Going viral … You’re doing it right

This is a video of a 10 month old little girl who got emotional everytime her mom would sing her this Sarah Evans song. The mother had noticed she was doing this only to this particular song so she filmed it for her husband to see (who could not believe this story) and eventually uploaded the adorable video to Youtube. The video went viral being spotted on several different social media sites and reaching thousands of views on Youtube. The family from Northern Ontario was event invited to be interviewed on The Ellen Degeneres Show. I would say at the point you have been successful in going viral, good on yah!

Using Social Media to Honour a WW2 Veteran

Last month Harold Jellicoe Percival died peacefully at the incredible age of 99. Harold served in the RAF Bomber Command during World War II and upon his death, he had outlived all his friends and relatives, meaning he would not have anyone to honour him at his funeral. His obituary was posted in the newspaper of course and when local readers got a hold of the story out came the social media posts. Pictures were taken of the article and tweets were made wishing that people could attend his funeral, especially any service personnel. What happened after that, in my opinion, was amazing. Hundreds of citizens showed up to pay their respects to a war hero they had never even met, among them was plenty of service personnel to give Harold the proper send off her deserved. Numerous pictures were taken and uploaded to Twitter during the service showcasing how many people had come out to support the Veteran. Without social media, Harold Percival would have not been able to have anyone attend his funeral and honour him in the way he deserved. Times like these makes me very thankful for living in the 21st century.

Check out the story here and the tweets along the way: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tomphillips/a-veteran-died-with-nobody-to-attend-his-funeral-what-happen?bffb

Others discuss this incredible story too:

• Crowds turn out to mourn ‘unknown soldier’ Percival after public appeal (theguardian.com)
• Veteran’s funeral after media plea (bbc.co.uk)
• Harold Jellicoe Percival: Funeral of RAF veteran gets underway with ‘hundreds of strangers attending’ (metro.co.uk)

#ShowYouRemember

Today being Remembrance Day, I thought I would talk about the social media campaign known as #ShowYouRemember where people are encouraged to use Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Instagram to show how they remember those who fought for our freedom years ago. Whether people want to remember personal connections, a family member or friend, or just simply show their gratitude for all soldiers alike, this campaign allows for both. People have been uploading pictures and videos to various social media sites showing different ways they pay their respects, along with “tweets” or Facebook statuses all using the hashtag #ShowYouRemember. I personally love this campaign and its a great way for people to interact, share their stories and learn of others’ stories as well. In today’s society, social media is key as we all know, and sometimes it can get to be too much. Sometimes we just need to hit the “off” button and put down the technology. However, it is on days like today that social media can actually shine and be used for only good, not bad. Without these sites the ability to share Veterans’ stories and images would not exist, and what a shame that would be. It is important for everyone to take a step back at times and remember how we got to where we are today. Seeing a photo, reading a heart wrenching story, or viewing an emotional video can really make the difference sometimes.  The overwhelming about of times this hashtag has been used today to share ways in which we remember our Canadian soldiers makes me extremely proud to be Canadian. Lest We Forget.

How did you remember today? Share your stories or images with everyone here…

 

See what others are saying about Remembrance Day:

• A Time of Remembrance (teaandtreble.wordpress.com)
• This year in Canada, Remembrance Day is 95 years old (nikkeivoice.ca)
• Remembrance Day (jerri42.wordpress.com)

YouTube Videos That Lift Your Spirits!

Often times we find ourselves falling down the rabbit hole of the internet and land on random websites. Recently this happened to me, yet again, and I stumbled onto a YouTube video that completely made my day. Each year talk show host Jimmy Kimmel invites parents to tell their children they ate ALL their Halloween candy and film their reactions. This years video was so hilarious I watched it three times and laughed histarically each time. Videos like this make me very happy that social media exists today because as they say laughter is good for the soul.

Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK-oQfFToVg

(Word of advice, do not watch this video in a library because you will laugh out loud!)

 

The BBM takeover!

As most of the world is likely aware, Blackberry recently sold the rights to BBM (Blackberry Messenger) for iPhone and Android users to download. Realistically it was only out of the need to survive since Blackberry has slowly been going down the toilet, but they laid the bait and over 20 million smartphone consumers took it. Although I knew about the sale of BBM a few weeks ago, being a business student in Waterloo, I wasn’t aware of the exact date it would be available, that was until I signed onto Facebook one night and my newsfeed was COVERED in people posting their “pins” for their friends to add them to their contact list. Being an unfortunate Blackberry owner, I was over joyed to have some action on my BBM for the first time in years, but then of course came the critisicms.. “It’s just like iMessage, how stupid,” “Thanks, but absolutely not, I’ll stick to iMessage.”.. To all those nay-sayers out there, iMessage only works with iPhone users, now with BBM we can ALL be friends! Don’t get me wrong, I am VERY over my Blackberry, but BBM now being available to all will certainly make the remainder of my stay much more comfortable.

Don’t believe me? Check it out!:

• BBM adds over 20 million new users from Android, iPhone app (globalnews.ca)
• BBM clocks 20 million users on Android and iOS, within a week (thinkdigit.com)

Pinterest = the new Halloween shop

 

With Halloween right around the corner, its time for some costume shopping! Traditionally parents would take their children to a department store or a costume shop to decide what they wanted to be for the crazy night. But now with the likes of Pinterest on the rise we only have to go as far as our computers to get our ideas and if we choose, a step-by-step outline of how to create the costumes ourselves. Let’s be real here too, there is a silent satisfaction you get when someone asks you where you got your awesome costume from and you can say “Oh this old thing? I just made it myself.” Pinterest has set new standards for the creativity behind Halloween and decreased the budget. Now anyone can have an awesome DIY costume and look great for a night of trick-or-treating, or in a University student’s case, a night of party hopping to show off your get-up!

Want some Halloween inspiration? Check out these blogs:

• Halloween Inspiration (hellojennamorgan.wordpress.com)
• Halloween Costume DIY (littleofthisalittleofthat.wordpress.com)
• Halloween Makeup Ideas {Pinterest} (momathonblog.typepad.com)

To Follow or Not to Follow: That is the Question

Twitter is a great way to follow the lives of celebrities and get to know them on a personal level. Only problem is, they tweet every 5 minutes! I don’t know about anyone else, but whenever I watch a reality TV show I go on Twitter and look up all of the contestants to follow them. But now every time i go on Twitter, my entire home page is covered in Big Brother, Kardashian, and Jersey Shore news (yes I am ashamed of the last one). Don’t get me wrong, I love a good celebrity tweet, and it’s great to feel as though they are living lives just like us (even though I’m guessing they don’t have car insurance, phone bills and student loans they can’t pay!) but I could definitely use a few less tweets per hour. It gets to be too much and I forget that I have my own friends on Twitter – living, breathing people who I see on a day-to-day basis! So to all celebrity tweeters of the world, please tone it down so we can remember our own lives!

Social media and fashion, the perfect fit?

  CNBC posted an article on their website on September 9th entitled “Pin, post, tweet it: Vying for Fashion Week’s ‘it’ moment” showing the influence of social media on fashion week. Given the exclusivity of fashion week and the multiple …