How Obama Won the Social Media Battle in the 2012 Presidential Campaign

obama twitter

The 2008 Obama Presidential campaign made history.  Not only was Obama the first African American to be elected president, but he was also the first presidential candidate to effectively use social media as a major campaign strategy. It’s easy to forget, given how ubiquitous social media is … [Read more...]

Fake and Funny: Twitter as Interactive Performance Art

Best-Fake-Twitter-Accounts

In spite of Facebook’s prominence in the social media ecosystem, Twitter is becoming a central source for breaking news. From natural disasters to political campaigning, Twitter delivers real time messaging that have a sense of immediacy. But the characteristics of Twitter also open the doors to a … [Read more...]

The Chris Brown Rule: Think Before Tweeting @#!!

Chris Brown Twitter

Some celebrities are masters at using Twitter to build a fan base.  Others, like Chris Brown, suffer from not understanding the potential impact of failing to think first, tweet second. Social media give celebrities great platforms for building a fan base.  They have wide distribution as … [Read more...]

The Positive Side of Video Games: Part III

2012-08-26 spiral

Many people have the image of video games as socially isolating, if not psychologically addicting. Yet, like my friend Kristin demonstrated when she joined her son in the online game Wizard101 (see part 1), video games can connect families and friends across time and distances. In my last post, … [Read more...]

Self-Efficacy and Problem-Solving in Video Games: Part I

2012-08-25-casting-spell-w101

Worried About Video Games? It's time to exhale. Video games often get a bad rap, but it’s time we give them a little more credit. Video games and interactive media can have a positive impact on self-efficacy which increases resilience, optimism, and motivation. In this and the following two posts … [Read more...]