags, have an individual link statistics page and single tracking domains.  Bitly also offers a vanity account called BitlyEnterprise for $995 a month that offers additional features, such as multiple tracking domains, “end-to-end branding,” and no rate limits. Organizations and companies like Pespi and CSPAN have custom links such as pep.si and cs.pn. 

Social Media Tools Review: Hootsuite.com

Source: American University Social Media Club Facebook Wall

The problem

In a world in which you may follow hundreds of Twitter handles and Facebook profiles, it’s tough to organize the information in meaningful and accessible way.  Furthermore, when managing various accounts, it is nearly impossible to physically be in front of a screen in order to release my updates at appropriate intervals as to maximize their impact.

How HootSuite solves it (or attempts to solve it)

HootSuite provides a columned interface (called the dashboard) that allows viewing of multiple profiles and accounts across the social networks applications (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to ensure easy management. Also, it allows users to schedule updates, mange lists, and create analytics. 

Scenario

Professor Pallavi Kumar recently spoke on a panel at American University’s Social MediaSummit regarding Facebook and other social networking tools. She knew she had a short time to discuss a range new media strategy and tactics.

Professor Kumar used HootSuite to schedule her tweets before the panel.  She was able to craft tweets that included the key messages of her presentation, videos, and links to other relevant information.  Once she had assembled her tweets, she scheduled them for the duration of her presentation, about 15 tweets every five minutes. She announced her methodology before her comments and mentioned the conference hashtag so others interested in the conference (both present and remote) could follow her and easily retweet her messages.

With the power of HootSuite, she was able to focus her attention on her presentation (instead of fumbling with her phone on stage), get relevant and timely information to her audience (both on- and off-line), facilitate the sharing of that information by having her audience retweet it, and gain new followers. She notes that after the Summit, other professors have had similar results after imploring her technique.

Other features

HootSuite has a variety of options for vanity accounts, which include running customized analytics and adding individuals to collaborate on a single account.  Additionally, it creates its own link shortening system (like Bitly).  It also has HootSuite University, which for $21.00 a month individuals are able to get webinars, forums, support, and other training on how to maximize their social media experience using HootSuite.

How the Media Shares Stories of HIV Prevention

by Rosemari


This is great story from USA Today about reaching young Latino MSMs (men who have sex with men) in my neighborhood (Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C.) by my friend and colleague Bill Delano. 


After years of working in HIV prevention and hearing countless of stories similar to this one, it's a great example of how the media can share the importance of HIV prevention for young MSMs in the Latino community. Everyone interested in youth, sexual health, and how homophobia affects health on a community level should watch and share.