During the Holiday season, almost all companies have only one thing on their mind: SALES. Anything that can profit their business or boost their revenue is essential. The National Retail Federation predicted sales in November and December to go up 3.7% to $630.7 billion. Although it is an increase, a challenging Holiday season is still expected. Companies must be willing to use all the tools they have accessible to them in order to drive their sales. Social media has become one of the most dominant tools in sales and can be used to their advantage. Janet Fous, a social media... Continue reading

Social media has transformed the way we work on a day to day basis. The various platforms are not only meant to make your job easier, but to better perform as an employee and as a team. While the features and function continue to grow, the role of social media grows stronger. The benefits of social media in the workplace can be broken down into many different examples: 1. Many organizations have built internal social network services for employees to communicate with one another if there is an issue with a client, an issue with a task, or for a... Continue reading

Geofeedia, a location-based social media monitoring platform, is being used by journalists to locate real-time photos and tweets where news breaks. Contrary to normal news situations, reporters usually rely on text searches like names of places, keywords, and hashtags. An issue with this is that it's time consuming and you have to sort through all the conversations from people who aren't at the scene. With Geofeedia, it enables location-based searches for social media content. The app will work through social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Picasa, Flickr, and YouTube to find the latest geotagged content. Phil Harris, CEO of... Continue reading

In a century when news is being watched on computers, iPads, and smartphones, the new Breaking News app by NBC News is providing immediate coverage of breaking stories happening both internationally and right in your own neighborhood. The app, where overall visits are up 50 percent from January to October, sources the Web for news and then sends out alerts about it. Cory Bergman, co-founder and gm of the app, says that the goal for Breaking News is, "Did we target this person with something new they need to know right now?" He went on to say, “By really focusing... Continue reading

With a potential of reaching $327 billion by 2020, the Islamic fashion industry is on the rise at a rapid pace. According to a report by Thomas Reuters and Dinar Standard, a Muslim market research found that 1.6 billion Muslim consumers spent $266 billion on clothes in 2013. This number is only expected to grow, with the projection to spend $484 billion by 2019. H&M's new fall collection features a young Muslim girl sporting a white checkered hijab who unveiled the brand's latest collection. Twitter posts reacted to their campaign in admiration and praise, with comments like: "how rare it... Continue reading

Sometimes the fashion brands need a little help to make them stand out over the rest. It's more than just a new burgundy suede bag or a vintage moto jacket. New marketing techniques are being used by some of the big time fashion empires to enhance their already creative images. During October's long awaited fashion week, the season had a different focus of not just the clothes, but of social media channels. There weren't only photographers snapping photos of the models, but models snapping photos of the photographers, the audience, and themselves. Dolce & Gabbana's latest runway show featured models... Continue reading

Although Twitter and Facebook are two entirely different social media sites, many of their users demonstrate common habits in how they use the sites. The way each site portrays news stories is also very different, with Twitter using the live-streaming app Periscope and Facebook using Instant Articles. In a recent report done by Pew Research Center, 59% of news users say that they use Twitter to keep up with a news event as it is happening, while 31% say they use Facebook. That is almost double the rate among Facebook news users and roughly a six-in-ten ratio. There is a... Continue reading

YouTube announced that it will be making it easier for viewers to buy items that are being shown in its videos. Soon, they will have shopping ads based on the items that are being shown in the videos. Google, who owns YouTube, says that there are over 1 million channels with product reviews which attract a huge audience. Diya Jolly, YouTube's head of advertising, says: “Now advertisers can reach users at the point where it benefits the user the most—when they’re looking for something. And it will benefit advertisers as well, because they’re getting information in front of users when... Continue reading

Even though BuzzFeed strives to make itself more than just a list and quiz filled website, many of the organizations journalists are finding their posts being deleted for different reasons. The American news media company describes itself as "the social news and entertainment company" as it "redefines online advertising with its social, content-driven publishing technology." They also believe that, (Image taken from Huffington Post) "BuzzFeed provides the most shareable breaking news, original reporting, entertainment, and video across the social web to its global audience of more than 200M." Ironically enough, their "shareable breaking news" and "original reporting" are argued to... Continue reading

(Image taken from @NBCNewsConnect Twitter page) NBCUniversal News Group has many different platforms under it, including NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC. With hundreds of stories published every day, it gets easy for stories to get lost across the organization. With their newest development, NewsConnect, it allows staffers to share information and update stories instantly. The senior vice president of NBC News specials, Mark Lukasiewicz, stated: “We have so many platforms and we are putting out our journalism in so many ways that you can’t know how your information might be relevant to somebody else in their work, and you can’t... Continue reading

Facebook has rolled out their own new app, Mentions, to help reporters share their work. The app, which was originally developed for verified pages of celebrities, athletes, and big brands, is now being opened up to "public people with verified profiles," including journalists. Mentions allows you to track mentions of yourself, choose people and topics to follow, and also enables you to shoot and share live video from the app. Journalists can report live from a scene and take any questions that their readers may have. Tech2 news staff states, "Facebook wants more and more journalists to use its platform... Continue reading

According to a report made by the Indiana University School of Journalism, new data shows the important use of social media for journalists for not only getting their news, but for self-promoting themselves and sharing their work as well. The Washington Post shows how the impact of the internet has grown drastically, where 40 percent of the journalists studied said that social media sites are crucial for their work. Over a third also said that they spend 30 to 60 minutes on social media websites a day. Twitter, which is considered a microblog, was seen to be used by more... Continue reading

Internet and social media sites in Venezuela have added a greater number of users per capita than any other Latin American country in the last year. The news sites have helped fill a gap since President Nicolás Maduro's leftist government has taken over three major independent news outlets and have retaliated against critical coverage. After the sale of Globovision, Venezuela's last major television station critical of the government, citizens fear that their freedom of expression will be seriously censored. The new owners are businessmen who are believed to have ties to the government of Maduro. Carlos Lauria, a senior program... Continue reading

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has been restricting media's freedom of expression by making it impossible for independent publications to report critically about his government and limiting access to newsprint. Over the next few weeks, at least five newspapers are expected to shut down because of Maduro's policies. El Correo del Caroní, El Impulso, El Carabobeno, El Nacional and El Regional del Zulia have all announced they will be forced to stop publishing. After former President Hugo Chávez died in 2013, his successor, Maduro, is seen to practice similar patterns of excessive government involvement in private press affairs. His administration monitored... Continue reading

Two Al Jazeera journalists, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, are awaiting retrial after being imprisoned in Cairo on terrorism related charges. Fahmy and Mohamed went to trial two times before this last session where both were adjourned. The most recent trial was postponed because the witnesses failed to attend court for the second hearing in a row. Australian Al Jazeera reporter Peter Greste was also involved in the case and was imprisoned for 400 days before being released on February 1st and sent back to Australia. The three reporters were detained in December 2013 where they were convicted of spreading... Continue reading

After a deadly militant attack against Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai peninsula, the Egyptian media promised that they would refrain from criticism of the government. Egyptian media is one of the most influential and widely-read in the region, with television as their most popular source of the news. There is a huge political divide in the media where non-state outlets side with the liberal and secular position while Islamic media stand behind ousted President, Mohammad Morsi. Mr. Morsi's supporters are "quick to attack media and journalists" and have a huge support with the Muslim Brotherhood. The attack back in October... Continue reading

A free media has been one of the greatest achievements for Afghanistan after its Taliban rule has ended in 2001. Its newly found freedom of speech has not guaranteed safety for journalists and media workers though, but has provoked more violence. Many news reporters feel pressured by the government to self-censor themselves to avoid any kind of complication or life-threatening action. Abdul Mujeeb Khalvatgar, Nai's executive director, said, "There is no doubt that things are getting worse." Incidences of violence, threats, and intimidation were up 65 percent in 2014 compared to its previous year. Human Rights Watch released a 48... Continue reading

Afghan media advocacy organization, Nai, reported that 2014 was the most violent year recorded for journalists in Afghanistan. Attacks were up by 64 percent since 2013 and growing intimidation from state and non-state figures threatened media workers and journalists. A tremendous lack of government protection and international support are also influencing the lack of media freedom in Afghanistan, with a failure to prosecute those responsible. A journalist from Patika province who reported on an attack on Afghan security base that killed two officers said: “The governor told me in the presence of everyone: ‘Why have you reported on this? …... Continue reading

Nerlita Ledesma, a journalist for Filipino tabloid Abante, was gunned down and killed on January 8, 2015 while she was on her way to work. The attack took place one day after the attack on the French satirical magazine which was uncommon among French media, but sadly more routine in the Philippines. The International Federation of Journalists Asia pacific acting director Jane Worthington said: "Nerlita Ledesma’s death is shocking and disturbing and marks a tragic beginning for the year for the country’s media. The IFJ offers its sympathies to her families and calls on the Philippine authorities to conduct a... Continue reading

According to BBC News and Internet World Stats, there were 44.2 million internet users in the Philippines by the end of 2013. Laws like the cyber crime law were developed in order for the government to prevent cybersex, online child pornography, spamming and identity theft. The law also allows the government to seize any kind of information from an online account if online libel is suspected. Philippines is one of the many countries that prosecutes its people under the offense of defamation. Press freedom is guaranteed under the constitution yet violence against media workers is growing. VPN Creative writer Paul... Continue reading

Croatia had officially became the 28th member of the European Union in 2013 but its media censorship remained. The European Commission believes that freedom of expression is a "key indicator" for a country's readiness to join the union. Croatia jumped ranks to 49 out of 150, 1 being the the most censorship free media country. The EU constitution grants freedom of expression and the press, requiring that all countries involved oblige to those terms. Croatia, which still faces serious censorship and corruption, has seriously improved its freedom of expression. Croatia has no banned gay pride parades or gay freedom of... Continue reading

Croatian journalists Slavica Lukić and Vladimir Matijanić were convicted for criminal insult and defamation, based on Croatian government ruling. Despite their reporting on public interests, the government felt that the journalists were "shaming" and "insulting" the government. The new law of the criminal offense, "humiliation," severely threatens journalists and their freedom of speech. OSCE representative Dunja Mijatović expresses her concern: "Free speech should not be subject to criminal charges of any kind. My Office consistently advocates for the full decriminalization of defamation in all OSCE participating States.” According to the Croatian Journalist Association, there are over 40 cases that are... Continue reading

After six independent Ethiopian print publications closed in the past year due to government harassment, many fear that the harsh restrictions within their media will greatly impact the May elections. According to Human Rights Watch, At least 22 journalists, bloggers, and publishers were criminally charged and over 30 journalists fled the country in fear of being arrested under repressive laws. As the May elections approach, deputy Africa director Leslie Lufkow speaks of her concern about the public being misinformed: "Ethiopia’s government has systematically assaulted the country’s independent voices, treating the media as a threat rather than a valued source of... Continue reading