DIY Maps

Google has taken the next step forward with maps. Google Map Maker has come to the United States. People can now add locations, edit locations, create routes, and more.

Google Map Maker expands Google Maps from an infomative media with potential for users to share, to media that relies on collaborative use. Imagine if Google Map Makers partnered with a LBS like Foursquare. Users could create trails to follow, and remove fake locations. I think there’s a great potential to introduce its own LBS system as well.

One of the features Google Map Makers advertises in the short Youtube video is the ability to map out a campus. I added the Chatlos Communication Building to the Florida Southern College campus. Check back in a few days to see if you can find it!

I imagine that with the summer quickly approaching, more of my peers will add locations to our campus. To date, there’s one specific location mapped on the campus. Do you plan on adding any locations?

Tweet Your Speech

Image Credit: "the 44th President of the United States...Barack Obama" By jmtimages

When President Obama gave his 2011 State of the Union address, I was at home watching and tweeting.

I could comment and like some quotes. I also replied to comments friends made. Some comments were witty and others were not.

Regardless, this marks the first time that I sat through an entire state of the union address. How did I manage that? I think the comments on twitter and Facebook made the engagement… fun.

From a PR perspective, Obama’s simultaneous tweets during the speech was amazing. Congress.org wrote an article that highlighted that most of his quote were 140 characters or less. Almost as though the speech was written for tweeter.

The article asks whether twitter has become the new sound bite. I think the answer can be seen when you look at the number of media outlets that use screenshots of tweets.

Do you think his speech was written for twitter? If so, is Obama doing for social media what JFK did for television?