The truth about hiding behind spin

Oops, another celebrity has done it again.

American Democrat John Edwards has come forward and admitted to fathering Quinn, the now 2 year old daughter of his mistress, Rielle Hunter. The truth has slowly begun to trickle out, especially with "The Politician", a tell-all about Edwards, has been published, written by Edwards' most trusted aide, Andrew Young. The Washington Post reports that Young claimed the paternity of Hunter's daughter to save Edwards from the political scandal that would ensue.

This seems to be a trending strategy for celebrities: deny, get caught, fess up. Talk about PR nightmare. We saw the same thing explode into the media/social media world when Tiger Woods admitted to cheating on his wife (Sorry, I had to bring up Tiger).

Entering the 'glamorous' world of celebrities means signing away one's privacy because Heaven forbid the media finds some sort of skeleton in one's closet. But full-well knowing that privacy doesn't stand a chance in Hollywood and beyond, why go through all the effort of lying and hiding? Sex scandals aren't new to celebrities. It's become almost a requirement now. So are denial. And apologies.

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The world according to Twitter (and Facebook)

It’s been a trending topic for 16 days, while we’ve been bombarded with devastating images and videos everywhere else. The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti  a couple of weeks ago was all that anyone could talk about. In the days of yore, any news reached us via traditional forms of media, meaning by the time we learned about a disaster from a world away, the news would be somewhat stale, even up to a day before we knew what was going on (imagine that). The internet and social media has changed that drastically, and now more than ever we’re connected.  

Merely 2 hours after the quake, news hit and exploded on Twitter. Haitian musician Wyclef Jean tweeted a plea to help his people by donating via text to his foundation, Yéle Haiti. Twitter exploded with tweets from all over the world, getting in contact with loved ones in Haiti, organizing relief efforts, sharing pictures and just spreading the news. Even on Facebook, status’ changed to links promoting relief efforts. In a few shorts hours the world opened up a grand conversation. 

But how helpful is that grand conversation when it comes to financing the rebirth of a nation?

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The story behind the name

As a child, I always enjoyed word games like that. So for those of you who haven't caught on yet, bet|6ixDegrees|ween means "6 degrees inbetween". 

Knowing that I wanted to focus on social media and its impact on human connection, I was inspired by John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation theory. Because the internet has opened the door to a world we could have only imagined before, we're more connected now than ever before. Who knows, maybe we're all connected by lesser degrees. In any case, the topics I hope to discuss will explore the pros and cons of social media and social networking, and how issues can shoot to the surface from across the world in mere seconds. 

The stories I choose will offer a new perspective on topics and issues that are both important and interesting to me, and who knows, maybe in some way, these stories are part of the 6 degrees that separate me to you!

The world is indeed an interesting place.  

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Welcome to bet|6ixDegrees|ween

First (for me at least) there was MySpace, then I connected on Facebook. After 4 years on "the Book", I told myself no more social networking, especially not Twitter. Posting updates or news in 140 characters? For those who know me, I'm quite the vocal person with endless opinions, so 140 characters just didn't seem enough. But guess what? I caved a few months ago, when I started my post-graduate program, and I'm definitely a convert. But I'll leave that story for another day.


And now I've caved yet again. Blogging; the latest craze in the Web 2.0 world. Well I didn't cave on my own, technically this is an assignment for my Online PR course, but the more I thought about what the hell I'm going to talk about, I started to randomly surf websites on subjects that interest me, and as I watch the devastation unfold in Haiti, and how flooded the internet was on that subject, it came to me; social networking and media. I've always been fascinated by it, and while I never took the time to research it thoroughly, I know this much: it's very present in my daily life. 


So here I go, holding my breath and diving into the deep end, hoping for the best. And while I know that I am a respectful and open-minded person, please take this blog with a grain of salt and understand that I am merely expressing my personal opinions and that if you feel like I have offended you, please note that it's certainly not my intention to do so. But I am open to hearing from you, so please feel free to comment and play devil's advocate. In fact, I encourage you to do so!


I look forward to sharing my thoughts on the Web 2.0. I guess this would be my official welcome to the blogging world.  

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