Social Media Update – March 23, 2011

Good morning. Social media being used for social good is nothing new, but still very cool. Beremedy is an organization that utilizes social media to help those in need. The company was founded after the 2009 Atlanta floods and uses social tools to bring a human element to each individual story. The power to humanize and spread the need makes each case unique, and brings light to an issue that would have been dealt with on a much smaller level without the reach of social media. An interesting clash between the old school and new has shown up in the form of a twitter account. The @FreeNYTimes twitter account allows people to consume the New York Times articles without having to subscribe to the publication online. This is obviously an issue for the NYT as they are looking for revenue from their site as news papers lose market share. The Times filed a trademark infringement complaint with Twitter in hopes of getting the profile shut down. Just as soon as you thought you heard enough from Groupon, their President announced he’ll be stepping down due to the explosive size of the company. I’m not buying the reasoning, but this may be a solid move for a company with such a large global growth potential. Enjoy.

I. Company uses social media to streamline compassion, cnn.com, March 21, 2011
II. New York Times Asks Twitter to Disable Paywall-Jumping Feed, mashable.com, March 21, 2011
III. Groupon President Stepping Down, wsj.com, March 22, 2011
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I. Company uses social media to streamline compassion, cnn.com, March 21, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/03/20/social.media.charity/index.html
A pile of red, white and blue blankets on the cold, linoleum floor.
This is how Kecia Cruz’s 20-year old son had been sleeping since returning to live with his mother nearly two weeks ago. A family with a past — Cruz has served time in prison and her son is a recovering methadone addict.

II. New York Times Asks Twitter to Disable Paywall-Jumping Feed, mashable.com, March 21, 2011
http://mashable.com/2011/03/22/nyt-twitter-feed/
Think you’re pretty smart, figuring out a way to get around that 20-article limit The New York Times will begin imposing in the U.S. next Monday (3/28)? Not so fast. In the new paywall scheme, if you get to a Times article by following a link, it doesn’t count against the 20 articles you can read for free before you have to pay a monthly subscription fee. That’s where Twitter feed @FreeNYTimes could come in handy, linking to every single New York Times article so people can use Twitter as a free jumping-off spot

III. Groupon President Stepping Down, wsj.com, March 22, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703921204576217290662981546.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsFifth
Groupon Inc.’s president and chief operating officer, Rob Solomon, is stepping down as the Internet company remakes itself from a small startup to a major online player.
The move comes as Groupon, which offers group discount deals, has experienced explosive growth. Mr. Solomon, a Silicon Valley veteran who joined the company a year ago, said in an interview he is stepping down partly because “Groupon got really big.” When he joined the company a year ago, the company had 200 employees, but today it has some 6,000, he said.