After growing tired of watching stereotypes of people of color on the screen, Issa Rae created her own vision of reality with “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl.”

The Web-based show follows J, played by Rae, and her mishaps and successes in work and love.

“The Web series came about because I really didn’t see anybody like me on the screen, nobody that I could relate to,” said Rae, the show’s producer, writer and director. “There’s are just so many limited archetypes for black females in particular, and just people of color in general, and it’s frustrating to look at the screen and only be able to relate to people like Tina Fey or Amy Poehler, people who don’t look like me.”

Since the series first posted online in February, the debut episode has garnered more than 240,000 hits. Subsequent episodes have received more than 100,000 hits and 1,000 viewer comments. Nearly 17,000 people are dedicated to the show’s Facebook page. Rae said she and co-producer Tracy Oliver are packaging “Awkward Black Girl” as a half-hour comedy to sell to a cable network, but are strongly thinking about keeping it online to build the audience and maintain stronger contact with viewers. Continue Reading

Lawyers will use whatever they can

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The oldest institution is meeting new media. And the results can be heartbreaking.

With Facebook and MySpace pictures, status updates, and blogs open for friends and family to see, things that used to be private and sacred pieces of a marriage are now being broadcast.

“I was just sad at the way Facebook was being used,” said a woman, who wanted to keep her identity secret since she has a daughter who was at the center of some social media drama.

The woman told KXAN that her now ex-husband and his new girlfriend posted nasty articles and made derogatory comments about her on Facebook.

“We all have our crosses to bear, but to drag it into the public eye,” she said.

And it was there for all their mutual friends to see, a marriage gone bad.

“It can affect my child’s life, business life, personal life and even my religious community,” said the woman.

It is rare when you find someone who does not have a Facebook page these days and you can bet attorneys know that.

“Maybe two years ago, you would hear a story about a lawyer using Facebook, but now it is day-to-day when you hear about a posting or photo that completely won or lost a case,” said Clay Butler with The Butler Firm.

As divorce cases head to courtrooms, those postings are often ending up as evidence.

“The Facebook postings have become the new smoking gun,” said Butler.

Judge Orlinda Naranjo presides over divorce cases in the 419th Distrct Court and said the use of Facebook in court proceedings has exploded in recent years.

“You have a very valuable tool where you can go in and try to get information,” said Naranjo. “You are finding information about that person’s opinion and activities.”

And sometimes that information is not consistent with what she sees in court.

“You have a document that contradicts the persona that they try to portray in the courtroom,” she said.

For that reason, Naranjo cautions people to be careful when making a Facebook posting in fun or in jest because you might have to justify it.

“It is much easier to write something down than say it to a person. So many people will instantly respond to something and they cannot take it back,” Naranjo said.

Computer forensics can even retrieve postings that were deleted.

“It is sort of like when people say things in an email they would never say anywhere else,” said attorney Joe Milner, who said those people should not expect a break from an opposing attorney.

“If there is information we can use, we will use it,” she said.

Source: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/investigations/social-media-viable-evidence-in-divorce

IT’S the job of the media to verify facts.

“The journalist who researches, verifies, and checks background enjoys the most credibility,” said columnist Juan Mercado.  He spoke in yesterday’s forum on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility at the University of the Philippines Visayas Cebu.

The discipline of verifying facts is what distinguishes the work of journalists from the “new media” of social networking sites and blogs, he said.  “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his facts.” Continue Reading

An old saying in the automotive industry states that every dollar spent on marketing should earn you three. It’s exactly this result-driven approach that makes it difficult for a rather conservative business to adopt new media as part of their marketing strategy.

Cars however, have large natural fan bases. As soon as the fans on Facebook and other social networks started creating their own groups, the brands knew they had to dive in the social media pool themselves. However, it is a process that – like in most industries that are still being run by 40+ year old Marketing Managers – takes a lot of time and effort.

While not getting into specific brands, let’s look at a few examples:

A brand headquarters in Munich only just recently decided to appoint a staff of two to maintain the company’s international Facebook page that now has over 263,000 fans. The former Brand Manager in the Netherlands tells us the German HQ has a well thought out content strategy for the page.

Read more here

WASHINGTON | Wed Sep 1, 2010 6:38pm EDT

(Reuters) – U.S. communications regulators on Wednesday put off a controversial decision on Internet traffic rules, giving industry and consumer groups a chance to forge a compromise while avoiding a politically sensitive issue ahead of the November elections.

The Federal Communications Commission has been prodding phone, cable and Internet companies for months to find consensus on the thorny issue of net neutrality — a debate over whether high-speed Internet providers should be allowed to give preferential treatment to content providers who pay for faster transmission. Continue Reading