October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy surged through the coasts of New Jersey and New York. Thousands of residents were misplaced, some permanently. Hours before the storm made landfall, the power went out, and we were in the dark without more than just lights. Cell phone service went down. Televisions went out. Radios ran out of batteries. We had no idea what was happening beyond our neighborhoods. Residents woke up and went outside to see fallen trees, broken fences, totaled cars and flooded streets. In some cases, people waited weeks to return to their homes just to see damage that was indescribable. Something happened during this period of no television, though. We had to communicate. We had to help each other. People got in their cars, turned on the radio, charged their cell phones and searched for service. Residents posted on Facebook and Tweeted. We asked questions, and we gave whatever answers we could. People asked for help and the community was there via social media. According to DigitalTrends.com, on Facebook, mentions of Hurricane Sandy and “Frankenstorm” increased one million percent, bringing the topic of “hurricane” to a 21,962 percent increase. The number one top shared term – “We are OK.” The rest of the top ten shared terms included: 2. Power (lost power, no power) 3. Damage 4. Hope everyone is OK 5. Trees 6. Made It 7. Safe 8. Thankful 9. Fine 10. Affected On Twitter, mentions of “Sandy” spiked to more than 400,000 between the hours of 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. as the storm made landfall and it was the only way to communicate. Instagram was also a top source of images as 10 photos per second were uploaded related to the storm. A total of more than 522,000 photos related to the Superstorm were uploaded on Instagram. One local Facebook page was a go-to site for all things Sandy. Jersey Shore Hurricane News (JSHN) scouted the internet and welcomed community sharing for all information up and down the Jersey Shore.  They shared power outage updates, supply information, gas station openings, donation sites, photos and inspiration. JSHN was started by South Seaside Park resident, Justin Auciello. In the days leading up to and following Sandy, the JSHN Facebook page saw an increase in “Likes” up to 191,000 as people were turning to the page as a primary source for storm news. Shortly after the storm, Cote Media’s CEO posted an image that was shared by JSHN, and became one of the most popular photos on the page. In the months that have followed Sandy, residents have continued to help each other in the rebuilding efforts. The sense of community at the Jersey Shore has been a great thing to witness, and we are not only honored to be a part of it, but also inspired.

2013 has proved thus far to be the year of social media and television integration. Sure, you’ve been watching the news for a few years now and you’ve seen the Twitter handle at the bottom of the screen. But, when you combine things people actually watch on a mass viewing basis and things people like to talk about – it’s a social media hit. read more

Hacking right now seems as popular as the Harlem Shake. We don’t have anything against the Harlem shake – if you actually know how to do it, that is. When it comes to being hacked: What does it mean? Who’s susceptible? Should you care? read more

It’s not like Pinterest is just gaining traction now, but recently, it has been getting quite a bit of special attention. In case you happen to only be online to read this blog, and have missed it, Pinterest is a site where users can create online bulletin boards where they “Pin” things they’d like to remember. So, if you’d like to remember that recipe for homemade hot sauce or a particularly helpful pin – how to keep your zipper from falling down (It actually works!) – you can pin it to your online bulletin boards where all of your followers can then see what you’ve selected and check it out for themselves. read more

-said the Droid user of Cote Media. Just two weeks ago, Twitter introduced Vine – six seconds of looping video with much the same spirit as Twitter itself - short and clever. Well, we will use the term “clever” loosely for some. Sounds great, right? Well, while we do agree with you, there have been a few bumps along the road for this new app.  Just last night, an update was released after users complained about adult content in the app. read more