BIG POD

You the Referee: Internet Activism enters the Sports Arena

In the world of sports, Internet activism is one way for fans and important personalities to influence what happens in the sport to which they are connected. Many ruling bodies and Commissioner’s offices tend to monitor Internet activity as a way of gauging popularity and fan acceptance, and even coaches and managers have learned how to monitor Internet activity in order to discover how paying and TV-viewing fans are reacting to their various decisions. Because of this need, companies have developed special software programs designed to monitor Internet activity, especially by checking social media websites and tools. The Controversial Win of the Seattle Seahawks over the Green Bay Packers The recent “victory” of the Seahawks over the Packers, and the subsequent outrage expressed by dismayed NFL fans demonstrate that Internet activism can influence current events in the sports world. Prior to this game, the NFL powers-that-be authorized the employment of replacement refs due to its labor contract dispute with the referees’ union. Because both sides could not agree to a compromise, the regular refs did not go to work, and the league was forced to employ replacements as the season began. For those who used software to monitor Internet activity [...]

Political Podcasts: A Modern Spin on Radio Commentary

A lot of people say that the internet has rendering other media platforms obsolete. It has capabilities to show TV series easily and can definitely publish news at the very instant something happens. As of late, podcasts are also making its name in the World Wide Web, giving radio commentaries a modern take. If you’re not familiar with podcasts, it is an episodic series of audio, video, or other kinds of digital media. It can be downloaded from or streamed through the internet and is provided by different groups, individuals, or companies. Like other web content, podcasts can be produced and created by anyone. As long as they have something to say, they can easily broadcast. Podcasts take on a wide range of topics. However, like radio commentary, politics is also one of the most popular things talked about in these programs. Usually, the program chooses the topics they want to tackle or they can get ideas from the suggestions of their listeners. With the internet as its primary platform, podcasts can easily generate feedback, which allows it to be as listener-friendly as possible. There are tons of reasons why this relatively new medium has quite a steady following. For [...]

Entering the Gray Zone Between Internet and Politics

Internet is the new revolution and it has become an indispensable component in our lives. We use internet to shop, to pay bills, to do research, to learn, to be entertained and much more. Apart from these, internet has also lately been gaining a lot of attraction from the political parties and with the advent of podcasts internet is proving to be one of the most favorable mediums for organizing political campaigns. Not going much back in the history, we can take the recent example of President Obama’s internet based campaign this year in which his campaign team used social media websites like Facebook and Twitter to reach their supports across US. They even mailed thousands of mails to the people to appeal for vote and tried different kinds of strategies to win votes and to make money. These included asking for small donations in exchange for political coffee mugs and opportunities of winning a dinner with President Obama; all this via emails. Even the official campaign website of Obama helped the supporters to find the locations of local events which bolstered their campaign even more. “The successful [2012] campaign is going to be one that integrates all the various elements of [...]