Three weeks ago, it was widely reported that an analysis by PeekYou concluded that more than 90% of Newt Gingrich’s 1.3M Twitter followers were fake accounts, probably purchased to make him appear more popular. Further analysis by Topsy supports Newt Gingrich’s assertion that his Twitter followers were real people and that his campaign did not purchase any.

“Former House Speaker and GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was correct in his explanation for why he has relatively few active accounts among his 1.3 million Twitter followers, an analysis requested by Mashable has revealed.

The initial analysis of his followers was apparently based on a a few trivial features, mostly the fact that the vast majority of them were inactive. But most of his followers came from the early days of Twitter when Gingrich’s account was on Twitter’s short list of suggestions for interesting people to follow. Mashable says:

“So there is no smoking gun to suggest that Gingrich, or any of these politicians, bought any of their followers. But what this kind of analysis also reveals, says Topsy, is how hard it is to say which Twitter accounts are for real and which aren’t. Spam bots are getting more sophisticated; many now have fake profile pictures, fake bios and generate fake tweets. “The fact is, a large proportion of all Twitter accounts are inactive anyway,” says Ghosh.

Sorting the humans from the fakes is a problem that companies like Topsy — and Twitter itself, which now has more than 200 million accounts — will be wrestling with for years to come.

Numbers 27:18-23

18 So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him. 19 Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20 Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. 21 He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord . At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.”

22 Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. 23 Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord instructed through Moses.

Reflection:

This is a major step in the rising of Joshua’s leadership of Israel. There is a clear imparting of the authority, and the narrative urges the reader to understand that the authority is not necessarily due to ability or popularity, but primarily a delegated authority that comes from God, thus the laying on of hands by Moses and the presence of the assembly. This encourages us to know that it is truly about the calling and the Caller.

Response:

Let’s remember that it’s all about the calling and the Caller.  As we make ourselves available, prepared and transparent before the Lord, it is the Caller who will do what He says.  He is our source. Let’s thank the Lord for His calling and His faithfulness to do as He calls.

From Renetta Tull, Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Development and Director, PROMISE

Dear Colleagues,

The Graduate School and the PROMISE Program are sponsoring more than 20 professional development seminars for all graduate students throughout 2011-2012. There are seminars on teaching, the IRB, how to teach at a Community College and receive a stipend (through the PROF-it program), a Saturday seminar on developing fellowship and funding applications, leadership workshops, and the Dissertation House for Ph.D. Candidates. This list of activities can be found at http://promisesuccessseminars.wordpress.com/umbc-grad-student-success-seminars/. Some of the current and future workshops (to be added) will cover hot topics such as developing presentations and academic integrity (understanding plagiarism). Please inform your students. The Graduate School posts these events on myUMBC to allow students to register at http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise.

Campus-wide teaching workshops for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are co-sponsored by PROMISE, the Graduate School and the Faculty Development Center. That listing and more information about PROF-it can be found at http://promisesuccessseminars.wordpress.com/professors-in-training-prof-it/. Topics include syllabus creation, teaching portfolio development, public speaking and learning styles.

Workshops for Postdoctoral Fellows can be found at http://promisesuccessseminars.wordpress.com/postdocs/. This page will be updated to include additional workshops from the Office of Sponsored Programs.

We hope that these workshops will assist our graduate students and postdocs as they prepare for their research at UMBC, and their future careers.

Kind regards,
Renetta

Lisa Drouillard, human resources, recently competed in the Rockville Economic Development’s StartRight business plan competition. The Washington Post covered the all-women’s competition and recorded the “elevator” pitches for each of the semi-finalists. “Pick the Pitch: Cast Your Vote on the Best Business Elevator Speech” highlights each company’s video and allows you to vote for your favorite pitch.

Drouillard was selected as a semi-finalist for “My Hopeful Journey,” a web-based organizer for women that are going through infertility treatment, and is in the running for best pitch. Voting is open through Tuesday, September 6.

Just posted on Free Matthew VanDyke: “Great news! [Matthew VanDyke ’02] called from Tripoli a few minutes ago. The prison where he has been held has been “liberated” and he reports that he is safe and well. More details to follow once the State Department sorts everything out. Thank you all for your ongoing support.”
*Updates*

-Video interview in the Washington Post
– Story on CNN.com
– Interview with VanDyke on BBC.com