‘Hunger Games’ and Social Media - A Match Made in Heaven

It's no secret that "The Hunger Games" fever is sweeping the nation at lightning speeds. With less than a week before the hugely popular book series hits the big screen, excitement for the story and its characters is at an all time high. But why has it generated so much popularity over just a few months? The answer is, of course, digital media.

Keeping in mind that teens are the majority of the series' fan base, Lionsgate has spent only $45 million on advertising and hired a tiny staff of 21 people to spread "Hunger Games" hype - through a surprisingly cheap "yearlong, four-phase digital effort" focused on young audiences. By utilizing popular media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube, and even iPhone games, Lionsgate marketing officials have carefully increased the internet buzz and have created a "box-office inferno" surrounding the upcoming movie. Considering the plot's tricky content (kids killing kids for a dystopian society's televised pleasure) and the number of fans it must satisfy, I'd say Lionsgate's marketing team is doing a pretty darn good job.

This is just another example of how important the internet has become to our society - politics, advertising, news in general is becoming increasingly dependent on new social media. What do you guys think about this? How could our obsession with the internet and social media hurt us, or help us, as a society?

Wikipedia Blacks Out

In a world where information is freely distributed and accessible, it is difficult for a majority of Americans to imagine life with a censored Internet. Wikipedia is but one of many sites to demonstrate such an inconvenience. For 24 hours from now, it intends to black out along with Reddit and more in protest of two Congressional bills, SOPA and PIPA.

The Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act were intended to combat the piracy of movies, music, and other intellectual property, a continuing problem that has cost the entertainment industry billions of dollars. Unfortunately, critics claim, the bills may not do as much good as harm. Not only would websites that shared digital content, including Youtube, Tumblr, and other social media sites, be subject to lawsuits, but search engines could be required to remove links to offending sites, effectively wiping them from the face of cyberspace.

Internet giants from Wikipedia to Google have voiced their concerns. Even White House representatives, including the U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, have responded to petitions: “While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”

Despite the attacks, authors of the bill made statements against the protest. As Rep. Lamar Smith claims, “It is ironic that a website dedicated to providing information is spreading misinformation about the Stop Online Piracy Act.” He criticized Wikipedia for “promoting fear instead of facts.”

Are Wikipedia and information sites truly doing a disservice to the world, or is their message worth spreading?

Internet Activists Aren't Done With Involvement

During his campaign, Obama managed to obtain a huge support base through the Internet. People self organized to support him on social networking sites. Now that the campaign is over, these individuals have not returned to their normal lifestyles. They want more. And Obama and his team are willing to give it to them. Obama has continued to post videos about the activities of his transition groups, while including speeches and other useful information. This is helpful because it counters the news media's 30 second sound bytes from his speeches and other addresses—Americans now have the opportunity to get the full story. And the involvement doesn't end there. Obama and his staff hope to direct this positive and hyperactive electorate energy in a positive direction. They have begun by conducting polls asking what type of involvement these activists are hoping for, along with what they feel are the most important goals for the “movement”. The general feeling about this public activism is that their energy will come from government meeting them “in the middle”. Mostly their goal for channeling this energy is to advance policy. If the electorate's Internet activism was so influential in Obama's election, hopefully their energy and influence will help his policy initiates. The hope is that there will be “a new campaign to help Barack win big changes—like health care and clean energy”. But ultimately, Obama's main purpose in his continued use of the Internet to connect with the electorate is in hopes of making government more transparent.

Has Obama already initiated the change he promised?—never before has the electorate been this excited and passionate about the possibility for reform and the capabilities of government.