I was on vacation last week and then had a quick family trip home, so I missed out on a whirlwind week of media news. Perhaps that’s why it’s been hard for me to get back into the swing of blogging this week: I feel as though everything has been discussed to death. I’ve also barely made a dent in my Google Reader (the “mark all as read” button is looking more tempting each day).
Here’s what the rest of the media-obsessed world was focused on while I was on the slopes, and what those conversations looked like to a relatively disengaged observer:
Super Bowl
More specifically, Super Bowl commercials. I still have only seen a handful of them. It seemed there was more news before the Super Bowl about who wasn’t advertising (Pepsi) and whether that was “risky” or not. From passively scanning my Twitter stream, the Google ad seemed to be a hit. The Tim Tebow ad generated controversy primarily for not being as controversial as many thought it would. I saw a lot of chatter about the lack of pants in a few ads (hmm…). Overall, it didn’t seem that people were too jazzed about the commercials this year, which this Huffington Post article seems to concur with.
Google Buzz
Goodness were people ever up in arms about Google Buzz! From a few brief checks of Twitter you’d think the Interwebs were under siege from Palo Alto. The main issues I saw people frustrated with were privacy issues, the lack of filtering/overabundance of information, and the muddling of GMail with other social outposts. So many people rained on the Google Buzz parade so heartily that by the time I got back home and had the option to check it out or “turn it on”, I didn’t even bother. I may revisit in a few weeks to see if I have any use for it (thought based on my comatose use of Google Wave so far, I’m not sure it’s the ticket for me).
The Olympics
Consensus: NBC totally sucks at covering them. NBC is refusing to broadcast events live in hopes of forcing people to watch taped segments during primetime to please advertisers. That leaves Twitter, blogs, and countless other Web sites to act as spoilers during the afternoon. Not only is the coverage bad, it’s late and it’s old news when it airs. ComputerWorld had one of the better pieces on why NBC is “against the Internet” in terms of Olympic coverage. I’ve missed almost all the coverage so far.
I did see a lot of disgust and surprise from those I follow on Twitter that networks would (repeatedly) show graphic footage of the Georgian luge athlete’s fatal crash. I share the disgust, but not the surprise. Sensationalism rules TV news these days, and just as we saw graphic and tragic images from the Haiti earthquake, it was inevitable that news channels would broadcast this video. I don’t think they needed to do it as frequently or callously (apparently CBS showed the crash in slow motion), however. Other Olympic story lines I passively observed: Whales (but not fail whales?) were the highlight of the Opening Ceremonies. The weather in Vancouver is abysmal. Shaun White needs a haircut.
Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines
I watched the initial Twitter outrage against Southwest Airlines for how they grievously wronged director/actor Kevin Smith, and then saw the negative sentiment gradually shift toward Smith himself as he continued to berate the airline after they had pretty openly addressed the issue and made apologies via their blog and other channels. Some, like Sonny Gill, even seemed to think that Smith was bullying or antagonizing Southwest.
It would have been very interesting to see how this would have played out differently had it been Delta (the airline that lost my luggage twice on my vacation and caused me to spend a less-than-glamorous evening in a Romulus, Mich. Best Western instead of a Utah ski house) or American or United. Those airlines certainly don’t have the customer loyalty or goodwill that Southwest has built up. I think much of the reason SWA will be able to weather this is that they’ve taken the time to build a positive reputation among customers who are perhaps going to be a little more forgiving of this incident. I liked Adam Kmiec’s dissection of the situation and Southwest’s response.
So, that’s what the Web world looked like to me over the last 10 days as I scanned Twitter and Facebook and blogs here and there to try and remain somewhat connected. What else did I miss?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Oy, Kevin Smith. Firstly, he had an agreement that he would buy two seats for every flight because of his size, so clearly he had no problem with the policy prior to this flight. Then he decides to attack the faceless facade of a corporation rather than the actual pilot (a real live man) who made the call not to let Smith fly. So he picks the easy target, makes a funny face and posts a million tweets that our Brat Culture eats up (no pun intended) with enthusiasm.
To boot, he actually tries to paint the situation as an instance of overweight people being discriminated against, and notes that if you “look like” him (as in if you’re overweight to the degree of Smith), Southwest will do this to you. What he doesn’t disclose, and outright denies, is that in the past two years Smith has become morbidly obese. I’m not saying that to be mean: do a google image search for “Kevin Smith 2010″ and browse some of the pictures.
I honestly think that if people had seen Smith recently and taken a second to think about this situation, it would’ve been a non-story.
Looks like you’ve covered it all. Well done. My only question: How do you resist the ‘Mark all as read’ button?!
A lot happened in that short time you were gone! You covered the biggest news.
So you opted for the lovely Best Western in Romulus when you got stuck at DTW. Romulus isn’t metro Detroit’s most exciting area, so come back again when you have time to hang in the fun cities. :)
Kevin – I’m pretty much in agreement with your assessment of the Kevin Smith situation. It’s gone way overboard and I think at this point most people seem to realize that Southwest did their best to handle the situation and now Smith is just being a bully for sport or entertainment.
Kimberly – it’s getting harder each day! There’s so much good content out there to read.
Nikki, there was no “opting” involved. Our Delta voucher stuck as at the Best Western. Would definitely have rather been at the in-terminal Westin! Someday you’ll have to give me a proper tour of Detroit.
How funny! I was just sitting here thinking, gosh, if someone had been locked away in a room for the last two or so weeks, when they emerged and saw the headlines, they’d think we’d all gone crazy.