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It would be hard to meet a person almost anywhere in the world who does not know the name Oprah Winfrey. When she left daytime TV after 25 years of hosting her own show, it was not a surprise to many that she started her own network. What has surprised people, though, is that the Oprah Winfrey Network has struggled in ratings. So perhaps in hopes that she could boost OWN viewers, on Sunday night during the Grammys Winfrey tweeted, "Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if you have a Nielsen box." Some people thought it was a joke, while others thought Winfrey's Twitter account may have been hacked. However it was revealed that the former queen of daytime television had indeed authored the tweet when she issued an apology Monday for asking her 9.2 million followers to switch to OWN. "I intended no harm and apologize for the reference." The Nielsen Company, a global marketing and advertising research company that rates television shows based on a number of data, including viewership, was not pleased with the media mogul and had suggested she retract her tweet. Also, Nielsen makes its rated shows sign agreements that they will not openly solicit Nielsen households. OWN has had lackluster ratings and gone through numerous executive changes since its original launch on Jan. 1, 2011. So Oprah wanting to do whatever she can or use whatever influence she has to elevate the status of her network is understandable. Even though some of her followers gave her positive feedback, her tweet received a lot of criticism for the most part. Some people called her tweet "highly unethical," and others said it was "desperate." In addition to apologizing for the tweet, Oprah replied to a handful of her critics, asking them if they really believed that she is corrupt. Nielsen is not taking the situation lightly. The company has said it may withhold or make a note in future ratings of the network. This is probably not the kind of attention that Oprah had hoped OWN would generate.
Today is Valentine's Day, so it's entirely appropriate that this next story be all about love.
It would be hard to go anywhere today and not see and hear people wishing each other a happy Valentine's Day. While it might get old to some people, there is at least one town in America where the love greetings are always welcome. Since 1946, the town of Loveland, Colorado, has made people's wishes come true. Loveland teams up with the city's Chamber of Commerce and the United States Postal Service every year to restamp and resend Valentine's Day love notes to more than 160,000 people from 50 states and more than 100 countries. So how does it work? First, people send the "Sweetheart City" their preaddressed and prestamped Valentine's Day cards, and then volunteers hand-stamp the cards with the Loveland cache that reads "Valentine Greetings from a City with Heart, Loveland, Colorado." The greetings are then sent to the intended recipient. Some of the more well-known recipients of greetings from Loveland include Lady Bird Johnson and Oprah Winfrey. While it is too late to get your Valentine a "love stamp" from Loveland, there's always next year. The deadline for 2013 is Feb. 9 for domestic and Feb. 3 for international mail.
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