Gaga is there not just because of the $90 million she earned with a monster tour, but also because of her 32 million Facebook fans and 10 [...]]]>

Image via Wikipedia

Been reading up about social media fun and games today with celebs being the key focus after Lady Gaga made the top of the Forbes 100 celeb list

Gaga is there not just because of the $90 million she earned with a monster tour, but also because of her 32 million Facebook fans and 10 million Twitter followers–aka Little Monsters–who helped move 1 million digital downloads of her recent single “Born This Way” in only five days.

And Mama Monster follows back over 143,000 people – wouldn’t want to read that feed ;D.

Then compare that with the work of Wayne Rooney. The Man U star, who has 583,378 followers but only follows 34, got into a row with a troll.

The guy – whose account has since been deleted- said: “Rooney ya fat whore ill smash ya head in with a pitchin  wedge an bury ya with a ballast fork ya fat ugly lil nonse.”

Clearly an idiot who doesn’t deserve anyone’s time or space.

But, it started a back and forth:

It ends up with Rooney saying it is banter.

Banter is one thing, but this is a slanging match that reminds me of Axel Rose and his infamous “Get in the ring” episode – which just made him look like a fool. And Rooney fares no better. Given Wayne is noted for his prowess with the ball not the web is one thing, but being a face in public is something that needs a bit more thought.

If you are going to use social media and be in the public domain you are going to get people who don’t like you or your brand, but there are ways to deal with this. Something we all need to think about whether we are in media, education or not.

And getting the best out of social media isn’t about having a pop at people – something I touched on in an earlier post about digital literacy for stuents and lecturers.

So, maybe it’s less of a case of get in the ring and more a case of get in the conversation.

An interesting idea which allows you to create your own books from wikipedia pages and have them printed up in a proper, old-school book format – none of this iPhone/iPad appery-pokery.

I picked up this post via Lost Remote, who have indeed collated (or curated as they put it) their

I picked up this post via Lost Remote, who have indeed collated (or curated as they put it) their own book on the media from wikipedia pages.

Quite simple really – there’s a tool called book creator in wikipedia (I’d missed this) which can then be sent to Pediapress

Some interesting posibilities here for quick heads up books based around topics, and at $9 per 100 pages it is a pretty good deal (although obviously there is then postage). You can download, share and encourage others to buy it.

Is it any good? Well, that depends on your take on the usefulness of wikipedia vs traditional forms of encyclopedia. But an interesting way of gathering together content for a course primer.

Slightly different take on the custom primer currently doing the rounds, but an interesting idea.

Alison, who blogs over at Headlines and Deadlines, has taken a look at the cycle from gathering to publication and follow-up and comparing web 1.0 to web 2.0.

I had no idea when I started doing this how [...]]]> Spot of essential reading from Alison Gow for anyone interested in journalism, education or journalism education.

Alison, who blogs over at Headlines and Deadlines, has taken a look at the cycle from gathering to publication and follow-up and comparing web 1.0 to web 2.0.

I had no idea when I started doing this how thin the ‘old’ opportunities for investigating stories would look compared to the tools at our disposal now; it’s quite stark really. It drives home just how important mastering these tools is for journalists as our industry continues to develop and change.

Headlines and Deadlines

This is a quote you will see all over the place (Paul Bradshaw switched me on to this via his Twitter stream and he used this quote in his blog post) – because it is very astute. The Web 2.0 services Alison talks about are important tools that are vital to all sorts of people – you’ll see the same things being talked about in edupunk, eduwomble, PLE, loosely-coupled teaching.

Alison’s point is major – things have changed in a major way and educators need to understand we are getting the point. I’m in the middle of putting together resources on Web 2.0 for my students, so this has been a great little fillip for me.

If you don’t get why WEb 2.0 is such a big deal here’s a a video by Digital Ethnographer Dr. Michael Wesch.