Monday, February 14, 2011

Social media from Egypt to the corner bakery

Two interesting news articles in today's Wall Street Journal about social media. The first article, Egypt's Revolution by Social Media, is an interesting op-ed piece about how social media drove Revolution 2.0 at Tahrir Square and around the country in Egypt. This columnist compares this social-media effort to Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" pamphlet that was published in 1776 and galvanized the columnists in their fight against England.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703786804576137980252177072.html

The other story, A Bakery Gets Sweet Returns From Social-Media Blitz, relates how a local bakery in New York used social media and half-price hot drinks to get customers to visit the bakery when the city was buried under two feet of snow.


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704723104576061900588958180.html

Just another couple of examples of how social-media pervades our life every day -- from unifying an entire nation to selling more doughnuts.