“Smarter Food: How Social Media is Making Our Cities Tastier”
Via Mashable: “Smarter Food: How Social Media is Making Our Cities Tastier” by Josh Catone; I recommend reading this article for great examples of how select social tools may change eating habits.
Not all of these changes are necessarily for the better. Research showing a large social influence on health related habits is building, and if these tools promote similar habits, they may further push us away from a movement of fresh, whole foods.
USDA Thanksgiving Food Safety Live Facebook Chat
Via http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=175299945562:
Today (Thursday) at 3:00PM ET
“The USDA’s Food Safety and Information Service’s (FSIS) food safety education staff will connect with consumers during a Live Facebook Chat on Thanksgiving food safety. A food safety expert will be on hand to answer questions about safe holiday food prep.
You can ask questions during the chat or leave them in advance on the USDA Live page at http://www.usda.gov/live or leave a comment on this event notification.
Twitter users can follow the profile @USDAfoodsafety to read all the Turkey Tweets. The tips take you day by day through buying, freezing, refrigerating, thawing, preparing, roasting and serving the bird—and, of course, to storing and eating the leftovers.
You can find all the Turkey Tweets on Twitter by searching or clicking on the #turkeytweets hashtag.”
Would you buy a scale that told the world your weight?
A product called WiFi Body Scale by Withings sends information to a personal webpage and an optional iPhone app, but now they have integrated Twitter, configurable (optional of course) to Tweet your weight/body fat/BMI to your followers from every time you step on it to monthly intervals.
It seems that leveraging online social networks for weight loss support is catching on in some rather unique ways. Although several indirect lines of research would suggest this may help (reviewed in a future post), I await further studies for a clearer conclusion.
(via engadget)
Google Wave at conferences
Twitter is used with increasing frequency at conferences to allow conversations between attendees and with non attendees. But it is difficult to summarize and organize information from conferences with only 140 characters at a time. And it isn’t a good way to do it in an efficient collaborative effort.
Here is an example of how Google Wave was used in an experiment at a conference to “crowd source” writeup summaries of the conference. They quite impressively organized a page with links to individual Waves which were put together live by attendees. They also used it for feedback about the conference.
Because you can see each change made in Wave the instant it happens, it makes collaboration much more efficient.
I still have Wave invites, contact me if you would like to give it a try.
A forum sharing research papers results in an estimated $1.4 million in savings
At university, it was especially frustrating not having access to countless nutrition (and related) journals, despite my degree emphasis in nutritional science. Except for the absurd setup of publishing ownership, it is the main reason I want to see the open access movement catch on. Journals like the Public Library of Sciences are making big impacts on the existing publishing model.
Social media enables the open access movement, and a recent study about a medical forum that contained a section for research article sharing shows the significance. It estimated that for one year, the cost of savings (or loss to the publishers) was $1.4 million, just from one social platform, if the articles were estimated at a value of $30 each.
It is almost inevitable that information moves to a completely free distribution model since the broadness of the internet is simply too great to police.
Must Read: Cultivating the Web: High Tech Tools for the Sustainable Food Movement
When I first posted about the eatwellguide, I managed to miss a great resource there about the part social media plays in food movements.
“Cultivating the Web: High Tech Tools For the Sustainable Food Movement”
The 37 page publication highlights examples of influential websites, organizations, previous nutrition related online movements that have created change, online tools, and more.
Thankfully one of the authors, Leslie Hatfield contacted me about it, and has agreed to author some blog posts here. I look forward to seeing more of her insight!
USDA Live Facebook Chat Today
Want to ask the USDA questions about what they are doing for Farm to School programs nationwide? Now is your chance!
Join Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan for a live Facebook chat to discuss the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative supporting Farm to School programs. RSVP here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163707092893&index=1
If you can’t make it at 3:00 EST or if you aren’t active on Facebook, you can submit questions in advance to: usdanewmedia@oc.usda.gov with the subject “Facebook Chat.”
At 3:00 EST go to: http://www.usda.gov/live.
If you need ideas on what the USDA can do for Farm to School, go here: http://onetray.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/onetrayusdacando1.pdf
(Thanks to Leslie Hatfield for the heads up)
Pizza Hut’s iPhone app
Launched only 3 months ago, Pizza Hut’s iPhone app has driven $1 million in sales. A great success for them, leveraging a popular technology.
Can the same principles be used to drive the movements toward more local, fresh, and nutritious foods? Locavore, for example, is a success story in this area, making it easy to find which or where foods are in season, with a social touch. But will this type of technology encourage a trend toward healthier or unhealthier nutrition habits?
-
-
-
Join the Nutrition 2.0 FriendFeed room to further discuss these topics: http://friendfeed.com/nutrition20 -
-
-
Join the Nutrition 2.0 FriendFeed room to further discuss these topics: http://friendfeed.com/nutrition20 -