Social Media

IT'S THE Phillies' Opening Day, and Jim Gardner opens up TweetDeck, his preferred client for posting to Twitter, his preferred social network. Gardner writes: "'Breathe in the smell of beer, mustard and funnel cake. Ah, we are reborn.' Quote from anonymous Mayan philosopher.#phillies. " Gardner waits. Nothing. Huh? Why isn't anyone responding? C'mon! That one was funny, he thinks. Kind of, at least, right? For those of us whose lives have become enmeshed with social media, it's a familiar scene.

ABC's sultry prime-time hit Scandal is a quick-paced drama starring Kerry Washington as high-powered crisis manager Olivia Pope. Pope, a no-nonsense-yet-emotionally vulnerable black woman, is having a steamy affair with the white Republican president of the United States, Fitzgerald "Fitz" Grant, played by the guy you'll remember as the baddie from Ghost, Tony Goldwyn. It's crazy, it's dizzying, and we love it. Scandal's success this season - it ranks a strong second in its 10 p.m. time slot in total viewers ages 18 to 49 - is more than confirmation that America loves a good nighttime soap.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - If you can stand straight with your knees together and see a space between your upper thighs, you have what thousands of teenage girls are willing to starve themselves for. The thigh gap, as it is known, is a small space with a huge following on social media. You can follow supermodel Cara Delevingne's thigh gap on Twitter or peruse thousands of thigh gaps on Tumblr with images of ultrathin women in bikinis, hiked-up skirts, and lingerie, all baring thighs so thin they don't touch.

Friday morning America woke up to more mayhem - a manhunt for a terror suspect in suburban Boston. The whole city on lockdown. One suspect dead. Officer slain. Another officer shot. Thousands of officers geared up and ready for battle. It was utterly captivating. It was also almost unendurable, even at a distance, far from Boston. A person would be forgiven for turning off the television, shutting down the computer, and going back to bed to hide under the covers. For those of a gentle disposition, this was all too much like an episode of 24 or a Bruce Willis movie.

RYSHEED JORDAN won't be playing college basketball maybe a mile east of his North Philly home. Instead, the Roberts Vaux High superguard announced via Twitter just before 9 a.m. Thursday that he's headed for St. John's. Temple, St. John's and UCLA were the members of his Final Three. "I wanted to go [to Temple] since I was little," Jordan said Thursday afternoon by cellphone. "Coach [Fran] Dunphy did a great job recruiting me. Came to my practices and mostly all my games.

THESE PETS have found social-media celebrity: * Nora the Piano Cat The musical feline skyrocketed to fame in a viral YouTube video. Nora was rescued from Camden and adopted by Betsy Alexander and Burnell Yow of Center City before she became a famous musician. Alexander said Nora learned to play the piano by imitating her. ph.ly/nora * Darwin the Ikea Monkey In December, customers in a Toronto Ikea were entertained by an adorable, coat-wearing monkey that had escaped its owners.

Nonprofits have taken advantage of social media's ability to reach out for new volunteers and supplies in ways that are faster than ever before. An increasing number of nonprofit organizations are using social media to reach their target audiences to meet their needs and to keep in touch with members. Creating a page on any network is quick, easy, and - more important - free. Once a page is created, millions of social network users can access the page. Allowing every user on social media to access the page is important for bringing in new ideas and new people to the nonprofit.

John Reece hasn't figured out a way to deliver his latest ice cream creations directly through the Internet, so he relies on Facebook to give his customers a taste. "Beautiful day here in the Philly area," Reece wrote this fall on the page he has created for his Exton and West Chester shops. "Time to enjoy some Scooped Ice Cream. Our new flavors in stock: Pistachio, Mocha Toffee, Pumpkin Pie. " Through the computer screen, Reece has the ability to make customers feel as if they're enjoying a free waffle cone on the front stoop of Scooped, his homemade ice cream, gelato and sorbet business - even before they've left the house.

Social media: to embrace or not embrace. That's the dilemma faced by high school teachers as they try to keep abreast of an ever-changing world spurred on, in part, by technological advances. Two English teachers at Constitution High School in Center City are taking different approaches on using social media in the classroom. Kathleen Melville, who also teaches Spanish, is using social media in her journalism classes to show how the phenomenon has impacted the reporting and dissemination of news.

When Thomas Powers was 17 years old in 1984, things were different. Ronald Reagan was the president of the United States, the Soviet Union still existed, and The Terminator gave moviegoers a glimpse of Judgment Day. But life in general was dissimilar from today. "I spent my day driving around looking for a job and something to do," Powers, an Academy Park High graduate said. "If I wanted to find something out, I'd either have to go to the library or talk to somebody on the street," Powers said.