Norway ‘Wears the Pants’ in Vancouver

By: Steve Retka

Now that the 2010 Winter Olympics have come to a close, we’re left with a lot of lasting images. We saw a game-winning goal in overtime from Team Canada for the gold medal in hockey, and figure-skater Joannie Rochette win the bronze while dealing with the death of her mother. But there was one image in particular that captivated many people throughout the games...the checkered pants worn by Norway’s men’s curling team.

But are pants even worth discussing? Well, considering a quick Google search of “Team Norway’s pants” garners nearly 1.5 million hits, it’s worth examining. Facebook even has a Fan Page dedicated to the pants. Even more surprising, the page has over 580,000 fans, and that number continues to grow.

These huge numbers show that these pants have not only become a cultural sensation, but that they have pushed the sport of curling into the spotlight. Curling, which in the past has had to endure both limited national attention and being the butt of many jokes, received a big media boost due to the pants.

To tell the truth, I myself had never watched a single curling match before these games, and was really only interested in seeing the pants which seemed to be dominating the headlines. But once I started watching, I actually became fascinated with it and watched all of the remaining curling matches. And while this is of course just one example, it does show the power of the media.

Team Norway’s Chris Svae, who picked out the pants himself, feels the pants have been an overwhelming success, saying “It's bringing attention to curling back home in Norway more than usual."

So while the pants may just be a gimmick, it’s proven effective in raising awareness of the often-overlooked event. It will be even more interesting to see how social media embraces events like these in future Olympics.

YouTube U

By Steve Retka

As spring approaches, many high school students will really start to focus heavily on the ever-frustrating college application process. It’s a time of essay questions and standardized test scores. But aside from filling in the seemingly endless stream of bubbles on the SAT or ACT, Tufts University is turning to YouTube to offer applicants another option.

Yes, college hopefuls can now supplement their applications to Tufts with one-minute YouTube videos. Aside from the running time, the videos themselves don’t seem to have any guidelines. Lee Coffins, the dean of undergraduate admissions at Tufts, told the New York Times that the videos “let them share their voice.” The 1,000 videos reportedly already submitted have ranged from simple conversations with the camera to day-in-life videos to clips showcasing various talents.

I myself have mixed feelings on this development, but I’ll start with the positives. I agree with both the Mashable.com and New York Times articles that this is a very creative addition to the application process. I also agree that these clips can help show a different side of an individual not seen in test scores or essays.

However, let’s not forget that there are some potential pitfalls here. While the YouTube service is obviously available to anyone regardless of their economic state, video production equipment and editing software isn’t quite as easy to get your hands on. Granted, most laptops and computers come equipped with iMovie or FinalCut Pro, but there are better programs out there with better editing capabilities. Not to mention an applicant’s video will look much better shot with a fancy, high-definition camera versus their parents’ camcorder from 1993.

Now I know that there isn’t a ton of weight placed on these optional videos, and that the university has stated that not submitting a video (or submitting a bad one) won’t hurt an applicant’s chances, but it’s possible that someone with the money to buy a state-of-the-art camera or editing software will get in, who otherwise wouldn’t quite have enough to make. While that alone isn’t all that bad, what about the student who they edged out?

I would just hate to see students who work hard throughout high school not get accepted while students who slack off or don’t take it seriously get in due to a popular or well-put together video. I’m aware that this isn’t a huge concern right now, since this is the first university to officially offer this option, but this is a growing trend in the application process and should be considered.

Regardless, this goes to show that not only has YouTube become an online phenomenon in it’s brief 5-year history, but that it continues to influence the visual culture we live in today.

Google Continues to Energize 2010

By Steve Retka:

Google has refused to allow itself to be pushed out of the limelight in 2010. The media storm started in January when Google surprisingly aired a commercial during the Superbowl, and gained even more steam with the successful launch of its social network Google Buzz on February 9th. The very next day Google raised eyebrows with its announcement that it would offer ultrahigh-speed Internet access in some communities to test the possibilities of faster broadband networks in the United States.

And it appears as though the storm is about to surge again, because on February 18th, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given Google subsidiary Google Energy the thumbs-up to buy and sell electricity in bulk like any other utility company.

Now before we hail Google as the next great empire of our generation, we need to take a step back and really examine the repercussions of this latest weapon in Google’s already potent arsenal.

Does this mean that Google is going to be our new power company? Not necessarily. Many large corporations have done the same thing Google is doing, with the intention being on better regulating their own energy consumption. Google has many data centers, and the immediate impact will focus solely on better controlling them.

So while the FERC decision isn’t too shocking by itself, the real news is based on what Google Representative Niki Fenwick said about Google Energy in January in regards to its pursuit of energy access:

“We don’t have any concrete plans. We want the ability to buy and sell electricity in case it becomes part of our portfolio.”

This is what makes this story important. No, Google isn’t going to be controlling our power anytime soon...however, Google hasn’t outright denied that it’s a possiblity. It will be very interesting to see where the search engine giant goes from here, and to see if 2010 continues to be a big year for Google.

Torches and Tweets

By Steve Retka:

Between Shaun White’s high-flying acrobatics and the U.S. finally beating our neighbors to the north after 50 years, it’s been difficult to peel our attention away from our television sets. However, there have been some pretty impressive steps taken by NBC and the Olympians themselves to take Winter Olympic coverage to the Internet and social networking sites. And with the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver coming to a close in less than a week, it may be a good time to look at these online developments.

The reason why these social media developments are so interesting is that these are the first Winter Olympics since Twitter was launched in 2006. And because social media (especially Twitter) has become so popular in our culture over the past couple of years, it was obvious the social network would have an impact on how we view the Olympics this year.

As expected, The massive hype surrounding these games have caused a huge spike in interest in following the competitors’ Twitter accounts, and one trend that has plagued athletes in the past has been false accounts being created in their name. Both NBC and Twitter have solved this by tracking and sorting all of the official Olympic Twitter accounts on a verified page.

Additionally, NBC created a visual Twitter tracker so fans can see which Olympic topics have been the most popular. Based on Twitter’s existing visual tracker, this version categorizes the topics by the specific sport (speed skating, snowboarding, etc.) with more specific topics and trends listed under them. Also, users can view how the different topics change and fluctuate over time.

All of these developments just go to show that there has been a greater focus on the individual athlete as opposed to nations as a whole with the 2010 Olympics than in the past. Whether it’s Apolo Ohno becoming the most decorated Winter Olympian in U.S. history or what fellow American speed-skater Chad Hedrick has planned for his day, the personal lives of these Olympic athlete’s seem to be taking the gold medal in the minds of social media users.

What the Buzz is All About

By: Steve Retka

Facebook had barely blown out the candles from its 6th birthday before it received an unwanted gift: a new social networking competitor from an Internet giant.

On February 9th, Google threw its hat into the social media ring with the launch of Google Buzz. It’s designed to work with Google’s e-mail service Gmail, and allows Gmail users the ability to share thoughts and multimedia, update their status, follow others, even link in feeds from other social media sites.

But the biggest news isn’t that Google is trying to contend with current social media titans like Facebook and Twitter...but that it’s succeeding.

That’s because in its first 56 hours alone, Google Buzz had amassed over 9 million posts and comments. That works out to about 160,000 posts and comments per hour.

With Facebook and Twitter in obvious panic mode over these staggering numbers, let’s take a quick look at why Google may have a huge hit on its hands.

First and foremost, Google Buzz is linked directly to Google’s existing Gmail service. The genius of this move is that not only does this make it easier for new users to join, but taps into enormous audience that already uses Gmail, which currently exceeds 38 million unique users. Combine that with the resolved privacy issues, and it’s not all that surprising that Google Buzz has enjoyed the early success that it’s had.

So will Google Buzz extend Google’s online empire into the ever-changing landscape of social media? It may be too early to tell yet, but most signs point towards Google continuing to create quite a buzz with its latest Internet innovation.