my reading list for May 8th, 2010

Here are a few things I am reading today! I hope you find it as interesting as I did!

• The growth of s0cial media (video)

“Did you know that if Facebook was a country, it would now be the third largest country in the world?”

• British Petroleum turns to Twitter & facebook for spill information!

“In a crisis situation, social media is the fastest and most effective way to reach consumers besides television,” Lauren Hurvitz, a New York-based media consultant who worked in crisis public relations, said on Thursday. “It’s much more cost effective and direct.”

“Oil company BP Plc is also able to control the message without it being filtered by radio, television and newspaper reporters, Hurvitz said.”

• Social media used to update public on oil spill

“As a way of providing a unified source of information, on April 22 the United States Coast Guard, Mineral Management Service (MMS), and BP, the oil company leasing the Deepwater Horizon, established a Joint Information Center (JIC) in New Orleans.”