description
A curated collection of links, clippings and thoughts on Technology, Social Media, Design and Culture by a Toronto based Web Analyst.
About Me flavors.me/brandonoliver
EAMES: The Architect and The Painter - Trailer (by firstrunfeaturesnyc)
New York Punk
Re-blogging a post I just wrote for my agency’s blog. Research by your’s truly, enjoy!
At SMG, we often refer to Twitter as the vascular system of the social web, with the potential to spread ideas, news and opinions to all corners of the globe in near real-time. The most revolutionary ideas have the potential to rally huge numbers of people behind a cause quickly and efficiently.
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is the newest of these Twitter-enabled movements. From a single Adbusters blogpost on July 13th, Occupy has spread to include thousands of regional protests, which has led to millions of Tweets from around the globe.
This past weekend, Social Media Group provided the National Post with insights behind the OWS movement using English language Twitter data from September 17th until present day. The resulting geo-map of Tweets over time shows how the Occupy movement is quickly spreading across the globe.
On week one of the protests, 11,379 Tweets were produced. 80% of which originated in the United States. By week two, the volume of Tweets had doubled, gaining traction in Canada, the UK, Czech Republic, and Denmark. By week five of the protests, countless viral objects were being created and shared around the world providing fuel for the OWS fire which by now includes a lengthly list new regional movements. Collectively, OWS and these new regional gatherings are now producing over 230,000 Tweets a week in more than 130 countries.
If there was ever any uncertainty around Twitter’s power to spread the word, 2011’s revolutionary events undoubtedly prove the true potential of the service as a earth’s new circulatory system.
Beautifully sinister - The Euthanasia Coaster is a concept for a steel roller coaster designed to kill its passengers.
In 2010, it was designed and made into a scale model by Julijonas Urbonas, a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art in London. Urbonas, who has worked at an amusement park, stated that the goal of his concept roller coaster is to take lives “with elegance and euphoria”. It is a ride to the death. The seven loops or ‘inversions’ put the human body under such stress that it causes the brain to be starved of oxygen, as the heart simply cannot push blood against the enormous g-forces. Even if it kills you, it is designed to still be a fun death. An honourable thought, if rather macabre.
(via fouronesix)
(via ableparris.com)
Bottom Line - Integrating web analytics into measurement of social is a must.
As far as Twitter is concerned, Rob Ford is the worst.Of the roughly 43,000 times Toronto’s mayor was mentioned on various social media sites since he took office last December, fewer than 3,000 posts had a positive tone. The remainder split evenly between negative and neutral.
According to research by locally based Social Media Group, Ford’s popularity among plugged-in Torontonians hit new lows this summer — 61 per cent negative — around the time the Fords picked a fight with beloved author (and Canadian Twitter royalty) Margaret Atwood.
In fact, the mayor’s online approval had been steadily sinking the last four months, as service cuts, the Pride snub and the war on graffiti dominated headlines.
I’m so happy to see my research with Social Media Group published :)
