Custom Digital Marketing, Social & Interactive Media Consulting

Social Media RE: Boston Marathon Bombings

It was merely a month ago that tragedy struck the city of Boston when two explosive devices detonated among the crowd gathered at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, injuring hundreds and killing three - with a fourth life taken during the ensuing manhunt for the two suspects.

One thing of note is the consistent presence of social media during and after the bombings. Whether it was the media digging into the online profiles of the suspects (Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev) or ordinary citizens turned photojournalists, documenting and sharing what they saw, what they heard, what they experienced.

Below is a collection of links addressing the presence of social media in terms of the Boston bombings, providing some analysis - some good, some bad and some ugly:


A pair from the UK:


and one last one:



What's your take? Do you agree with those in the 'Reddit spiraled out of control' camp? What about the positives, like Google's People Finder and the Boston PD Twitter feed? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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Generation Gap

*embedded clips are from cable, viewer discretion is advised*

From The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central, discussing Google’s new glasses technology and Facebook buying Instagram --



While it may be a humorous point of view, it does address an issue that we in the new and interactive media world must not ever lose sight of -- a generation gap when it comes to new technologies. It is paramount to keep this in mind when developing new services, technologies, platforms, etc. Some of the gap is societal, some of it behavioral, some of it institutional, some of it stereotypical, but it is there. You may have the next Instagram app or idea, but if it isn’t accessible, user-friendly and easy for at least the majority to understand, it’s worthless.
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