Push Back.

#freecrunkbear, HMV's mass firing or the Camry Campaign are all different social media campaigns that were highlighted in last night's lecture. Though these three different campaigns for example may come from different background of why they were started and what their objective was they were made public for all the world to see. For many of the campaigns it showed the knowledge companies need to gain before starting social media campaigns as well as the ability to operate platforms like bot tweeting. With social media platforms today, there's a plethora of options of where you can choose to post, well whatever you choose! With this in mind though it only reiterates the fact that everyone should start writing social policies for their companies.

In the social media fail of #freecrunkbear, a young math teacher was fired for her inappropriate tweeting as well as almost nude photos posted publicly online. Though I would question the judgement of how she received the job in the first place, employees should have a social media policy shown and discussed with them so that if an issue like this does arise, the employee, employer and the public know why. As we see a rise of firings of personnel from inappropriate social media behaviour you have to wonder why some companies are taking so long with social policy?

Even thinking about students today, do we need a social media policy? One in thirteen people have facebook which encompasses a mass majority of Western students, not including pinterest, instagram, twitter accounts and more. Many students aren't aware of the repercussion of posting inappropriate of pictures on twitter of facebook but who's not to say that a student couldn't get in trouble in the Western logo was in the background?

Through the past few weeks of studying social media platforms, the way they work, social policy should be mandatory for a companies as well as educating employees. Even for students at University, a mandatory media should be instated to make students aware of their actions as well as the purpose of social media and the importance of it, especially for large companies. Even if you have a business degree you don't want to be made fun of via twitter by a 21 year old unpaid intern.

Gamification.

In no way or form would I describe myself as a "gamer"unless that includes playing a round of Scattergories or Apples to Apples. Growing up we weren't allowed to play video games of any kind so it never became a big thing for me. Later on when my parents gave my brothers and I a computer to share for our school work and leisure activities I started to play interactive games of about Arthur or the Magic school bus, educational and fun for my age. As our generation has grown up and seen the virtual world explode, looking back I can see that it was building.

Does anyone remember Neopets? A virtual world for your virtual pets ( that never seemed to die even if you didn't feed them). Friends and I spent hours playing, trying to gain more and more points to be able to afford bigger and better things in this virtual world. As Neopets decreased in popularity, companies created concrete toys that include a virtual wold access when purchasing the toy. Have you ever heard of Webkinz?

Whenever I walk into toy stores today, this idea of gaming for young children has only grown. Most toys include a username and password into a virtual world. With more toy purchases the more you gain in the "free" virtual world.

Every year Mcdonalds uses gamification to endorse its product through a game of monopoly. Other than more concrete and visual examples of this like Roll up the Rim there are so many aspects of gamification in our lives today that we don't even realize. Reading about it online I discovered that something like Linkedin, a social media platform has aspects to keep users coming back. Growing your connections is a competition among peers as well as trying to strengthen your profile strengths and endorsements. By using the aspect of gaming, companies are able to build their followers and keep them coming back. What's wrong with friendly competition right?

The Time is Now.

As media and technology students, we constantly overlook the factor that many people do are not aware of the benefits and consequences of social media. What we can and cannot post, what we can say and do we have learned through growing up in this technological age. So if were using social media, why wouldn't employees at companies be using it too? I believe its naive to think that a social media policy is not necessary in the developed world today. I will be discussing the risks of not having a policy, how employees should be made aware of this policy and why it is so important to instate a social media policy today.

Many people feel that their social media account is their personal journal and don't think about who may see what is posted. In the journalism industry many reporters, anchors have gotten in trouble from their own thoughts posted on their professional accounts. Unless accounts make viewers away that these are their own personal thoughts and do not reflect the company, they are associated with the company and therefore can be fired for their actions. This is an article highlighting a couple reporters for well known news stations that were fired for their poor choices. http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/8-journalists-who-were-fired-for-tweeting-part-1_b4136

For my program in Media, Theory and Production we were strongly encouraged to create a twitter account to stay up to date on the news. Next year when I'm back at Fanshawe we are directed to have our accounts attached to XFM News. Many students create separate accounts for the station so that they aren't at risks for their own personal tweets. If you slipped up you wouldn't be fired but it would not looked up on favourably with the growth of twitter and the amount of people that view XFM tweets on a daily basis.

As companies start to create their own social media policy's all employees must be made aware. This benefits the company for more employees following policy as well as employees will be knowledgable on their choices they make while using social media. I believe that having a training session on how to use tools like twitter and facebook is just as important as explaining the policy. As social media is always changing, annual or semi annual reviews should be given for all employees in the company. Though the marketing department may use social media more to promote the company, most individuals today have social media and should be made aware so that the company doesn't face public embarrassment.

For example by HMV not being careful with who was in control of their twitter account a mass firing spree started a social media explosion. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/hmv-employee-goes-rogue-tweets-from-mass-firing/article8047181/

Last year someone tweeted insensitive remarks on Kenneth Cole's account and ended up receiving alot of heat.

With one in thirteen people with a Facebook account, most everyone has a voice online that can be used to benefit the company or disgrace them.  Though companies can ban employees from not using social media at work, is it really possible? With social media apps on smart phones and facebook and twitter buttons on almost every website, is this a realistic goal. Social media can benefit the conversation within markets greatly as long as they are constant. With strict social media rules will it not just cut off the conversation. The solution is to educate all employees and give them the knowledge to represent the company they are working for in the appropriate way.

5 Steps to Blog Fame

My first experience with blogging happened with my first personal blog called yourinnergosling.blogspot.com. My blog is a look at a university girls dating life and possibly an obsession with  Ryan Gosling. Just like any girl with a blog, we all want one thing. BLOG FAME! As we all know blog fame leads to a book deal, book tour, TV show, movie and than your own talk show so who wouldn't? To achieve blog fame you need to alter your blog though to achieve and maintain your followers. Its not enough just to share it on you Facebook feed weekly. I needed to learn the tricks of the trade and I'll share with you 5 of them today.

1. Clear and Concise. How many young people like reading? Not many unfortunately. You need to be short and snappy and get your point across. I may not follow this rule so well because I find my writing very endearing( and hope other do too). I do use this with another blog I help maintain and I'd like to think its been rather successful.

2. Grab your viewer. The first sentence is key and its always best to include those key words! In my case, Ryan Gosling, love of my life? By doing this the key words will better help someone searching for a blog like yours actually find it and grab their attention so they don't move onto another site.

3. People LOVE Pictures! As much as I think people like my quick wit, they love to see a picture of Ryan dressed as a Christmas tree more. I was able to trace many of my views back to photos found on google images. Just like this one...

4. Tag your posts. I was a little slow to start on this but tagging is so important. If Ryan Gosling, Gosling, Famous, The Notebook and so on aren't tagged how will people know I'm in love with Mr. Gosling? THEY WON'T.

5. Advertise yourself. YOU are a BRAND. Though its weird to think, you're a brand through your social media whether its Twitter, Facebook or any other platform. By going onto Facebook and sharing your blog people will pass it on if they thinks its worthy. Through twitter use the power of the hashtag, and use those same SEO words to gain views and followers. Dare to be different and even TWEET at the celebrity!

So read my blog and pass it on. I could be the next Ellen, just only if I achieve blog fame though!

The Power of the Hashtag

#fail #power #bieber, the hashtags are never ending. Many people complain about hashtags coming into our everyday conversations, or facebook where hashtags do not have an effect but the hashtag is creating change in how we use social media as much as people don't want to admit.

Being a student studying media we are constantly talked about to "think before we post" but I had a friend that wasn't as familiar with the importance of this rule. Long story short, my friend was having trouble in a class and for her final paper she needed a textbook. Western libraries did not have it and it was incredibly expensive and she could not afford it. Somehow she got the idea to steal the library book. Though this could have been all well in good, she took a picture of the book and wrote the universities name in a hashtag. A day later she received an email saying she needed to return the book immediately and she almost faced a charge from Western University. Hashtags really do work....

On any given night wheather your watching Glee, The Good Wife, Suits, you can see a hashtag in the corner of the screen. Television shows, for example Suits, will even adapt the hashtag from the title to title throughout the show like #rachelandmike #savedonna, #teamharvey. With more and more people watching online, using PVR and so forth, Neilson's is even changing the way they analyze television ratings. 

In this article below it explains that ratings will start to be calculated by the amount of social media activity. I believe there is no better way. I myself cannot help but live tweet through everything!

 http://www.hashtags.org/platforms/twitter/twitter-nielsen-team-up-to-measure-tv-ratings/

Lastly, people are able to use the hashtag to engage other followers, customers, viewers whether its to see what their thoughts were on the latest election, television show or Jimmy Fallon. Below is a video where Fallon is able to use the hashtag to engage his viewers and start a conversation with them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zukVEeTB4eo

After reading this, will YOU start using the hashtag more?

The Twitterverse

My twitter journey started four years ago. When I first created my account, twitter was not the phenomenon it is today so therefore it did not take long before I became uninterested in it. Two years ago I signed back onto my twitter, influenced by friends that " I NEEDED to be on Twitter". For a newcomer, twitter can be overwhelming. What's a retweet? When's the appropriate time to favourite something. How many times are you allowed to tweet a day ( I've broken this rule too many times). People that are not on twitter and believe it is not a huge mode of communication in today's world are sadly mistaken.

Everyday I wake up and check my twitter to find the news, the weather and the latest on celebrity gossip. Twitter is a great tool for journalists and citizen journalists to get involved and find out the latest breaking news. At Fanshawe twitter is always up on the news check and is always refreshed before a news cast in case of traffic issues, accident or breaking news. My absolute favourite thing to do with twitter though is live tweet through television shows. I was queen of the #gossipgirl hashtag.

If you listen carefully on campus you can even hear twitter infiltrating student's language on campus. "I'm so hungover #partygirlproblems"
"I should have worn my hunters #whitegrlproblems"

My tutorial leader the other day even discussed how he hashtags in really life. As a member of the team USC soph team during orientation week we used hash tagging as our alliance with another team.

Today I update three twitter accounts regularly for CAISA Fashion Show, Team USC and my personal account. I have to create and use a different voice for each account and make sure that I'm hashtagging the right things to continue to build a following. Twitter is the a great resource for informing the student body in their busy lives, having contests and promoting a brand. With applications like Hootsuite you can even schedule your tweets today!

If your not on twitter today. Sign up now! Why wouldn't you want free advertising and promotion for your company, volunteer work or yourself?

Lecture 3

"How do I talk to SOMEONE!" is a question that arises when most anyone tries to get on the phone to call customer service. Companies have taken their once solid relationship with their customers and replace the "real people" with automated voice messages. This industrialization of the companies may be profitable but are ruining the way markets are supposed to run.

In this day and age we have taught to keep to ourselves by the constant technological advancements that surround us. Instead of making conversation with people we are constantly on our phones. There was a time when asking your neighbor for an egg was a common task but now people are so disconnected our neighbours are as foreign to us as people in another country. The same thing is happening within companies, they are eliminating the people. Through Levigne's article he is trying to voice his concern of how markets once were and the sudden down turn that has happened over the past twenty years. Customers no longer know the face to the company, can no longer trust the press. 

Levigne is trying to express the human aspect of the internet that not all companies have taken advantage of. As companies expand across the world, Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets let the people behind the brand may get in touch and let customers feel closer to the brand, as they once were. Customers may now tweet at companies like  AirCanada, Rogers and so on to complain or even compliment on there service. This new way of marketing lets companies see the issues, “speak” to clients one on one and resolve the issue as well as customers finally receiving the customer service they deserve.