New Media M.A. Research Blog | Media Studies, University of Amsterdam

Social media – the new watchdog?

September 5th the former leader of the Norwegian far right party (Progress Party), Carl I. Hagen, wrote a status update on his Facebook-profile. Here he blamed the current government for the murder of a 21-year old girl, Anja Weløy...

By May Andersen on 09/11/13 Comments Off

Social network is aging. What’s next?

We’re hopelessly addicted to social platforms as if it would be still revolutionary in our lives but is anyone thinking about it to be aging? People start getting bored with social networks because it does change in the way...

By Indre Lauciute on 09/08/13 Comments Off

Tracking a nations mood through Twitter: visualizing how you feel

There has been a shift from static to dynamic information visualization. Lately, information visualizations are being created by user generated input. Datasets can be created by scraping Twitter for certain keywords. The project “Pulse of the Nation” has visualized...

By Alex Maat on 03/20/13 1

Visualizing Our Global Mood 140 Characters at a Time

“We need a new way to convey information, a method which is simple to teach and to learn, and at the same time comprehensive and exact. What I might call ‘consistent visualization’ is such a way.“ These are the...

By Robert Silvis on 03/13/13 1

Coffee: Just an Energy Boost or a Social Atmosphere?

Coffee has been at the centre of our lives in one form or another since the 15th century. When you think about coffee, many things probably come to mind. We use it to wake us up, to give us...

By Ferdy Looijen on 10/19/12 3

Tweeting politics – preaching to the choir?

In May 2012, the French chose Francois Hollande, the Socialist Party candidate, to replace Nicolas Sarkozy as president. François Mitterand lost power in 1995, and since then the government majority had been right wing. After his defeat, Nicolas Sarkozy...

By Jules Mataly on 10/19/12 1

Obama vs. Romney: analyzing the image of the future First Lady

The predicted outcome of the upcoming 2012 U.S. presidential elections is still very much subject to fluctuation. Polls are still changing on a daily basis, with the difference between predicted votes for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney only a...

By Lydia van der Spek on 10/19/12 Comments Off

“Worst Nobel Prize ever”? Comparing English and Dutch responses to the Nobel Peace Prize for the European Union on Twitter and Google News

Last week’s announcement that the European Union has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has spurred a host of comments in both traditional and online media. Many critics decried the timing of the award committee, which they considered...

By Lucas Reehorst on 10/16/12 1

Twitter’s Homepage Evolution

Every website has a history, even though it is sometimes difficult to trace. This history or evolution can tell a lot about the company and it’s goals. Twitter is an example of a website that has encountered many different...

By Anne-Claire Verheul on 10/16/12 Comments Off

Mendo the shop built out of books

Who or what is Mendo!? On an ordinary Thursday I’m walking in the well-known Amsterdam neighbourhood ‘de negen straatjes’ for an appointment with Joost Albronda, who is one of the owners of the design agency and bookshop Mendo....

By Sasha Wood on 10/15/12 Comments Off

Twitter Chatter and Stock Market Trends

Social media as trend indicators It is not uncommon that when “social media networks” are mentioned, the most common associations among people are with platforms that promote interaction with, and sharing and exchange of user-generated content. With its exponential...

By Audrika Rakshit on 10/15/12 2

The Medium with the message

Medium is a newly announced publishing platform initiated by the Obvious Corporation. With Medium, the founders of Twitter and Blogger are “rethinking publishing … from the scratch”.

By Steven Boegborn on 10/04/12 Comments Off

TL;DR – Language Shifts in Social Media

A pedantic Semantic Introduction Media has shaped the language we use in conversation since the unprecedented invention of the printing press which allowed for the emergence of mass media. Content found in news feeds, published articles and gossip columns dictate...

By Joseph Jackson on 09/10/12 Comments Off

Jodi Dean Says “There Is No Such Thing as the Social”

After Geert Lovink’s enthusiastic welcome speech, which also introduced Social What? Defining the Social, the first session of UnlikeUs #2, Jodi Dean (pictured right) took to the stage and launched into...

By Catalina Iorga on 03/10/12 Comments Off

Twitter vs. Established Media: Gatewatching, Information Dissemination and #OccupyLSX

A summary of paper presented at the DMI Winter School Mini-Conference, Amsterdam (January 2012) Abstract: Twitter is a social media platform where users’ messages can take flight, gain elevation (RT function), achieve direction (@ function), and be grouped together...

By Liam Voice on 02/24/12 Comments Off