Axiom Gives Thanks

A common topic of discussion around the office the last week or so has revolved around the Thanksgiving dinners we all plan to cook and enjoy in a few days. But while most of us will be eating ourselves into a coma (as I plan to do), there are many out there who don't get that luxury.

That's why I'm excited about the opportunity our office is getting to help out some of those in need when we go volunteer at Feed My Starving Children this afternoon. It's incredibly easy to give up a few hours and help out, especially when you consider how much good it can do.

It's also a fitting end to the work day before we close down the office for the week. So I'll be taking a short break from blogging and analyzing the social media universe while the doors are closed, but you can be sure Daily Axioms will be back up and running on Monday.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Scanning TSA's Troubles for Any Signs of Hope

Remember when the worst thing people said about the TSA were jokes about its initials meaning "Thousands Standing Around"?

Boy, have things changed. In the wake of full body scans and pat downs, the TSA has seemingly become more hated than BP in the eyes of the Internet. They've inspired numerous parodies on Twitter and lots of scathing blog posts.

Is the social media hate justified? For the most it is, because many of the things we've all been hearing since these new security procedures have been implemented show egregious lapses in judgment by the individual TSA agents.

But that's the thing; it's been individuals showing the lack of professionalism behind these horror stories.

This is why companies and organizations have (or should have) a solid PR team behind them, because it's the PR team's job to assure the public that the actions and immaturity shown by several of their agents is not indicative of the organization as a whole. More importantly, the TSA PR team needs to let us all know that they are taking steps to solve these issues.

The TSA's response? A Twitter account...that spams links from its TSA blog to users who tweet out negative comments about the new scanners and pat down procedures. A Twitter account can be a useful weapon in the crisis management arsenal if its used effectively, which it isn't in this case.

But this post isn't about full body scanners or pat downs, because I still believe that it's been a lack of professionalism by the TSA's individual agents that the root cause of most of the controversy. However, the oversights made by the TSA on the PR front are making things worse by not taking advantage of social media to influence their image or public perception. 

And until that happens, I'm afraid the TSA may be securing their place at the top of the Internet's no-fly list.

Video Post: Blood is Thicker Than Water

We've covered our blood donations here on Daily Axioms several times in the past, mostly because it is something we really care about. Unfortunately, however, the need for more blood donations is still incredibly high. That's why we decided to show how easy the process is and why it's so important.

Video Post: It's a Blog Eat Blog World

Traditional journalists often criticize bloggers for plagiarizing content from actual news outlets, but that doesn't mean the "old" media isn't immune from taking liberties with the work of others. In fact, cooking magazine Cook Source has been raked over the coals recently for publishing a blog post without the blogger's permission. I look into the controversy and its impact on today's video post.

Making Sense of a Manic Monday

Whenever Facebook unveils a new feature, you can be sure everyone will take notice.

If Google launches a new service, it's going to dominate headlines.

When Apple announces any updates, a frenzy hits the news and blogosphere.

But what about when all three online giants make announcements on the same day? Besides being inundated with updates in my RSS feed, I was left struggling to decide which one to cover in today's post.

So instead of prioritizing, I'll give a brief rundown of what all three companies announced on Monday.

Thinking outside of the (in)box.

Facebook unveiled a revamped version of their messaging system. While rumors flew that this was designed to compete with Gmail, Facebook claims this new messaging system is not an email killer.

The new messaging focuses on being a social inbox with seamless messaging and a conversation history. Users will also receive an @facebook.com address based on their username. Other features include off-site emailing, compatibility with other systems, and integration with SMS and mobile Web apps, all of which will take place on this new message platform.

Turning up the location-based heat.

Google is once again venturing further into the location-based arena with Monday's release of Hotpot, a Yelp-style recommendation engine. Hotpot takes all of their existing Google Places features like reviews and ratings with a friendlier user interface. Hotpot allows users to link and recommend services directly from their account, as opposed to aggregating the data from outside services like Yelp or Gowalla.

Beatles and iTunes come together.

After years of going back and forth, the families of the Beatles have finally agreed to sell the back catalog of songs to iTunes. Rumors had been swirling that the Beatles would finally be landing on the music service, and those rumors were proven true with Apple's announcement Monday. And if you go to iTunes, you'll notice that Beatlemania has taken over iTunes both musically and visually.

So as you can see, it was a very busy day for anyone covering the latest tech and social media news. Hopefully, this gives sheds some light on a very busy Monday.