Week 5: Listening Exercise / Tech talk at the NY Times

Tech Talk at the NY Times

You will listen to a segment of a Tech Talk report by New York Times reporters J. D. Biersdorfer and Pedro Rafael Rosado.  Below you are provided with a set of questions, so please give a brief but direct answer to each of them. Don’t forget to print a copy of this exercise and bring it to class to be checked.

1	What’s the main objective of the social media available? A/
2	Why is it that Google + is not as popular as Facebook? A/
3	Was Google + open to anyone that wanted to join at the beginning? A/
4	What seems to be the reason that Google + traffic dropped by 60% according to advertising networks and research firms? A/
5	Why was the metaphor better than sliced bread used when describing Google +? What does it mean? A/
6	What’s the explanation regarding Google +’s sudden increase and rapid decrease in popularity? A/
7	What are the two theories about why Google + is lagging in the social media? A/ a)     b)
8	What’s the male reporter’s bottom line about Google + and the lack of the “fun factor” or “sticky quality?” A/
9	Compared to Facebook, how user-friendly is Google +? A/
10	What’s the new relationship between Facebook and iPad? A/
11	What are the most important features of the new Facebook app? A/
12	TRANSCRIPTIONS: a)   connected /kǝ’nɛktɪd/ b)  Google Plus c)   apparently d)  increase e)   temporary f)    theories g)  supply h)  stand out i)     features j)    sticky quality k)   the bottom line l)     complicated

Taken and adapted for educational purposes only, from NYTimes.com Podcasts at http://www.nytimes.com/pages/podcasts/index.html

Take a look at the exercise right here.

Get a copy of the exercise here.

And what about the answers?