Wondering what courses make up a media psychology curriculum is common particularly among people thinking about the next steps in their education.   Recently a young woman from Athlone High School for Girls in South Africa posed this  question, so I am sharing my response here.  It is exciting to hear that people all around the world are becoming aware of the importance of psychology in addressing media and technology in our daily lives. Media psychology, while based in ps... Read Full Story

I always enjoy getting questions from people interested in integrating media applications into their field of study or in pursuing a career in media psychology. The questions come from around the world and are always full of enthusiasm for learning, the potential of media technologies, and making a positive contribution to society. It is always a chance for me to remember not only how much I love the field of media psychology, but why I think it is so very important. Media psychology is a b... Read Full Story

There’s a story about the demise of Facebook in the Washington Post: Worldwide ebb for Facebook. I like the logic–when a company’s been around long enough for someone to make a movie out of it, then it’s probably on the downhill slide, even if they do get Justin Timberlake. That people are interested in something new shouldn’t be surprising to anyone in business, marketing or evolutionary psychology.  Same ol’, same ol’ won’t cut it, especially... Read Full Story

This slide show was originally created for a presentation in 2006 but was updated for a group of student web site developers at NYU a few months ago. Web technologies continue to rocket along and the tools have become more flexible, innovative and sophisticated. The fundamental psychological issues of effective design, however, haven’t changed, because now, more than ever, information must be delivered with a client or user-centric perspective. Social media and extensive ability to i... Read Full Story

This article was published on PsychologyToday.com in my blog “Positively Media.” The big story today was the six-year old boy who was carried away in the family weather balloon. It was the ONLY story on the news radio channel during my drive home from the post office and I arrived back at my desk to find an interview request about the ‘Boy in the Balloon’ story. Why do we care so much about this story that we are literally hanging on every word for hours? What cre... Read Full Story

However you come out on the politics of the “to-fund or not-to-fund” ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) issue, the radical change in House and Senate’s support for funding of the organization (or defunding as the case may be) is an excellent example of the impact of new media technologies.  Information travels across new media distribution channels out of the control of mass media, and corporate and government agendas.  In this case, according to Michael Barone of t... Read Full Story

Social media tools are a great way to get to know your audience better and for less expense, than you ever have before. Yet, social media tools seem to change overnight. As Heidi Klum says on Project Runway, “One minute you’re in, the next, you’re out.” For social media marketers, communicators, and researchers, this means not only keeping your finger on the pulse of public conversation but also on how that conversation is getting around. New technology impacts the quality, quantity, and use... Read Full Story

A version of this post appeared in my blog Positively Media on Psychology Today. There’s a lot of buzz about entrepreneurship right now. This is especially obvious if you hang out on LinkedIn, Twitter, or cruise the Ning social networks. It is not surprising, given the amount of people looking for jobs due to cutbacks and restructuring and a few bankruptcies thrown in for good measure. So far, the government plans to promote economic growth have tried to stimulate a lot of things, but ... Read Full Story

There’s an article on on ABS/CBN news site (Do social networks like Twitter belong in media?) discussing, among other things, the business models of social media, if it’s possible to monetize Twitter, and whether or not Murdoch will invest in Twitter after MySpace.  About 3/4 of the way down the article is a statement that shows me how hard it is for people to let loose of their current models of how the world works and why so many companies and people are having a hard time takin... Read Full Story

I will be teaching Social Media & Audience Profiling next week in the UCI Extension Business School. As part of the course materials, I made a PowerPoint presentation explaining some of the basics of network properties to provide some background. Call me crazy, but I think it helps to understand a little of the theory of how networks work if you’re going to make the most of social media. (They are posted on YouTube in three parts because Jing Pro has a 5 minute limit. I hear Camt... Read Full Story