Quickipedia

The world lost a luminary of television, journalism and politics earlier this month with the death of "Meet the Press" anchor Tim Russert. I first heard of Russert's passing at around 5:00 pm on June 13, as whispers spread throughout my floor at work. I assumed this was news that was just breaking, however I later learned that word first got out nearly two hours earlier.

Consider the timeframe here. Russert arrived at a Washington DC hospital at 2:23. His Wikipedia page was updated with his death at 3:01. Wow.

That seems like an incredibly short period to me, especially since NBC was making efforts to hold off on an announcement until Russert's family (abroad in Italy) could be notified. In this case, buzzings throughout the social media realm predated Russert's own network. Despite an outpouring of Twitter users discussing the matter early on, CNN's official presence on Twitter held off on its announcement until the day after Russert died.

The rapid speed at which the online community took command of this story was reminiscent of actor Heath Ledger's passing earlier this year. Everyone's favorite satirical news site, The Onion, actually wrote an article lampooning this. In 2007, the speedy dissemination of information on Wikipedia took a decidedly creepy turn when the wife of ill-fated WWE wrestler Chris Benoit was reported dead on the site hours before her body was found. Understandably, the mysterious page update became a major source of controversy - more details about which can be found here.

It goes without saying that the world of social media is reliant on speed. In an era where you can first read breaking news on Twitter, you may also find yourself discovering your friend has become engaged amongst the clutter of your Facebook newsfeed.

Is all of this impersonal? Sure. Maybe even a bit weird? You could argue that. But, as a wise friend of mine will often tell me, it is what it is. Amen.

An OnStar for every season

My first experience with OnStar was earlier this year. I was traveling through a remote part of Michigan with my roommates from school, en route to my friend Jim's family cabin on the lake. Evening was swiftly approaching. The only open shops in sight were a few elk jerky outlets, which we neglected to visit. Only two miles from the cabin, Jim made an awkward and decidedly unnecessary manuever. He drove us off the road into a snowbank. And despite our best laid efforts, we weren't going anywhere.

Happy camper -->

After coming to terms with the failure of our He-man strength, Jim consulted the OnStar button located within his father's Saturn Outlook. We were assured that help would come, but to be patient because of our off the beaten path location. With the promise of rescue, we huddled in the car and listened to the musical stylings of our beloved Carrie Underwood to pass the time. I wish I could say I was kidding, but alas I cannot.

The wait was without incident, with the exception of a creepy truck driver who stopped by our predicament at first to offer help and then to ask menacingly, "Y'all boys been drinkin?" Rest assured, partying was the last thing on our minds. Soon after when our help arrived, it was truly a beautiful sight to behold.



^ The Saturn is removed from the dark clutches of the snowbank. Why we photographed all of this, I know not.

Flash forward to summer: OnStar and I reunited earlier this week, thankfully without vehicular distress in the picture. This time, I had the opportunity to tour their command center. I was blown away by all the technology in my midst - from the giant maps that display all incoming calls throughout the country, to on-site simulation stations.



OnStar is not your mother's operator service (am I too young to use that phrase??). The center takes into consideration a variety of potential crises that could unfold, and even have an aptly-titled "situation room" to best tackle whatever, er, situations may arise. When I was there I also learned about their Stolen Vehicle Slowdown program. This initiative uses technology to literally take the speed out of vehicles that are reported stolen, making it easier for police to apprehend thieves. I see it as OnStar's way to take a bite out of crime as it were.

Whether helping foolish college students make their way out of a compromising situation, cramping the style of carjackers nationwide, or lending a hand when things take a turn for the worse on the road, I think OnStar is both a cool and progressive service and I'm glad I got to check it out first hand.

A glimpse at the future

I'm not a particularly artsy individual by any stretch. However, this has not deterred my mother from positioning humiliating childhood artwork throughout our home. Exhibit A (below): My third grade portrait of a Navajo chief that inexplicably appears to have just emerged from a cage fighting match.

<--- Why?!

Despite my shortcomings in this area, earlier this week I had the opportunity to be further humbled while watching the GM design interns at work. Each intern specializes in a specific area of design - sketching, sculpting, color, engineering, animation, etc. They are working in teams to conceptualize car models for 2020 and it is quite an operation. Participants not only hail from the US, but from India, Mexico, Russia and China as well. The communications interns are going to be working on a project for these folks, and I think they have an exciting story to tell.

I can't forget the design center itself! On the surface, the GM Technical Center in Warren, MI has the look of a college campus. However, inside is another story completely. (Disclaimer: if your college/university features top-secret cars of the future and has a strict no camera phone policy, then this blogger apologizes for misspeaking).



While I wasn't walking into an episode of "The Jetsons," the vehicles on tap for the future were profoundly cool and I got a real sense for this aspect of the automotive process. One interesting part of my tour was learning how car models are created. Did anyone know that they make life size models out of foam??? Buellar? The best part is, you would never know it based on look or feel.

It goes without saying, but the moral of the story is that if you get a chance to gain a behind the scenes peek at a center like this - GO!!! If not, you may want to brush up on those art and design skills. Who knows - maybe one day you can take a role in crafting the future Volts of the world.

As evident by my work displayed at the beginning of the post... I'm available for lessons.

Whose car is it anyway?

Yesterday, a fellow GM intern shared with me an insight from one of her college friends: "I hate the big three, so I bought a Hummer." Touche.

However, there is one glaring error in this sock-it-to-the-man stance against the likes of GM, Ford and Daimler Chrysler - Hummer is a GM product.

(http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=60627)

It is interesting how many consumers are not able to associate GM and its eight brands as related entities. I wonder if this is a Gen-Y thing. From what I gather, in past generations there was a stronger sense of familiarity with / loyalty to American automakers.

Because I have trouble pondering without action, I sent the following text message to six of my lazy, praise-seeking peers:

"This is random, but I have two questions. A) Name two General Motors vehicle brands if you can (no looking!) and B) What kid of car do you drive? I apologize for sending out awkward text messages."

The responses...

1) Female/Jeep:

"Not a clue."

2) Male/VW:

"Oldsmobile? Not sure..." (Well, up until 2004)

3) Female/Honda Civic:

"Chevy and GMC." <--- Ding! Ding! Ding!

4) Male/Honda CRV (with a sad face in reference to said vehicle):

"GM and Ford." In response to this , I will also include a sad face...

5) Male/Also a Honda CRV:

"Dodge... Chevrolet?"

6) Male/"Used to drive grandparents old Honda Civic but that died last week"
"Chevy, Pontiac, GMC, Dodge." (3/4 ain't bad... my condolences about the car)

As my elaborate study reveals, four out of six of my "subjects" were at least vaguely informed. And even if they weren't, as long as vehicles are being sold and properly promoted... is it really a bad thing that GM as a corporation sometimes takes more of a backseat in the public eye? Any thoughts on this?

How to suceed in Twitter without really trying

Deceptively simple, the micro-blogging site Twitter asks only one question of its users: What are you doing? The response to this question, known as a "tweet," is then sent out to your network of followers and everyone is up to date on each other's activities. However, you didn't come here for a tutorial (which coincidentally can be found here).

I suppose I expected Twitter to be more complicated. Yet, like so much of today's social media, it is grounded in a profoundly simple concept. The basic notion of keeping your friends aware of what you're up to is similarly illustrated in other social media (see: Facebook below).

So, who's using it? Apart from the obligatory social media buffs and perhaps the overly narcissistic, Twitter is being used across the board. This includes corporations and even politicians. Today, during my internship at General Motors, I was able to discuss topics ranging from ethanol to safety measures with users by tweeting back and forth.

It seems Twitter has even come into play under particularly dire circumstances. This article explores how it was used in the midst of the recent earthquakes in China - besting even the speediest media outlets in on-the-scene reporting. In this video, a security consultant advises using Twitter to alert your family members in the event of a disaster.

Ultimately, it's unclear if Twitter will ever be commonly used as an alert device in the face of burglars, forces of nature, etc. However, one thing seems more likely. It's going to be around until the fat lady tweets.

IDK, my bff Facebook

The day has come. My 14-year-old cousin is a registered Facebook user.













<--- My dismay



It seems Myspace's reign as the exclusive online tween haven is over. To think, college upperclassmen like myself can remember a day where one dared not pass go and collect $200 at the Facebook gates under the ripe age of 18.

And while I'd rather young Laura spend her days contemplating what hijinks the "High School Musical" cast is up to - can you really blame her? As social media continues its rapid expansion to all corners of the web, it is only natural that an expanding user base will follow.

College kids can be protective over Facebook. What was once ours is now, well, everyone's. By the time one is done de-tagging a mortifying spring break photo so their boss doesn't see it, they very well could have a request to join the Facebook "Oregon Trail" wagon of a good friend's mom (yes, I received said request).

Sure, Facebook is a generic place to start looking at all of this. After all, it's everywhere - 19,589 articles on Google News have contained a reference to the medium in the past 24 hours. But the Book is far from alone - having joined seven additional social media outlets in the past week, I still feel as though I've only scraped the surface of what's out there.

This summer I am taking on the role of a social media intern for a major corporation. In this blog, I will share my observations and findings - the innovative, the interesting, the weird, the wacky, the useful and the useless.

These are the impressions of an ordinairy young man descending into social media nerddom. Annnnd we're off.