Social Media: Lasting or Leaving?

The weather is fine. No, it's not fine, it is perfect. The sun is finally up, you can keep your coat inside, while you go outside and enjoy the perfect weather conditions.

With this kind of weather, all you wanna do is go outside and have a drink or a refreshing ice cream, right? Yes, that was what I thought yesterday. I went out for a drink with a friend and we talked about all kind of things varying from family to clothes to my blog. My friend told me she takes a look at my blog every two weeks and enjoyed reading it (thank you for that by the way - or for being a terrific liar ;)). However, she said she was unsure of the power that Social Media have. Are Social Media really 'the next big thing' ? And will they last? Well, I believe that Social Media will last. They might evolve, but the basic concept of a group of people, being connected in a different way that being together fysically, will definitely last. To find evidence for my notion, I searched the web and found a nice video about the power of Social Media. I would to share this video with you all.

You can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm9GxGbZKvI

Media Me - Politicians and their social media use

Rtl is organizing a political debate on Twitter, led by journalist Frits Wester. He will ask the political candidates some questions, which he received from the audience. Due to the maximum number of words, questions have to be asked using 140 words maximum. The same goes for the answers from the politicians. Unique about this debate is that the broadcasting station will only use Twitter. Dutch broadcasting stations have used Twitter before, but they always combined it with an actual television programm, Twitter has never been used exclusively.

Harm Hasselaar, who is the editor in chief of RTL Nieuws, states that nowadays social media are taking a prominent spot within the landscape of news. The debate can be seen as a special way to contact the viewers of RTL with politicians

(Source: Emerce.nl)

It appears that the debate, which will be held on the 2nd of June, will comprise the first actual "political" Tweets of some politicians. According to media expert Jasper van Gils, most politicians mainly use social media to talk about personal things, like putting the children to bed. Their political message does not come across. Van Gils also notices that politicians use Twitter to attack each other and debate with one another, in stead of using this social medium to connect with their (potential) voters. According to the media expert, politicians should use social media to present their points of view in a clear way and provide their voter with arguments. "Internet should be an extension of their campaigns. In that way interactivity can arise between the voter and the politician, which brings politics closer to the citizen. That is what politicians want to accomplish with the use of social media, right?" (Source: RTL.nl).

I have no desire to repudiate the media expert. However, I was wondering why politicians would mainly use Twitter for personal messages? It is highly impossible that they are unaware of it or do this without any purpose. I believe politicians are 'revealing' some things from their personal life in order to work on their image. A lot of female voters might be sensitive for - the perfect daddy - act. Besides, if Jan Peter tweets he just put his children to bed, he must be a true family man, right? A man, who strives for family values (what a coincidence). It all revolves around image building. But how about using Twitter to attack the competition? Well, with a medium that does not require face to face contact and does not require you to directly provide an answer, it is a lot easier to come up with a good, striking argument or an insult. Twitter may be seen as a medium that allows you to react instantly, it is still different from being faced with an insult form a person in the same room and having to come up with an answer instantly, while a camera is constantly zooming in on your face.

I am very curious about the 2nd of June and how that is gonna work out. Will these politicians still be able to come up with some great statements, while being held under pressure by the stopwatch Frits Wester has? And will they be able to keep up their good standards and values, keeping their 'personally created image' off the ground?

Bits of Best Bites

"Our amazing cows. I wish I had such beautifull eyelashes" was the answer Marijke Helwegen gave when she was asked wat she liked about Holland. Best Bites, a magazine that is created to celebrate 'The 'Week of the Magazine' is filled with statements like these.
When I was heading to the train this morning, I decided to grab a cup of tea on my way. A cup of tea led to a cup of tea and some chocolate chip cookies, which led to a cup of tea, some chocolate chip cookies and a magazine. After completing my - I can go back to my journey now -survival kit, there was just one thing I had to do: I had to pay for it. Well, you all know that paying is not exactly my favourite part of buying things, but a pleasant surprise was waiting for me. Even though I still had to pay (shoot), I got a free magazine called *surprise, suprise*: Best Bites!

This magazine contains statements from 306 famous Dutch people. All these 306 people were asked to think about what they liked/loved about Holland and what they disliked/hated about our little country. I read the magazine in the train and was pleasantly surprised by its design and some quotes in it.

Not all quotes were all that interesting however. Turns out 80% of all Dutch people seem to agree on what is good ánd Dutch and what is not so good, yet still Dutch. After reading the 50th quoted that revolved around the same issue, you get kind of bored. However, 20% still remains interesting. Here is the quote I liked the most:

Susan Smit, a famous writer, stated that things she disliked about Holland/the Dutch culture are: "Giving your opinion without nuance, without arguments, without being properly informed. While having antipathy for those intellectual people our country has. Everything belongs to the elite according to people who do not want to be a student in/of life."

Hungry for some more bites?

Click on the pictures I placed in this blog. You'll find some nice example Bites there.

So...here I have this magazine that I got for free and that I was quite enthousiastic about, but what does it have to do with social media? Well, I started to google 'Best Bites' and found a website where they have a 'Best Bites'-election. You can vote for the Bite you liked the most and win a price by doing so. A good combination of an old, traditional medium and a new, social medium.

PS: Feeling lucky? Visit http://www.weekvanhettijdschrift.nl/ ...Best of Bites to You!