#any age group- anyone in general can be targeted- they will adapt their message

[goldammerchen]

im sorry im sorry imsorry im sorrr but we gotta be cautious around anyone too much into military* (even if isn't that military or that period), AND also if anyone was a little too much into traditionality! going farther than just celebrating culture to a more malicious twist.

i mean, the fandom has proved stupid enough—ignores obvious shit from someone that isn't even trying to hide—that i don't think that's too crazy to imagine that someone could start with innocuos things and then frog-boiling-in-water to "retvrn" bullshitery, racism, anti-immigration and white supremacy 😬

*perhaps i'd would have been more suspicious of hima's first storyline if i was older ha-ha-ha *cough attack*... if i was older back then maybe i wouldn't have become a fan, maybe: i partially had to learn to look into this shit bc of being in the fandom...

[lady-daydream]

Random Headcanons about MacCready Fallout 4 - (Part 1)

He has an extremely fast reaction time, with equally fast reflects to match. Naturally, this fast reaction time was due to him always being alert while in the Commonwealth and in Capital Wasteland. However, this reaction time sometimes puts people on edge as he always seems to know when a glass will fall or when an enemy is behind a wall before anyone else can hear or see them. This mixed with his extremely high survival instinct means he almost always seems to have an awareness and the upper hand in many scenarios. He has even somehow dodging incoming (and fatal) bullets without thinking. He clocked it down to luck. However, this little skill of his does not fully show itself until he is seen with Duncan. If Duncan is even close to falling over his hand is already there to balance him. Duncan's about to drop a toy, MacCready has already got it. Maccready has an almost sixth sense, meaning he seems to just know when Duncan is about to cry. He does make an effort to not be overbearing to Duncan however even if it is only from a distance he is always making sure his son is okay. This skill however has also saved sole in multiple occasions; from catching them before their footing went lose while having to climb the remains of a pre-war building, to kicking a grenade from them before pushing them both to cover. Sole always jokes about it being his Spider Sense.

 As much as MacCready may seem like a muscle head. He has a strange need and desire to learn. He knows he is not extremely intelligent like Curie or Nick. But he still enjoys learning thing or understanding information he knows will help him survive. Some examples being, when he first left little lamplight when he was 16, he found reading helped him take his mind off things. He did however have difficulty making out most of the story, so he forced himself to learn. When he met Lucy, he had a good hang of reading, but she helped him whenever he got stumped as well as teaching him to write. Duncan’s name was actual plucked from Shakespeare's play Macbeth which she would use to help him learn. After Lucy's death, he became a farmer. He tried to find any books and advice to help him. He is a generally skilled farmer and was somehow able to make things grow just due to learning skills from precious farmers and pre-war books. When Duncan feel ill, Maccready not only asked as many doctors as he could about the disease but also tried to read as much as he could about it. He picked up not only some useful medical skills and understandings but also found he is one of the few that can follow Curies’ topical rants about medical science with being completely confused.  

However, much he likes to read, he also prefers comic books due to them being easier to read when its late and he was exhausted. He also found them easier to follow when he was younger. He also enjoys reading them to Duncan, collecting new ones whenever he can just to see Duncan’s face light up whenever he was reading him a story.

MacCready has a form of colour-blindness called Achromatopsia. This means he is unable to see colour, and only sees things in shades of black, white and grey. Due to having this as a child he quickly adapted and tried to the best of his ability to learn the different shades of grey as the colours people would associate them with. Though he has never seen colour he wishes that he could in order to see if Duncan has his mothers or his own eyes. He also prefers the night to the day due the sensitivity brought one by this condition as well as growing up in little lamplight meaning that his eyes have difficulty adjusting to light. On the other hand, he does see better in the dark slightly better than the average person. From the little he has read about it as well as what Curie later discussed with him, this form of colour blindness is genetic however is extremely rare. This however does not stump his fear that Duncan would have his colour-blindness. Curie quickly explained that Duncan is still able to see in colour even if he couldn't and quickly helped soothe that fear. He enjoys sitting with Duncan and asking him to describe the sunset and the colours he can see. While with Lucy, and later with Sole both will happily help mention a colour if he needs them to however, they do not help unless asked knowing assuming he is helpless he finds belittling. When Maccready asks however what eye colour he has Sole happily told him that he had blue eyes and that Duncan had Brown eyes.

MacCready pretended to be NCR. Due to them being more situational in the Mojave, people were more likely to just accept he was a soldier from a war far from the Capital Wasteland than ask questions. He found out about the NCR from a group of ex-soldiers turned caravan guards that mentioned a group of sharp shooters within the NCR and how they never seemed to miss. So, he stuck with that cover when lying to Lucy.

Due to this if MacCready ever met Boone, their interactions would be a mixture of reactions. Boone having a general disliking for anyone who pretends to be NCR without fighting, with this angering him is enough for him to want to start a fight. This paired with Macready’s underlining guilt about lying however not liking to back down from a fight if there isn't another option might lead to both avoiding each other out of awkwardness if Boone was unaware, or a fight if Macready's lie was known to Boone and things become confrontational. Both however could understand loss. And on the event, both shared a drink or went on watch together, both would be able to understand each other better than most. With Boone envying Macready's drive to survive due to his son, while Maccready admiring Boone’s determination even if it were for revenge. Deep down he knowing that if he could destroy ever feral ghoul, he would in a heartbeat without second thought.

 MacCready is a pretty good cards player. and has been able to win himself a bed for the night or drinks on the house more than once. He wants to learn card tricks however due to years of shooting and living in the harshness of the Capital Wasteland his fingers are to Callous and numb to do most of the more detailed and intricate tricks.

 MacCready has a habit of watching and observing as well as learning about his targets before he would kill them. He made it almost a habit of learning routines, people or things his target would interact with in order to as quickly as possible to make sure he knew where they would be when his sights landed. He got his reputation for a reason and he isn't know for being a cold-hearted son of a bitch when he needs to be. This became hyper focused after Lucy however, with him observing Feral Ghouls to understand them. From learning their movement pattern to how fast they are at attacking to how they interact with other feral ghouls. After failing to get Duncan's cure the first time from the Medtek Laboratory he used to sit, watching the hoards outside the place from a safe distance days on end ,hoping to find a time that would be safest to go.

 He has the patience of a saint. He can sit in a place for days on end waiting for a target. He would sometimes sit in Daisy's shop and act as security, not moving unless something kicked of. When he is like this is breathing slows to an almost silent rate, and he almost seems to be away in his own thoughts, with a single movement bringing him back. Daisy used to joke saying he was more a guard dog than a bodyguard.

 He met Daisy while he was still with Lucy when they travelled to Good neighbour before Duncan was born. She was helping unload caravan supplies and Lucy volunteered them both to help her. It was only a brief encounter but when Daisy spotted MacCready years later looking like he had aged many more years than had passed without the chirpy Lucy by his side she put two and two together. Though he does not remember meeting Daisy before Goodneighbour they quickly found it easier talking to each other. Though he would never admit it, he saw Daisy as an almost aunt figure. With him even telling her everything from Lying to Lucy, To Duncan, to the Gunners and even Little lamp light. Daisy would never tell anyone anything MacCready said to her in confidence, and even keeps the one-time Maccready came to here almost in tears after being unable to get the Medtek cure, covered in Injures a secret. Knowing that he would not want anyone seeing him in a weakened state. She always says he has a free spare bed above her shop if he needs it. And in return, if Daisy ever needs Macready's skill set for anything, he will do it with very little questions asked. She even helps him with anything he is reading with her love of books and pre-war knowledge meaning she has a little collection of books she will let him borrow as well as the understanding of pre-war words and their meanings.

MacCready likes anything Elvis created, and finds all his songs enjoyable. Though to many of his holotapes exist, he has had the luck to listen to a few. He hums them when he is doing some repetitive tasks such as cleaning his weapon or Collecting his bullets. His favourites are Blue Suede Shoes which he likes to teach and sing with Duncan. (Though he cannot dance to save his life), as well as Return to sender and if I can dream.

Sorry this has to be in a few parts, I’ve just moved to university so haven't had a lot of time. The other parts will be following shortly.

This one is for you @thatwolfnamednyla and @strawberrymilkuwo who both agree that Maccready deserves some attention and love. He is personally my joint favourite companion in all the fallout games, and he after having him as a companion I don't pick anyone else. 

I'm sorry in advance if their are many spelling mistakes please comment if you see any so I can correct them. :) If anyone has any suggestions/ imagine/ headcannons please just message me or comment and I will try and write it as quickly and to the best as my ability. I hope everyone has an amazing day, love you all <3

[ldcu-12stem1g3mil]

On Becoming A Medium: Gen-Z Individuals As Modern Communicators

Greater Communication Leads To A Greater Generation

Communication establishes relationships that make organized possibilities. Throughout different ages, communication in their unique ways is used to pass down information, both verbal and non-verbal means. Of the cave paintings of the Prehistoric Era, down to Classical arts of the Renaissance. The works of messenger and the impact of gossip of the Medieval Era. The establishment of postal networks and telephones of the Early Modern Era, until now to the Present Modern period of Internet and Online technology, the introduction of the Modernized Communication Era. The generation, also known as digital natives or digitally literate, can grow up and adapt to the internet and portable digital technologies at a young age. The evolution of communication depicts how messages and ideas were undertone or significantly conveyed. Every thought uttered has purposes or objectives to reach. There is always a reason when communicating a message to another. It may be to inform, entertain, or persuade them. Whether your purpose is intended to be good, misunderstandings happen too, so it is wise to deliver the message with utmost clarity and precision.

The Power Of Communication

Activism is one way to fight for a more equitable social system that can benefit everyone. It gives the voice from the voiceless and amplifies the voice from the suppressed. Activism is a movement that gives the power to communicate the struggles over life and helps overcome feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. Evident reports show substantial and manifest studies on how Gen-Z has changed activism: from political towards environmental. Without the power of communication, none of the calls of people will be heard and addressed. In democratic countries, freedom of expression and speech is inscribed to seek and adhere to the needs of the people in these dynamic societies.

Generations and generations have passed, yet, taboos and social issues are nevertheless at the bottom focus. Philippine culture obliges their children to follow their parents or any elderly advice because they believe voicing out is a form of disrespect and stepping out before them, fearing the youth turning against them. These are one of the reasons why Gen-Zers are more vocal about their opinions and asserting their rights. They seek social justice amidst the repercussions, subjects preventing the youth from voicing them out as they are still young to seek a voice.

While activism requires collective communication, the aspect of leadership requires another greater responsibility. While a good leader holds the vision of the group, a more prominent leader empowers individuals through effective and accurate communication by building together their strongholds to efficiently perform the group's objective. Achieving success and target objectives requires a powerful and convincing communicator. Communication enables leaders and members to share what they have and what they expect from others.

Social Media: Rethinking Communication Works

While every new generation had its share of technological, economic, political, and social differences, no other period in human history could connect people around the planet, allowing individuals to be fully engaged in various relevant topics. As modern communicators, social media is a commonly used and helpful medium of communication and information library. These are advantageous in functionalities that let everyone be able to connect, learn, and communicate with others globally with limited to no difficulties. However, using Social media weighs huge responsibilities and accountabilities as such expression on a large platform like social media should be assessed first. As defined, communication is a two-way transmission: One speaks, then the other listens, and vice versa. Encountering opposing and similar ideas is part of human difference; thus, it is wise to respect those varieties and learn from each other. Learn how to take and give constructive criticisms. 

However, what is not meant to be harmful will become toxic if used inappropriately. Social media means bridging the gap of ignorance and satisfies what the generation wants and needs. There are tons of web pages that publish misleading information that is intended to be lampoon or satirical. Even if the purpose is comical, false and twisted stories will always produce confusion, misunderstanding, and turmoil between readers. Some people of Gen-Z use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to express their emotions, particularly hatred. Crying personal and public opinions and problems are often thought not to be bothered. However, in truth, audiences that engages the hatred sentiments online would impact them subtly or significantly. Although everyone has the right to think and act the way they want, always remember that freedom has limitations. A misguided idea could lead to dangerous ideas. Before putting thoughts and words online, consider the following: Will it have a beneficial outcome? Will it be sensitive and might offend anyone? Is it even appropriate for me to share such thoughts? Is it necessary?

Conclusion

It is not enough to know and navigate technology; practice awareness and be responsible enough to put it to good use. As modern communicators, effective spotting and dissemination of factual and truthful information is the objective that will help generations to grow and prosper forward. If disinformation can spread in a matter of seconds, then so can the truth, justice, and factual information. Let Gen-Z be the role model of today's medium to a better and truthful society.

Greater communication leads to a greater generation. In the age of Information, ignorance became a choice. Let not history blind the upcoming generation. Practicing self-research and critical thinking is worthwhile and let knowledge be your weapon. While the world is still progressing forward, the present technologies and trained knowledge will evolve and multiply its degree to a more comprehensive cost. Moreover, the transmission of communication may develop into more complexities. Thus, learning to be responsible users must be practiced now for future generations to succeed. The more communication is used in the right way, the better the result reflects its present period; thus, affecting the future positively. The significant goal of communication is to cultivate truth, justice, and facts, and a sense of connections in the medium of communication.

References:

YPulse. (2020). This is how gen Z & millennials have changed activism. Retrieved from https://www.ypulse.com/article/2020/07/14/this-is-how-gen-z-millennials-have-changed-activism/

Biederman, A. et al. (2020). Meet gen Z activists: called to action in an unsettled world. Retrieved from https://apnews.com/article/climate-race-and-ethnicity-shootings-climate-change-school-violence-01673bd21da246ce942d1e98a08fc96f

Koulopoulos, T. Keldsen, D. (2014). Gen Z effect the six forces shaping the future of business. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/Gen-Z-Effect-The-Six-Forces-Shaping-the-Future-of-Business/Koulopoulos-Keldsen/p/book/9781629560311

Tyson, A. Kennedy, B. & Funk, C. (2021). Gen Z, millennials stand out for climate change activism, social media engagement with issue. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2021/05/26/gen-z-millennials-stand-out-for-climate-change-activism-social-media-engagement-with-issue/

Luthra, A. & Dahiya, R. (2015). Effective leadership is all about communicating effectively: Connecting leadership and communication. Retrieved from https://www.mcgill.ca/engage/files/engage/effective_leadership_is_all_about_communicating_effectively_luthra_dahiya_2015.pdf

Kalamtime. (2021). Evolution of communication from ancient to modern times. Retrieved from https://www.kalamtime.com/blog/evolution-of-communication/

Everydaymentor. (N.D.). Social media/media literacy: Responsible use. Retrieved from https://everydaymentor.org/article/social-mediamedia-literacy-responsible-use/

[dweemeister]

The Stalking Moon (1968)

By the late 1960s, the American Western’s zenith had passed, and the genre was reinventing itself. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) unleashed a wave of films in all genres depicting violence more openly and graphically; meanwhile, the rise of the Revisionist Western (1962’s Ride the High Country, 1966’s The Professionals) led to the deglamorization of the genre’s protagonists and their sense of morality. Released by National General Pictures (NGC), The Stalking Moon reunites producer Alan J. Pakula, director Robert Mulligan, and Gregory Peck – no longer a dashing young man – a six years after To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). Though the team is a throwback, the mindset of The Stalking Moon fits squarely within a Revisionist Western. Mulligan’s dialogue-light film incorporates elements of atmospheric thrillers and, in its tensest moments, seems to resemble a proto-slasher. As a hybrid thriller-Western, The Stalking Moon – once the narrative pieces are in place – is a sharp-edged, gorgeously-shot affair.

On Sam Varner’s (Peck) last day before retiring from the U.S. Cavalry, his regiment surrounds and arrests dozens of Apache warriors. Among the group is a white woman, Sarah Carver (Eva Marie Saint), and her half-Indian son (Noland Clay; Clay’s ethnicity/race is unclear). That afternoon, Sarah pleads for an immediate escort from the Cavalry’s camp instead of waiting for five days for an official military escort. The boy’s father, Salvaje (Nathaniel Narcisco in redface; Narcisco’s ethnicity/race is unclear), is a ruthless assassin and, according to Sarah, almost certainly in pursuit of their son. The Cavalry commander rejects Sarah’s request, but Sam agrees to take them to a remote train station. At the station, disaster strikes, and Sam invites Sarah and her son to stay with him at his rugged, mountainous ranch in New Mexico. Sarah and her son find the personal adjustments to live on Sam’s ranch difficult, but they have help thanks to ranch hands Ned (Russell Thorson) and Nick Tana (Robert Foster, whose character is a half-Indian scout). But even in this ranch, protected on three sides by treacherous rock formations, Sarah and her son have not yet eluded the violence to come.

Mulligan also appears to make comments on how the United States treated the American Indians of the West, but ultimately never does so. The Stalking Moon never highlights indigenous perspectives, declining to even give Sarah’s son a name or expressive space. These perspectives only exist through implication – the wars of the American West are going poorly for the tribes, and white settlers are moving ceaselessly westward and are cementing themselves in these lands. Sarah and Salvaje’s child, being of mixed race and approximately eight or nine years old, would almost certainly be the target of sociopolitical discrimination and the suspicious gazes of many a stranger. Never discussed by any of the characters is the possibility of such behavior towards the child; if Mulligan and screenwriters Wendell Mayes (1959’s Anatomy of a Murder, 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure) and Alvin Sargent (1977’s Julia, 2004’s Spider-Man 2) attempted to insert subtext regarding the child’s treatment, they do so far too subtly.

Salvaje himself is a largely faceless antagonist who never exchanges any dialogue, let alone a grunt, a cry of pain, a primal exclamation. Like numerous American Western movies too numerous to name, this is a reinforcement of stereotypical depictions of American Indians in Hollywood – anonymous, without specific bearing to the lead characters. Is he pursuing his son to reclaim him or the murder him? The movie never says. To Salvaje’s credit, he is a physical menace that could easily overtake an aging Sam Varner. More often than not during the Western’s heyday, indigenous Americans – whether individually or as part of a collective – would be all too easily slaughtered in a hail of protagonists’ gunfire or explosives (in part because of their antagonistic anonymity). Such developments would serve The Stalking Moon, which is partly a thriller, poorly. Thus, Salvaje is an aversion of the too-easily-killed Indian trope, but his complete lack of non-violent interaction with any character and empty characterization beyond his capacity for violence and vengeance uphold the trope of the anonymous indigenous menace. His physicality and obvious threat to the protagonists serve thriller genre; his nature as a blank slate killer is a legacy from American Western narrative traditions (and now largely a relic to that tradition’s contemporary practitioners).

Now in his 50s when he made The Stalking Moon, Gregory Peck – if only because of Hollywood’s obsession over age – was reaching a point in his career where opportunities for lead roles inevitably begin to decline (but not his influence, as Peck was currently serving as the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). The Stalking Moon will, on paper, appear to be typical material for Peck. His Sam Varner, when no one else will tend to Sarah and her son’s safety, will take the initiative even though this decision, at best, is an inconvenience or, at worst, might cost him his life. As it is so often with Peck, his screen presence – assuredness of posture, the timbre of his voice, and calming persona – engineers a great performance. Even with a screenplay that avoids providing dialogue-driven details about his character’s life, Peck makes Sam Varner another entry in his long filmography of upstanding heroes.

The screenplay also consigns Eva Marie Saint to playing her character as a trauma survivor whose apprehension is pervasive. If one is seeking a role where Saint is able to display the fullest breadth of her acting range, The Stalking Moon is certainly not that movie. But for how the screenplay portrays her character, this is a capable performance from Saint alongside child star Noland Clay as the boy (this film remains Clay’s only screen credit).

Cinematographer Charles Lang (1947’s The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, 1959’s Some Like It Hot) and editor Aaron Stell (1958’s Touch of Evil, To Kill a Mockingbird) pay lip service to the Western genre with luxurious takes of the mountains and rock formations that mark their landscape photography. With on-location filming in Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, the low-to-the-ground, slightly upward-angled camera shots suggest that Sarah and her son, while making Sam Varner’s ranch house their new home, have nowhere to escape to. Dry shrubs line this small, sloped canyon with somewhat steep angles that make even walking without ascending or descending hazardous. Yet Lang and Stell’s collaboration truly impresses during the action setpieces – most notably in a scene where Gregory Peck, in a darkened room, awaits the entrance of the man who has been hunting the people he has been protecting. Before the naming and identification of the slasher subgenre of horror film, The Stalking Moon – noting its selective cinematography and editing in its tensest moments – relies on numerous lighting and staging techniques that the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Friday the 13th (1980) would later adopt. Though shot and edited like a thriller, much of the film has scenes of people-watching: adults observing children, children observing adults, people noticing small behavioral details otherwise glossed over in a less patient movie. These moments of observation substitute for the dialogue and are as important as the most critical pieces of dialogue in the film.

An unconventional score from composer Fred Karlin (1970’s The Baby Maker, 1973’s Westworld) is a restrained effort, making use of a full orchestra but rarely employing the aural grandiosity that an orchestra is capable of. Repeated often throughout The Stalking Moon is the opening motif whistled in the main titles, with the sparse melodies – usually performed by the whistler or a limited number of woodwinds and/or brass – suggesting the vastness and emptiness of the American West, even in the days of westward expansion. Karlin’s music has an unsettling quality that permeates into The Stalking Moon’s most joyous scenes. When Sarah and her son arrive and Sam’s residence for the first time, the cue “Sarah’s New Home” opens with solo triangle before the entrance of a lone flute. The occasional dissonance from the triangle conflicts with the flute – a subliminal, harmonic message (in addition to the various string harmonics used throughout) that Sarah’s dangers have not passed. So often in modern film composing, a director will relegate the music as background noise or the composer themselves will dispense almost entirely of melody. In the latter, numerous modern film score composers have reasoned that melody cannot serve action films or thrillers, so they will compose a wall of amelodic texture instead. But, as Karlin so ably demonstrates in his score to The Stalking Moon, the juxtaposition of memorable melodies and effective action scoring is more interesting dramatically and musically.

Today, The Stalking Moon’s influence has been limited in part due to NGC’s dissolution and sale to Warner Bros. in 1974. For anyone willing to dive into this relatively undiscovered piece of American Western, few of the film’s immediate contemporaries adapted its thriller-influenced cues for their own purposes. Its depiction of American Indians is not as egregious as other Westerns and it appears to make some sort of attempt at commentary, but many of the damaging preconceptions of indigenous Americans make their way into the film’s screenplay. Yet considering the undemonstrative approach that Robert Mulligan takes for his film, The Stalking Moon is a serviceable Western torn between the passing of eras for the genre.

My rating: 7/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

[dallaswebsite]

Web Design Trends in 2020: Are you ready to increase conversions?

Simple animations and GIFs, brutalism, microinteractions, diversity: get to know the 10 main Web Design trends for this year.

As a good Web Design professional, you should already know that it is necessary to be aware of all changes in the market to have a competitive advantage among your competitors.

A few years ago, design trends moved towards unrestrained creativity – abandoning traditional grids and photos in exchange for vibrant illustrations, bold color schemes and asymmetric layouts.

In other years, technological advances have made websites smarter (with machine learning and subtle interactions) and these changing paradigms have influenced design trends (hamburger menus, anyone?).

In 2020, web design trends will see these two sides of the coin – aesthetics and technology – come together like never before.

So if you want to know what Web Design trends are in 2020, check out our article and find out if any of them could be the key to increasing your conversions!

1. Vertical page transition

It is not new that people want information faster and faster on the internet. And one of the characteristics of the new user is that he is in a hurry, does not like to wait.

Therefore, one of the trends of Web Design in 2020 is the transition of pages smoothly, and preferably, vertically.

That’s because the feeling of clicking on a link and waiting for it to open looking at a completely white background is unpleasant and leaves the user impatient, which can increase their bounce rates.

The transition makes the action smooth and reduces the feeling that the user is waiting for something.

In addition, vertical movement (from bottom to top) generates familiarity and improves usability on both desktop and mobile devices, as this is the standard page scrolling movement.

Combining this strategy with an SEO consultancy to increase the loading speed of your website, it is possible to increase your conversions and improve the user experience.

2. Simple animations and GIFs

No user likes to access a page and find only columns and more columns of text. Therefore, it is the obligation of every Web Designer to insert images to optimize a website.

However, with the insertion of GIFs on Facebook, WhatsApp and other social networks, people are becoming more and more familiar with the animations.

Therefore, a trend in Web Design and 2020 is to use simple animations, but that guide the user to the important points of the page.

In addition to making a website more dynamic, animations inserted at the right moment of the user’s journey can be decisive in guiding the lead to take the action you want.

GIFs can also be very useful, especially to demonstrate simple actions in a few seconds, without the need to produce a video.

3. 3D illustrations

One of the main trends for Web Design in 2020 is to use 3D illustrations as a replacement for photos.

The idea is to exchange the common “text and image on the side” for a centralized illustration that shows the brand’s solutions in a cleaner way.

The main advantages of using illustrations are:

generate user identification;

explain the process of using your product / service clearly;

helps to humanize the brand;

ideal for businesses with more than 5 people, as it does not exclude groups of people.

In addition, you can assemble the illustrations based on the visual identity of the brand, reinforcing the company’s branding and generating more trust in the user.

4. Brutalism

Hated by some and loved by others, brutalism is a design style focused only on functionality, ignoring the appearance of a website. As a consequence, websites with brutalist design present disorderly elements, very aggressive fonts and little refinement, creating a very “raw” appearance. Many people find the style uncomfortable, but recently it has gained popularity among young audiences, especially when used with elements of the 90’s web. In addition, it is possible to set up a brutal website that is functional and does not look so aggressive, just select the elements used and, of course, test! The truth is that the style can work, but it will depend on your brand strategy, your goal and, mainly, your audience.

5. Serifs on the screen

We’ve all heard the rule that serif fonts are for printing and sans serifs are for screen / digital. But what would become of web design trends if they were not to shake that “old idea formed about everything”? While the sans family, with its clean readability, is still the preferred one to be applied in long texts – be it copy or institutional texts – more and more brands are betting on a serif font. The bold serif can have a very interesting effect on headings and headlines or headlines. There is a good reason for this: serifs are designed to be decorative, making them perfect for showing emphasis. And even though serifs are often associated with the past, they are extremely versatile and more adaptable than you might think. Take, for example, the rounded serifs that represent the joyful brand of Mailchimp.

6. Black and white palettes

Color is one of the most important elements of a website. It creates a mood, unifies a brand and guides users through an interface, creating points of visual reference. For 2020, we are seeing several sites using a black and white color scheme, to dare and give more visual prominence. Color is literally how we see the world through the particles of light being absorbed. When color is lacking, we begin to see the world differently: textures and shapes become clearer, and the world seems noticeably slower, still.

White by itself is clean and reserved, while black is strong and assertive. Combine these and you will have a completely striking appearance, with the ideal light and contrast. Ironically, the biggest effect that black and white designs can have is their combination with minimal amounts of color. Adding an accent color will not only break that monochromatic air, but will make points of interest and calls to action stand out.

7. Natural and organic forms

Although websites are typically set up for systematic grids, designers are turning to natural shapes and smooth lines. Geometric structures such as squares, rectangles and triangles with their sharp corners create a feeling of stability, but the trends of 2020 are more concerned with the feeling of accessibility and comfort. Since organic shapes are naturally imperfect and asymmetrical, they can provide depth to the page layout. The shapes are based on nature (think of the curved shapes of trees and mountains), but they can also be elements drawn freely, to give the idea of ​​spontaneity of accidents caused by man, such as paint splashes, coffee stain, or something like that. . The goal here is for the layout to be more “human” and alive through this illusion of movement.

8. Microinteractions

Microinteractions are events with a purpose: to surprise the user and create an inviting and humane event.

Every time you perform a small action on a website or application and there is a specific response to it, this is a microinteraction.

When you update a Twitter page and hear a beep, this is a micro-interaction. Or when you check Facebook, the red icon displaying your message count is also a micro-interaction.

These were the most common uses of them, but in 2020, sites will have their most interactive incarnations. The user can hover or scroll the page to activate animations and other effects.

In short, this is a way to engage your target audience on your website, convey information to users about your actions and make websites a little more intelligent and interactive.

9. Even more video content

Video content not only diversifies the page, but serves a moving audience that doesn’t have time to read a lot of text.

Be it a video explaining your service or a background video, to give more movement to the site.

However, using videos on the site is nothing new, what is new is the movement that Google has made. The search giant favored sites that use videos on its pages in search results.

10. Diversity

Often, people forget that the web has always been accompanied by two more important ones: “World Wide”. The internet connects billions of people around the world from different cultures, skills, ages, gender identities – people who want to see themselves reflected in their content.

Even small considerations from the past (like Apple’s varying skin tones for emojis) went a long way to making people from all walks of life feel more welcome in a brand’s digital space.

In 2020, web designers should take an even greater leap towards inclusion, from improved accessibility standards to socially aware and diverse images.

The world still has a long way to go in this arena, but designers today can use their art to demonstrate that the web must be plural, about real people making real connections.

In the end, trends come and go. Some last for decades, while others are simply a flash. What matters is that you remain true to the brand you are creating for.

Choose the trends that best align with the company’s values. If something is trended, it doesn’t mean you have to adopt it. You need to choose the trends that are useful to make your projects more effective and impactful.

Did you write down all the tips or are you already testing them? So leave your comment if any of them worked!

The post Web Design Trends in 2020: Are you ready to increase conversions? appeared first on Dallas Web Design Company | Best Web Designers In Dallas.

source https://dallaswebsite.design/web-design-trends/

[berniesrevolution]

The politics of Britain and the U.S. can have a strange, synchronized rhythm to them. Margaret Thatcher was a harbinger of Ronald Reagan as both countries veered suddenly rightward in the 1980s. Prime Minister John Major emerged as Thatcher’s moderate successor as George H.W. Bush became Reagan’s, cementing the conservative trans-Atlantic shift. The “New Democrats” and the Clintons were then mirrored by “New Labour” and the Blairs, adapting the policies of the center-left to the emerging consensus of market capitalism. Even Barack Obama and David Cameron were not too dissimilar — social liberals, unflappable pragmatists — until the legacies of both were swept aside by right-populist revolts. The sudden summer squall of Brexit in 2016 and the triumph of Trump a few months later revealed how similarly the Tories and the Republicans had drifted into nationalist, isolationist fantasies.

But what of the parallels on the left? What’s generating activist energy and intellectual ferment in both countries is an increasingly disinhibited and ambitious socialism. Bernie Sanders’s strength in the Democratic Party primaries two years ago was a prelude to a new wave of candidates who’ve struck unabashedly left-populist notes this year, calling for “Medicare for all” and the end of ICE, alongside a more social-justice-oriented cultural message. Some, like the charismatic Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have achieved national visibility as an uncomplicated socialism has found more converts, especially among the young. Moderate Democrats have not disappeared, but they are on the defensive. A fight really is brewing for the soul of the Democrats.

And so it seems worth trying to understand what has happened in the Labour Party in Britain in the past few years. In 2015, in a flash, Labour became the most radical, left-wing, populist force in modern British political history. Its message was and is a return to socialism, a political philosophy not taken seriously there since the 1970s, combined with a truly revolutionary anti-imperialist and anti-interventionist foreign policy. This lurch to the extremes soon became the butt of jokes, an easy target for the right-wing tabloid press, and was deemed by almost every pundit as certain to lead the party into a distant wilderness of eccentric irrelevance.

Except it didn’t. Today, Labour shows no sign of collapse and is nudging ahead of the Tories in the polls. In the British general election last year, it achieved the biggest gain in the popular vote of any opposition party in modern British history. From the general election of 2015 to the general election of 2017, Labour went from 30 percent of the vote to 40 percent. It garnered 3.6 million more votes as a radical socialist party than it had as a center-left party. Hobbled only by a deepening row over anti-Semitism in its ranks, Labour will be the clear favorite to form the next government if the brittle Tory government of Theresa May falls as a result of its internal divisions over Brexit.

This success — as shocking for the Labour Establishment as for the Tories — has, for the moment at least, realigned British politics. It has caused Tony Blair, the most successful Labour prime minister in history, to exclaim: “I’m not sure I fully understand politics right now.” It comes a decade after the 2008 crash, after ten years of relentless austerity for most and unimaginable wealth for a few, and after market capitalism’s continued failure to meaningfully raise the living standards of most ordinary people. When the bubble burst ten years ago, it seemed as if Brits were prepared to endure an economic hit, to sacrifice and make the most of a slow recovery, but when growth returned as unequally distributed as ever, something snapped. The hearing the hard left has gotten is yet more evidence that revolutions are born not in the nadir of economic collapse but rather when expectations of recovery are dashed.

Revolution is not that much of an exaggeration. In the wake of capitalism’s crisis, the right has reverted to reactionism — a nationalist, tribal, isolationist pulling up of the drawbridge in retreat from global modernity. Perhaps it was only a matter of time before the left reacted in turn by embracing its own vision of an egalitarian future unimpeded by compromise or caveat. This is the socialist dream being revived across the Atlantic, and not on the fringes but at the heart of one of the two great parties of government.

Democrats should pay attention. Labour’s path is the one they narrowly avoided in 2016 but are warming to this fall and in 2020. It’s an English reboot of Clinton-Sanders, with Sanders winning, on a far more radical platform. And, politically, it might just work.

At the center of this story is a 69-year-old socialist eccentric, Jeremy Corbyn, who never in his life thought he would lead any political party, let alone be credibly tipped to be the next British prime minister. The parallels with Sanders are striking: Both are untouched by the mainstream politics of the past 30 years, both haven’t changed their minds on anything in that time, both are characterologically incapable of following party discipline, both have a political home (Vermont; Islington in London) that is often lampooned as a parody of leftism, and both are political lifers well past retirement age who suddenly became cult figures for voters under 30. But this doesn’t quite capture how marginal Corbyn had long been. The better American analogue to his sudden ascent as Labour Party leader would be Dennis Kucinich beating Clinton in the 2016 primaries in a landslide.

Born into an upper-middle-class family, Corbyn was a classic “red diaper” baby. His parents were socialists, and Yew Tree Manor, the 17th-century house in rural Shropshire he grew up in (which his parents renamed Yew Tree House), was a bohemian, left-leaning, capacious, book-filled salon. As Rosa Prince’s biography Comrade Corbyn details, he rebelled at his high school, joined the Young Socialists at the age of 16, and has told a journalist that his main interests as a teen were “peace issues. Vietnam. Environmental issues.” He graduated with such terrible grades that college was not an option, so he joined Britain’s equivalent of the Peace Corps and decamped to Jamaica for two years, then traveled all over Latin America. Appalled by the rank inequality he saw around him, he radicalized still further, and when he came back to Britain, he moved to multiracial North London, with a heavy immigrant population (today, less than half of those living in his district identify as “white British”). It was as close to the developing world as Britain got. And he felt at home.

Even then, he was an outlier on the left. Sympathetic to the goals of the Irish Republican Army, hostile to the monarchy, supportive of Third World revolutionary movements, campaigning for unilateral nuclear disarmament, the young Corbyn was also opposed to Britain’s membership in NATO and what was to become the European Union, because he despised the American alliance and the EU’s capitalist ambitions. He was ascetic: averse to drink and drugs, a vegetarian, interested in hardly anything but attending meetings, and meetings, and meetings. His first wife left him in part because he was never home, always building the movement; his second because he refused to agree to send their son to a selective high school, rather than to a local one open to all abilities. He was the perpetual organizer, the kind who made sure everyone had a cup of tea before a meeting and for whom no fringe activist group was too small to tend to. Decades later, Corbyn has barely shifted on any of these beliefs — and has only recently agreed to sing the national anthem (he long refused to because it invokes the queen). As Labour leader, though, Corbyn has compromised some: The party’s official position in the Brexit referendum was for remaining, and the party manifesto in 2017 supported NATO. He first became a member of Parliament for Islington North in 1983, at the height of Thatcherism, and has held his seat ever since, his majority increasing in all but two of his seven campaigns. (In 2017, he won with a crushing 73 percent of the vote.) His fierce local support tells you something else about Corbyn. Despite his extreme views, he is, by all accounts, a model in attending to the concerns of his local voters and has made remarkably few political enemies of a personal nature. He’s soft-spoken, sweet, invariably cordial, and even his foes concede his deep personal integrity. When I was in London recently, I spoke with people across the political spectrum, from Blairites to Tories to Corbynistas, and I couldn’t find anyone who disliked him personally. Politically, sure — with venom. But as a human being? No. That’s rare for someone who’s been in Parliament for 35 years.

(Continue Reading)

[gravitascivics]

SOME FOUNDATIONAL INFORMATION

[Note:  From time to time, this blog issues a set of postings that summarize what the blog has been emphasizing in its previous postings.  Of late, the blog has been looking at various obstacles civics educators face in teaching their subject.  It’s time to post a series of such summary accounts.  The advantage of such summaries is to introduce new readers to the blog and to provide a different context by which to review the blog’s various claims and arguments.  This and upcoming summary postings will be preceded by this message.]

This blog has provided a bit of information on the origins of the natural rights view.  It has attributed John Locke as its main author.[1]  But he did not hit upon his ideas in a vacuum.  It turns out that two influences, that were having their effects on European thinking during Locke’s time, more than likely had their effects on him.  The two were the Enlightenment and the work of Niccole Machiavelli.

         The Enlightenment, a philosophic development, took place in Europe from 1685 to 1815.  It affected the politics, science, and communications of that continent.  Reflecting on its main effect, it was also known as the “Age of Reason,” since it questioned the foundational ideas and ideals that propped up the monarchial rule that prevailed at the time.  As such, it is credited with ideations that lay down the basic rationale for democratic rule.  

But before one totally attributes these democratizing developments to the Enlightenment, one should remember the ideals of democracy predate the 1700s by centuries in that the beginnings of those beliefs in European thought stretch back to ancient Greece.  Looking at ancient Athens, not only can one find the attributes of a “choice” polity (using Madison’s terminology) but can even find the expression of federalist values within the discourse of that city-state.

Many of those norms were later picked up by the Romans especially during their “republic” years.  One should not mistakenly attribute full fledged allegiance to democracy or federalism to these earlier examples of governance, but the ideals can be detected by their rhetoric and even in the governmental structures they set up.

But the development of these views, ideas, ideals, and practices was not a straight line from the Greeks till the outbreak of the Enlightenment.  Instead they went into dormancy first with the fall of the Roman Republic and then, further, with the fall of Rome.  Eventually, in Europe, there arose the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe which held onto a theological view that was mostly antagonistic to democracy and, in many ways, to reason.

A more favorable outlook had to wait till the beginnings of the Renaissance in the 14th century which lasted till the 17th century.  The Renaissance served as a precursor, in some ways, to the Enlightenment. Specifically, it reintroduced a priority or importance on reason and logic.  A lot of that shift flew in the face of the authority of the Roman Church and its foundational support of the various feudalistic monarchies in the various European nations.[2]

More specifically, the Church was most concerned with the Renaissance’s belittlement of otherworldly forces that were credited with determining what happened on earth.  Later, instead of inspiration, the Enlightenment promoted the sciences – experimentation and objective observation – to determine the attributes of reality in the physical world.  Originally, this newer emphasis was targeted on the study of physical forces and states of being but eventually spilled over to the study of human behavior.

As for the influence of Machiavelli’s work, his main contribution was his demystifying what was considered the bases of a ruler’s powers.  While not directly claiming that God has no role on who rules, his description of “good” leadership portrays prudent exercises in power as just an expression of promoting the self-interest of a leader.  He goes on to state that politics is amoral, a far cry from ironically the philosophical standards such writers as Aristotle had established.

The combination of the Enlightenment and Machiavelli’s work helped to establish how contemporary views of governance and politics are held.  It particularly has been instrumental in the development of the natural rights view.  Specifically, by placing politics as just another way to pursue personal goals, one almost has the justification for leaders – and one can extend to anyone – to be as selfish and narcissistic as one wishes to be. Unfortunately, examples of this are too common in the current environment.

It also lends to an understanding of political behavior that is amenable to what has evolved in the study of political science. That would be behaviorism, the prominent form of study that discipline uses.  To a large degree, behaviorism assumes this sort of reward/punishment calculations to political machinations.  Any reliance on self-sacrifice for the common purpose or good is seen as mostly naive to expect or upon which to rely.

But before leaving this subject, it should be emphasized that this is not the only way to interpret what the Enlightenment or even Machiavelli had to offer.  That is, what has just been described is really a set of assumptions held by those who adhere to the natural rights view.  When questioned they are apt to cite those sources (the Enlightenment and/or Machiavelli) as justification, either directly or by application of their reasoning. Surely the reader has heard the natural rights view expressed by the complaint, “be real, politicians are just a bunch of crooks.”

But other views can also cite these sources with alternate, even opposing, adaptations or interpretations.  The Enlightenment’s call for reason and logic can also justify the need for policies that stray away from self-centeredness.  They can express that nations need to promote and sustain community and collaboration.  

In general, one can sense that the natural rights view approaches these sources on a very short-term basis – that is, the set of immediate conditions at a given time that face a person or group.  But if one uses a more long-term basis, and considers such factors as reciprocity, sentiment, and self-fulfillment, for example, one might more likely appreciate a nuanced application of these cited sources.

These other factors tend to have their effects over longer time intervals.  If one affects another by some action, reciprocity might have to wait for the right conditions to administer either a targeted reward or punishment. Sentiments – especially those relating to liking or disliking; loving or hating others – do not occur immediately but over time.  And self-fulfillment takes a lifetime to even appreciate.  And yet they have their effects day in and day out as one goes through the various challenges of life.

For a teacher adhering to the federation theory construct, the obvious connections to the Enlightenment can more easily be made than any connection to Machiavelli.  For that theory, citing Aristotle is more fruitful, but here are some thoughts in favor of Machiavelli.  First, one should remember that he was reacting to what existed during his time.  And that environment ascribed unjustified legitimacy, authority, and power to supernatural forces – basically the world that existed was attributed to the ongoing authorship of God.

The result of that connection was the readily available rationale for horrendous policies that promulgated unjust policy choices on the populations of European nations.  While Machiavelli does not directly question this connection, his work undermines it.  By casting as prudent the commission of selfish acts by a prince, he undermines the theology upon which that leadership depended.  That would be the Christian doctrines based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Here is a good example of how the espoused theories of a social entity make a difference.[3]

To be sure, one can readily cite abuses of that doctrine, but ultimately it served to legitimize these rulers’ power.  If one debases that foundation, which Machiavelli does, ultimately their rule and the power upon which it is based comes into more and more degradation within the minds of the governed.  Eventually, as it happened, that authority vanishes.

One, under such a development, leaves behind a rationale for an “accidental” polity (based on nobility) and moves toward a “choice” polity (based on the establishment “of, by, and for” a people).  Hence, all this supports the foundation and maintenance of, for example, a federated union like that of the United States.

[1] For example, see “Piracy of the Highest Order,” June 4, 2019.

[2] An entertaining account of this history can be observed in the animation entitled The Greeks:  Chasing Greatness.  See The Greeks:  Chasing Greatness, Public Broadcasting System, Public Broadcasting System, season 1, episode 3 (2016), accessed April 9, 2020, https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/thegreeks_ep3_full/thegreeks_ep3_full/ . 

[3] See Chris Argyris and Donald A. Shon, “Evaluating Theories in Action,” in The Planning of Change, Fourth Edition, eds. Warren G. Bennis, Kenneth D. Benne, and Robert Chin (New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985), 108-117.

[devontroxell]

10 Baby Boomer Marketing Strategies That Drive Leads

The type of products and services you offer should dictate which generations you market to.

For example, if you sell extreme sports products, your target audience is going to be millennials. However, if you sell something related to retirement or an offering that would appeal to older adults, you’ll definitely want to include baby boomers in your marketing plan.

There are over 76 million people who fall into this generation. It is a unique generation filled with people who want to get the most they can out of every day and some of whom refuse to retire quietly.

Understanding what baby boomers want can help you form a successful marketing strategy.

Who Are Baby Boomers?

Baby boomers include anyone who was born between 1946 and 1964. This audience age range includes people around 56 to 74 years old in 2020. They were given the name baby boomers because of the increase in births after World War II during a great economic boom.

They lived through the rise of TV, various political protests, the civil rights movement in the U.S., the women’s liberation movement, and the ever-popular Woodstock. These events, no doubt, shaped and influenced who they are.

Some boomer characteristics include the following:

Self-assuredness

Strong work ethic

Competitive

Disciplined

Resourceful

Team oriented

Mentally focused

Most of the baby boomer generation didn’t grow up with technology like later generations, which means they may have a different approach to purchasing products.

However, you may be surprised by some of their character traits, including the following:

They are more financially stable with more disposable income than other generations.

They are less influenced by peers.

They purchase more things online than millennials.

About half of baby boomers watch videos online.

Facebook is their favorite social media platform.

Essentially, baby boomers are a great generation that still has a lot of relevance in today’s marketplace. This is where the concept of generational marketing comes into play.

What Is Generational Marketing?

Generational marketing is a marketing approach that segments specific generations. In generational marketing, a company tends to adapt their marketing messages to fit the needs of their target generation.

The marketing tactics a company uses are dependent on the common traits and behaviors of the generation.

Some of the living generations today include:

Silents: Born 1927 – 1945

Baby Boomers: Born 1946 – 1964

Generation X: Born 1965 – 1981

Millennials: Born 1982 – 1996

Generation Z: Born 1997 – Present

Baby boomers are particularly unique because they have the highest value as consumers on the market today! To take advantage of this, you must know how to market to them in a way that is valuable to them and to your business.

How to Market to Baby Boomers: 10 of the Best Strategies and Examples

Here are 10 tips to help drive marketing geared toward baby boomers:

1. Avoid Slang and Abbreviations.

Even though baby boomers are a lot more hip than some might think, it is best to stay away from slang or abbreviations that might be confusing to this crowd.

They are used to texting with their grandchildren, but those texts contain proper grammar, and abbreviations often have to be explained. In your marketing efforts, make sure you are spelling things out and being clear. Abbreviations can lead to confusion for any generation.

2. Make Sure Sites Are Mobile Responsive.

Just because older people sometimes struggle with technology doesn’t mean they don’t own the latest gadgets. A little over half of people between the ages of 60 and 69 own a smartphone.

That number jumps for those in the 50 to 59 year old range, with 73 percent of those people owning a smartphone. With the majority of baby boomers owning a smartphone, it’s important that your website is mobile responsive.

Camping World does a good job of maintaining consistency between their desktop and mobile websites. At the same time, the site is responsive for smaller screens, allowing shoppers to browse or RVs easily from a smartphone.

Note how the image features an older couple with their extended family.

3. Avoid Clickbait.

Baby boomers are smart. They aren’t going to fall for clickbait articles. If you don’t come right out and tell them what the article is about, they aren’t going to bother with it.

However, if you present what you have to offer in an upfront way, then they are likely to click on it as long as the topic pertains to them.

4. Provide Helpful Information.

Baby boomers are mature. They’ve been on this earth for quite a while and they don’t have time for a bunch of nonsense. They want information that will help them live their lives to the fullest.

They want it up front and factual. If you give baby boomers the information they need, they will run with that information and feel they are equipped to make the best decision possible.

Medical Guardian offers a blog that provides information to help seniors live healthy, full lives. They cover a variety of topics, including personal finances for seniors, how to age successfully, and even tips on how to know if you need a medical alert system.

5. Determine the Best Social Media Platform.

When it comes to marketing on social media, you need to figure out where seniors congregate. Even though Instagram and Snapchat are popular, growing platforms, they are not so much so with baby boomers.

About 90 percent of them state they prefer Facebook over Instagram. The key to marketing to this generation is figuring out where they congregate and reaching out via Facebook ads.

6. Don’t Use Hashtags.

About half of baby boomers say they’ve never used a hashtag. Although a quick post with hashtags might seem like a great idea to reach people searching for that tag, it may not be effective with baby boomers and might just confuse them.

Instead, just state what you mean upfront and avoid cutesy hashtags. If you use a hashtag, keep it to a single word and don’t try to put in hashtag phrases.

Look at how AARP markets to its members and potential members on Twitter. Even though they are on the site that is the king of hashtags, they don’t use a hashtag to present this short video. Instead, they use straightforward text and facts to pull the user in.

7. Give Great Customer Service.

Baby boomers grew up in a time when there were no cell phones or automated machines that interacted with them as customers. They like one-on-one interactions as a group, and they appreciate companies that go above and beyond to show that they are an important part of the business.

If your target audience is baby boomers, look at the world through their eyes and figure out where your interactions might lack the human touch.

8. Never Use the Word “Old.”

Remove the word “old” from your vocabulary. Even though they might be over 60, they don’t feel old. Baby boomers as a generation are living older than generations before.

They want to spend every moment of that time experiencing life, traveling the world and going on adventures. Also be aware of copy that is a bit condescending about their age.

T-Mobile seems to have realized that more and more Boomers are buying smartphones. Their recent marketing focuses on value for the 55 plus consumer, which is something this generation appreciates.

Yet, nowhere in their advertising do they say that their plans are for seniors. In fact, doing so might even limit your marketing efforts because even a campaign targeted to seniors can impact other generations.

9. Target Their Money to Spend.

Even though there are more millennials than baby boomers, 70 percent of the disposable income in the United States is in the hand of boomers. Understanding that this age group has money to spend and is willing to invest in the latest gadgets and technology will change the way you market.

Boomers have money to spend, but they want to spend it wisely, so make a case for why your product will be a good match for them and why it is the best choice out there.

10. Dedicate Information to Improving Lifestyle.

When creating your marketing campaign, hone in on how your product or service will improve the baby boomer’s lifestyle. This is the generation that saw televisions come into every home and began to use telephones for everything.

Even though they do prefer face-to-face interactions, they also will go online. Because they have disposable income, they also don’t mind spending money on a little comfort and luxury. Appeal to how you can improve their lives, and you have a better chance of selling to them.

Marketing Strategies Targeting Baby Boomers

To effectively market to any generation, you need to understand the basics of what makes that generation unique. Study the time period in which baby boomers grew up, talk to people in that age group and look at generalizations about the generation as a whole.

At the same time, however, be aware that each person is an individual. You have to find the exact mix that works to reach those who are interested in what you have to offer.

10 Baby Boomer Marketing Strategies That Drive Leads published first on https://wabusinessapi.tumblr.com/

[amarsingh24]

Final Project

Students in Toronto who are in the last few years of high school. They are accustomed to using social media, but they do not know how to get the most out of it, nor do they know about many of the challenges or security issues that we have learned about in class.

The Power of Hashtags

People use hashtags as a way of connecting relevant content and information together. For example, if I created a social media post on twitter and used the hashtag #Raptors, now anyone who searches #Raptors will also be able to see this post in real time. As an influencer or company who uses hashtags to sell products or services, they use relevant hashtags to essentially group things together. For example, a gardening company may hashtag a few gardening tools and sprays on a single picture, with the hope of attracting more people to at least one of the hashtags revolving around a similar topic.

It is important to use hashtags to filter out your content and posts. What this means is you want to narrow your audience. It would also be very effective to measure your KPI such as traffic and views on specific hashtags to see what works and what doesn’t. By focusing on this, you will be able to attract more traffic to your posts by using the right and relevant hashtags.

2. Social Media Conversions

Social media are such powerful platforms that give you the opportunity to measure your success. A social media platform like Facebook, where you can now advertise your business and purchase items directly from the advertisement page have multiple different conversion metrics you can use to measure the success of your ads. Some conversion metrics you are able to measure are things like newsletter subscriptions, clicks, spending amount, conversion rates and bounce rate to name a few. As students continue to use social media for their entertainment, it is important for them to understand that those platforms can create opportunities for them as they head into post secondary or into the workplace. For example, an entrepreneur, these platforms provide them the ability to consistently check their metrics, make adjustments and monitor the results. In large companies as well, many now use online social media and advertisement tactics to gain customer information. Companies then use that data to tweak their tactics in hopes of receiving higher returns. Understanding how to use these metrics will give you a large advantage when you are able to manage these aspects of a company.

In my opinion, as young students, mastering how to use these metrics as a young age gives you tremendous advantage over many others who are not proactively learning and understanding conversions. You will be more advanced for employment and with today’s unprecedented times, the world is only going to become more reliable with online instruments. Data will continue to be received more and more online and slowly move away from the old school paper and mail surveys to receive customer data.

3. Cybersecurity

In this day and age, quadrillions of information is being uploaded online including our very own profiles. The difficult issue here is that with the expanding amount of information that is being shared online, we are exposed to the risks of cybercrime. Cybercrime is usually apparent through hackers who send viruses to our computers and steal our personal information such as passwords, SIN, addresses, credit card numbers and more. These kind of hackers who gain our information for personal gain are on the extreme spectrum of cybercrime, while on the other hand there are businesses who hire experts to collect information from us through our very own devices. One of the ways this is done is through the implementation of cookies. Cookies are code embedded on your computers and laptops that occurs when you visit websites. These cookies help the companies identify you as a unique visitor and records your interaction with the website (Module 4). Advertising companies then display advertisements on any site you visit. You may notice if you shop for a specific brand of clothing and you move on to a completely different website, you will see an ad generate based on the last thing you were searching for and this is all due to cookies. The “third party” data is stored in profiles by groups called “data brokers”. These brokers then segment us into groups based on categories. This is why your online identity is important. “Think twice, click once” is a great saying because the more you browse on your social media, the more data of you is actually being stored. It’s important to keep cautious of this because information can get hacked or leaked.

4. The Benefits of Apps

In the millennial generation, the most popular devices used by consumers are smart devices . In fact, over 3 billion people in the world are proven to be smartphone users due to its many smart device innovative features, including it’s variety of apps! Apps are one or more programs that are designed for end-users. For businesses, apps are important because they can help you target broader audiences and potential consumers because most people use their phones every day, and putting your content software on their devices is an easy way to reach them (Module 7). Apps create colour and variety for smart devices as they act as a platform to create and consume an endless amount of activities such as a game console (PS5), Smartphone (iPhone), web browser and more. More commonly, many apps are accessed through smart devices such as smartphones and tablets. As mobile devices were drastically innovated over the years, along with it came the famous “Mobile App” in which we use such platforms to make our daily life more convenient. The evolution of apps has impacted our lives in many ways: If you’re looking for something in the dark, you can turn the flash on your phone and use it as a flashlight, and use it as a flashlight. When we need to calculate how much we should tip a service provider, we automatically pull out our phone calculator! When we want to connect with someone overseas, we can easily message or call them- you get the gist of it.  For businesses, you can use apps to learn about your consumers and improve your marketing tactics. It can also be used as a platform to condense large amounts of information into an easy communication channel for users and employees.

“apps” by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0

5. Why Websites are Key for Businesses

The importance of incorporating a website for your business. A website is a platform that may include both hardware and software in order to operate. Some of the world’s most famous websites include: Youtube, Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook and Amazon. People rely on websites for reasons such as daily entertainment, online shopping, acquiring resources through search engines and many more. What all of these great websites have in common is that they are all able to optimize their website by remaining responsive but also adapting to different platforms, by delivering the same uniform experience for users. Another good way to measure how well a website was created is by observing the user experience it provides. More specifically, what we can use as a benchmark to test the value of the website is through the look, feel and usability it provides. Does the website look like a platform you can trust? Does browsing through the website give you any feelings such as joy? Is it easy to navigate through the website? Does the website load quickly? All of these issues are highly important and must be accounted for when creating a good website. The interplay of visuals, colour, ergonomics, and more, all play a specific role in the overall experience a website can provide (Module 7). To create a website, there are a number of different platforms that provide a variety of templates such as Wordpress, GoDaddy, Shopify and many more. These websites often include the three main categories: media queries, fluid grids and flexible images. Each category has a specific role on the website as they affect the look and feel of the website.

Source: Wikimedia Commons (2009)

Sources

“Marketing Dashboards and Reports.” Funnel, 5 Apr. 2020, funnel.io/dashboards-and-reports?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=bb-search-generics-us-1-bmm&utm_term=social%2Bmedia%2Bdata%2Banalytics%2B-%2Bbmm%2B-%2Bus%2B&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgM6K9Nzy6gIVDJyzCh1dvAr8EAAYAS

Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: E7720. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720. (n.d.). doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f

O'Dea, P. B., & 28, F. (2020, February 28). Smartphone users worldwide 2020. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/

[nicolelegit]

Final Project

Students in Toronto who are in the last few years of high school. They are accustomed to using social media, but they do not know how to get the most out of it, nor do they know about many of the challenges or security issues that we have learned about in class.

The Power of Hashtags

People use hashtags as a way of connecting relevant content and information together. For example, if I created a social media post on twitter and used the hashtag #Raptors, now anyone who searches #Raptors will also be able to see this post in real time. As an influencer or company who uses hashtags to sell products or services, they use relevant hashtags to essentially group things together. For example, a gardening company may hashtag a few gardening tools and sprays on a single picture, with the hope of attracting more people to at least one of the hashtags revolving around a similar topic. 

It is important to use hashtags to filter out your content and posts. What this means is you want to narrow your audience. It would also be very effective to measure your KPI such as traffic and views on specific hashtags to see what works and what doesn’t. By focusing on this, you will be able to attract more traffic to your posts by using the right and relevant hashtags.

 2. Social Media Conversions

 Social media are such powerful platforms that give you the opportunity to measure your success. A social media platform like Facebook, where you can now advertise your business and purchase items directly from the advertisement page have multiple different conversion metrics you can use to measure the success of your ads. Some conversion metrics you are able to measure are things like newsletter subscriptions, clicks, spending amount, conversion rates and bounce rate to name a few. As students continue to use social media for their entertainment, it is important for them to understand that those platforms can create opportunities for them as they head into post secondary or into the workplace. For example, an entrepreneur, these platforms provide them the ability to consistently check their metrics, make adjustments and monitor the results. In large companies as well, many now use online social media and advertisement tactics to gain customer information. Companies then use that data to tweak their tactics in hopes of receiving higher returns. Understanding how to use these metrics will give you a large advantage when you are able to manage these aspects of a company.

In my opinion, as young students, mastering how to use these metrics as a young age gives you tremendous advantage over many others who are not proactively learning and understanding conversions. You will be more advanced for employment and with today’s unprecedented times, the world is only going to become more reliable with online instruments. Data will continue to be received more and more online and slowly move away from the old school paper and mail surveys to receive customer data.

3. Cybersecurity

In this day and age, quadrillions of information is being uploaded online including our very own profiles. The difficult issue here is that with the expanding amount of information that is being shared online, we are exposed to the risks of cybercrime. Cybercrime is usually apparent through hackers who send viruses to our computers and steal our personal information such as passwords, SIN, addresses, credit card numbers and more. These kind of hackers who gain our information for personal gain are on the extreme spectrum of cybercrime, while on the other hand there are businesses who hire experts to collect information from us through our very own devices. One of the ways this is done is through the implementation of cookies. Cookies are code embedded on your computers and laptops that occurs when you visit websites. These cookies help the companies identify you as a unique visitor and records your interaction with the website (Module 4). Advertising companies then display advertisements on any site you visit. You may notice if you shop for a specific brand of clothing and you move on to a completely different website, you will see an ad generate based on the last thing you were searching for and this is all due to cookies. The “third party” data is stored in profiles by groups called “data brokers”. These brokers then segment us into groups based on categories. This is why your online identity is important. “Think twice, click once” is a great saying because the more you browse on your social media, the more data of you is actually being stored. It’s important to keep cautious of this because information can get hacked or leaked.

4. The Benefits of Apps

In the millennial generation, the most popular devices used by consumers are smart devices . In fact, over 3 billion people in the world are proven to be smartphone users due to its many smart device innovative features, including it’s variety of apps! Apps are one or more programs that are designed for end-users. For businesses, apps are important because they can help you target broader audiences and potential consumers because most people use their phones every day, and putting your content software on their devices is an easy way to reach them (Module 7). Apps create colour and variety for smart devices as they act as a platform to create and consume an endless amount of activities such as a game console (PS5), Smartphone (iPhone), web browser and more. More commonly, many apps are accessed through smart devices such as smartphones and tablets. As mobile devices were drastically innovated over the years, along with it came the famous “Mobile App” in which we use such platforms to make our daily life more convenient. The evolution of apps has impacted our lives in many ways: If you’re looking for something in the dark, you can turn the flash on your phone and use it as a flashlight, and use it as a flashlight. When we need to calculate how much we should tip a service provider, we automatically pull out our phone calculator! When we want to connect with someone overseas, we can easily message or call them- you get the gist of it.  For businesses, you can use apps to learn about your consumers and improve your marketing tactics. It can also be used as a platform to condense large amounts of information into an easy communication channel for users and employees. 

"apps" by Sean MacEntee is licensed under CC BY 2.0

 5. Why Websites are Key for Businesses

The importance of incorporating a website for your business. A website is a platform that may include both hardware and software in order to operate. Some of the world's most famous websites include: Youtube, Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook and Amazon. People rely on websites for reasons such as daily entertainment, online shopping, acquiring resources through search engines and many more. What all of these great websites have in common is that they are all able to optimize their website by remaining responsive but also adapting to different platforms, by delivering the same uniform experience for users. Another good way to measure how well a website was created is by observing the user experience it provides. More specifically, what we can use as a benchmark to test the value of the website is through the look, feel and usability it provides. Does the website look like a platform you can trust? Does browsing through the website give you any feelings such as joy? Is it easy to navigate through the website? Does the website load quickly? All of these issues are highly important and must be accounted for when creating a good website. The interplay of visuals, colour, ergonomics, and more, all play a specific role in the overall experience a website can provide (Module 7). To create a website, there are a number of different platforms that provide a variety of templates such as Wordpress, GoDaddy, Shopify and many more. These websites often include the three main categories: media queries, fluid grids and flexible images. Each category has a specific role on the website as they affect the look and feel of the website.

Source: Wikimedia Commons (2009)

Sources

“Marketing Dashboards and Reports.” Funnel, 5 Apr. 2020, funnel.io/dashboards-and-reports?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=bb-search-generics-us-1-bmm&utm_term=social%2Bmedia%2Bdata%2Banalytics%2B-%2Bbmm%2B-%2Bus%2B&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgM6K9Nzy6gIVDJyzCh1dvAr8EAAYAS

Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: E7720. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720. (n.d.). doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f

O'Dea, P. B., & 28, F. (2020, February 28). Smartphone users worldwide 2020. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/

[emmamiri8]

Luxury Vehicles And Their Trending Marketing Methods

Sports cars are increasingly costly in light of the excellent materials utilized in the generation contrasted with the material utilized in ordinary cars. The model is the interior structure of these cars. 

Sports cars perform a greater number of capacities than different cars, they are planned in a manner that makes them quicker and lighter. They have huge engines and all the more dominant engines, they convey a different kind of wheel contrasted with typical streetcars and they have numerous other great highlights. These add to the motivation behind why sports cars are progressively costly. 

The luxury vehicle market is growing quickly. An ongoing report predicts that offers of luxury vehicle brands will develop at a yearly pace of 35% from 2019-2023. That implies luxury vehicle advertisers are in a decent spot to sell a lot of cars, however, they have to stay aware of the requests of their clients to beat the challenge. 

Marketing within the vehicle industry is changing. Automakers used to concentrate on usefulness and status (which still attempts to a degree), however, the present shopper is progressively worried about an incentive for their cash and a feeling of individual fulfillment for their buy. Luxury vehicle sellers need to demonstrate their top of the line vehicles merits the additional cost. 

Here are eight marketing insider facts of luxury vehicle marks that you can apply to your business. 

1. Porsche: Segment Your Target Market 

Porsche needed to keep its legacy while simultaneously attracting a more youthful female crowd. What was their arrangement? Division. So the most gainful car brand on the planet set out to reposition themselves without alienating their center clients. 

Porsche was marketing to an upscale objective group of spectators, essentially men over 40 years of age with an income of over $100,000. Their objective, be that as it may, was to develop their officially solid brand. They would require more than statistic information to do as such, however. 

Marketing think-tank J.D. Power and Associates reports that statistic targeting comes up short when trying to pull in new-vehicle drivers. Advertisers need to take a gander at the purchasing conduct over every one of the 25 new-vehicle fragments, down to the brand and model, to take into account appropriate targeting. So that is actually what Porsche did. 

They're now focused on marketing concentrated on reducing the normal age of the Porsche proprietor and increasing the number of female proprietors. So they made a battle called "Engineered for enchantment, consistently." The 30-second business included a lady sweeping snow off her vehicle with a tyke in a vehicle situate, and another mother picking up two kids from school in a yellow Porsche 911. It was a specialty marketing approach intended to change their objective position—however just marginally. 

Porsche likewise enrolled the administrations of tennis star Maria Sharapova to help draw in a more youthful female group of spectators. The outcome? Female purchasing was up 7% in two years. 

The Secret: If you have a dedicated client base, yet you realize you have to extend your market for continued development, take a gander at the division. You don't need to estrange your essential client base. However, on the off chance that you know (from statistical surveying past minor socioeconomics) there's a different crowd likely interested in your item, you can change your objective situation to arrive at that gathering. 

2. Lexus: Use the Power of Partnership to Attract Customers

Lexus saw a chance to associate with another group of spectators in a remarkable manner—by means of the hit Marvel motion picture "Dark Panther." So they planned a vehicle—the Lexus LC 500—and appeared it as a kind of superhero emotionally supportive network in the film close by different Lexus vehicles. 

In light of information given by their promotion office, Walton Isaacson, they realized that Black wealth was outgrowing all other market fragments. Youthful Black and Hispanic purchasers were going out to a movie theater more than some other shoppers—by a wide margin. In this way, any brand trying to adopt a cutting edge strategy to their marketing would need to take a gander at multicultural crowds. 

Multicultural intrigue wasn't their lone objective, however. Lexus was striving to draw in recent college grads, and having a solid multicultural methodology was significant. 

Lexus had the measurements, yet it was as yet a bet considering there were no affirmations the motion picture would be effective. Truth be told, the cooperation started two years before the content was finished. Lexus wasn't even certain the motion picture's message would line up with their image or its vehicles. One thing they knew was Black Panther's main character, T'Challa, was from the most mechanically propelled human advancement in the Marvel Universe. Furthermore, they felt an association. 

Besides, at the hour of the motion picture's well-known vehicle pursue through the avenues of Busan, South Korea, there were no LC 500s available. There was truth be told, extravagant hand-fabricated models. Lexus needed to hand more than six of them and approve of the entire parcel conceivably getting destroyed past recuperation. 

So they introduced the LC 500 in a 30-second Super Bowl business costing $5 million. Considering their history of conservatism in marketing, this whole endeavor was a stretch for Lexus. 

The bet satisfied, nonetheless. The film made more than $1 billion within a month, and it has since introduced more than 175-million individuals to the luxury vehicle brand. 

The Secret: If you can collaborate with a setup business—or an occasion that is anticipated to be an enormous achievement—it could give huge profits to your image. Attempt to find an accomplice that matches your main goal or meets explicit criteria you feel are imperative to the accomplishment of your marketing. Try not to be hesitant to get innovative with a business you see as equipped for introducing you to an ideal objective market. Simply ensure you're ready to withstand the financial misfortune if it's a failure. 

3. Rolls-Royce: Focus on Traditional Marketing 

Rolls-Royce is one of the most acclaimed luxury vehicle marks on the planet. It's consistently been enthusiastic about effortlessness and brilliance. In any case, there are still just two classes of individuals that purchase Rolls: Old Money and New Money. 

Old Money portrays rich individuals whose families have maintained their riches over different ages, maybe inheriting it starting with one age then onto the next. New Money, then again, is somebody whose riches are as of late procured. 

Rolls-Royce didn't want to go to web-based social networking or some other contemporary way to deal with market their vehicles. Or maybe, they incline toward exercises like occasion marketing, where tip-top buyers to-be can test drive a vehicle or potentially meet the originators. 

The English vehicle brand started in 1906. Since their inception, they've cooked solely to independently employed business visionaries or beneficiaries of enormous fortunes with total assets around $30 million. The run of the mill Rolls-Royce client has a few homes and more than one luxury vehicle. Truth be told, they may even gather cars. 

So their marketing approach centers around three essential zones: 

Brand Consistency. Rolls Royce isn't trying to be anything other than what they've been—a dependable, ultra-luxury vehicle for affluent individuals. 

Special Perks. As a Rolls-Royce proprietor to-be, you'd likely go to an occasion where you can test drive a vehicle and meet the fashioners. Isn't that so? 

Feelings. Use lavishness, refinement, and superior craftsmanship to pull in clients. All things considered, that is the thing that dazzles them to purchase in any case. 

Their methodology is working. The brand simply reported their most elevated yearly outcomes in its 115-year history. 

The Secret: If you've manufactured a steadfast following dependent on explicit marketing strategies—and your deals are better than anyone might have expected—there's no motivation to change. At the end of the day, on the off chance that it isn't broken, don't fix it. That is not a reason to relax, however. Truth be told, you can take what you've known to work and make it far and away superior. Maintain your image consistency. Make your advantages far and away superior. Also, consistently search for better approaches to interest your client's feelings. The achievement you've known can continue for some more years as long as you never underestimate it. 

4. BMW: Adapt and Find New Customers 

Youngsters "need marks that act as individuals." 

That is what BMW's Senior Vice-President of Brand, Hildegard Wortmann, says. So the German multinational organization is attempting to make a definitive driving machine for them—and every other person, as well. 

BMW isn't forgetting the clients they've had the option to depend on for quite a long time, however, those drivers just have a couple of more buys left in their lifetime. 

The brand's survival relies upon another age. That is the reason the cars have changed and the marketing has taken them to some new puts. 

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is one such model. The yearly fest draws in "each one," as the occasion's advertisers like to state. Be that as it may, it's an influx of youngsters, ages 18-26, that rush to the California desert town of Indio to take in the music and pandemonium every year. 

BMW took their sub-image, completely electric I vehicle and turned into an official accomplice. They embraced an innovative hashtag (#roadtocoachella) and uncovered a novel Coachella vehicle configuration made by Portugal. The Man lead singer John Gourley. 

BMW's Stefan Ponikva, head of BMW Brand Experience Shows and Events, stated: 

"Like Coachella, inspiration, innovation and the will to always reinvent oneself are a piece of BMW I's DNA. This makes the celebration the perfect accomplice." 

The entire thought was to bring issues to light among another gathering of potential clients. When they satisfied they're over the top understudy credits, BMW would be on their vehicle buying radar. 

BMW isn't simply attending one celebration and calling it stops, however. An incredible opposite. They fabricated a substance studio at their central station and contracted investigators to make sense of what's working within the social domain. Well, that is a key method to take into account another influx of clients. 

Super luxury cars rental UAE, Super sport cars rental Dubai, Rolls royce rent in Dubai

[vcnitv-blog]

cis female, she/her.┊if you’re looking for EMMA VANITY, you’ll probably find them in the SLYTHERIN dorm with the rest of the SIXTH years. they’re the MUGGLEBORN who looks kind of like LILI REINHART. they seem ADAPTABLE & INSIGHTFUL to me, but apparently they’re also DECEITFUL & DEFERENTIAL. guess you never know.

so to start, a lil bit about myself ! i’m grey, i’m 19, i love horror movies, i’ve always wanted to write a novel but i never actually sit down and do it, and i have 4 cats but i want more. ya girl is highkey excited for this rp and i’m so glad yall joined because it’s gonna be AWESOME. you can find a lil bit more about emma underneath the cut ! ( i also play ted tonks, too, so expect an intro for him later on. )

and now about EMMA.

she was born into a muggle family – well, if you could call it a family. her mother works as a backup dancer for a lot of singers. she had emma fairly young ( like, 20/21 ) with her boyfriend at the time. their relationship was already having issues, so emma’s mother had hoped the child would help them reconcile their differences. but alas, it was the opposite, and emma’s father left his pregnant girlfriend. because of the relatively small age difference between emma and her mother, the two are very close.

emma always wanted to think she was special. her mother’s job meant they moved around a lot, and emma quickly developed a knack for adapting to new lives and fitting in with any group of people. she learned to be who she was expected to be. whenever she moved to a new school, emma would adopt a new persona. usually she said her mother was one of the singers in the band they would be touring with, but sometimes it would be that she was the bastard child of visiting royalty, or that her family was in the witness protection program and that someday she might not show up at school because she’d been murdered by the mafia. ( that one was especially fun because it always left them wondering when she inevitably did leave. ) it became a game to her – how easily could she convince them ?? she wouldn’t stay at one place long enough to make friends anyway, so if they caught her out in a lie it hardly mattered to her.

when she got her hogwarts letter, emma thought it was either her mum trying to make her birthday exciting, or some kids from her school playing a prank on her. it wasn’t until mcgonagall showed up at her door and actually explained to her that it was, in fact, very real, that emma believed it. emma was ecstatic. finally, a school she would stay at. it didn’t matter if her mother had to go all the way to romania for a tour, because emma would be at hogwarts.

even still, old habits die hard, and when emma found herself sitting in a compartment full of purebloods on the train ride to hogwarts, she lied and said her family had always been magic. she didn’t realize then what significance that would hold in the rest of her time at hogwarts. when the sorting hat was placed on her head, she was sorted into slytherin with the rest of those pureblood kids. she quickly learned what the other slytherins thought of the ‘ mudbloods ’ and soon, her lie became her life. she didn’t dare to reveal the truth about her family.

she does her best to stay out of the spotlight. she gets good grades but not as good as she could get, and she’s basically a lackey to other more popular, powerful slytherins. she doesn’t target muggleborns like her ‘friends ’ do, but she doesn’t do anything to stop them, either. better them than her, right ?

and honestly, it’s driving her a little bit mad. hiding for these many years will do that. because she isn’t naturally subservient like this, and every time she bows and scrapes to someone else she boils a little bit inside. she’s naturally more reserved, yes, but she’s also fiercely independent and competitive, with a tendency towards mischief. she’s very intuitive and perceptive, and is very good at telling how a person’s feeling. but she knows she can’t succeed as a muggleborn in her current environment, so she keeps her mouth shut and does what she has to.

quidditch is the only place she gets some relief. she’s a chaser on the slytherin team, and when she’s out there on the pitch, adrenaline pumping through her veins, she doesn’t have to hide who she truly is.

someone who doesn’t know her very well probably thinks of her as pretty quiet, a bit shallow and dim witted. maybe they aren’t totally sure why she was sorted into slytherin, but she’s a ruddy good chaser so who cares. but then again, people who don’t know her generally don’t think of her very much at all, and that’s just the way she wants it.

now that dumbledore’s started allowing muggle technology at hogwarts, emma’s terrified that the purebloods she sticks around with will somehow find out her secret. she knows it’s unlikely -- knows that anyone who might dislike muggleborns probably won’t be too keen on muggle technology. but just to be safe, she deleted all her social media accounts as soon as dumbledore made his announcement. it wasn’t a great loss -- she hadn’t used them for years anyway, seeing as she had no friends to add. 

anyway that’s about it. some plots i’m craving are: 

HBIC. the one emma follows around all the time. the one who she hides behind. basically the regina george to her gretchen wiener. like … probably female but that doesn’t really matter so if you have a male muse and this connection Calls to you, feel free to hmu ! must be pureblood. preferably slytherin.

VICTIM: emma has never targeted this person specifically, but she’s hung out with people who have and she’s watched it happen without saying anything so … yikes. probably muggleborn ? 

SOMEONE WHO SUSPECTS: wow who’s bad at coming up with connection names ? me ! basically just someone who might have started piecing together that emma isn’t all she says to be .. 

UNLIKELY FRIENDS: these two wouldn’t interact in the light of day, but maybe at parties or late nights in the library, they’ve shared a few moments together. 

BAD NEWS: this is a romantic plot, whoa. basically some pureblood guy who emma is hooking up with who fully Wouldn’t Be if he knew she was muggleborn … but she’s attracted to him anyway ok even though he is bad ! news !

IN ANOTHER LIFE: u guessed it, another romantic plot. someone who is entirely unsuitable for emma’s pureblood persona to date ( muggleborn, blood traitor, etc ), but every time she talks to them she feels a little flutter in her heart remind her that if things were different ..

ENEMIES: like even if emma’s secretly a muggleborn she still does shitty things and participates in the discrimination against muggleborns lmao. i’d love someone who doesn’t put up with her bullshit and pretty much Hates her

ofc plotting possibilities are not limited to just these ideas ! these are just specific connections i would like. if none of them appeal to you, pls let’s plot anyway ! feel free to message me or just like this post & i’ll come to u ! 

[targetmarketing]

Social Media Marketing: What to Expect in 2019

Posting, tweeting, sharing, instant and easy connections with friends, family and brands – these are what makes social media such a popular platform for millions of people each and every day across networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Social media is also much more than making connections – they’re also incredibly effective platforms for businesses.

Whether social media marketing is something you already do or a channel you’re considering investing in as part of your advertising strategy in 2019, there are some trends and techniques that can help you find success. As we kick off the new year, let’s look at some of what we expect to be important for promoting your business or brand on social networks this year.

Video Killed the Social Media Post

Writing posts is so 2015. Today, video is all the rage on nearly every platform, offering a visual way to share ideas, information or events with audiences. Facebook Live videos are among the leading ways that brands can engage with their followers. Introduced in 2016, these videos are shot on the scene and stream instantly to Facebook, often alerting followers to tune in and see what you’re sharing.

The videos are incredibly popular, as well, with Facebook reporting last year that at the two-year mark, more than 3.5 billion live videos had been shared through the network. Social Media Today also reports that these videos are also much more engaging, with audiences interacting six times more with live content than with traditional video uploads. Live videos are also available on Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, meaning that you don’t have to limit yourself to Facebook as your primary engagement platform.

Whatever network you prefer, shooting a video is easy with a smartphone with a camera. You don’t have to go live, either – you can create a video and upload it later if you have poor signal quality or a limited data plan. Live or canned, video is a surefire engagement tool, but do yourself a favor and shoot it in the orientation appropriate for the platform. Snapchat videos and most “stories” posts should be in portrait orientation, whereas traditional timeline posts are best shot in landscape.

Moving on from Millennials

While the Millennial generation continues to be a major demographic for companies to target (even if they are being blamed for “killing” everything from Applebee’s to yogurt), 2019 marks a big milestone as the earliest members of “Generation Z” are now coming of age and entering the workforce.

As Reuben Yonatan writes in Business2Community, this up-and-coming age group was born and formed amid the technology revolution, growing up with laptops and tablets, social media and instant access to information. This means that to succeed, your brand needs to reach out to them where they are. Being active and engaging on social media can help you find success with this younger crowd, and reaching them on platforms they use like Snapchat, Twitter and especially Instagram – with 70 percent of its more than 800 million active users under age 35 – can bring these customers to your business.

Autobots, Roll Out

Social media itself is a product of modern technologies and the interconnected world we live in, so it’s only natural that other technological advancements are being implemented to help make social media even more social. There has been a lot of excitement around digital assistants with the explosive popularity of amazon Echo Speakers and Google Assistant, but a different type of digital assistant is making a big impact on social media markets – the chatbot.

A chatbot is an automated messaging software that is programmed to understand basic inquiries, provide answers and execute tasks, mostly for customer service purposes. In the context of social media, they can be implemented into messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger to automate certain promotional and customer service messaging. For example, as Digital Trends reports, Whole Foods used a Facebook chatbot to allow users to ask for recipes directly on Facebook that would then lead them to their website, with no human interaction required by Whole Foods’ employees.

This rise of the machines is likely to continue through 2019 and beyond, and it’s entirely possible that chatting with an automated assistant will become the standard on social media within a matter of months. However, for those not ready to praise our new robot overlords quite yet, automated message response tools like those offered on Facebook can provide a hybrid solution, responding quickly to let a user know that their message has been received and giving you an opportunity to get to it during normal business hours.

It’s All About the Money

In the early days of many popular social media platforms, posts, videos and other content was delivered to users chronologically. You followed your friends, family members and businesses and when they posted something, it popped up on your timeline – simple as that. That all changed when Facebook and others started monetizing their platforms with ads.

To incentivize businesses to utilize paid products like boosted posts and paid advertising, Facebook implemented an algorithm that determined what type of content was shown to users and when. This algorithm prioritizes user-generated content above brand generated content. This means that posts from organizations, brands and businesses reach fewer people, regardless of how many followers they have.

The solution for brands to get around these new limitations is with paid social media advertising. This is not exclusive to Facebook by any means – and is nothing new for 2019 – but it’s a significant trend that will continue to drive performance on social media for brands. Based on previous updates to Facebook’s algorithm, official and unofficial announcements from Facebook and general industry consensus, it’s even believed that content from brands will continue to receive less and less organic exposure, as Social Media Examiner reports. That means that for any business to reach audiences on social media, a paid strategy won’t be simply a recommendation – it will be a requirement. While this trend is most notable on Facebook, it’s also an indication of what’s likely to become the norm on other platforms.

The good news is that pay-to-play doesn’t necessarily mean pay-a-lot-to-play. Even a modest social media budget can go a long way toward growing your audience, increasing engagement and building brand awareness, especially compared to a completely organic strategy. The other bright spot in the seemingly dark social media future is that most social media platforms offer very sophisticated tools to advertisers with robust targeting capabilities, presenting advertisers with opportunities to reach specific and narrow audiences in ways not possible with traditional media.

Adapt and Change – The Constants of Social Media Success

The social media landscape and the habits of its users are ever-changing, making it nearly impossible to predict its future. For all anyone knows, an entirely new platform could emerge as a leader in 2019, just as Snapchat did not too long ago and Instagram before it. The only certainty is that the way people and brands use social media is ever-changing.

With the sheer amount of competition in the social media space, popular platforms are routinely shifting their focus to emphasize more personal connections, making advertisers work harder – or pay more – to make connections as users clamor for new features and unique, engaging content like live videos and AR.

The brands that succeed in this changing landscape are the ones that change with it. Don’t end up like MySpace or Google Plus and find yourself left in the dust.

[itsfinancethings]

This essay is adapted from the transcript of a radio program produced for Swedish Radio and broadcast in June. This is the first time the text has been published in its entirety.

Chapter 1: UN speech and New York

The first thing I see when I enter the United Nations Headquarters building in New York City is Roxy. My dog. The two of us are projected onto a large screen which apparently is part of an international art exhibition. When I see her brown labrador eyes it almost feels as if she was right here with me. Suddenly I’m reminded of how much I miss her.

Today is Sept. 23, 2019, and it’s now been 7 weeks since I boarded the train in Stockholm and began my journey. I have no clue of how and when I’m going to get back home. 3 weeks have passed since the boat Malizia sailed into New York City’s harbour and left the peaceful, constrained life on the ocean. After 14 days at sea we sailed past the Statue of Liberty, stepped ashore in Manhattan and took the red subway line uptown towards Central Park. My sea legs were shaking and all the impressions from people, scents, and noises became almost impossible to take in.

Courtesy of Greta ThunbergThunberg arrives in New York City after a 15-day journey crossing the Atlantic on Aug. 28, 2019.

The time in New York has been surreal. If the media attention was big in Europe, it’s nothing compared to how it is here. A year ago the thought of seeing pictures of my dog inside the UN would have been unthinkable. Now it’s nothing strange at all. I see myself everywhere. Just the night before one of my speeches had been projected onto the facade of the UN building. But luckily I completely lack an interest in such things. If you would care about this kind of attention, then you’d probably develop a self-image that is far from sane.

It’s very hard to move inside the giant labyrinth of this building. Presidents, prime ministers, kings, and princesses, all come up to me to chat. People recognize me and suddenly see their opportunity to get a selfie which later they can post on their Instagram – with the caption #savetheplanet. Perhaps it makes them forget the shame of their generation letting all future generations down. I guess maybe it helps them to sleep at night.

In the greenroom, sitting with the other speakers, I try to read through my speech, but I constantly get interrupted by people who want to do small talk and take selfies. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres steps in. We chat for a bit, just like I’ve learnt that you’re supposed to do. I fill up my red water bottle and sit down again. Then it’s Chancellor Angela Merkel’s turn to come up, congratulate, take a picture and ask whether it’s ok for her to post it on social media. A queue starts forming. Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, waits in line but doesn’t quite make it before it’s time for the event to start.

The annual UN General Assembly week in New York City is always a big global event, but this year it was a bit extra special since the secretary general had decided that the focus would be exclusively on the climate. The expectations are huge. It has been promoted as a ‘now-or-never’ moment.

Almost all of the world’s leaders are sitting in the audience, but it’s only those with specific so-called “solutions” who have received an invitation to address the General Assembly.

The event begins with a very ambitious digital sound- and lightshow. The volume is way too high. I’m standing by the backdrop covering my ears.

”We do not accept these odds.”

That is what the speech was about, if you read it in full. And it of course alludes to our remaining carbon budget. But the only message that seems to have resonated is ”how dare you?”.

I’ve never been angry in public. I’ve barely even been angry at home. But this time I’ve decided that I have to make the most out of the speech. To address the United Nations General Assembly is something you probably only get to do once in your lifetime. So this is it. I need to say things I will be able to stand by for the rest of my life, so that I won’t look back in 60-70 years from now and regret that I didn’t say enough, that I held back. So I choose to let my emotions take control.

On the subway home I see that many in the car around me are watching the speech on their phones. Some come forward to congratulate me. Someone suggests that we should celebrate. But I don’t understand what their congratulations are for, and I understand even less what we’re supposed to be celebrating.

Yet another meeting is over. And all that is left are empty words.

Chapter 2: Washington D.C.

Who is the adult in the room? That question has been asked over and over again during the last year. But this question reaches a whole new level when I end up standing in front of the food court in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. Fast food chains. Hamburgers, candy and ice cream stores. Dunkin Donuts. Baskin Robbins. Here you find the most powerful policymakers in the world sitting in their suits, while drinking pink milkshake, eating junk food and candy.

In the week leading up to the UN General Assembly meeting I spend a few days in the nation’s capital. I use the opportunity to do the kind of things you can do when in Washington D.C. Like visit museums, protest outside the White House, speak in the United States Congress, and stuff like that. But most of the time I meet with politicians.

It gets a bit repetitive after a while. But in a way it almost feels like coming home, since politicians are pretty much the same no matter where you are in the world.

I urge them to listen to the science and act now before it’s too late. They say that they think it’s so amazing that I’m so active and committed, and that when I grow up I too can become a politician and make a real difference in the world. I then explain that when I’ve grown up and finished my education it will be too late to act if we are to stay below the 1.5°C – or even 2°C – target. After that I talk through some of the figures and numbers from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1.5°C report. Then they laugh nervously and start talking about something else.

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A group of maybe 20 young climate activists gather inside the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office. Our group mostly consists of representatives from indigenous peoples in North- and South America. From First Nation tribes and the Amazon rainforest.

On the wall hangs a big portrait of Abraham Lincoln. The atmosphere during the meeting is awkward at best. It is as if two entirely different worlds collide. Worlds separated by hundreds of years of injustices, structural and systematic racism, oppression and genocide.

At last a young activist asks to speak. Her name is Tokata Iron Eyes and she lives in Pine Ridge, an Indian reservation in South Dakota, one of the poorest and most socially vulnerable communities in the entire United States.

“How do you think it feels for us to sit here in this room with that man looking down from that painting?” she says and points to Abraham Lincoln.

Speaker Pelosi apologies if anyone has been offended but explains that he was a great man who has meant so much for their country.

“He wanted my people dead”, Tokata says. She’s referring to the executions of Dakota Indians ordered by Lincoln in 1862. “To sit here in this room with that painting… It’s just so difficult” she says.

I try to picture things from her perspective. We fight for climate justice, but how can any justice be achieved when the social and racial injustices have never been officially acknowledged in the public eye in so many parts of the world?

That same day I’m called to testify in the U.S. Congress. But it just feels wrong. What am I supposed to do or say there? I want the people in power to listen to the science, not to me. But after a lot of hesitation and consideration I figured out a way. I asked whether I could borrow a computer. I print out a copy of the IPCC’s 1.5°C report. I was ready to submit my testimony.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae1mUb5EZn0]

Afterwards I take the metro to Tenleytown and walk the 45 minute stroll to the house we’ve borrowed. The walk stretches through some of the most beautiful neighbourhoods you can possibly imagine. Every house is like a miniature castle straight out of a fairytale. Outside one of the biggest houses there’s a woman standing with her daughter, who is around the age of five. “It’s you!” the mother says when she sees me. “Can I take a picture of you together with my daughter?”

“Of course!” I answer.

When I walk away she turns facing the girl. “Greta is a climate activist, she explains. Maybe you’ll also become an activist when you grow up.” The mother says it in a way that makes climate activist appear as the most noble, cool thing in the world.

Like a mix between a ballerina, a president, and an astronaut.

Chapter 3: The science

My message is – and has always been – listen to the science, listen to the scientists.

“Which scientists?” you could of course argue. Within all scientific fields there’s a constant and never-ending debate. That’s what science is about. And climate crisis deniers and delayers love this angle. To spread doubt about whether there’s actually consensus on the scientific grounds of the climate crisis.

That argument can be used in almost all other issues, but it’s no longer possible to use here. The time for that has passed. The consensus is overwhelming. The debate around the global adoption and acceptance of the Paris Agreement and the IPCC reports is over. So what do those two things actually mean?

In Paris, the world’s governments committed themselves to keeping the global temperature rise to “well below 2°C”. But in the latest update from the IPCC – the SR1.5 report – scientists underline that 2°C is not a safe level. We have today already passed about 1.2°C of global heating, and in their report they instead stress the importance of limiting the warming to below 1.5°C. And that is to give us the best possible chance to avoid passing so-called tipping points, and start irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

So where do we start? Well I’d suggest that we do precisely what all the world’s governments have committed to do in the Paris Agreement. Which is to follow the current best available science.

And that, among other places, we find on page 108, chapter 2 in the IPCC’s SR1.5 report. Right there it says that on Jan. 1 2018 we had 420 Gt CO2 left to emit globally to have a 66% chance of staying below the 1.5° target. We emit about 42 Gt CO2 every year, including land use such as forestry and agriculture. So today we’re soon already down to lower than 300 Gt of CO2 left to emit.

That is the equivalent of less than 7.5 years of today’s ‘business as usual’ emissions until that budget completely runs out. This is the carbon budget which gives us the best odds to achieve the 1.5° target. Yes, you heard it right, less than 7.5 years.

Do you remember the London Olympics? ‘Gangnam Style’ or the first Hunger Games movie? Those things all happened about seven or eight years ago. That’s the amount of time we are talking about.

But even these figures are very watered down. They include almost no tipping points or feedback loops, nor the global aspect of equity in the Paris Agreement, nor already locked-in warming hidden by toxic air pollution. Most IPCC scenarios also assume that future generations will be able to suck hundreds of billions of tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere with technologies that don’t exist on the scale required, and that very likely never will in time.

I will try to explain more about what these aspects mean later on. But if you read between the lines you realise that we are facing the need to make changes which are unprecedented in human history.

One reason why the climate and ecological crisis is so hard to communicate is that there’s no magical date when everything is beyond saving. You cannot predict how many people’s lives will be lost, or exactly how our societies will be affected. There are of course countless estimations and calculations which predict what could happen—one more catastrophic than the other—but they almost exclusively focus on a very limited area and almost never take into account the whole picture. We therefore must learn to read between the lines. Just like in any other emergency.

But these are at least the basics. Even if these figures are way too generous they are still the most reliable roadmap available today. They are what we should be referring to.

And the fact that the responsibility to communicate them falls on me and other children should be seen for exactly what it is – a failure beyond all imagination.

Chapter 4: Roadtrip

Three days after my speech in the UN I leave New York City. The last few days everything got a bit too much with all the people and the attention. It feels like a huge relief to move out of the house on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and say goodbye to our host for the last month.

I’ve taken a sabbatical year from school to be able to travel to Santiago de Chile, where the UN’s yearly climate conference, the COP 25, is going to be held. I have no idea how to get there, all I know is that, in order to reach Santiago in time, I’ve got to get to Los Angeles by November 1st. So now awaits 5 weeks of constant traveling. My dad and I leave Manhattan behind us and drive north in an electric car that we’ve borrowed from Arnold Schwarzenegger.

We travel through spectacular landscapes, past mountains, ravines, glaciers, prairies, deserts, swamps. We see the autumn coloured leaves of New England, the forests of Quebec, the lakes in Minnesota, buffalo herds in Wyoming, the redwood trees in Oregon, red rock formations in Arizona and the cotton fields of Alabama.

We switch between the radio stations. The choices are almost only Christian pop and country music. Most of the time it’s just the two of us, but sometimes we are accompanied by journalists or people we know.

Courtesy of Greta ThunbergTravelling through Wyoming in Oct. 2019.

Every Friday I continue to strike wherever I find myself to be at that moment. Denver, Iowa City, Charlotte, Rapid City, Edmonton, Vancouver, Los Angeles. Everywhere lots of people show up, people of all ages. But nothing beats Montreal where half a million people came out on the streets.

In South Dakota we are stopped by a policeman. He looks just like a caricature from an American movie, with mirrored shades, cowboy hat and all. He asks us where we are going. I say Santiago. Then he asks if we’ve got any large amounts of “dollars, weapons or dead bodies in the car?” We answer no, and continue across the Missouri river, over the prairies, the Badlands and the Rocky Mountains.

While the car is charging we walk around the alleys of small towns, shopping malls, suburbs, petrol stations, farms, industrial and residential areas. Wherever I go, people come up to talk and take selfies.

We wake up at 7 a.m. and drive until we get tired in the evening. We buy food wherever there’s food to buy, but it’s not that easy when you’re on the road and you’re vegan. It ends up being mostly canned food, beans, french fries, bananas and bread.

During the nights we either sleep in motels or with people who open up their homes. Activists, scientists, authors, doctors, journalists, hippies, diplomats, movie stars, lawyers. We travel through 37 states in total. Every state has got a slogan on the cars’ license plates, but I make up my own. Like for instance:

North Carolina: Where not even the vegetarian salad bars have vegetarian options.

Alabama: Where the sunsets are pretty and the Christmas decorations are early.

Through the car window I can see the neverending coal trains in Nebraska and Montana, the oil wells in Colorado and California, abandoned factories in Indiana and Pennsylvania, 16-lane highways, endless parking lots and shopping malls, shopping malls, shopping malls. Through the tiny vents of big livestock trucks I look into the eyes of cows and pigs on their way to slaughterhouses.

I’m stunned by the economic differences and social injustices which in many ways are an affront to all forms of human decency. I’m outraged by the oppression targeting especially indigenous, Black and Hispanic communities.

Every twenty minutes or so we pass fields where seemingly endless amounts of brand new RVs, motorboats, quad bikes and tractors are lined up for sale. Along the highways you see giant billboards with anti-abortion, anti-evolution and anti-science campaigns.

At night time the sky is lit by countless oil refineries sparkling in the dark, from north to south, from coast to coast.

Apart from a few wind power plants and solar panels there are no signs whatsoever of any sustainable transition, despite this being the richest country in the world. The debate is far behind Europe. We’re discussing free public transport and circular economy – here they don’t even have public health care or pavements for pedestrians to walk on.

In a petrol station in Texas I count to over 40 different kinds of coffee. I try to add up the number of different sorts of soft drinks as well, but I lose count around 200.

An older man in a cowboy hat comes up to me.

“I’m a big fan,” he says, before he walks across the parking lot, steps inside his giant pickup truck and drives on down the highway.

Chapter 5: The beetle

The only place that anyone has ever discouraged me from visiting is Alberta, Canada. The state of Alberta is one of the western world’s largest oil producers and its main claim to fame is probably being home to the tar sands. The tar sands are an area bigger than the whole of England where oil companies have spent the last 60 years extracting oil straight from the soil. A process with a enormous ecological footprint.

Alberta has a very powerful and highly criticized oil lobby that is well known for its harsh methods to silence anyone they consider a threat to their industry. And I’m definitely considered a threat to them. On several occasions I need to call for police protection when the level of threats and the sheer harassments become too serious.

Courtesy of Greta ThunbergThunberg visits Jasper National Park, Oct. 2019.

On the morning of Oct.21 I’m traveling through the spectacular Canadian landscapes with a film crew from the BBC, heading for the Jasper National Park. Magnificent pine forests stretching out as far as the eye can see. It reminds me of home. Except for the fact that many trees here aren’t green, their needles are either brown or have been lost entirely. It looks very strange. I assume they must be American larch trees, since those trees lose their needles in the autumn.

“No, unfortunately those aren’t Larch trees,” says the biologist Brenda Shepherd as she walks me round the national park. She shakes her head as she approaches one of the brown, pine trees and points to a hole through the bark. Though the hole seeps something that looks like solidified resin.

“Here you can see how the tree has tried to defend itself,” she says. “But it’s useless, it will soon be dead.”

How many trees in this area would you say are affected? I ask.

“About 50%.”

I can’t seem to get my head around what she just said. “50%?”

“Somewhere around there,” she says.

The term ”tipping point” can be hard to understand but this the most clear and obvious example that I that I have come across myself. The mountain pine beetle exists across the North American continent. Every winter the temperature here drops to very low levels. Much colder than in Sweden, for instance. And since only a very small percentage of this species survives in that temperature for a certain number of days, this has never been a problem in the past. But in the last few decades this area has seen a significant level of heating. Canada – as well as other countries close to the poles – has seen a rate of warming about twice as fast as the rest of the world.

So, the temperature rises and all of a sudden we find ourselves on the other side of an invisible border. Suddenly almost the entire population of this beetle survives the winter. And we have passed a tipping point. A point of no return which releases several so-called feedback loops: self-reinforcing, often irreversible, chain reactions. And since the local ecosystem completely lacks the ability to adjust to the new reality, the consequences become extremely visible.

Tree after tree is attacked by the mountain pine beetle and dies shortly thereafter.

Needles to say, the effects on the local environment are disastrous.

But, unfortunately, what happens in the Canadian Rockies doesn’t stay in the Canadian Rockies. These mechanisms are global.

Chapter 6: Tipping points

The day after my encounter with the mountain pine beetle, we have an appointment with the glaciologist John Pomeroy. His team of researchers from the University of Saskatchewan has offered to bring me up onto the Athabasca glacier.

Along the walk leading up to the glacier there are signs placed out by the side of the pathway. Every sign marks a certain year. John stops and points at one that says 1982. “That means that this is where the glacier began in that year.”

It looks quite strange as there is no sight of any nearby glacier whatsoever.

“It was around that time I started working here,” he continues. “Since then I have watched with my own eyes how the glacier has disappeared, meter by meter.”

Due to global heating the Athabasca glacier has, in the last 125 years, retreated 1.5 km and lost half its volume. According to the latest estimates, it’s currently withdrawing 5 metres every year.

Courtesy of Greta ThunbergThunberg filming with the BBC in Glacier National Park, October 2019.

I was instructed to wear every piece of warm clothing that I have, since Katabatic winds – winds that form over glaciers – can be ruthless. And they weren’t exaggerating. Once we step onto the ice it gets almost impossible to move forward, let alone to stand up straight. There’s a heavy snowfall passing by, reminding us that the full force of the long Canadian winter is about to arrive any day now.

We struggle on in our borrowed boots, using ski poles to support our balance and weight. When we reach a place John considers good enough, he stops, takes off his backpack and starts unpacking his gear. He takes measurements while explaining the procedures step by step.

Then he starts chipping into the ice. He breaks off a piece and gives it to me.

“If you look carefully, you see it’s full of small black dots. That’s soot,” he says.

Where does the soot come from?, I ask.

“It’s from the wildfires that burn here every year. The woods lose a lot of their resilience to the fires as there are so many dead trees all over the forest that become like firewood.”

I realise he’s referring to the trees I saw yesterday.

“When there’s this much soot then the entire glacier turns grey,” he continues. “And since a dark surface absorbs more heat than a white one, it means the glacier will melt even faster. It’s a feedback loop. A part of a chain reaction.”

I ask whether this glacier can be saved or not. He shakes his head.

“No, this one has already passed its tipping point and there’s nothing we can do. We estimate that it – along with countless other glaciers – will be gone completely within this century. The world’s glaciers are called the third polar ice cap. Imagine all the people that depend on these glaciers as their source of drinking water. And as if that wasn’t enough, we have now gotten used to – and built our infrastructure around a very high water flow, since the melting process obviously has been way higher than it normally is. That will make it even harder for us to adjust when it starts to run dry.”

How many people are relying on the glaciers in this area for their drinking water, I ask.

“The entire western North America,” he replies. “But the same process is happening all over the world. The Andes, The Alps. And above all in Asia, where up to 2 billion people depend on the natural melting process of the glaciers in Himalaya for their very survival.”

So, in short: the temperature increases, the damaging mountain pine beetle survives the winter and dramatically increases in population. The trees die and turn into wildfire fuel which intensifies the wildfires even further. The soot from those fires makes the surface of the glaciers turn darker and the melting process speeds up even faster.

This is a textbook example of a reinforcing chain reaction, which in itself is just a small part of a much larger holistic pattern connected to our emissions of greenhouse gases.

There are countless other tipping points and chain reactions. Some have not yet happened. And some are very much a reality already today. Such as the release of methane due to thawing permafrost or other phenomena linked to deforestation, dying coral reefs, weakening or changing ocean currents, algae growing on the Antarctic ice, increasing ocean temperatures, changes in monsoon patterns and so on.

Another overlooked factor is the already built in additional warming hidden by life threatening air pollution, this means that once we stop burning fossil fuels we can expect to see an already locked in warming, perhaps as high as 0,5-1,1°C.

It’s all part of an infinite chain of events that constantly trigger and create new events. And new events. And new events. There just doesn’t seem to be an end.

Chapter 7: Paradise

The wall is completely covered by posters. Each one contains a photo of an animal. Dogs, cats, bunnies. On each and every one there is a big headline that spells out the word MISSING. A handful has FOUND handwritten across the picture, but the vast majority remain MISSING.

The wall belongs to the local primary school in the town of Paradise, California. On Nov. 8, 2018 Paradise was almost completely destroyed by a devastating wildfire. The pictures on the school wall represent all the pets that went missing in the fire. This wall became a place where the owners collectively displayed their last hope of finding their pets alive. But, needless to say, most of the animals remain MISSING.

The fire in Paradise destroyed almost 19,000 buildings. 85 people lost their lives, if you exclude other causes of death after the fire. Before the fire 27, 000 people lived in Paradise. Today that number is down to around 2000. The town became a symbol of how climate breakdown is affecting us in the global north already today.

California has always had a natural fire season, just like Australia, Brazil and many other places. But over recent years that season has grown considerably longer and the fires have become more frequent and devastating. Higher temperatures, less rainfall and stronger winds are some of the changing factors that together make up for a deadly combination when it comes to wildfires.

Walking around in Paradise is almost like being in a ghost town. I’m here with the BBC to talk to one of the survivors of the 2018 fire. He guides us around the area that used to be his neighborhood. He points at empty spaces and tells us what used to be there. Houses and gardens in the lush, green outskirts of town.

“That was a car,” he says and points to a lump of metal, lying on a burnt out driveway. The temperature in the fire sometimes got so high that cars started to melt. Suddenly he stops.

“This used to be my house.” He looks at an open field as if there still was a house standing there. It’s almost as if he’s hallucinating, since all that is left is a mailbox and the remains of power lines and sewage pipes, sticking out of the red soil.

The fact that the climate crisis is already affecting people today is hardly something new. Even though it would sometimes seem like it, judging by the ongoing discourse.

We often hear that we need to act for the sake of our children. That the future living conditions will get significantly worsened unless we act now. And that is of course true. But it seems like we keep forgetting that large numbers of people around the world are dying already today. And when I say that I’m not primarily talking about in places like California.

The ones who are and will be hit the hardest are the same as in most other crises. The poorest and the most vulnerable. Those who are already suffering from other injustices. Namely, people in developing countries, and above all women and children. Since they are the ones with the least resources, living in the most vulnerable parts of the global society.

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The UN predicts that by the year 2050 there will be up to 1 billion climate refugees in the world. I wonder, what will it take for us to start facing these issues and begin to ask the uncomfortable questions?

In Sweden we live our lives as if we had 4.2 planet earths. Our annual carbon footprint is approximately 11 tonnes of CO2 per person, if we include consumption. That can be compared to India’s 1.7 tonnes per capita. Or Kenyas 0.3 tonnes.

On average the CO2 emissions from one single Swede annually is the equivalent of 110 people from Mali in West Africa. So if there is any truth to the claim – popular in Western societies – that quote ”there are too many people in the world” then wouldn’t that only refer to ourselves, living extremely high carbon lifestyles in the global north? And not the vast majority of the global population who are already living within the planetary boundaries.

But my experience from all such arguments is that they are only used to seek further excuses to go on living the unsustainable life that we consider to be our right.

The climate and sustainability crisis is not a fair crisis. The ones who’ll be hit hardest from its consequences are often the ones who have done the least to cause the problem in the first place.

The global aspect of equity and climate justice make up the very heart of the Paris Agreement. Developed countries have signed up to lead the way.

And this is so that people in developing countries can have a chance to raise their living standards and to build some of the infrastructure that we in the industrialized world already have. Such as roads, hospitals, schools, electricity, sewage systems and clean drinking water.

After our visit to Paradise we get back in the car and head towards the coast. We have been offered a stay for the night in a small house in a vineyard. But suddenly the phone rings and we find out that the entire vineyard has burnt to the ground in the wildfires currently raging through the California wine districts.

We drive on towards San Francisco. As the evening falls the night sky turns red and you can feel the smoke from the fires in your nose.

Chapter 8: Media

“Wait, let me just record the interview.”

The journalist grabs his iPhone out of the pocket of his way-too-thin coat. It is a cloudy, freezing day on Mynttorget in the old town of central Stockholm. But just like any other Friday a few dozen others and I have gathered here to stand outside and protest in front of the Swedish parliament. It does get a bit chilly standing there for 7 hours straight in a few windy degrees below zero.

He presses record and holds up the phone towards me.

“So, why are you striking?” he asks.

I’m striking for us to take the climate crisis seriously and treat it like a crisis.

“Yes, but what do you want the politicians to do?”

I want them to listen to and act on the science, do what they have promised to do in the Paris Agreement and treat the crisis like a crisis.

I can tell that I haven’t given him the answers he wanted.

“Yes, but what specifically?”

When I then start talking about carbon budgets he gives up and interrupts. He knows very well he won’t be able to use anything of what I’m now saying in his article. People want something simple and concrete, and they want me to be naive, angry, childish and emotional. That is the story that sells and creates the most clicks.

“But uh,” he continues, “how are we going to solve this climate issue?”

Just the fact that this question is asked to me – a teenager – over and over is absurd. But not as absurd as the fact that the climate- and ecological emergency is being reduced to a “problem” that needs to be “fixed”. That it is seen as an “important topic” among other “important topics”.

Evgenia Arbugaeva for TIMEThunberg speaks to press during a climate strike before the COP25 summit, in Madrid, December 2019.

Of course I don’t know how we are going to solve the climate crisis. The fact is that no one knows. There is no magic invention or political plan that will solve everything. Because how do you solve a crisis? How do you solve a war? How do you solve a pandemic without a vaccine?

The only way is to treat the climate crisis like you would treat any other crisis. To come together, gather all the experts, put other things aside and adapt to the new reality. To act as quickly and strongly as the situation allows.

If for instance there’s no vaccine available for a disease you invest all possible resources into developing one as soon as possible, while at the same time taking all other possible measures as well. In a crisis you act even if you don’t know exactly how you are going to solve the problem. In a crisis there’s no time to wait for specific answers and details. Because the answers have to be found along the way. In a crisis you need to put all cards on the table and think long term and holistically. The climate crisis doesn’t have a vaccine. We have to admit that we don’t know how we are going to solve it. Because if we would have known then it wouldn’t have been a crisis in the first place.

There are many who claim that people understand but repress the full meaning of the climate crisis, because the message is too depressing and difficult to handle. That would mean that we continue to do what we do, despite being fully aware of the devastating consequences of our actions. But that I refuse to believe, since this would mean that we humans are evil.

My experience however is that people understand much less about the climate crisis than you’d think. If there’s anything I’ve learnt from traveling around the world it is that the level of knowledge and awareness is close to nonexistent.

I’ve met many of the most powerful people in the world. And even among them pretty much everyone lacks even some of the most basic knowledge. So if people are not aware, who is guilty for the message not getting through?

The reporter on Mynttorget is running out of time, he knows his phone’s battery won’t last much longer in the cold.

“But who really is Greta?” he asks. “I think people want to know Greta.”

I’m not important, I answer. This has got nothing to do with me. I’m completely uninteresting. I’m not doing this because I want to become famous or popular or get followers on social media.

“I’m doing this simply because no one else is doing anything.”

Chapter 9: Crossing the Atlantic

It’s six o’clock in the morning on Nov. 13, 2019. The TV monitors in the hotel lobby in Hampton, Virginia are showing weather warnings on repeat. Giant storm patterns are raging along the entire North American east coast, from Florida to Nova Scotia.

We step inside the car with the tiny luggage we’ve got left. It’s pitch black outside and the car is still freezing. Rob Liddell, a documentarian with the BBC, and sailor Nikki Henderson are sitting in the back. Nikki scrolls through the latest weather updates on her phone. Rob has got the camera on his shoulder and is looking at us through the lens.

It’s dead silent inside the car. The only thing you hear is Nikki sighing and moaning over and over again. After what feels like an eternity she shakes her head, puts the phone down and goes “wow guys, we’re in for a rough ride”.

“But we’re still going, right?” my dad asks, a bit worried.

“Of course,” she says.

Rob tries to ask me questions to get some kind of interview going, but I’m not really in the right mood.

One hour later we cast off from the dock. We clear the harbor entrance heading for Chesapeake Bay and wave goodbye to all the people and TV crews who have gathered on the surrounding docks. There’s a strong wind coming from Northwest. On deck the freezing temperatures of last night have turned all puddles into thick layers of ice. It’s snowing. We set sail and head for the open sea. Towards the lighthouse. Towards the ocean. Towards Europe. Towards Portugal. Towards Stockholm Central Station.

Eva O’Leary for TIMEThunberg departs the U.S. on the catamaran La Vagabonde as she sets sail towards Portugal in Hampton, Virginia, on November 13, 2019.

You do not sail across the North Atlantic ocean in November. At the end of September the storms come, and then the season closes until spring. Of course I had not planned for it to be like this. But the UN COP25 summit, where I was headed, was suddenly moved from Santiago to Madrid, meaning I had traveled halfway across the globe in the wrong direction. I had to find a solution.

I consider every possible option. Zeppelin airships, solar powered airplane and even sailing across the Pacific Ocean and then taking the Trans Siberian railway home. The most likely outcome however is to stay somewhere in North America for the winter.

Hundreds of people get in touch and want to help, but very few actually have something concrete to offer. The French and Spanish governments reach out and assure that they are going to help me find a way. However it is very unclear how they will do that.

Two Nordic airlines email and offer to arrange a flight using “50% sustainable fuel and then use the remaining 50% on another flight so that in total it becomes 100% fossil free”. As if biofuels were sustainable.

If I wouldn’t have been who I am I would probably have hitched a ride on a cargo ship, since they – unlike airplanes and cruise ships – don’t depend on paying passengers.

But everything I do and say gets altered and turned upside down which leads to mockery, conspiracy theories and organised hate campaigns. Which in turn leads to death threats toward me and my family. And that build up of hate and threat is much riskier than all the storms in the world.

Then suddenly one night in a hotel room in Savannah, Georgia, the phone beeps. It is Riley and Eleyna, a couple of young Australian YouTubers who are reaching out. They’re living on their catamaran with their one year-old son Lenny and are sailing around in the world, with no planned route. They offer to take us to Europe.

On the boat, we steer south so that in a certain amount of time we will have put ourselves in a strategically safe position away from a storm, so that we later can safely get to another position to avoid the next big storm. And then the next one, and the next one, and the next one. The low pressure systems sweeping over the North Atlantic right now are enormous. During the days we have gusts reaching up to 60 knots, and some nights the electric storms are so immense that you can see sparks in the water. We store all electronic devices in the oven to avoid them getting destroyed by lightning.

We are completely in the hands of the meteorologists helping us, sending weather updates and recommendations a few times a day. We’re very lucky to also have Nikki, a professional sailor, onboard. One hundred nautical miles in the wrong position can be the difference between life and death this time of year with this boat. You simply have to blindly trust data and the experts.

Me, my dad, Nikki, Elayna, Riley and Lenny are alone in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We are at the mercy of nature and have to act accordingly. We need to be able to take care of ourselves if something goes wrong.

If you are one week away from the nearest harbour you do not take any unnecessary risks. You don’t for instance start a fire on deck if you feel cold, you don’t throw away limited provisions of food or necessary equipment out in the ocean. You keep a constant watchful eye on the horizon and you don’t allow yourself to get struck by hubris. Onboard we are guided by common sense, the same common sense that should exist everywhere.

We are a civilisation isolated in the middle of the universe. Space is our ocean and the planet is our boat. Our one and only boat.

Chapter 10: Greenwashing

So what should we do to avoid a climate disaster beyond human control?

That is the question of our time. It is being asked by people all across the political spectrum from all over the world.

But what if the question to a great extent has been phrased the wrong way? What if it should rather be “what should we stop doing to avoid a climate disaster”?

This year – 2020 – the emission curve must be bent steeply downwards if we are to still have even a small chance of achieving the goals world leaders have agreed to. And then it’s of course not going to be enough with a temporary and coincidental reduction of greenhouse gas emissions where the purpose has been to stop a pandemic.

A common misconception about the climate crisis is that people think we need to reduce our emissions. But the fact is that if we are to keep the promise of the Paris Agreement, a reduction won’t be enough. We then need to reach a full stop of emissions within a couple of decades, and then quickly move on to negative figures.

There are generally three ways of reducing emissions – apart from the most obvious, to replace current fossil energy with renewables, such as solar and wind.

Number one is technical solutions. Techniques where you capture and store CO2 at the emitting source or directly out of the air. The problem here however is that the emissions need to drastically reduce now, and these techniques won’t exist at even close to scale in the foreseeable future. These plants are still prototypes. Believe me, I’ve myself visited two of the leading facilities in the world.

The second alternative is to use nature’s own ability to absorb and store carbon, which today often gets mistaken for only planting trees. Despite the fact that the most efficient way most often is to just leave the forests and natural habitats be in the first place.

A forest area the size of a football field is being cut down every second, according to Global Forest Watch. That is every second of every hour of every day. No tree planting in the world could compensate for that. And even if we miraculously decided to shut down the entire forestry industry and use all the available space in the world to plant trees, that still would only compensate for a few years’ emissions at current rates.

The third option is the only method that is available at scale already today. And that is to simply stop doing certain things. But it is also the alternative which people seem to find the most unrealistic. Just the thought of us being in a crisis that we cannot buy, build or invest our way out of seems to create some kind of collective mental short circuit.

Then there’s of course a fourth way of doing it. And this is the procedure that undoubtedly has been the most successful one so far, when it comes to reducing emissions. And it is so-called “creative accounting”. To simply refrain from reporting the emissions, or move them somewhere else. To systematically sweep things under the carpet, lie, and blame someone else.

My own country Sweden is a textbook example. In our case this strategy means that over half our emissions simply don’t exist on paper.

Evgenia Arbugaeva for TIMEGreta Thunberg addresses supporters and journalists upon her arrival in Santo Amaro Recreation dock on December 03, 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Year after year people in power are allowed to appear in the media unchallenged and claim that Sweden’s emissions of greenhouse gases have decreased 20-30% since 1990. But the truth is that they haven’t decreased at all, if you include consumption and international aviation and shipping. And obviously the statistics will look much better if you simply choose not to count everything.

But this is not unique to Sweden. The same approach is being used by pretty much everyone in the richer part of the world. Whether it being the EU, individual countries, states, cities or companies.

We have simply moved our factories to different parts of the world where the labour is cheaper – and by doing so we also moved a significant part of our emissions overseas. And of course this is a very convenient solution for the global north, but since the biosphere doesn’t care about neither borders nor empty words, it doesn’t work as well in reality.

But the real problem is that when it comes to the climate- and ecological emergency the people in power can today say basically whatever they want. They are practically guaranteed to not receive any follow up questions.

The issue of nuclear power is still for example allowed to dominate the entire climate debate, even though science has concluded that it can – at best – only be a very risky, expensive and small part of a much larger holistic solution.

You can claim that we can achieve impossible results through so-called green investments, without having to explain how it will be done, or what the term “green” even means. Words like green, sustainable, ’net zero’, ‘environmentally friendly’, organic, ‘climate neutral’ and ‘fossil free’ are today so misused and watered down that they have pretty much lost all their meaning. They can imply everything from deforestation to aviation, meat- and car industries.

And basically because the general level of public awareness is so low you can still get away with anything. No one is held accountable. It’s like a game. Whoever is best at packaging and selling their message wins. And since the truth is uncomfortable, unpopular and unprofitable, the truth doesn’t stand much of a chance.

Moral, truth, long term- and holistic thinking seem to mean nothing to us. The emperors are naked. Every single one. It turns out our whole society is just one big nudist party.

Chapter 11: Corona pandemic

Last year when I visited Davos I slept in a tent in 18° below zero. This year the organisers said that for security reasons I had to stay in a hotel.

The night before the conference starts I catch the flu. So it was quite a relief that I wasn’t sleeping in a tent. I have to cancel most scheduled events, which is something I actually don’t mind at all, since I find social gatherings and meetings that don’t lead anywhere mostly just being a waste of time.

So my stay is quite relaxing, but today I’m supposed to drag myself out the door for a meeting with the president of Switzerland. After that I’m going to go public with my plans about traveling to China. I’ve just received the official invitation to address the World Economic Forum conference which will most likely be held in Shenzhen, China sometime in the beginning of June. Visiting China is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and now it’s finally about to happen, that is, if the Chinese government will let me inside the country.

But just as I’m about to walk out the door the Swiss president cancels, as she had to immediately go back to Zürich to attend an emergency meeting. Apparently developments around the new virus discovered in China are causing grave concern.

That was my first introduction to the coronavirus crisis. I immediately put my plans of visiting China on hold. It seemed to become less and less possible to travel there sometime this spring. Instead I start planning to follow up on some other invitations, to take the Trans Siberian railway via Vladivostok to South Korea and Japan. But as the situation escalates I of course have to abandon these plans as well.

Evgenia Arbugaeva for TIMEThunberg arrives in Madrid for the last U.N. climate summit before a crucial deadline in 2020

So I use the upcoming weeks to travel around in Europe, continuing to work on the documentary together with the BBC. We visit Jokkmokk, London, Yorkshire, Zürich and the European parliament. I strike in Hamburg, Bristol and Brussels. It’s the beginning of March 2020 and the world is just about to be turned completely upside down. This weekend there are supposed to be big climate strikes in France. But right here a tipping point is passed. What was unquestionable the week before has now suddenly become unthinkable.

In the Fridays For Future movement we decide to cancel everything, without hesitation. People are dying. Many are losing their family members, loved ones as well as their economic stability. The consequences of this pandemic are catastrophic. A crisis is a crisis, and in a crisis we all have to take a few steps back and act for the greater good of each other and our society. In a crisis you adapt and change your behaviour. And indeed, this is what the world does, at record speed.

So what was it that made these global structural changes possible in just a matter of hours?

Was it hope and inspiration that made us act so quickly during the corona pandemic? Something that most communication experts and news editors have claimed to be the only way forward to create change. Or was it perhaps something else?

There’s nothing positive about the corona crisis from a climate perspective. The changes made in our daily lives due to COVID-19 have extremely little similarity with the action needed for the climate.

The corona tragedy of course has no long term positive effects on the climate, apart from one thing only: namely the insight into how you should perceive and treat an emergency. Because during the corona crisis we suddenly act with necessary force.

International emergency meetings take place on a daily basis. Astronomical financial bailouts magically appear out of nowhere. Canceled events and tough restrictions make people change their behaviour and approach overnight.

The media completely transitions, puts other things on hold and almost exclusively reports about COVID-19, with daily press conferences and live coverage 24/7. All parts of society come together and politicians put their different views aside and cooperate for the greater good of everyone. Well – maybe not everyone and everywhere.

But broadly speaking, people in power from politics, business and finance are suddenly saying that they will do whatever it takes since “you can not put a price on a human life”.

Those words and this treatment of the crisis opens up a whole new dimension. Because you see, every year at least 7 million people die from illnesses related to air pollution, according to the WHO. Those are apparently people whose lives we can put a price on. Since they die from the wrong causes, and in the wrong parts of the world.

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School strike week 77. Jokkmokk! #climatejustice #fridaysforfuture #climatestrike #schoolstrike4climate #indigenousrights

A post shared by Greta Thunberg (@gretathunberg) on Feb 7, 2020 at 6:16am PST

During the corona pandemic policy makers repeat that we have to “listen to the science and the experts”. Well, according to the world’s leading scientists and experts on biodiversity, the pandemic is likely to be followed by deadlier and more destructive diseases unless we halt the ceaseless destruction of natural habitats.

But these are not the scientists and experts they are referring to. Because long term sustainability doesn’t fit inside today’s economic and political systems.

Chapter 12: Hope

In the aftermath of the corona crisis there are many who claim that we need to use this as an opportunity. That when we restart the economy we must adopt a so-called “green recovery plan”. And of course it’s incredibly important that we invest our assets in sustainable projects, renewable energy, technical solutions and research. But we must not for one second believe that it will be even close to what is actually required. Or for that matter that the so called targets set out today would be ambitious enough.

If all countries were to actually go through with the emission reductions they have set as goals, we would still be heading for a catastrophic global temperature rise of at least 3-4 degrees. The people in power today have thus practically already given up on the possibility of handing over a decent future for coming generations. Given up without even trying.

It sounds terrible, I know. But in reality it is actually even worse. Because even if they want to act in line with what is needed – which actually sometimes is the case – they can’t. And that is because we are stuck in already written contracts and business agreements.

It’s just simple math.

The United Nations Production Gap Report shows that the world’s planned fossil fuel production alone by the year 2030 accounts for 120% more than what would be consistent with the 1.5°C target. It just doesn’t add up.

So if we are to avoid a climate catastrophe we have to make it possible to tear up contracts and abandon existing deals and agreements, on a scale we can’t even begin to imagine today.

And that alone requires a whole new way of thinking. Since those type of actions are not politically, economically or legally possible today. The climate- and ecological crisis can not be solved within today’s political and economic systems. That is no longer an opinion. That’s a fact.

I understand that all of this sounds uncomfortable and depressing. And I fully get why you as a politician or news editor choose to look away. But you must also realise that for us who actually have to live with the consequences for the rest of our lives, that’s a luxury that we can’t afford.

Recently a new scientific report was published by scientists from Uppsala University and the Tyndall Centre in the UK. It shows that if rich countries like Sweden and the UK are to fulfill their commitments to the Paris Agreement’s well-below 2°C target they need to reduce their total national emissions of CO2 by 12-15% every year, starting now.

Of course there’s no “green recovery plan” or “deal” in the world that alone would be able to achieve such emission cuts. And that’s why the whole “green deal” debate ironically risks doing more harm than good, as it sends a signal that the changes needed are possible within today’s societies. As if we could somehow solve a crisis without treating it like a crisis. A lot may have happened in the last two years, but the changes and level of awareness required are still nowhere in sight.

Things may look dark and hopeless, but I’m telling you there is hope. And that hope comes from the people, from democracy, from you. From the people who more and more themselves are starting to realize the absurdity of the situation. The hope does not come from politics, business or finance. And that’s not because politicians or businesspeople are evil. But because what is needed right now simply seems to be too uncomfortable, unpopular and unprofitable.

Public opinion is what runs the free world, and the public opinion necessary is today nonexisting, the level of knowledge is too low.

But there are signs of change, of awakening. Just take the metoo movement, blacklivesmatter or the schoolstrike movement for instance. It’s all interconnected. We have passed a social tipping point, we can no longer look away from what our society has been ignoring for so long. Whether it is sustainability, equality, or justice.

From a sustainability point of view all political and economic systems have failed. But humanity has not yet failed. The climate and ecological emergency is not primarily a political crisis. It is an existential crisis, completely based on scientific facts.

The evidence is there. The numbers are there. We cannot get away from that fact. Nature doesn’t bargain and you cannot compromise with the laws of physics. And either we accept and understand the reality as it is, or we don’t. Either we go on as a civilisation or we don’t.

Doing our best is no longer good enough. We must now do the seemingly impossible. And that is up to you and me. Because no one else will do it for us.

Evgenia Arbugaeva for TIMEYoung supporters of Greta Thunberg await her arrival in Santo Amaro Recreation dock on December 03, 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal.

[charlieharry1]

Pinnacle guidelines for brand messaging for your e-mail advertising

Visitor put up from laura chieri, advertising and marketing assistant at mailjet, europe’s leading electronic mail carrier company. Laura is mailjet’s marketing assistant in the united kingdom. Italian born & has brazilian and english blood flowing through her veins. She’s earned  Digital Marketing Agency in Edinburgh the nickname of cactus due to the fact she can be prickly at times. Now, the saguaro has end up her spirit, ahem, plant. right here are laura’s top hints for emblem messaging inside e-mail advertising:

for lots organizations, summer season way quiet, a time of the year while not anything occurs. Often, while most people of humans are away enjoying their summer vacations, you are left sitting within the workplace thinking approximately what you may do to enhance your commercial enterprise. But the summer months don’t always have to mean completely lifeless instances. Instead, it is a awesome time with the intention to recognition on the areas of your commercial enterprise which you might not be able to attention on as a good deal at some stage in the relaxation of the year and possibilities are, your electronic mail voice is one of those. Do you ever stop while creating your electronic mail advertising and marketing campaigns and think “does this resonate with my emblem?”. In case you do, that is the hazard on the way to reconsider and find new methods to begin afresh after the summer time. On this submit, we’ll be imparting you some tips and advice on the way to make sure your logo messaging is nicely represented and contemplated to your e-mail marketing campaigns. Are you equipped for some summer season amusing? Right here we pass. Deliver out your internal voice

Read Also:-  Do you know about Breadcrumbs SEO?

emails are just one of the many channels you use to communicate together with your customers. It's miles essential so that you can keep in mind that the way you speak in your customers over electronic mail has a massive impact, as emails have one essential difference from all other channels. Assuming you’ve finished matters properly right here and follow gdpr – your email contacts have given specific consent so that it will contact them. Their inbox is a non-public and intimate area, in which they've invited you. You therefore want to nurture and cherish this dating and one of the pleasant methods to do this is via providing content that fits in with the connection you’ve created. Many brands make the mistake of sending the equal messages as mass advertising campaigns to all of their contacts. As a substitute, you have to use personalisation and segmentation. By way of the usage of them, you will be able to target particular personas for your audience, and make sure that the content you are sharing with them is properly tailor-made to their expectancies and desires. An email is a lot extra than only a message, there's additionally the tone and voice which you use in that message. This is what makes you stand proud of the group of companies on your subject. With the aid of segmenting and personalising your emails you're able to supply your e-mail marketing campaigns a unique and identifiable voice and you’ll gain the rewards: your open quotes will increase, and in parallel, your contacts might be much more likely to interact with them and click on. Human beings will begin getting used to hearing from you. Or even in the event that they gained’t purchase all the time, with the proper content material you'll incentivise them to reflect onconsideration on you the following time they want to make a purchase. Discover your emblem personality

to be able to define how you are going to ensure that your brand messaging transpires through to your e mail advertising, you’ll need to outline:

 the motive of your emails. The function they play to your global advertising and marketing strategy. How the logo voice you use to your electronic mail advertising suits in with the emblem voice you operate throughout other platforms (social media, blog, website…). Your e mail messaging will need to be in line with your international logo voice. This may maximise the effect of your marketing strategy and make certain you stand out on your clients. By this, we don’t mean that your newsletters must have the equal dull tone of your assist pages, nor that they must be as playful as your tweets. You’ll need to find the balance that is right for you and that works to your customers. Tell a story

what does storytelling should do with e-mail advertising?! Reflect onconsideration on it… ever when you consider that an early age, we examine from memories. Memories train us classes, help us to memorise concepts, and bring us collectively. Leveraging this in your e-mail advertising and marketing can assist to create effective feelings and thoughts. Storytelling engages clients within the long-time period, instead of the short term and allows them to narrate to your logo’s character and challenge and sense emotionally invested in your fulfillment. On the identical time, people don’t only want you to inform them testimonies, in addition they want to be covered and this is every other notable manner of enhancing your advertising and marketing. User-generated content is a wonderful way to make clients sense part of your logo’s tale. Via asking clients to proportion the experiences they’ve had with your product, you're able to create a network of loyal users. Further, you and what you provide may also look even extra appealing within the eyes of latest, ability customers, as your product is already examined and authorized by means of others. Testimonials, pix, motion pictures… there are numerous matters your clients may be willing to percentage with you. You simply need to ask and engage them and social media systems offer the opportunity to do this extraordinarily easily: as an instance, you could simply create a hashtag and trap people to proportion their stories with you:

 the tale which you should inform in your advertising emails is your logo’s. Essentially, what you need to do is display your personality and stick out from your opposition for you to win capability customers over. Whilst determining what your tale is and how to inform it, consider your presenting and what makes you stand out. What convinces you to select a brand over every other one? Follow this on your own storytelling and share it via your email advertising and marketing too. Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate

perhaps you by no means idea about this a part of it, but collaboration is a essential basis on which you logo is constructed. Think about it. How many one of a kind teams are involved in developing the brand and design, in identifying what tone of voice you're going to use for your communications and how you will speak without delay with your clients? Probabilities are, there are numerous one-of-a-kind groups concerned. Communication and coordination are consequently extraordinarily vital to avoid awkward “oops” moments or getting your co-employees aggravated. From brainstorming how you want your brand to be and what it'll appear to be, to growing an electronic mail e-newsletter, you need to make sure anyone is worried every step of the manner. In relation to brand voice, it will must reflect the general image of your commercial enterprise that you want to be conveyed. Entrepreneurs, designers, product managers, etc. Are all concerned in bringing out your inner voice, in defining your personality and in finding a selected attitude from which you could want to tell your tale. Sending flawless campaigns that virtually show off your persona is essential, and it’s honestly a crew attempt. Make sure you've got a clean method and the proper tools handy to permit your crew to paintings collectively in your emails, to assure your logo message shines through on your email communications. Now positioned that brand voice to paintings

as soon as you've got found your emblem voice, have defined your persona and what story you want to tell your subscribers, it is time to place all this to paintings in your marketing emails. Manifestly now not all of your campaigns might be the same – in any other case you’d be terribly uninteresting. But a few parts of your electronic mail are extraordinarily adaptable. Situation traces and preheaders are specially impactful, given that they are what the recipient sees first upon receiving your emails. Here you should play smart and try to discover a way to introduce your communique a good way to be each familiar and at the same time, set you other than everybody else. Don’t forget about that your emblem voice isn't only expressed through text, but additionally by using the visual cues you make a decision to use. Suppose photographs, emojis, gifs…. They can all assist in announcing something about you. Extra tip: don’t overlook consistency

when we speak about emblem voice people generally tend to suppose right now about advertising campaigns. But what about transactional emails? Simply due to the fact they bring a message that won't be as amusing, it doesn’t suggest they don’t deserve the identical interest. To ensure that your brand is without difficulty recognisable in each electronic mail you send out, make certain your advertising and transactional emails look comparable. Of route marketing and transactional emails have extraordinary purposes, but in case you ensure branding consistency is carried out throughout the board, your customers will trust that they may be communicating with a emblem that has a very well defined and distinguishable identification. This manner, your typical emblem messaging will even come upon very easily. And now you're ready. Follow the steps and make certain that your  Digital Marketing Company in Brighton logo messaging shines via on your electronic mail marketing. Of route, we do desire that you are going on vacation over the summer season as nicely and that you received’t spend it all inside the workplace working on your brand messaging .

[riichardwilson]

TikTok 101: A primer for brands

You don’t have to install the app to experience TikTok. If you’re reading this, odds are you’ve already stumbled upon a TikTok-emblazoned clip of someone wearing bread on their feet or feverishly performing a choreographed dance. None of it makes sense and that’s the point. It’s meme culture at its finest.

Teens see TikTok as a home for pure, unfiltered entertainment. Brands, on the other hand, are watching it like a shiny new penny. The platform known for hosting amusing video challenges inspired by the ephemeral (and often satirical) nature of Gen Z is now starting to become part of the marketing agency equation.

“Being there early allows brands to authentically tap into the ‘it-crowd’ as long as they can adapt their message to the fun and informal tone,” explained Fred Schonenberg, founder of New York marketing agency firm VentureFuel. But that informal tone, he explained, is TikTok’s entire value. “Brands who show up with standard corporate messaging will alienate the audience as quickly as they seek to be embraced.”

So, what is TikTok?

Boasting more than 500 million active users, TikTok is a mobile video-sharing app that stepped on the scene in 2018. Users can create and post short, looping videos set to music or sound bites – often with humor as the focal point. Like the other social platforms, TikTok features a personalized discover page, a home feed, user profiles, and a built-in suite of video editing tools. Because TikTok posts have a max length of 60 seconds, the end result is typically a quirky, highly concentrated form of entertainment that’s equal parts confusing and captivating.

Background. To understand TikTok, you have to look at it in the context of its forerunners, Musical.ly and Vine. Vine, the viral short-form video-sharing app launched in 2013, can be thought of as the originator of snack-sized viral video content. Vine put the wheels in motion for short videos to take off as a standard video format where creators could leverage the vertical orientation native to smartphones. (Snapchat and Instagram trailed this model with their own investments in video.)

In 2014, Musical.ly launched as a follow-up to the success of Vine, which Twitter acquired sadly shuttered in 2016. Users could create short videos with the added layer of lip-syncing. This approach, coupled with low production requirements, made it easy for just about anyone to create engaging content.

Fast forward to 2017, when Chinese tech giant ByteDance saw opportunity in Musical.ly’s content model. ByteDance acquired Musical.ly in 2017, and in 2018 rolled out to the international market with the name TikTok. By October 2018, TikTok was the most downloaded app in the U.S. and reached a record 1.5 billion downloads globally at the end of 2019.

What can you do on TikTok?

TikTok trends move fast. Blink and you might miss them. The platform doesn’t have the visual aesthetic of a curated Instagram grid – nor is it the place for serious issues (though some have tried). Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg thought he hit the mark in comparing TikTok to Instagram’s Explore page (according to leaked audio from an all-hands meeting). PSA: Instagram and TikTok are definitely not the same.

TikTok has managed to create a distinctive social experience that values spontaneity, humor, and relatability above all else. It’s turned social media into pure social entertainment.

Here’s how users are getting the most out of the app:

Video editing. TikTok has provided an entire generation of users with a crash course in video editing. The platform’s easy-to-use tools add a unique creative impact that doesn’t require the learning curve of an advanced video editing platform. Creators can choose from dozens of overlays, transition effects, filters, playback speeds, text options, and sounds. It gives just about anyone the ability to create an engaging video with just a few taps.

Playing with sound. The platform’s editing tools and advanced filters enable creativity by default, but a unique edge is the ability to add sound from a massive library of both licensed music and user-created recordings. After a video is posted, any user can rip the audio, re-create the parody, and throw it back into the TikTok ecosystem until the joke is dead. Similar to the way hashtags work to discover content, users can search for a song or sound to see the original content and all other videos it appears in. Sound on the platform inspires music video spoofs, funny lip-dubs, dance routines, and more.

Hashtag challenges. Viral trends start in the hashtags on TikTok. Hashtag challenges encourage users to attempt and share their own unique takes on challenges posed by different creators or brands – like Guess’s #InMyDenim challenge or Jimmy Fallon’s #tumbleweedchallenge. Challenge have proven to be an engaging way for users to easily create appealing content, while brands can use it as an opportunity to build awareness with consumers.

React videos. Users on TikTok have taken the concept of a reaction to a hilarious new level. With the ‘React’ feature, users can record their own reactions (with audio and video) to an existing TikTok video. The reaction video can appear side-by-side with the original.

Cringe-worthy content. Like a train wreck you can’t look away from, cringe videos feature awkward performances aimed at getting a laugh. It’s a format made famous on YouTube, and TikTok-ers are playing it on their own terms with injections of youth commentary and social satire. Still confused? Here are some examples.

Who’s using TikTok?

Gen Z runs the show. Younger audiences (ages 13-22) make up the majority share of TikTok users. As of September 2019, 42% of internet users in the U.S. aged 13-16 are on TikTok, according to eMarketer. Among ages 17-21, the percentage falls to 32%.

Older generations (Boomer, Gen X, Millennial) have used social as a mode of staying up-to-date with friends, exploring interests in groups, and communicating through messaging. Gen Z, on the other hand, is carving out its own value in social as an unbridled medium for entertainment, confessionals – and, well, dark humor. It’s part of the reason why brands have to think differently about their content approach on a platform that embraces weird, ephemeral, off-the-cuff entertainment.

“At the end of the day, people come to TikTok for engaging content, and brands can’t make the mistake of taking themselves too seriously,” said Tressie Lieberman, VP of digital and off-premise at Chipotle Mexican Grill. Chipotle stands out as one of the brands that understand how users are approaching TikTok – and what types of content they’re looking for, as you can see in this example:

@chipotle

@ your Chipotle buddy #fyp #chipotle

♬ sprint – goalsounds

Can TikTok work for brands?

Now that TikTok has taken off in the U.S. – and looks likely to continue growing – brands are itching to get their messages seen. Before jumping into the memetic platform, businesses need to ask whether or not they should be marketing agency on TikTok in the first place.

For brands setting out to reach younger audiences with fun, challenging, or unusual content, TikTok might be the place. But it’s worth it to note that image-based ads and Instagram-style product endorsements won’t cut it when marketing agency on TikTok.

“You don’t want to show up and feel like an advertiser,” explained Lieberman of Chipotle. “It’s not about creating content for Instagram and then posting it on this platform; it’s about really using the power of this particular channel and sharing content that will resonate specifically on TikTok.”

Here are some of the ways brands are dipping into TikTok.

Advertising. TikTok’s advertising business is still in its infancy. The platform introduced a self-serve ad offering in beta last year, garnering enthusiasm from the brands who were first to test it out. The platform is still in beta testing and lacks some of the more robust targeting options and programmatic features that enable advertisers to automatically buy and measure ads.

For now, advertising on TikTok is only offered on a CPM basis (cost per thousand impressions). To get started, advertisers will need to create a TikTok ad account, after which a representative will grant access to the beta self-serve ad platform. Once in, the process for creating an ad is similar to other social platforms. Advertisers can define the campaign objective and select targeting rules based on age, gender, location, interests, etc. There is also an option to define the ad placement (TikTok, its affiliated apps – or both), as well as an option for automated placement (in beta).

Creative formats include:

In-feed native video ads

Brand takeovers (a full-screen ad that appears when a user first opens the app)

Hashtag challenges

Branded filters

Topview ads (similar to brand takeovers but uses in-feed content)

Influencer brand partnership

Social commerce. In November, TikTok began testing shoppable video posts, making it possible for creators to place social commerce links in their posts. Users can then complete a purchase without leaving the app. For now, the option is still in beta with no current word on when it will roll out more broadly.

Sponsored hashtag challenges. Despite TikTok’s lack of a solid ad offering, brands are still finding ways to make their products known by leveraging the community at large (and we all know the TikTok community loves a good challenge). Sponsored hashtag challenges give brands the ability to create a video effect and pose a prompt to the community, which users can then play into with their own spin.

Brand use cases

Chipotle Mexican Grill. Chipotle teamed up with its fans to create a series of challenges. Its first viral challenge kicked off in May 2019 after a customer filmed a video doing a lid flip, which Chipotle then posted to Instagram. The post racked up over a million views, prompting the brand to turn to TikTok to invite customers to try the lid flip trick for themselves with a branded hashtag challenge. The #ChipotleLidFlip challenge received over 104 million views, 111,000 video submissions, and over 59,000 participants during the campaign.

e.l.f. cosmetics. Makeup brand e.l.f. also found viral success with the hashtag challenge format. With over 3 million organic views of the #elfcosmetics hashtag on TikTok, the brand developed its own challenge to engage with the creator-driven community. The #eyeslipsface challenge “encourages raw and authentic videos that extend beyond makeup, and even beyond makeup users, with a focus on unleashing s(e.l.f.)-expression,” said a spokesperson at e.l.f.

While the vast majority of brands continue to push their polished Instagram content into Tik Tok, e.l.f. designed its campaign from scratch and was the first brand to create original music for a TikTok hashtag. The campaign broke the record for the most user-generated videos in a TikTok brand campaign and was the first sponsored brand to hold the #1 trend spot on TikTok. The campaign currently has 4.4 billion views and is growing.

Here’s what it looks like, courtesy of Jessica Alba (yes, celebs are getting in on it, too).

@jessicaalba

#eyeslipsface my errryday look #honestbeauty #cleanbeauty

♬ eyes. lips. face. (feat. Holla FyeSixWun) – iLL Wayno

Looking ahead

Perhaps the most valuable facet of TikTok is its audience. They’re young, sure, but they want a digital experience that’s authentic, homegrown, and thoroughly entertaining. It’s part of the reason why reactions and challenges have taken off at warp speed. Instead of standing by and watching social play out from a distance, TikTok users are diving in head-first to leave their mark in near real-time.

“While other social platforms compel users to post carefully curated content, TikTok invites users to release their inhibitions, have fun, and get silly,” said Ashley Fauset, VP of marketing agency for Stardust. “Today’s consumers are increasingly savvy when it comes to advertising. Brands should pay close attention to the differentiation between TikTok and other platforms, and craft their channel strategy accordingly.”

About The Author

Taylor Peterson is Third Door Media’s Deputy Editor, managing industry-leading coverage that informs and inspires marketers. Based in New York, Taylor brings marketing agency expertise grounded in creative production and agency advertising for global brands. Taylor’s editorial focus blends digital marketing agency and creative strategy with topics like campaign management, emerging formats, and display advertising.

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