Social Software and Tagging

Plano GOP Ad Guy Wants You to Know, "Republicans Are People Too"

Vinny Minchillo had seen enough. "Everyone talks about civil discourse, but when we talk to each other, especially on social media, there's no civil discourse," he says. "It's really, really funny. It's become OK to talk about Republicans in the most horrible terms possible. In the '80s and '90s on ... More >>

David Allan Coe Cancelled His Dallas Show Due to Having to "Perform Outside"

Last night, just before his scheduled performance at the Gas Monkey Bar and Grill in Dallas, so-called "outlaw" David Allan Coe packed his rebel flag-adorned equipment and hit the road, leaving venue staff angry and fans perplexed. According to a message from Gas Monkey's GM Alex Mendosa posted to ... More >>

A Dallas Anesthesiologist Admits He Texted, Used Facebook During a Deadly Surgery

Mary Roseann Milne, 61, checked into Medical City Dallas on April 13, 2011 for an operation to correct an irregular heartbeat. The procedure, an AV node ablation, is routine, at least as far as heart surgeries go, but something went wrong. Ten hours after her surgery began, Milne was pronounced dead ... More >>

Dallas Chefs on Twitter: the Good, the Bad and the Exceptionally Weird

Social media is a beautiful thing. Sites like Twitter and Facebook allow us to read all about our high school classmates' stupid kids, yell at politicians about gun control and tweet creepy, 140-character love notes at celebrities we like. Thanks to cooking shows like Top Chef and Chopped, chefs are ... More >>

Keller Police Are Now Announcing Their Speed Traps on Facebook and Twitter

That moment when you spot the red-and-blue flashers in your rear-view mirror, emerging from behind a conveniently large shrub, is not a pretty one. Wouldn't it be nice if you could avoid it, and do so without the bother of having to obey all traffic laws all the time? The Keller Police Department i ... More >>

Dallas Police Chief David Brown Refuses to Stop Live-Tweeting Cop Firings

Anyone who follows Dallas Police Chief David Brown on Twitter or Facebook knows that during the department's semi-regular disciplinary hearings he posts details about the punishment handed down to misbehaving officers. A Dallas Police Association attorney briefly raised a stink about it last March, ... More >>

A Dallas Doc is Helping Wage a Revenge-Porn Campaign Against a NY Couple, Lawsuit Says

The photos that started showing up under Evelina Elterman's name on Russian social media -- photos showing a woman with her bare ass pointed toward the camera, back arched in pornographic longing -- didn't actually show Evelina Elterman. They were cut-and-paste jobs, photos of the Queens woman graft ... More >>

Ramen Burger Threatens Cronut For Internet Domination

The Internet may be changing the way we eat. The cronut proved that anything that's both quirky and delicious has the potential to go viral. Invent some strange hybrid snack, and Internet fame could be yours. Now the next big craze is making the rounds through the media. Enter the ramen burger, whic ... More >>

Oak Cliff Fights, the Facebook Page Dedicated to Dallas Street Brawls, Is No More

Oak Cliff Fights, a new and wildly popular Facebook page featuring user-submitted cell phone videos of mostly Hispanic teenagers brawling in the streets, is no more. It was taken down in the hours after WFAA aired its story in which LULAC leader Rene Martinez decries the youth culture that created i ... More >>

We're Looking for a Web Editor

The internet ate the last guy, sadly. Here's the job listing. It doesn't mention our beer fridge, which even has beer in it some days. That was an oversight. The Dallas Observer has an immediate opening for a full-time web editor. This position combines journalism with social media marketing and an ... More >>

Fired 911 Operator Can't Seem to Stop Being Racist

The postings on fired 911 operator April Sims' Facebook account speak for themselves. When you write things like, "Black people are outrageous! They are more like animals," there's just not a lot of gray area there. But WFAA's Rebecca Lopez, who co-broke the original story with The Dallas Morning N ... More >>

House Bill Wants to Protect Internet Privacy from Employers' Snooping. What Privacy?

The Texas House is about to pass a bill that would bar employers from forcing employees and job applicants to cough up their social media passwords. Proponents here and around the country claim social media should be protected under the Fourth Amendment. Last time I checked, the Fourth Amendment ... More >>

The Biggest Mistake Most Bands Are Making With Facebook

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you ... More >>

The Dallas Observer is Partnering with Foursquare, and We Have a Badge and Everything

Every September-or-so here at the Dallas Observer, we unveil one of our meatiest issues: the Best Of Dallas. It features, as you know, the best damn things in the world of arts, film, theatre, food, booze and everything culture in Dallas. It's with that in mind that we announce our new partnership ... More >>

Whoever Allegedly Hacked Domingo Garcia's Facebook Account Is Not Very Imaginative

Update at 2:41 p.m.: I just heard back from Garcia. It was his personal account that was targeted, and it's still down. "They changed the email to the account and changed the password, and they unfriended everybody," he told me. Why someone would do that, he wasn't sure, but he suspects they made ... More >>

How Dallas Restaurants Manage Social Media

That restaurants are using social media to get their message out is nothing new. As soon as any business owner realizes that networks like Facebook and Twitter provide an outlet and advertising at a low cost -- only the man hours it takes to set up a feed and gather and interact with followers and f ... More >>

Be Funny, Get Paid

Two hundred bucks is nothing to laugh at -- that's equivalent to your electric and phone bill, or your rent if you live a very sad, unfunny life in the shadows of a relative's basement with only a hot plate for snuggling. (Note: when snuggling appliances I've found it helps to let them fully cool be ... More >>

Police Officers Flock to Dallas to Learn How to Tweet Like Professionals (#thisisahashtagguys)

​If you're planning on doing anything illegal in the next three days (not that you would), may we suggest keeping well away from the Aloft Hotel on Young Street? That place is crawling with cops. This morning marked the start of the SMILE Conference -- Social Media Internet Law Enforcement -- whic ... More >>

Kessler Theater Artistic Director Jeffrey Liles Accuses Granada Theater of Stealing Shows

​Earlier this week, the Granada Theater announced a new show coming to its room on Saturday, October 8. The show will feature touring headliners Portugal. The Man, plus an opening set from Dallas locals Air Review. Specifically, the inclusion of Air Review is where things get interesting: Bac ... More >>

Nine Musicians Whose Deleted Tweets We'd Love To Peruse With Undetweetable

​Here's the thing about musicians: Many of them are loud, messy, and opinionated. Social media has given them yet another outlet for their rantings and ravings, and we, as fans, eat it up whenever our favorite musicians go on Twitter and mouth off.  This is, tweets are deletable. Always have ... More >>

Will Google Be Able To Match Facebook and Myspace With Its Music Promotion Offerings (Or Lack Thereof)?

​In case you haven't heard, Google is trying to take down the Facebook empire with its new Google social networking site. (Seriously, though, if you haven't heard, it's really time to get out from under that rock). Because social networking sites have become an integral part of music promotion, ... More >>

How Bands Like The Rosebuds Properly Tweet

Two Local Food Entreprenuers Level the Field Through Social Media

Dan Kim, president and chief executive officer of Red Mango, in a photo from the company's MySpace page.​It's undeniable that social networking has changed the landscape of food. How we eat, view and hear about food has been dramatically altered thanks to websites like Yelp, Twitter and Faceb ... More >>

Dallas PD Uses Facebook to Post Videos of Officer's Assault, Chief Brown's Address

From the dash-cam video posted to DPD's Facebook page last Wednesday night​Late yesterday, Dallas Police sent word about a story you've no doubt seen plenty of since: Late on January 27, DPD Officer Quaitemes Williams kicked in the face and used pepper spray on a handcuffed man named Rodarick Lyle ... More >>

Wayne Coyne Shares More On The Upcoming Flaming Lips and Neon Indian Collaboration. Also: Video of Alan Palomo High On Acid?

Wayne CoyneAlan Palomo and his synths... as posted to Wayne Coyne's Twitter feed.​We're just a few days off from The Flaming Lips' and Neon Indian's shared Thursday night bill at the Palladium Ballroom, but, turns out, each of the acts' frontmen are already paired up, working on their anticipated ... More >>

McKinney's Newtoy Now "Zynga With Friends"

​Two months ago, Zynga, makers of FarmVille and Mafia Wars, snapped up Dallas-based Bonfire Studios -- one of many such acquisitions in recent months. This morning it held a telephone press conference to announce it's bought yet another locally based game-maker: Paul and David Bettner's Newtoy, ot ... More >>

Lisa Stone turned to Facebook to reunite with her high school girlfriends; they turned to Facebook to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

Bonfire Goes Zynga, or: You Can't Keep a Local Gaming Company Down on the Farmville

​Hard to believe it's been almost two years since we posted that item about the two local companies to rise from the ashes of Ensemble Studios -- Robot Entertainment and Bonfire Studios, each consisting of ex-Microsofties scattered to the virtual winds after Ensemble's September '08 demise. Robot' ... More >>

Taco Bell Brings Even More Free Food;
And You Asked for It

Be on the lookout.​Say city regulations never change, and Dallas remains a food-cart desert. Would you settle for a cheery corporate take on the mobile unit fad? Taco Bell's hoping the answer's yes, because it's looking to bring its truck back to town. The bright purple Taco Bell Truck, which ... More >>

The Tweet Life Inspires People to Make Friends and Adopt Causes in Person. It Can Also Cause a lot of Trouble, 140 Characters at a Time.

How a Girl on Top Chose, Kinda, to Move Back to Deep Ellum After Two Years Living in Austin

​Lower Greenville, Knox-Henderson or Deep Ellum? That's the question I asked all kinds of folks before moving back to Dallas this month to re-join the Observer. Two and a half years gone while in grad school in Austin, and all kinds of things change in this town. Somebody set off a Banana Republi ... More >>

Moms Gone Wired: One Woman's Journey Through the Mommy Blogosphere to Gain Parental Prowess and Free Stuff

For Those Who Watch Dallas Mavericks Games With Your Computer as Company ...

​.... tonight's your lucky night. Mavs man Matt Miller sends word that just in time for tonight's face-off against the San Antonio Spurs, Your Dallas Mavericks are launching what the team calls a "first-of-its-kind live game companion designed to enhance the television viewing experience for fans. ... More >>

UNT Student Behind "Denton Police" Twitter Says New Media Mash-Ups Inspired Him

Brian Baugh, the University of North Texas senior behind the "Denton Police" Twitter account, says his project began with his surprise at how much information is out there about each of us online. Not just the party photos on Facebook, the home address in the people search or your Twitter update abo ... More >>

Q: "Are You On Twitter?" A: "Not Till the Denton Cops Booked Me for Possession."

Plenty of government agencies are dipping their toes into the Twitter waters these days, but when we found the Denton Police Department's Twitter page this afternoon, we knew we'd found something truly special.With automated posts for everyone booked at the jail since Sunday night, the feed comes co ... More >>

Wanna Be MySpace Music's CEO?

Rupert Murdoch's toy is trying to go legit; mayhem may ensue, and success may not

The Rap Up: Rayne In Your Space

Bringing Dallas' Past Into the Present

Is MySpace Marring Band Mystique?

More Erykah Badu News...

L'Chaim: A Dallas Artist Helps Give Israel a Second Life

Is Your Virtual Sex Furniture Second-Hand?

Some crimes are petty; others, decidedly cruel. What kind of a heartless bastard goes around stealing folks' sex furniture? The dry cleaning bill alone would be reason enough to shop new, anyway. Except that when the only fluid exchange is virtual, there's no need to give your screwin' settee a scru ... More >>

In Your Face, Facebook

Southern Methodist University In coming days watch for this Trend Piece in Your Daily Newspaper: More people are using their Interwebs for online gaming than they are for eyeballing videos or social networking sites. That's according to Dallas-based new-media market research company Parks Associat ... More >>

Cry One More Time

Move Over, MySpace

With friends like these...

Raising Dallas

Love lives at the jail

Meet My Meat, Then Smoke It

These days, people are becoming increasingly paranoid about what unseemly things may appear about them on the ol' Interweb, especially in light of the fact that potential employers are Googling everyone on the planet. But everybody's got a MySpace page. And anybody who's graduated from college in th ... More >>

Mixing with the Wrong Crowd

Drinking the Kool-Aid

In which the author joins MySpace. Finally.

Best Place to Hear Local Music

MySpace