The good folks over at the Pew Center’s Internet and American life project along with the Project for Excellence in Journalism conducted a survey to find out where and how Americans get their news. The results that were released yesterday and  splashed all over any website that would sit still (bravo, Pew, bravo!) won’t cause any of  us online junkies to fall out of our chair. As expected, TV is where most Americans still get their news with the Internet running a close second and more…

The Patient: MTV, the little cable network that changed television and music forever.

The Ailment: MTV suffers from Brand-nesia, a condition in which a well loved brand forgets what and who made them famous to begin with. MTV also suffers from a social media overdose, chronic pointless video abuse, and multiple marketing personalities.

Prognosis: Not so hot. Jersey Shore notwithstanding, MTV’s buzz making machine has nearly run out of steam. If a newer, fresher look and hipper demographic isn’t targeted soon, the network will continue to be a joke.

Recommended Treatment: Once upon a time, MTV set the bar for coolness and told us which artists to love and what music to buy. Even shows like Beavis and Butthead told us when to laugh. Today, however,  more…

The already crowded lives of social media mavens might have just become a little more complicated. In addition to regularly updating our Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Myspace pages and waiting for the official launch of Google’s Buzz, Microsoft just announced Outlook Social Connector. The beta site is an add-on that yanks information from social networking sites. Microsoft Office users as well as beta users of Office can download the software to connect with more…

The Patient: Merriam–Webster, America’s go-to guy for dictionaries and thesauruses since 1828.

The Ailment: Merriam Webster suffers from a jumbled online presence and a scattered social media strategy that undercuts their fantastic line of products.

Prognosis: Hopeful. With a strict streamlining of the website, an aggressive public relations plan, and clear vision for social media, Merriam-Webster should remain the country’s premiere reference guru for another century or two.

Recommended Treatment: The worn out red Webster’s dictionary has long lived on the shelves of students. Everybody knows the brand and it’s omnipresence is so ingrained that it would be safe to assume that the brand is fine and not going anywhere anytime soon, right? Wrong. If the recent  shake ups at long standing publishers like  Rand McNally has taught more…

The upkeep of social media marketing can be a tricky thing. A recent article in Ad Week pondered the future of Twitter. With the loss of about a million users last year and the average account updating numbers in a slump, media watchers are quick to bury Twitter in a plot next to Friendster and move on. Digging a little deeper in the article, however, reveals the real truths about all social media, not just Twitter. Those sad numbers are not the entire story as they include only visitors to the traditional website and not mobile users which make up the majority of the Twitterverse. The  general consensus of large and small business alike when it comes to social media marketing is that full-time care is needed otherwise the venue becomes useless. Twitter, like blogs or email marketing or mobile marketing, requires constant care and upkeep. Businesses who stay in contact with their more…

Do you ever wonder how many hours a day the average person spends tweeting? Blogging?Commenting on videos shown on YouTube? Do ever wonder if this has a positive or negative effect. Does it effect your productivity? Does it turn you into a social outcast? How do your tweeting habits compare to the guy in the next cubicle? Well, now you can get all the pros and cons on this subject via a website that focuses in on the issues to create thought, critical thinking and discussion on the subject. ProCon.org created the new website www.socialnetworking.procon.org to explore the core question “Are social networking sites good for our society?” On the site you can read a detailed overview of the issue, over 20 pro and con arguments, fun facts in the “Did You Know?” section, an image and video gallery, a reader survey, and a listing of all sources used. Oh yeah, and if you were wondering, you can also find factoids there like this nifty tid-bit:

“Russians spend more time on social networking sites than people in any other country, an average of 6.6 hours per month compared to the worldwide average of 3.7 hours per month.”

It doesn’t make you feel so bad now, does it?