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Challenges when trying to Implement Recommendations

Challenges I believe my client, National Honors fraternity Phi Sigma Pi, will face deals with consistency in progress due to semester shifts in the role of the social media coordinator, creating specific content for each platform when using social media, and idea creation for forms of media. Every semester the role of who will be the social media coordinator may change from one person to another which can affect the consistency in posts and content created. As the social media coordinator, they are responsible for creating content for our social media pages, the social media coordinator I have been working with this semester may not continue with the role for next semester. Because the role of our social media coordinator continues to change it will be hard to implement consistent structuring for our platforms in terms of scheduled posting times, content, and app features used. Creating specific content for each platform will also seem like a challenge as the likelihood of posting what viewers want to see versus what the organization want to post are two different things. It appears I will have to remind them to review who is likely to be their main target audience depending on the platform such as Facebook versus Instagram. Also, creating ideas to post on their platforms will need some work as well. The problem I can see that will likely occur would be the recycling of posts for the same events each semester without any variation in media. Producing fresh ideas that will relate back to the organization’s purpose of using social media will help retain viewers to each platform.

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Effective Content Developed and Shared

Effective content can be developed and shared in various ways. Three of them I will talk about will focus on is headlines/ titles, topics and distribution.

For headlines, they should be used to gain viewers attention. As the content’s first impression it should be very strong to enable readers to want to know more. Fonts used for headlines need to be clear and large enough to for viewers to read and understand what the article is about. From platform to platform each headline should be personalized based on the audience you are attracting on that site. B sure to avoid click baiting misinterpretations of the content to protect validity of brands image. Thumbnail pictures of can be added with content to catch viewers eye’s and enhance visibility of article on viewers timelines, preferably pictures are to be a minimum 600 x 315 to post with content.

Next would be choosing a topic to share with viewers. When selecting a topic to create for viewers there are two questions that should be asked before continuing with that content creation: 1) Who are the target viewers of this post and 2) Why is this content being shared? Topics should relate to a company or organization’s mission for using social media. To provide more viewer engagement, topics can appeal to emotion and a call to action for more interactions between the company and viewers across its platform.

Lastly, after creating an attention seeking headline with a thought-provoking topic distributing that content can be done in many ways. One could be by just ordinary organic posts that is based on internal resources without the use of other sources such as employee testimonials. Inorganic posts can be content from other sources that relates to the business and ca be shared to its platforms ensuring first that the source is credible.  Live stories are another tool that can help interact with viewers right on the spot communicating ideas, answering questions, and giving behind the scenes content of that company’s everyday objectives.

Becoming a social organization have to do with the principles of effective content development and sharing. A social organization is a pattern of relationships between individuals and social groups. Effective content development helps with catering to a target audience creating various ways of sharing media/ information to viewers. It provides better communication to better company wanting to be create a social organization looking to better its product or service through interactions with potential consumers. Effecting sharing of content ensures relevancy, brand loyalty, and credibility for company’s image of being reliable.

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Social Media ethical issues

From the two articles, ethical issues social media platforms are facing would be the effect of democracy within a society and a platforms role in allowing free speech but accepting only fact-checked speech regarding politics. In the first article “The underworld of online content moderation”, it talks about how moderators are employed to verify inappropriate self-expression on a company’s online platform. But what is deemed inappropriate and how to differentiate it from being expressive? For some online users the online world is the primary platform to express ideas, share opinions with others, and broadcasts their beliefs to a larger audience. Though some are easily deemed as inappropriate (slurs, graphic violence, nudity, curse words etc.) others may be questionable regarding a gray area of self-expression.

How do companies respond to this issue? Well regarding article 2 “I worked on political ads at Facebook. They profit by manipulating us.”, it seems as though some companies are aware of the biased information being spewed to viewers but disregard these claims due to the use of paid advertisements purchased by political campaigns. Users data is being exploited to political campaigns to aim advertisements at certain viewers (which can be related back to how companies sell consumers data for secondary income) based on their views, ideology, or belief. From a personal level most users would be okay with the advertisements because it will add secondary support to their already instilled beliefs but the problem with that would be the actual information being given to viewers that are not fact checked. Here is where companies should use moderators to single out those provoking ads.

From a societal level this creates an unhealthy democracy where the use of provoking free speech from campaign ads are spreading inaccurate information causing division and little conversation from all sides of politics. All based from the use of a social media platform not fact checking political advertisements before agreeing to share with viewers. From a business level companies whether for profit or not can do one or more of these ideas below:

1. Create laws like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to prevent data from being weaponized against users and other alike in politics to keep the balance of democracy. OR

2. Take Twitter’s approach and eliminate all political ads from platform and find new methods of attracting consumers and generating revenue.

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Online community building

After reading chapters 4 and 5 I’m still kind of blurry on the effective principles for online community building using social media so here is my attempt of taking a stab at what the chapters meant to me. In the chapter’s it talked about forming a vision statement that underlines the purpose of why a company is using social media and how does it affect collaboration and communication for the community using the platforms. The vision statement similar to a mission statement can help guide a company/ organization keep on track of particular goals and expectations it hopes to get out of using social media with also providing its community valuable substance in whatever form it may be to promote healthy interactions/ collaborations and retention on the platforms. It also talked about suitability of mass collaboration that affects how a community contributes to a platform. One example I think relates to suitability would include the ultimate flashcard app quizlet https://quizlet.com/ that is a online  learning tool for students to study any topic and also help teachers prep students for tests, quizzes, or other learning topics. Their vision/ mission is simply put “ to help students and teachers practice and master whatever they are learning”. The app not only gives a clear purpose for its use in social media but allows the community to independently collaborate with each other by using other people’s flashcards, customizing flashcards for personal use and working in either a independent or group setting. With a clear target audience,the app developed a strong relationship with educational institutions that created value within their business and a large community that collaborates on their site. 

On Hootsuite, what I learned about growing an online community is using advocates that can range from customers to employees to help create brand awareness and boost customer loyalty. When using advocates a business/ org. should focus on engaging followers that bring value to a platform rather than just engaging with as many people as possible to better cater to an audience that will provide valuable interactions for a company to do better on a specific platform. Also going back to having interaction/ collaborations on a platform being voiced by the brand’s vision on the purpose of the platform. These lessons apply to the client I’m working with because it helps identify ways in which to increase community engagement and collaboration on their page. For an example, using 1 or more of the 4 different types of active interactions like such as shared content, customer support queries, addressing negative sentiment and responding in a timely manner with proactive engagement can increase the level of interactions within a community. 

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The Legal Side of Big Data

When using big data, businesses should take in account three main things: 1) risk assessment when collecting data, 2) ensuring ownership of collected data from customers, and  3) where will data go post-bankruptcy. 

For risk assessment in order to prevent drastic situations from happening companies should take proper security measures to protect data information before they start collecting data from users. It doesn’t make sense to spend up to millions of dollars to fix a data breach situation when that same amount of money or less could have been used to provide a more secure server. In my opinion risk assessments are an ongoing trial as the internet progresses with time. For an example a lot of companies are coming up with creative ways to test their software program, one process allows software technicians and trained hackers to attempt to hack into a company’s data system in exchange for some monetary prize. Not only will ongoing trials keep businesses on their feet but it will keep them ahead of the potential hackers looking to steal customer personal information. 

The concept of ensuring ownership of collected data took me by surprise. I never realized though we authorize ( whether willingly or not) certain companies to collect data from us that not only are we sharing that information with them but also to its vendors, partnerships, etc. Whether we know it or not we rely on that company to keep our personal information from unauthorized usage. Having sole ownership of consumers data and applying contracts with associating parties/ employees will help create a firewall to prevent any internal breaches. I find it interesting that there is a consumer protection law in place for consumers like you and me but we are given little information on what necessarily our information is being used for in the first place. However putting policies in effect is something all companies should do, especially complex organizations when its life span is not certain. 

When companies go bankrupt I never realized that a customer’s personal information can be up for sell for anybody to everybody. I assumed all information within that business was to be sealed off or deleted forever. Is it kind of ironic that many business like chain stores ( Toys R Us, Payless, etc.) offer big sales when going out of business? It makes you think will consumers new personal information up the price in selling new information about consumers to the highest bidder. Which is why it would be a great idea for businesses to create a plan of what is to happen with users personal data when the company is no more.

Consumers should be ( though not always likely) aware of the information that companies are collecting from them. It would be wise to read all the terms and conditions of an app/ or website contract agreement to fully understand what you are agreeing to once you accept it. In today's time even the most well known companies ( Door Dash, Capital One, etc.)  among us are being hacked and breached which is why as consumers we have to be knowledgeable of what we allow certain companies to have access to.  The best way to balance the opportunities and threats by the development of big data is to have a transparent system where consumers know and see what information is being collected/ by who and  also let the consumer choose between having free services on the internet to use in exchange for personal data or pay for a internet service that is secured/ private.  

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Junk News

Within the article it talks about the rise of social media contributing to the fluctuation of junk news based on three reasons: algorithms, advertising and exposure. 

Algorithms are key when searching for content on the internet. When using a search engine you type in keywords that enhances your ability to find specific items, services, and information. One big factor is it allows users to personalize their social media experience using keywords, filters, and news feed optional settings. This may be ideal for many users but algorithms have a bigger impact than we realize with society interactions shaping democracy. When we type in keywords, filters, or even change our settings on apps we are doing the opposite of what social media  is for which is to communicate with different people who may not be like you. This can be detrimental to the function of society because without communication no problem can be discussed nor solved. Another factor of  algorithms is that its instant for an example when using www.dictionary.com  you no longer have to flip through a physical dictionary in order to get definitions its available at your fingertip which makes it more convenient. Though convenience can be beneficial to users their is also a downfall with keyword algorithms when it comes to what I call “surveillance” marketing where companies/ third party groups track what keywords you use most often on the internet and use it to promote advertisements for you. 

With the rise of social media more companies/ organizations shift their marketing techniques towards the internet to  send promotional ads to their ideal target market. Going back to the big data discussion some companies/orgs buy or collect data to better understand the demographic of potential customers who may be interested in a product or service they offer. The advertising model most websites use contributes to junk news by allowing potential consumers to use their website for free with the exchange of collecting data that becomes a secondary stream of income to big companies and third party groups. For an example have you ever been looking on a website for a short period of time then venture off to another platform and spot an ad for that particular website you were just on? If yes, then your activity was being tracked from that particular website and now their ambushing you with promotional ads to revisit the website again to buy something that's on “sale”. This could cause unease for some to know that there is always a potential for exposure of personal information when using the internet. To respond to these tactics users can look at the terms / agreement of that specific webpage to avoid data collection or push for paying to use websites to protect personal information.

Exposure is what feeds junk news due to the selective information that is given to users based on the algorithms they select for themselves. Going back to filters/ setting options, users can hinder themselves from learning more about other ideas, opinions, and information. For an example when discussing heavy topics such as abortions, politics, and immigration many tend to block out other views in opinions because it does not align with their ideal media experience. This creates more tension and more junk news to be spread in order to stir the pot even more with misleading/ and even sometimes non-factual information that gets spread like wildfire. To respond to these tactics users should challenge themselves to create discussions with different groups of believers and  hash problems out spot on without becoming tied in a loop of being bond to a specific belief. Algorithms should also be used carefully to prevent from exclusion of different people, services, and products that  could be miss when being too selective of what you want to see/ view on the internet. 

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Social Media Consulting

The most important qualities of a social media consultant to me would have to include: adaptation, background research, and strategic planning. First, social media consultants need to adapt to new technology trends and social media platforms. Technology changes frequently so being on top of knowing a variety of platforms can create a bigger opportunity to helping a client choose specific ones that would work for their business/ organization. Also understanding the main focus of that particular platform and how mass collaboration can be incorporated within the site to help the clients online footprint grow. Next, social media consultants can do further research on the business/ organization their working for. Some research can include product/ services they offer, purpose, usage of platforms, target audience etc. Doing background research can help with coming up with creative mechanisms to improve their platforms. Finally, strategic planning because it focuses on coming up with marketing strategies that will help the growth of an online footprint. Strategic planning vary from business to organizations but it can create good practices to enhance ones online presence.

If I were acting as a social media consultant for myself some basic plans/ strategies I would advise for myself would be the following: 1) consistent posting on each platforms, 2) come up with a brand that I can sell to others and 3) interact with followers. For my social media platforms I only have an Instagram and Facebook account that I have not posted on recently but just use to keep in contact with family and friends. To renew my accounts I could start back up creating valuable content that I believe could represent me as a brand and stick with that theme to develop my online presence. Picking a brand that represent me as a person is crucial to let people know who I am and what I am all about.Once I have my ideal brand and creative content to share I will need to manage my two accounts to ensure consistent posting, interaction with followers, and properly using the technology provided on the platform to take advantage of. What I have done for so far on my platforms is update my basic information about me such as education, employment, and a profile picture. What I could do in the future is start from scratch to create new platforms for myself or continue to transform  my original platforms. 

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Big Data vs. Privacy

Big Data relates to privacy because the data that data brokers accumulate from social media and the internet contains information that many people in the world would not want to share with others. Big data, (like discussed in the lecture video) collect pieces of information about people that can be packaged, analyzed, and sold. Such information can range from personal interests to medical information. It is a powerful tool because the little pieces of information collected by these data brokers adds up to create a bigger profile of who you are as a person which is sold to different companies. The dangers of its abuse is that the average person does not have any control of what specific data is collected about them or who to contact or pinpoint what company is collecting the information. Another would be the surveillance of tracking your every move from credit card transactions and  mobile apps by assumed “trustworthy” companies many people use offline on an everyday basis.

My views to limit harm from big data on a personal/ societal level are based  from Ceglowski’s video and Zuckerman’s article. 1) Consumers should have access to all data collected by them from companies and choose which can/ cannot be shared with others. There should be transparent agreements between consumers and  data broker companies that go over what information is accepted to be shared to others and what needs to be private. 2) Another would be paying for content people choose to use on the internet/ social media to avoid sketchy third party groups having access to their personal information. Like Zuckerman mentioned society need to pay for services we support/use and abandon the services that are free on the surface but behind closed doors sell consumers as their own product. 

This became to be from internet business models influencing surveillance and data gathering on the internet. Marketing from the internet changed the way advertisements were displayed to consumers. Now companies can buy a list of information from people with certain attributes that they in turn can use to advertise their products/services to selected consumers. With the internet it also gives a way for businesses to monitor the activity on their webpages and see specific details on  the type of consumer demographic they have such as country/region, age group, race, gender etc. It also can give these businesses secondary income with selling your search history or payment transactions on their pages to  third party groups, like discussed in the 60 minute video, you're never really alone when browsing on a website. 

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Social Media Experient

Hey loves, my social media experiment was a three day experiment that consisted of a 24 hour detox from a specific usage of technology/ social media. Day 1 experiment was about not using the internet web browser/ search engine tool while doing school work. Day 2 experiment was not using any form of social media platform such as FB, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. And finally Day 3 was no texting/ calling anyone from my phone. Within this blog I will talk about the challenges I’ve had and the solutions I came up with to substitute technology use with human interaction. 

Day 1: The day I picked to do this specific detox was on Thursday, Sept. 19th mostly because I usually like to do a lot of my homework prior to the weekend because I work sometimes but also like to relax. This experiment had to be the hardest for me starting off with because I noticed I relied too much on using search engines to make my life easier with doing work. One example of that would be writing a paper or notes down and wanting to look up a definition or correct spelling. I would want to quickly type in the word on the internet but had to refrain from that and pull out my good ol’ thick dictionary/ thesaurus I had on my closet shelf for years. I forgot what it was like having only books to help you with doing work and realized that it wasn’t as bad as I thought, I could easily search for the word/ definition just as fast as I could on the internet. The use of talking with library assistants as well was an extreme help with finding printed articles, references,and information about the things I needed without the use of technology but human dialogue to get my work completed. In all I learned that I was capable of getting work done without the use of technology to help with a “quick and easy” approach of finding material.

Day 2: The day I chose to do this detox was on a Friday Sept. 20th mostly because I had no classes but I did go on a field trip plus hung out with some friends afterwards. For the record my  Fridays are usually wasted by the large amount of time I use on social media apps. The field trip was at a mall where we were being lectured about retail lighting spaces so it wasn’t that hard not being on any social media platforms. On the contrary had it been a seated lecture I would have probably been on my social media accounts because I do well without technology when active rather than when not. When dining with classmates at the mall’s food court I realized it was more fun conversing with each other at the table rather than being standoffish on the phone. At times it was awkward because my conversations would get cut short as people were on their phones while talking with me. I also noticed that while eating people tend to look at their phones to avoid talking with a each other with food in their mouths which I could understand. In all I learned that I had a good time at the field trip because I was in the moment spending time with classmates opposed to on virtual reality.

Day 3: This detox was on Saturday Sept. 21st because I had no classes but I did have to work that day. I found this one to be the easiest of them all to achieve because I rarely communicate with people that I do not see in person often. In other words my phone is usually drier than the Sahara desert most weekends. After telling my family and loved ones that I will not be able to communicate with them that day it pretty much was easy not to check my phone to see if I had any calls/ messages. But I did realize that I used so much social media outlets to make the time go by faster by looking at what other people where doing based off of videos, posts, statuses, etc. I also talked a lot during my work shift as if I was getting all of my thoughts out of my system. In all I learned that not talking to people via online/ on the phone was easy to manage while I had a lot of time to myself and my thoughts. It was also relieving to have people to immediately/ physically talk to for sharing  ideas, thoughts etc with them instead of waiting for a response online. 

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Social Media Influence

Hello loves, today we’re going to discuss social media’s influence on our everyday life an. For an example, social media’s influence on my everyday life has drastically changed from being a kid to a young adult. As a kid I connected with people on a  face-to-face approach. Growing up technology was not a big thing to me but going outside to interact with friends was everything. With the face-to-face approach I learned how to make friends, develop communication skills, and loved to live in the moment. Now as a young adult I heavily use social media as a interaction tool to connect with old friends, see what's going on in the world, and hold memories from the past. Over the years I have become socially awkward, very observant, and keep to myself more. See the difference in the outcome of my life due to social media (in my opinion) being the primary use of human communication.

What can the internet do for you that you can’t do for yourself?  Having the internet constantly available can affect anyone’s life good or bad depending on the outcome. For an example, a good case scenario could be networking and meeting people with common like interests that can create good relationships on and OFF of the internet. Though networking and meeting like-minded people can be done offline it extends the opportunity to encompass new people you probably would never engage with in the real world. Tying it to self care: though relationships stemmed from online platforms can be an innocent way to transition to real-world communication there are times when having the internet be a primary communication tool is a bad idea. For an example, when you walk in a room and nobody knows anyone the first thing people do is lock to their phone because they do not know how to meet new people/ engage in normal conversations. Like Sherry Turkle mentioned in the lecture video it’s a flight from conversation, real world human conversation. 

There will be a time where you can not rely on the internet to stimulate your existence in the real world. An example I can recall several times would be power outages in the neighborhood and nobody having electricity for a few days. During that time it seemed as though my family bonded with each other more because we craved for some type of interaction when we couldn’t get it from our tv’s, computers, or cell phones( tried to save phone battery). To be honest it was really refreshing playing board games with my family, lighting candles around the house and listening to insects/animals outside as I was going to sleep. But that will all just be a memory until the next time it happens because when the electricity comes back on everyone goes back to their separate rooms and just like that human interaction in our house decreases.

[krishanacastro]

Hello loves, welcome to my Wellness Check blog about caring for oneself. My name is Krishana Castro and I’m currently 20 years old and a senior in college majoring in Interior Design and minoring in Entrepreneurship. Here at Central Michigan University I am an event staff for the University Recreation Center and a second year member of a national honor fraternity Phi Sigma Pi. Hobbies/ skills I have include drafting, auto-cad, arts &crafts, event planning, construction, playing with my 3 dogs and napping. My career goals is to become an interior designer for residential, retail, and commercial design while working in an architecture or interior design firm after graduating college and later branching off doing my own design work. I also would like to go to trade school after graduating to learn plumbing, electrical, and carpentry. What I hope this blog will do is create a community where we share our own hardships/ flaws and collectively help each other with these setbacks while providing solutions, practices, words of wisdom, and words of encouragement for the school year. 

The company that inspired my blog is Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty cosmetic brand (https://www.fentybeauty.com/) in regards to how well it uses social media. What the company does well involves how it launched its own community within a pre-existing one using a three- step process. 1) With defining the community Fenty Beauty’s showed how participants can interact with each other by video clip tutorials for viewers on how to use its makeup, connecting beauty influencer’s Instagram pages with potential beauty followers, and having a meaningful message of unity within shade ranges in terms of human unity through makeup. 2) When the company planned engagement its tipping point was the revolution of creating 50 shade ranges for many skin types, which was barrier breaking considering the beauty community’s lack of shade ranges before. That in addition to the popularity of Rihanna’s stardom career drew in a lot of attention and participation of beauty gurus to use/ promote the makeup brand. 3) Delivering the community’s collaboration environment consisted of creating a balanced and unified space for everyone to feel as though they are connected to the brand no matter what race, gender, or religion. Fenty Beauty’s social media platforms are in a pre-existing makeup environment but pushed beyond the purpose of makeup to create an environment of love, unity, self-confidence, and self-worth. Which is what I want my blog to emphasize throughout every post I make. Stay tuned for more posts and thank you for reading along!