Online Dating- Scanning for Sexual Assault Offenders

Online dating is one of the ways to using social media to meet a significant other.  This has been around for several years now and it is growing rapidly throughout the recent years. I know a few people that have used an online dating site to meet someone and now have exceptional marriages. Online dating is not for everyone, but it sure makes everyone think about how much is really the truth and what the user is holding back.  I found this article on mashable.com talking about this very topic.

 

The article talks about how this this subject came about.  A woman met a man using match.com and had a few good dates, but on the second date the man followed her home and raped her.  She later found out this man had 6 convictions of sexual battery.

Should sites like match.com or eharmony scan their users for sexual assault history?

In my opinion I think this is a definite YES!  Scanning for assault history will help in several ways.  For one it will prevent past offenders from joining the site because they know they will be scanned and prevented from using the site.  Secondly this will prevent future attacks because their will be no connection within the individuals that have a history. 

What do you all think about the new scanning process for online dating sites?  Do you think it will have a positive impact?

http://mashable.com/2011/04/19/match-com-screening-sexual-offenses/

How much should someone Tweet???

After scrolling through my twitter feed today I became annoyed by a few celebrities that I follow. 

Anyone want to guess??? 

The Kardashians…(Kim and Khloe mostly) I will admit I am a devoted fan of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” and “Kim and Kourtney Take New York”, but when it comes to following the adored Kardashians on Twitter it gets a little out of hand. 

So that leads to my next question.  How many tweets are too many on a daily basis?  I am sure everyone has a different answer, but I found an article that gives a pretty good explanation of how often a person should tweet.  

Tom Fronczak states that people can tweet however much they want, but focus on quality versus quantity.  Throughout the article he gives a few pointers that I will call Twitter Etiquette.

Twitter Etiquette:

1.Do not post more than 2 times per hour

2. Preferable only 1 time every 2 hours

3. Only 4-8 tweets per day

I have only been a Twitter user for about a month now, but I know when too much is too much.  If I had to estimate how many times Khloe and Kim Kardashian tweet a day it would probably be between 30-40 tweets each.  That is definitely breaking all 3 of the etiquette rules. 

Who do you follow on Twitter that over do the Tweets?

April Fools

A few days ago on April 1^st we all experienced April Fools day.  Where family and friends try to trick each other or play a prank for a couple of good laughs.  This year along with past years Google played an April Fools joke on the world.  

They created an advertisement for their “new” product “Gmail Motion”.  This product was said to be a new technology that does not require obsolete technology such as a mouse and keyboard to write, compose, or reply to emails: you can do all of those simply by moving your body.   

After watching the video and reading a little more about the product it interested consumers enough to push “Try Gmail Motion” and an April Fools scree would pop up. 

This was a great prank for Google!  After reading about Google pranks, I found that Google allows almost all of their employees to create an April Fools prank.  I could not find any data saying how many people actually fell for the joke, but I am sure quite a few did.  This is a great way to keep employees interested and share a few laughs with the world.   

Charlie Sheen’s Internship

We all have heard about the latest drama with Charlie Sheen.  Ranging from being fired from Warner Brothers, losing his job on Two and a Half Men and his outrageous interview on 60 minutes, he has had a lot going on.  A few weeks ago he posted an internship opportunity on internships.com for a social media intern to become a part of Team Sheen.  The position’s qualifications were a “Winning intern with TigerBlood”.  A total of 74,040 applicants applied for Sheens internship. 

One of Sheen’s goals for the internship was “to build on the success Charlie Sheen has attained in setting the Guinness World Record for fasted time to reach one million followers on Twitter”.  Sounds like a fun internship opportunity huh???  74,000 other applicants thought so as well. 

Charlie Sheen has definitely made a name for himself via social media.  Know with a summer intern he will expand his social media presence and keep his “fans” interested.  Who knows what Charlie will do next… I guess we will just have to wait and see!!!

In a Relationship With…

Has anyone ever noticed how painful it is changing your relationship status on Facebook? 

One of my friends recently had to go through this torturous process.  Within just a few clicks of a mouse the whole Facebook world knows your “picture perfect” relationship is OVER.  Changing your relationship status it like “rubbing salt on a bad wound”.  It gives everyone a chance to comment good or bad on the past relationship.  For the person being broken up with it is especially hard!  Once you see that your past boyfriend/girlfriend is now “single” in black in white on your screen, it makes the healing process even harder. It also gives people the chance to stalk their ex’s every move, which can make getting over an individual especially difficult. Facebook is also often used as a tool to create jealously for the other party. All it takes is one “Hey…I had fun last night” post from an unknown friend to drive the breaker-upper or the breaker-uppee go insane.

In my opinion the mourning process has to have been a lot easier in the past before Facebook relationship statuses.  Everyone has experienced this painful breakup process over Facebook.  Or has probably used Facebook to make the other person jealous in some way.  What do you fellow stalkers think???

Social Media Experts???

 I know most of you fellow bloggers are soon to be graduates from WKU in May.  A lot of you, as well as myself have already started the job search process, which we know is very stressful.  It is even more aggravating when I see a job ad for a marketing or communication position that says, social media EXPERT 3-5 year’s experience. 

During class today, Professor Phillips mentioned businesses looking for social media experts to boost their online social media.  But, as we all know, social media is only about a decade old. 

That gets down to my questions… Who really is a social media expert? 

We all are up-to-date with Facebook and Twitter and probably a few other social media sites, but does that necessarily make us a social media expert?  In my opinion I do not think so.  We all know how to use social media to connect with friends, family and update posts, but will that help us in the working world? 

I think after taking this social media marketing class we will not necessarily be able to call ourselves EXPERTS, but I definitely think we will be ADVANCED in social media. Professor Phillips mentioned today, social media is so new and changing so quickly, I think experts in this field are scarce.  Keeping up with social media is a daily procedure especially since there are new social media outlets being invented all the time.  This course is definitely giving us, as soon to be graduates, an advantage in the working world.  We will be up to date on a lot of new media outlets, experienced in blogging and professional networking sites.

 Good luck Job Searching! 

How Young is Too Young?

I was researching social networking for this weeks post and come upon this article about age restrictions for social media sites. 

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-11-02/tech/kids.social.networks_1_social-networking-sites-social-networking-facebook?_s=PM:TECH

 The articles talks about the age restrictions on sites like Facebook and Myspace.  The age limit is 13 years old for both Facebook and Myspace.  But, these sites do not have any way of checking the ages of the children to see if they really are of the “legal age” for the sites.

Now knowing that kids can have a social media account at who knows what age makes it kind of scary.  The Internet is a great device, but it is also filled with horrible websites and awful people.  I found several articles discussing cyber-bullying, which is harassment and directly attacking the person online.  One in five kids are bullied while online and teen suicide can be a direct result of the bullying.

My advice is to keep our younger brothers and sisters safe from dangerous sites online.  Be attentive of the social media they are involved in and what is being said on these sites.  Social media sites such as Facebook and Myspace are not always bad for kids, but they need to be using it properly.  Keep privacy settings updated, be their “friend” and know their passwords are little pieces of advice these websites were giving to keep parents and older siblings up to date.

Lastly, I saw a TV show the other day about a 14 or 15-year-old girl who killed herself because a “boy” she liked started bullying her on Myspace.  Come to find out the “boy” was a grown women whose daughter was being bullied by the young girl who killed herself.  The women made herself seem like a “cute boy” so she could get back at the girl for being mean to her daughter.  After seeing this show I was in complete shock.  I could not believe a grown woman would do such a thing. This example gives even more reason for parents to be aware of their child’s use of social media.