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H1N1 Kills 11 More Children in the U.S.; Social Media For Social Good
Aired October 17, 2009 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Winter weather comes early to the east coast, and brace yourself. It's going to be worse tomorrow.
Also, swine flu hits the U.S. early and hard, claiming the lives of more teens than the normal flu.
And on the front lines of the social media revolution, it is changing the way we communicate, the way we do business, and maybe even the way the government works. We'll show you how right here in this hour.
I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
We want to get started though with some developing news -- a horrible weather battering parts of the east coast. Not only is it cold, rainy and windy, but things are deteriorating by the minute.
So, let's get quickly now to our meteorologist, Karen Maginnis. She's in the CNN severe weather center.
And, Karen, you start with a warning tonight.
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we do.
Up and down the mid-Atlantic towards the southern coast of New England, Don. This may not be a very exciting map, but there is an area of low pressure sitting off the Delmarva Peninsula. This is actually getting stronger as we speak. As it hugs the coast, it's going to make its way off towards the northeast. It throws its moisture back on shore. In interior sections, some heavy, wet snowfall, maybe on the order of two, three inches in some areas.
But generally speaking, we're looking at coastal beach erosion, high wind watches and the possibility that we are looking at some beach erosion that could be severe in some places, especially across the southern New England area. It looks like there are already some structures maybe in danger.
I want to read this from the National Weather Service in Massachusetts. They are saying, "Already, there have been reports of considerable beach erosion over the past day. And we have seen substantial beach erosion that will continue through Monday. And it looks like there could be already known to be some structural damage in some cases."
Right now, the winds are not so strong. But that area of low pressure is going to be developing. Some of these winds tomorrow afternoon could be gusting up 40 to 50 miles an hour, brings that water on shore and doesn't have anyplace to go. It doesn't allow it to drain out.
So, Don, we're looking at a very dangerous situation that continues to develop.
LEMON: Oh, boy, oh, boy, we'll check back in. Thank you so much for that, Karen Maginnis.
You know, he calls himself America's toughest sheriff known for cracking down on illegal immigrants. But his critics -- well, they say he is a human rights violator. And this weekend Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says he won't take orders from anyone, not even Washington. He is sweeping Phoenix for undocumented workers even though his powers have been curbed by federal officials. His deputies are not allowed to enforce immigration laws on the streets, but they can check the status of detainees in county lockups.
The so-called "balloon boy's" father promised answers today, but he only delivered a cardboard box. Richard Heene plopped down that box. You see him right there on the video outside his Fort Collins home, saying he'd answer written questions later today.
Two days ago, though, the nation watched a giant Mylar balloon float 90 miles across the Colorado sky believing 6-year-old Falcon was inside. Well, it turns out he says he was sleeping in the attic. Before slipping back inside, the dad did reiterate that the whole ordeal was not a publicity hoax.
I want to talk about the swine flu now. It is hitting sooner than expected and harder than many experts feared. Eighty-six U.S. children have already died of the H1N1 virus, 11 just this week. And we normally see about 40 or 50 child deaths from the flu in an entire year. It is prompting health experts to talk openly about an epidemic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANNE SCHUCHAT, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: We also track mortality around the country through something called the pneumonia and influenza mortality survey with 122 cities. And for the first week, this fall, we're seeing that the amount of pneumonia and influenza mortality is above the epidemic threshold.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, experts say the swine flu vaccine is critical to keeping the virus under wraps, but shipments are running behind and some clinics won't get their vaccines for several more weeks, which could make it harder to curtail the expected outbreak.
And with all of the talk of the vaccine shortages, it might surprise you that some prisoners in Massachusetts could get the swine flu vaccine before it's available to law-abiding citizens. There's fear that the H1N1 virus could spread quickly behind bars. So, 21,000 vaccine doses will go to the prison to help health care workers and high-risk inmates the second week in November. The general public can get vaccinated at the end of the month, though. And healthy prison inmates are last in line to get that.
For the latest H1N1 news, click on to CNN.com/health.
We want to turn to the war in Afghanistan. A roadside bomb killed two U.S. soldiers yesterday in eastern Afghanistan. Another soldier died in a bombing in the southern part of the country. That brings to 28 the number of American combat fatalities this month.
Now, this door, the Pakistani military has launched a major new offensive against Taliban and al Qaeda fighters in the rugged mountainous region of South Waziristan. Twenty-eight thousand Pakistani troops are headed into the area to square off with up to 15,000 militant fighters.
There are still no concrete results in the Afghanistan presidential election. Now, almost two months after people there went to the polls, recounts and fraud questions have dominated the election news. And now, the Afghan ambassador to the U.S. says a runoff is likely.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked with CNN's Jill Dougherty about the outcome she foresees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're not positive what the election commission will recommend, but clearly, whatever their recommendation is, I believe should be followed. And if that requires a second round, that is what should happen.
I think that the president is well aware of all the permutations of what can happen in the election. It is likely that they will find that President Karzai got very close to the 50+1 percent. So I think one can conclude that the likelihood of him winning a second round is probably pretty high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: And I have this programming note for you. Sunday morning on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," a rare interview with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. John King will talk with him about the war in Afghanistan, health care, and also the economy. That's at 9:00 Eastern, only here on CNN: The worldwide leader in news.
And as President Obama weighs a new war strategy in Afghanistan, we want you to watch "Fareed Zakaria GPS" tomorrow afternoon on CNN for top-notch analysis, 1:00 p.m. Eastern, and then again at 5:00 p.m., only here on CNN.
In Iraq, several attacks at a targeted Iraqi troops and a key transport bridge used by the U.S. military. Nine Iraqis, most of them security forces, were killed. Four Iraqi soldiers died in an attack on a convoy outside Fallujah. Fourteen others were reported injured. In a separate attack, a suicide bomber destroyed a bridge outside Ramadi often used by departing U.S. forces.
One more note on Iraq and U.S. troops, the Pentagon has canceled the planned deployment of more than 3,000 troops originally headed for Iraq. The first infantry brigade combat team, 10th Mountain Division will not replace a North Carolina National Guard unit already in Iraq. The National Guard unit remains on schedule to leave Iraq.
The U.S. plans to withdraw all its combat troops from Iraq by August, leaving 50,000 in advisory roles. Those advisers are to leave by the end of 2011.
The search area for a missing F-16 pilot off the South Carolina coast has been widened. It now covers about 4,000 square miles. Air Force Captain Nicholas Giglio has been missing since Thursday night when his F-16 collided with another jet during training exercises about 40 miles from the coast. The other F-16 was damaged but its pilot landed safely in Charleston.
The world of social media, Facebook, Twitter and on and on -- what does it all mean to everyday life? Well, apparently a whole heck of a lot. We'll look at how ordinary people and "Fortune 500" companies are using social media to change the world.
And we want to hear from you during this broadcast, as we're talking about social media here. You can join us on any one of the social media sites. We'll be taking your comments during this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right. Welcome back, everyone. Let's talk about social media.
I was at Blogworld this week, and so were they. Check out our panel of experts here using social media to change business, lives, and the world. We're going to talk to all of these pros just a little bit later.
And you know what I did as well as them and a whole bunch of people there, I took my own H.D. little hand-held camera to document my experience in Vegas. And many other social media types did the same thing. But when I accepted the invitation to attend Blogworld 2009, my big challenge was to test the power of social media this week.
And my question was: How is social media improving lives? Is it? Well, most say it is -- even our men and women in the armed forces. You're going to hear from them in just a little bit. And you're going to hear from someone who's in the army. His name is Kevin Arada (ph) in just a little bit here on CNN.
But now, let's talk to the panel. Rick Calvert is going to join us by Skype, the founder of Blogworld. He's going to join us in just a little bit by Skype.
Jermaine Dupri -- of course, everyone knows him. He's a music producer. Looks like he's blogging live.
Is that what you're doing, Jermaine?
JERMAINE DUPRI, MUSIC PRODUCER: Of course.
LEMON: I was doing the same thing at Blogworld this week.
You know, you can hardly have a conversation with anyone without them like, you know, looking down at their BlackBerry or whatever device they had.
And there's, of course, Scott Monty is there. Scott is with Ford Motor Company, a huge social media guy.
Frank Eliason, customer service for Comcast taught me a few new things about customer service. Maybe you don't call them anymore. Maybe you need to get online and go on Twitter or a social networking site if you really want some customer service.
And then Tamara Knechtel is there from BeEverywhere.com.
Tamara, wait until we talk about what we did, how we raised money and raised awareness about cancer.
So, thanks to all of you for joining us.
As soon as Rick joins us, we're going to let him join us on this conversation.
I'm -- OK, there he is.
Hey, Rick Calvert.
here he is, the founder of Blogworld joining us, of course, on the social media by Skype.
So, Rick, I'm sure when you had this idea about doing Blogworld or this kind of thing, people probably said, "Oh, come on, guy. Are you nuts?" What was the initial reaction? And then you have 5,000 people or more showing up, and you expect many more next year.
RICK CALVERT, BLOGWORLD & NEW MEDIA EXPO: Actually, Don, everybody told me it was a great idea. And they wanted to go. And I thought maybe I was crazy when I first had the idea. I had no idea that so many people would be interested and want to come to the show.
LEMON: If you can -- you know, we had very some interesting discussions there at Blogworld. And everyone seems to think that social media is helping -- you know, helping to make America really and the world better. Do you agree with that just from the response that you have gotten? And if so, how is that? Why is that?
CALVERT: Absolutely, it's making the world a better place in a lot of ways. It gives consumers power that they didn't have. It gives citizens power that they didn't have to, you know, in all honesty fact-check what they hear in the media. And it gives citizens the power to get out their own point of view and even do their own reporting. And oftentimes, you have people who are more expert than sometimes the people that are presented as experts that we see in traditional media.
LEMON: Yes. We're -- that was a big discussion about what people consider traditional media and new media, about working together, and why there is so much criticism. That was a great topic of discussion.
I want to get to these guys real quickly. But, you know, the thing that came out of that and I think what people were blogging and tweeting about, Rick, was what -- is what I said at the conference. I think we need to work together and not be so critical of each other in negative ways but positive criticism or constructive criticism. And we need to figure out how to work together because it's really not old media and new media. It's really just media, and it's a way that media is evolving.
CALVERT: Absolutely. That convergence is happening. The fact that you were here at Blogworld, Don, is proof of that. And the fact that the bloggers and broadcasters here at Blogworld were so excited that you were here is proof of that. But now, next year, we need to see more of your colleagues and peers at the show. And that's when that convergence will really truly be happening.
LEMON: All right. From Rick Calvert now. Why don't we go to Scott Monty of Ford Motor Company? A huge company.
And, you know, we've seen, Scott, everybody, the auto industry in trouble, bailouts, and what-have-you. But I think, through social media, you believe that is the one thing, or at least one of the elements that set Ford Motor Company apart and that may have kept you afloat is because of your connection to social media. Why is that?
SCOTT MONTY, FORD MOTOR COMPANY: Well, I think we get a lot of props for just being present, you know? Just showing up where the masses are. And, you know, we've got a great story to tell.
And when you talk about making the world a better place, you know, that's one of the things that we're committed to. You know, we've got a great business plan that we had for a long time that we shared with people. We've got great products that are coming out right now as a result of that plan. And we're always committed to making the world a better place.
So, this is in exact alignment with what we're doing to set Ford Motor Company apart and make us different.
LEMON: But also, too, I think that many companies, as we have seen, and especially in recent history, you know, they're sort of secret, but Ford has this new idea -- I'm not -- I think it's a relatively new idea or concept -- about transparency, and that goes all the way from the top of your company to the CEO, to the bottom of your company, transparency, transparency and just being true to the American people about what's going on. And that comes through social media. You get your CEO to go on social networking sites all the time.
MONTY: Well, not all the time, but he's there a lot. He's very supportive. I mean, for a "Fortune 10" CEO, it is absolutely refreshing to see the support and the encouragement that we get from senior management, and people like hearing directly from them. And it's all part of a process in humanizing Ford Motor Company.
You know, you look at the 15-second spots we just launched with our traditional advertising this week. It's very consistent with our social media effort. We're letting real people tell their stories about their vehicles. And that's how the power of this is going to work.
It's not that people are going to necessarily pay attention to us -- because as we know, people trust corporations 77 percent less this year than they did last year. So we're already suspect.
LEMON: OK.
MONTY: Who do they trust? They trust third-party experts. And they trust people like themselves.
LEMON: OK.
MONTY: And if we can show them that there are people like themselves out there, as well as people like themselves at Ford Motor Company, we're going to start resonating with people.
LEMON: And here's what I want -- it's very interesting. You're talking -- you're sitting next to Frank Eliason with Comcast. I learned something new there, a lot of new things. But this one was the one that really struck me. And I think most people at home can sort of relate to, customer service. You call the people on the phone. Oh, we'll be over between 12:00 and 8:00 p.m. You're like, what does that mean, right?
So, people were upset by that, and they started tweeting about it. And they started getting on the social networking sites talking about customer service when it comes to Comcast. And I hear of some people saying, if you get on there and you tweet about it, then, you know, Mr. Eliason will have a truck outside of your home sometimes within 30 minutes or a couple hours.
Is that true? Are you changing the face, or social media changing the face of customer service?
FRANK ELIASON, COMCAST: No, it's not changing the face of customer service, it's really a smaller world as you've seen with the talk of Iran and how that's spread. The fact is, it's very similar in social media for every business. It's making it a smaller place.
So, today you can provide that feedback, and you already are. We're meeting those customers where they already are. And when they need assistance, we want to help them out. So we listen to their feedback. And when we can offer that assistance and make it right, we will. LEMON: OK.
ELIASON: And we'll do that whether you choose social media, you call us, e-mail us, there's many ways to contact us. But we want that feedback, and social media is a great place to get that.
LEMON: Now to our live blogger, Jermaine Dupri.
DUPRI: Yes.
LEMON: A big-time music producer. You know, I hear -- the criticism I hear about social media from people in the music industry is, like, you know, our stuff is being given away for free. We're not getting, you know, our merits for it. We're not getting paid for it.
But you actually think there is a way to work through the social media and that it is helpful to the music industry. Explain that, Jermaine.
DUPRI: I mean, you know, it's very detrimental to everybody in my business starts using this, this form of media because you get directly to the consumer. You know what I mean? That's the most important part about it.
You can find -- it's always a question in the music business of if the people like this. There's always a question like you hand it to somebody. And then they go and check and ask somebody else if they like it, and then they do this, like, study on it. And it's like, let's cut all that out and let's find out actually what the people out there actually...
LEMON: It's a more organic way of reaching people who, I guess, are customer-based in a sense, right?
DUPRI: Yes. I mean -- it's fast, very fast.
LEMON: OK. All right, great. Hey, Jermaine, all of you guys hold on.
Tamara -- we haven't let Tamara say anything yet. That is because Tamara and I tested the power of social media for social good, right, Tamara? And you guys want to hear about this. It was the number one trending topic on Twitter.
TAMARA KNECHTEL, BEEEVERYWHERE.COM: Still is.
LEMON: It's all -- yes, still is right now. Right, guys?
KNECHTEL: Yes.
LEMON: OK. So listen. Next: how social media is working to do social good. I saw how a handful of people launched a fundraising campaign to fight cancer. One tweet and Facebook status update at a time. You won't believe it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: OK. I want to give you one quick example of how networking is -- social networking is transforming all aspects of society, including charities fund-raising. This was me at Blogworld explaining to iReporter Chris Morrow about beat cancer, #beatcancer or hash mark beat cancer, whatever you want to say it -- which went from an idea to reality in really just a few hours, just a few days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: It's a huge initiative to set a record and raise money to stomp out, stamp out cancer in the world. It is -- it shows the power of an idea -- an idea just sitting over dinner talking about, yes, let's try to set a record. And I think that social media takes a power of an idea to a new level. One minute you're sitting around, hashing out this idea. The next minute, it's actually -- it actually has a possibility to make a change for good in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: All right. So, #beatcancer or hash mark beat cancer is still the number one trending topic on Twitter. Amazing. The Web site BeatcancerEverywhere.com, in 24 hours, it logged more than 200,000 mentions -- #beatcancer, each one representing one penny for cancer research.
But the people who are donating money are going to up that, and they are going to give the maximum allowable to this cause. So, we're going to raise a lot of money but we also raise a lot of awareness and we tested the power of social media.
So, I want to reintroduce my panel right now. There you see them, all sitting right there.
There is Rick Calvert. He is the founder. He's on Twitter next to me to the right, founder of Blogworld.
Jermaine Dupri, music producer. Jermaine is, you know, obviously showbiz guy with the glass -- sunglasses.
(LAUGHTER)
DUPRI: Yes. That's me.
LEMON: Too cool for school. I wear my sunglasses at night and in the studio, music produce producer, live blogging. So, keep blogging and tweeting. Scott Monty from Ford Motor Company, the guy in the jacket, he's the CEO.
MONTY: I wish I could have had a car behind me.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Yes, why didn't you have a car behind you, right?
And then, also from Comcast, which I want to talk to him much more about customer service, Frank Eliason. Thank you so much. And Tamara Knechtel. Tamara, you're story is amazing.
First, we're going to talk to you guys in just a little bit. But, you know, I want to talk to the -- I want you guys to see the guy from eBay. He was talking to me yesterday about the changing model for charitable giving through social media.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT CHATWANI, DIR., GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP, EBAY: Beat cancer is about change that individuals can make. You know, we get really excited about the power of the individual, and eBay's always been about community. We see this as just one more way to really drive that forward and support a great cause.
LEMON: So, do you think it's going to sort of change that dynamic, that model for the future as far as giving money, as far as donating to charity?
CHATWANI: You know, traditional models have been, you give with one part of your wallet and you shop or you do something with a different part of your time. We like seeing this convergence, those things coming together. So, it's through your actions or through the way you shop or through the decisions that you make, you can create a lot of change in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Robert Chatwani from eBay, thank you so much for helping with all of this and PayPal as well. The video, it looked a little crude. I shot it all myself. And that's what you do when you go to Blogworld conference or to any sort of social media, because that's where it's going. That's exactly where it's going.
Tamara, you and I sitting over dinner talking about -- you were saying, OK, so you're going to be at Blogworld, you're going to be on a panel talking about journalism, new media, old media, and what-have- you.
KNECHTEL: Right.
LEMON: And I said, "Hey," I said, "How do we -- how do we break a record? How do we show the power of social media, right?" And I said, "'The Guinness World Book of Records," is that still around?" And you said, "I'll check."
Two days later, Tamara called me and said not only did I check, I got it approved. And we're going to -- the money, 100 percent, is going to go to cancer. And this is all within a couple of hours.
You made it happen. But we were all just sitting around brainstorming. And just kind of off the cuff. And you're a cancer survivor, I have to say that.
KNECHTEL: Thank you.
LEMON: Last night at dinner, you were moved, you cried when you found out how many have clicked on.
KNECHTEL: Don't put that on.
LEMON: Yes. But, you know, tell us about why -- what do you think? Is this a new model for charitable giving?
KNECHTEL: Oh, absolutely. Social media for social good. I think we've proven in less than 72 hours the power of what having a message that means something and the power of individuals that care about a message being able to repeat it and continue to repeat it. I think we've just proven, not just by setting the "Guinness World Record," we're very grateful to them for participating.
LEMON: Creating a record, creating a record.
KNECHTEL: Yes, creating the first social media message in 24 hours. This is an incredible accomplishment. We're very grateful to Rick Calvert for opening up the forum of Blogworld to allow us to do it. EBay and PayPal, as well as our other major sponsor, Miller Coors Brewing, that stepped up immediately, within a matter of 24 hours, to help support this movement.
But more so, this was about the power of one person and another person and continuing to multiply this.
LEMON: Yes.
KNECHTEL: And that's what the power of social media is. And we're so grateful for your participation in this. It's been amazing.
LEMON: Well, thank you. I have to say -- I mean, it was just, you know, an idea -- it's just an idea. But, you know, when -- but really, unless you have some action behind it, it means nothing. We all have ideas. I mean, I have a million that run through my head every day.
So, you just -- you -- I mean, it's more about you and what you did than about me because you actually put some action behind it and made it happen. So I think all the credit goes to you.
And so, Rick, good -- Tamara mentioned it, thank you so much for allowing this to happen at Blogworld and having this -- this sort of litmus test about the power of social media when it comes to charitable giving.
Did you learn anything from this experience about #beatcancer?
CALVERT: Well, I don't know if I would say that I learned anything other than...
LEMON: Were you surprised by it?
CALVERT: (INAUDIBLE) other than some really great people like Tamara and you, Don. I mean, you really got behind this as well. And everybody, as you saw, as soon as we announced it, people were clapping. Everybody was re-tweeting the message.
I mean, people who are engaged in social media want to do things like this. It feels good to be able to do things like this. Our community, obviously, really got behind it. And I think it proves just how powerful social media is and what social media can do -- and as you said, in just two days.
LEMON: Yes. And my question was -- again, were you surprised by it? Because, I mean, you're very familiar with the social networking types and the social media world. Were you surprised by it at all? Because, frankly, I wasn't. I think many people -- many people were surprised that so many people responded.
CALVERT: Honestly, I wasn't.
LEMON: No, that's good. That's good.
CALVERT: Because experienced the exact same thing last year, we were the number one trending topic during the presidential elections at Blogworld. We knocked Barack Obama and Sarah Palin off the number one trending topic last year. So, I knew that we could do this. And as soon as Tamara said, and you came to us with the idea of using #beatcancer and raising money for cancer research, we thought, well, then let's, you know, mobilize our community and do something good with it because we knew we could do it.
And this year, we were able to do it for a good cause, and that was fantastic.
LEMON: I want to bring back in Jermaine Dupri.
Jermaine, you know, the entertainment industry often does a lot for charitable giving and trying to help causes, especially when there are disasters in the world. I mean, you look at what Michael Jackson and those guys, "We Are the World" and what have you. That sort of set a new model, you know, in the '80s and '90s about how the entertainment industry can give back.
JERMAINE DUPRI, MUSIC PRODUCER: Yes.
LEMON: What about in this particular way now? Do you think the entertainment industry will learn from this and use this sort of model to go on to help others?
DUPRI: I mean, it better. I'm going to start saying that, they'd better learn from it. I definitely feel like you can reach more people now. There's so many outlets that we can reach, other people out there than in the '80s. So I definitely think that we're going to see the music industry jump on this and really take it and ride it out. I know I'm here. And I'm the only person at blog world from my world representing the music industry.
So, I mean, like you said, hopefully next year, I can get more of my people and my peers to come to this and learn. Because I learned a lot in these two days.
LEMON: OK. Hey, we have about 20 seconds, guys. So I'll give you 10 seconds each. We're going to come back and talk. So, you know, Scott, what has Ford Motor Company learned? Are you using social media to give back to the community? And can we up that? Can we challenge it?
SCOTT MONTY, FORD MOTOR COMPANY: Absolutely. We have a few things up our sleeve already. We're not ready to announce. But absolutely. We are committed to philanthropy all over the place. It's part of the ford DNA, and it has been part of our DNA for at least eight or nine decades. It's built into who we are.
LEMON: OK. Comcast, Mr. Comcast, what about you?
FRANK ELISIAN, DIR. OF DIGITAL CARE, COMCAST: We actually believe in giving back all the time. We actually created a new Comcast new media exchange which is a web site, comcastnewmediaexchange.com where we actually have taught social media to nonprofits so they can do just this. So we're excited about the happenings this past weekend for everybody else to see the success.
LEMON: OK. We're not done with you guys. We're going to hear much, much more from our panel. We're going to get even deeper. We're going to challenge them to be on social media even more, listening to the people who want to share their experiences, customer service, what they think about the company, how they can help the world.
So next we will take a look at the future of social networks. Where will they take us?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Welcome back. We're talking about social media here and checking some of the social networking sites. Let's check Twitter real quick. And I'm going to ask this to my panel. My panel is joining us so you guys can listen as we talk here. Rick Calvert is joining us. He is the founder of blogworld, Jermaine Dupri, music producer, of course, Scott Monty from Ford Motor Company and Frank Eliason from Comcast talking about customer service, Tamara Knechtel, beeverywhere.com helped raise awareness around breast cancer.
Someone says @donlemoncomcast, entire Twitter (ph) has helped me numerous times. I'm glad to see that more major companies recognize social media. It says hey, Don Lemon, he keeps an eye on Twitter nonstop. Let's see if he sees this.
Let's see this (INAUDIBLE), I'm checking in with you. Someone asked Rick Calvert, here, I'm not sure who sent it, it's a re-tweet, who's in for a men of blogworld calendar.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, actually, Frank and I were hot men of Twitter calendar.
(LAUGHTER) LEMON: So anyway, so people are watching. And they're saying thanks to Tamara for the beat cancer. So, you know, people are thanking and they're watching and they're paying attention. And Jermaine Dupri is blogging live as we speak now. So we talked about the future here. The future of social media. We know where it is now. What is the future of social media, Rick? How is it going to change the world even further? Pretty soon, I think, I was telling someone, you're just going to be able to think something. You'll pick up the thought pattern. And then that will be the new sort of social media. That will be the new media.
RICK CALVERT, BLOGWORLD & NEW MEDIA EXPO: Well, more than anything is just to understand how early on we are in social media or new media, whatever the term you prefer. We were able to raise awareness for cancer research with pound beat cancer with, you know, just 2,500 people here at the show who could then reach millions of people outside that they reached. But it's still relatively a very small group of people who are active in social media now.
LEMON: OK.
CALVERT: And the mainstream culture is just now starting to adopt it. So the future of this, is it becoming more mainstream, more pervasive and touching all of our lives even to a greater extent and deeper than it does now? That's what the future is.
LEMON: I think that's a good point. Before I go to the rest of the panel, I want to tell you that health care professionals too are among those that say that social networking is changing the way people practice medicine and will change it in the future. Now, I want you to listen to what one doctor told me at blogworld just yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON (on camera): How do you think social media is helping to improve health or consciousness in the country? Is it helping in the world?
DR. LINDSEY DUNCAN, GENESIS TODAY: Absolutely. I believe it's a powerful vehicle to get simple, basic messages out to everyone. I mean, if you take somebody who has migraine headaches or cancer or digestive problems, if they take something that changes their life and fixes their body, heals their body or if they learn how to heal their body, do you think that they're going to tweet about that?
LEMON: Yes.
DUNCAN: Do you think they're going to put it on their Facebook?
LEMON: Or blog about it? Or what have you?
DUNCAN: They're going to do every single thing that they can possibly do because, "a," it's personal. "b," it worked, and "c," that's a pretty motivating thing.
(END VIDEOTAPE) LEMON: So there you go. They're going to talk about it. Same principle there, Scott Monty, when it comes to business as well. The future, though, now. We want to talk about for social media when it comes to big companies.
MONTY: Well, I think we're going to be continually watching the trends. We need to go where the mainstream public are. One of the great examples that we've got is happening right now and we're going to follow it into next year is a program we've called the Fiesta Movement. We have a European spec car called the Fiesta which launched last year.
It's coming over here to North America next year. In advance of that, we gave 100 individuals online who we call socially vibrant that proved themselves, and we gave them each a Fiesta for six months. And what's happened over that six months, as they've been free to say whatever they've wanted about it, tweeting, Facebooking, blogging, video, photos, you name it.
We've seen 50,000 people raise their hands and say, yes, we want to know about the Fiesta when it comes out. We're interested in potentially buying one. 97 percent of those people are non-Ford owners currently. And we've got a 38 percent level of awareness of this vehicle that isn't even in the market yet, which is equivalent to vehicles that we've had in the market for two to three years.
LEMON: And that's what we mean when we talk about transparency. And so Frank Eliasan, what about customer service? And real quickly, I'm up against a break here.
ELIASAN: Well, even beyond customer service, the fact is people are going to be connected even more so. So it's going to be through more devices. Today it's your phone, it's over the internet, your computer. It will be your TV. You'll be having conversations all over the place. Businesses will be able to take part in that and be able to personalize their brand which many are doing today. So I think that is where we're headed, and it's just going to continue to grow.
LEMON: I think everything I buy, every place I go, I will go on a social networking site and search it and get real customer feedback about it, right? And real responses about it before I even stay at a hotel or go to a certain city or fly or whatever, a new airline, what have you, I will go to a social networking site and find it rather than, you know, just the reviews.com, sort of menu where people can sort of manage it.
I want to go now to Tamara and get your thoughts on social networking or social media and the future for what you do.
TAMARA KNECHTEL, BEEVERYWHERE.TV: Well, our company, I'm a managing partner of a social media content company. I am a cancer survivor, so pound sign beat cancer was obviously something that was important to my heart. But initially we were coming out to Blog World because we work with individuals like Jermaine who, in this economy and in our society of social media and marketing, in my mind, was absolutely just brilliant and how he was changing how he did business.
So you can take a model of the record industry, use social media to connect with the people that he's making records for. And you can turn that into the same principle we used with pound sign beat cancer.
LEMON: Right.
KNECHTEL: Something that was very important and close to my heart. So we were able to just take an incredible opportunity to be around individuals with the power of social networking. As Rick said, there were 2,500 people in this room with the ability to reach over 100 million different followers.
LEMON: And Tamara, I want to give Jermaine the - Jermaine, I have a negative 60 seconds so you've got to be really fast, man.
DUPRI: All right.
KNECHTEL: Sorry about that.
DUPRI: For me, to answer your question, in the future, I just see - I see more of my people just finding clans, you know.
LEMON: Yes.
DUPRI: And going directly to the person that's your main buyer, your main consumer. Like me, I have started a clan that's called the lifers. And that's basically who I'm talking to right now. They're telling me how I look. They're telling me how you've got a sweater on like me right now. And all this. You know what I mean? I mean, you've got to talk directly to these people, and I see that being the future of everybody, all businesses. They've got to find their main consumer. So they stop drifting all over here trying to find people.
LEMON: I thank Jermaine, I think you guys are exactly right. It used to be to call into a television station or radio station or write the letter, an e-mail or what have you and we get the voice mail or that thing two or three days later. Now it's instant. As soon as I came on the air, hey, what's up with the sweater, Don?
Well, thank you so much. Thank you, Jermaine Dupri. I enjoyed - dinner was great last night.
DUPRI: Yes.
LEMON: Tamara, thank you so much.
KNECHTEL: Thank you, Don.
LEMON: Frank Eliasan, thank you. I have Comcast. I'm going to need your help. Scott Monty with Ford, thank you so much. And Rick Calvert, of course, the founder of blogworld who made all of this possible, thank you as well. We appreciate your time. Have a great weekend, guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Don.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: Justice of the Peace in Louisiana refusing to marry an interracial couple. We'll tell you what happened to them.
And the outcry for the man to lose his job now.
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LEMON: A five-year-old boy is shot dead. His baby brother seriously hurt, and the suspected shooter is their mother. When officers showed up today, the woman was reportedly waving a gun on the balcony of her L.A. apartment screaming, "I've wasted my life." The suspect who is in her mid-20s was eventually tackled and arrested. The body of her older son was found in the living room. And his one- year-old brother is hospitalized tonight in critical condition.
What does it take for a couple to walk down the aisle and get married? Well, for one Justice of the Peace in Louisiana, apparently the same color skin. Keith Bardwell said no way to a black groom marrying a white bride. And Bardwell has held his post for more than 30 years, but now Governor Bobby Jindal wants to yank his license. And so does Senator Mary Landrieu who calls the incident an example of ugly bigotry. The bride agrees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BETH MCKAY, DENIED MARRIAGE LICENSE: It's over racism, and we are used to the closet racism, but we are not - we're not going to tolerate racism from an elected official.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Beth and her new husband, Terrence, were married by another Justice of the Peace in the area.
A family torn apart by war reunited through Facebook.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll never leave you again. I'm here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We'll tell you about a father's search to find his family.
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LEMON: All right. So the artist who creates the Barack Obama hope poster appears to be on the verge of losing his legal battle with the "Associated Press." () Ferry now admits that he based his poster shown on the right on a very similar AP photo shown on the left. AP says that Ferry used it's photograph without permission. Ferry's attorney say he misled them and they plan to withdraw from the case.
There's a new rule at Morehouse College, right here in Atlanta. If you are going to be a Morehouse man you have to dress like one. The all-male historically black college has created a new dress code banning caps, hoods and do rags in classrooms or other indoor venues. Sagging pants are also out along with purses, makeup and clothing usually worn by women. CNN spoke to the vice president of Student Affairs and several students about the new dress code.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. WILLIAM BYNUM, V.P. OF STUDENT SERVICES, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE: When you sign on to be a student at Morehouse, there are certain thins that we expect you to attire yourself in a professional manner to represent yourself and the university is a very positive manner.
DAVAUGN WASON, MOREHOUSE STUDENT: There are some parts of the policy that I feel infringe on the student's freedom of expression. I feel that if you actually are at your leisure for someone to tell you how you can be comfortable in your leisure, is kind of stifling your freedom of expression.
GEORGE WILLIAMS, MOREHOUSE STUDENT: Just as I'm disappointed and I know that some of my other brothers are disappointed on what we see on a daily basis, I know some of our great alumni, past alumni, would definitely be disappointed as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: A Morehouse administrator tells the "Atlanta Journal Constitution" that he knows clothing has nothing to do with what is inside a person's head but in his words first impressions mean everything.
"Cheating death" with Dr. Sanjay Gupta is coming up at the top of the hour. You will meet Laura Garrity. You will hear about here heart attack and how she remembers watching all of it from above as a nurse tried to save her life. "Cheating Death" 8:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.
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LEMON: Father and son ripped apart during war reunited through Facebook. When Pete McKibben left Vietnam 36 years ago, the Marine also left behind a girlfriend five months pregnant with his son. After years of searching from his home in Florida, He never found them. They found him though through Facebook confirming it with a few teary-eyed questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE MCKIBBEN, SON FOUND HIM ON FACEBOOK: If you are who we are looking for you were in Vietnam in 1972. While assigned to the U.S. embassy, you met a young lady called Ko Kim Lin (ph). Four months after you left a baby was born. Your baby.
VOICE OF RICHARD NABINEAUX, SON (through translator): My reaction was to cry. It was a shock. I didn't know it would be that easy to find him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, Pete McKibben didn't just gained a son, he gained a daughter-in-law and two grand kids. They live in Paris. And they are now planning a family reunion. We want to share some of your feedback about the community. Some of you are sending me a story that's out there about the balloon boy that we need to check into on social media.
Apparently, there is a new report - there is the camera right there. There is a new report on one of the social networking sites and on a web site. We're checking into that report and we're going to bring you the latest information tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern. If we get it within this broadcast, what is it, we only have three minutes. We're going to - we'll bring it to you.
I want to read some of (INAUDIBLE) someone said Gobliss (ph) says my kind of TV show better than college football, talking about social networking thing here. One says nice job. Thanks for leading the way through part of the social media revolution.
Dear Don, this is from Sarah J. Clark - this is very cute tweet. She says "dear Don, tonight you look like the black Mr. Rogers but don't get me wrong. I love Mr. Rogers." Thank you, Sarah. I really appreciate that.
Social media will change the way we live our lives forever. Once everyone understands we can help people all over the world. That is from Jordan Liston (ph). And then crowsjunkie (ph) says enjoying the report. Really hope some of my clients are watching and will understand what I have been trying to explain to them.
Thank you, guys, very much, very much for all of that. And we know social media is very important. Again, we are checking on the little boy in the balloon, the helium balloon. The Mylar balloon. There is a story out there that we want to fact check first before we put it on the air for you.
Not enough excitement in your life? Well, you can always try bridge jumping. Today was bridge day in Fayetteville, West Virginia, the one day of the year when it is legal to jump off the 876-foot bridge over the New River Gorge. Hundreds of daredevils from all over the globe well they come out to jump. Tens of thousands come to watch. No way in and you know what. In case you are wondering, this is considered more dangerous than regular skydiving because there is so little time between jumping and landing. Would you do that, Karen Maginnis?
KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Almost every weekend. Don't you, Don? LEMON: I do some crazy things but not jumping off a bridge. What do you have going on? Because the weather is deteriorating on the East Coast.
MAGINNIS: It really is. And it's very dramatic, right now, we're starting to see really intensify off the Delmarva Peninsula. We told you about this earlier. Area of low pressure off the Delmarva Peninsula from the Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware Bay to the Long Island Sound up towards the cape. Essentially in this broad area right around the coastal regions, high wind watches, gale force winds, coastal beach erosion.
We are looking at a lot of water that's being fed onshore wrapped around that area of low pressure. And we're looking at winds coming out of the north and northeast. They could be gusts up to around 55 miles an hour as we would go into tomorrow afternoon. But we are also looking at the potential for some fairly significant beach erosion especially as we get towards southern New England.
Now, showing you these winds. These are coming out of the north and northeast, generally speaking between 10 and 20 miles an hour. But by tomorrow when you see me at this time tomorrow, we're going to be looking at wind gusts on the order of about 20 to maybe 50 miles an hour. So we will keep you updated on that. A lot going to be happening over the next 36, 48 hours or so. Don.
LEMON: All right. Thank you so much, Karen Maginnis.
How much time do we have? We have a little bit of time. I just want to say, one of the guys who is at the Blog world expo with me this week, Jay Rosen of NYU. He's a professor there. He also writes a column. He also sent me some information on the balloon and dad telling me to check it out. Jay, I'm going to check that out. We're going to do a little fact checking and we'll bring it to you tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
I'm Don Lemon at the CNN Center in Atlanta. I'll see you back here at 10:00 Eastern.
"ANOTHER DAY, CHEATING DEATH" with CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta begins right now.
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