Preparing for March on Wall Street South

Twitter is abuzz with posts about today's March on Wall Street South, which kicked off at 11 a.m. with a rally before the 1 p.m. march.



Follow protest activity at the DNC on Twitter with #MOWSS, #occupyCLT, #occupyDNC and #ResistDNC. Let us know if there's a hashtag we're missing!

Delegates Flock to Twitter As They Arrive

Nearly 6,000 delegates arrive to scattered storms in Charlotte, N.C., this weekend. As the city transforms for the convention, delegates from across the country set out to explore Charlotte before the DNC begins.


They're here. They're excited. They want to see the best of Charlotte. Follow their conversations at #DNCdelegate. Are there other hashtags we should follow? Let us know!

Media party takes over social media

With the official start of the Democratic National Convention only a few days away, local and national media were welcomed to Charlotte Saturday night at a party held at the N.C. Music Factory.

The media dominated the #DNC2012 hashtag and even created one of their own - #cltnerdprom - during the event.

Hey, DNC, prepare to get mocked

National conventions are meant to inspire the party. But inevitably, they also inspire mockery. With its 140-character limit, Twitter is often the repository for that mockery. Here's a sampling of fun poked at the Republican National Convention. Stay tuned for DNC teasing.

Drowning in Twitter yet? We're here for you

As news of last week’s Republican National Convention tapers off and chatter over this week’s Democratic National Convention begins, a tidal wave of Tweets will likely flood your feed. 

To help sift through the clutter, we’ll compile some of our favorite accounts and hashtags – from the informative to the humorous. Keep checking this @charlotte blog for updates on this front.

With the Twitter action just starting, here’s what we’re liking so far:

(Warning: shameless plug coming.) For hard news on the local level, our @DNC2012clt account has plenty of DNC coverage -- but we won’t drown you in Tweets. It’s all carefully combed through, to give you a full but intelligent report. (You can get great stuff like this photo, from our own Ann Helms prowling DNC gifts sold at the Westin:)

If you’re looking for a national source, follow our news partner @politico.

Straight convention news can be found at the official 2012 Democratic National Convention Committee account @DemConvention.

Interested in the Republican reaction? We suggest the hashtag #WeCanChangeIt – a theme used throughout the RNC -- and #tcot, Top Conservatives on Twitter. The GOP has also emphasized the #WeBuiltIt theme.

Want to hear from the Democrats? @Obama2012 has increased activity as the DNC nears. And @InvisibleObama, a parody account, has gained more than 60,000 followers since it was created in reaction to Clint Eastwood’s speech.

Protest news can be found @wallstsouth and from our very own @DougObserver. #ResistDNC seems to be a commonly used hashtag among the protestors.

Already overwhelmed? Don’t fret. Throughout the week, trends will emerge, accounts will shine, and we will be there to help you follow the news that you want and need. 

See something we don’t? Let us know @DNC2012clt or here on our blog.

-- Kelley Sousa

Charlotte's Top 10 Google searches for 2011

Well, we hate to blow our own company's horn, but Google's annual year-end list of most searched-for terms is out and the Charlotte-specific Top Ten shows "Charlotte Observer" is the most searched-for term for 2011. After several brutal years filled with budget and staffing cuts, unpaid furloughs and the like, it's nice news to get. Just a little nugget of validation that, even though we've got a long haul ahead in transitioning from the old paper-only business model, our online platform is not only keeping us relevant, it's got a little digital swagger going on.

Hats off to all the reporters, editors, photographers and producers who make the magic happen every day!

P.S.: This blog has been dark for a while as I transitioned from reporting on social media to becoming an assistant city editor in charge of crime news and coverage of philanthropy and the environment. It's a lot of work, and leaves little time for writing (and none for reporting), but I'll keep trying to update this blog with interesting social media tidbits that cross my desk from time to time.

Note to Google: Here's what I think about you

For the past couple of days, phone researchers from Ipsos have been calling me. They want to know if I'll do a 20-minute phone survey in which they'll gather my thoughts and impressions about Google. Something about them wanting to survey "leading opinion formers." Calls the accuracy of their research into question, since I've been pretty busy in the past month or so writing more about Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools than online and digital stuff. I was so busy that, both times the Ipsos researchers called, I had to put them off because I was busy with a story. I've probably missed my chance to tell Google honchos what I think of them. So, I'll just tell you what I would have told them.

• I'm liking Google+, but who has time for another social network? Keep integrating it with Gmail and search, and you might worm your way deeper into my digital life.


• Yes, your search rocks. (But you already know that). A colleague cleaning up her desk the other day went, "Hey, I still have a phone book." I actually laughed. Now I look over at the least-used corner of my desk and see I still have one too -- from 2002.


• The +1 button, your answer to Facebook's "like" button, isn't necessarily wowing me, especially when it comes to search. I'm so used to typing a search out and expecting the magic Google algorithm to produce the best results that I don't look to see if any of my friends are agreeing with the algorithm by +1-ing pages. Maybe +1 will gain more clout as Google+ pulls more socialization throughout Google's digital ecology.


• Whatever happened with Google Hotpot, the Yelp-style business review project that was supposed to target some 40,000 Charlotte small businesses? Several business owners called me after this story saying they hadn't been able to get in touch with Google for follow-up. I've seen few Hotpot stickers in the windows of local businesses. Was this a success and you guys are just keeping it low-key, or did it flop?


• And lastly, don't forget your own motto: "Don't Be Evil." It's hard for people not to fear the ambitions of a company whose market capitalization of nearly $200 billion dwarfs the gross domestic product of your average third-world nation. No matter how kind or humanitarian or noble you guys think you are, the rest of us will always have one eyebrow cocked, suspecting you secretly lust for world domination. (Might this sudden interest in what we think have anything to do with the growing interest of government regulators in your dominance of the search market?). Accept the fact that you don't get to be the quirky "good guys" anymore. Overcompensate. Give tons to charity. Launch a massive college scholarship program to train the next generation of digital engineers. Steer clear of anything that even remotely hints at privacy violations or unfairly stomping smaller competitors. And just realize even all that still won't be enough to ward off every attack. As Wilt Chamberlain so aptly put it: "Nobody roots for Goliath."

That's what I think, for what it's worth. What are you thinking of Google these days?