Did They Really Post That?

Almost daily I am amazed by the comments and stories shared on social media.  Is this 2016 or 1916?  When I worked in secondary education, the beginning of each school year was spent with scare tactics on social media.

The final message conveyed was it did not matter if you had social media or not because you could potentially get fired either way.  After a little research on our own, we learned that most of the cases they told us about were old and did not fall under current laws.  I can watch a reality show about surgeons who go out and get really drunk, but I have to worry that an alcoholic beverage or it appears that I am in a bar in a picture.  Hello, double standard!

While the views of what is acceptable on social media, people still need to think before posting especially within certain careers such as education.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but you must consider what you are posting.

Recently, an educator from Georgia was fired about repeatedly calling First Lady Michelle Obama a gorilla in a conservative news article.  Her outrage came from the vacations that the family would take, which is honestly a story that has been in the news more than I count, but she should have considered her approach a little bit more.

Should people be able to openly express their opinions or do certain jobs mean more restrictions?

When Sharing on Social Media Goes Wrong…

Recently, Kim Kardashian has been all over the news after being robbed during Fashion Week in Paris.  No matter what a person may feel about her and her family, no person deserves to be put in that situation.  It is hard to defend her or be surprised by this event when almost every move she makes is blasted across social media.

Police chief spokesperson, Johanna Primevart, announced they believe that her heavy social media presence made her the perfect target.  While she was in Paris, she continuously posted about what she was wearing, which shows she was attending, and all of her other activities.

The Kardashian family have decided to reevaluate their social media habits unfortunately after such a horrific experience happened to her.  Everyone wants to share their fabulous experiences, but everything does not have to be shared at the exact moment things happen.

There are a lot of things that do not add up about the whole situation, and who is to say that it would not have happened even if she did not post as often.  As much as I try not to post when I am going on vacation, it is hard to keep quiet and not share my GoPro pics as soon as I return to the hotel for the evening.  This is a good reminder to people that every move doesn’t need to be documented in real time.

Live with Kelly…No! Live With Me!

Recently, I have noticed more and more “Live” Facebook videos on my newsfeed.  Previously, I only noticed news stations using the live feature.  This feature has now become available to the general public.

Lately, I see Live videos of friends promoting products they sell such as Scentsy or the winner being announced from a family cook-off.  Facebook prioritizes the Live videos into newsfeeds making them more likely to be watched.

One of the best Facebook Live videos I found was a news anchor that used the feature to announce to his followers that he would be starting at a new news station.  He promised on air that he would go Live after the broadcast, and when he did he did not give any direct clues where he was going as he was riding in a car to catch their attention.  Once he arrived to his new station, he went Live again promoting for his fans to switch to the new station so they could continue to follow him.

Facebook Live is nothing new and ground breaking, but Facebook would win the popularity contest.  Facebook has over 1 billion active users each day.  Periscope was released first and is easier to use, but Facebook Live has a lot of potential based on the shear number of users who regularly use Facebook.

The Election and Social Media

Social Media is the open forum especially when talking about elections.  The candidates using social media is an excellent way to target younger generations.  I have found the following post on Facebook several times in the last few months.  Obviously, if the elections were based on social media popularity, we know who the obvious winner would be.

However, if you go by the polls, Donald Trump is not in the lead.

The candidates can save money spent on advertising by using social media to help promote their campaign.  Candidates can easily determine what people are interested in and how to best target them with messaging.

Not all candidates have learned how they can effectively use social media to help boost their campaign.  It will be interesting to see how social media is used with each election in the future to help candidates spread their message.

Are You Really Watching That?

Spoiler Alert! Unless you are watching television as it is aired, you probably have to be cautious of spoiler alerts on social media.  Despite my best attempts, I usually do not make it through an entire episode without being distracted by my phone or laptop.  We live in culture that requires people to multitask which means sitting down to watch a show without distraction probably is not going to happen.

Eighty-eight percent of millennials use a second screen when watching video content.  The use of the second screen to promote engagement during shows or events is the best direction for marketers to focus on.  If people are engaged and talking about a show online, their friends will be more interested to start following the show to see what they are missing.

The Voice on NBC is a show that plays up the use of the second screen.  As their next season is about to start, I remembered that I was a fan of the second screen during the show.  I originally started following them on Twitter, because I was able to vote and save favorite contestants from being eliminated.  When I watched the show, I enjoyed following Twitter during the broadcast because the judges lived tweeted.  Unfortunately, if I missed an episode, I had to filter through a lot of tweets that did not make any sense to me.

Obviously the second screen is just as important as the first screen.

Responding to Negative Reviews Online

Social media is a very powerful tool which can be helpful but just as harmful.  Any business with a Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, or tripadvisor account will have to deal with the ugly that ultimately comes with their “free” marketing.  We have all seen when companies don’t respond to negative reviews or even the ones that would have been better off if they had not responded.  How should companies respond to negative reviews online?

There was a lot of back and forth between our communications manager, University Relations, and our director before we were given permission to start social media.  Let’s be honest, it is not very pretty if you search WVU Advising on Twitter.  I countered with the positive social media experiences from colleagues at other Universities, especially those I had recently met at a conference where everyone was using social media.

I had my first negative comment within three days of starting the Twitter page for my department on campus.  We were in the middle of changing the name of our unit, and we were only reaching out to new students during their orientation.  I definitely felt a little sting with a negative tweet so soon after the starting our social media.  It was late at night, we had only briefly discussed negative tweets, but I did not want to wait until the next day to respond.

Ultimately, people want to know that they have been heard and changes are being implemented when possible.  “The best solution is to offer an apology AND a solution (Billingsley, n.d).”  It can be difficult when working with limited characters when using Twitter, but it is better for your customer and potential customers know that you are listening to them.

What companies do you think respond best to criticism, and which ones need to work on their response efforts?

Billingsley, Carole. (n.d.).  5 Ways Brands Respond to Negative Social Media Comments.  Retrieved from: http://www.seeksocialmedia.com/respond-negative-social-media-comments/

Another Update?

iOS 10 is about to be released, but first there is a lot of talk about an important security update.  There has been a lot of hacking talk from the election campaigns, specifically the Democratic National Committee.  I always felt safe with Apple products, but there is always concern about how safe you are with your cell phone.

Apple created the latest update after learning that the NSO Group, out of Israel, was able to access texts and emails, record audio, collect passwords, and track locations all without the users knowing.

Nokia reports that smartphones have more malware activity than Windows-based computers.  Apple is more strict when it comes to allowing which apps are allowed in their store.

Mobile phones play into our mobile lifestyle.  Safety needs to stay a top concern for consumers while using social media no matter who they are.  Children are receiving cell phones earlier and earlier which makes safety an even bigger safety concern.

Gen Z, are you there?

I recently went through some old boxes that I had moved several times but never unpacked.  Overall, the boxes consisted of items I used in college.  I was amused when I found an old calling card that was used in college and when traveling.  I have to laugh at this because I have since worked with pre-teens who had to have the latest and greatest phone even though they could not use it all day at school and probably lived in a no service area.  I always told them I did not get a cell phone until I went to college.

Currently, I work with undergraduate college students, typically first time freshmen and sophomores.  The generation that can not survive without their cell phones, but it seems they rarely get the messages from their advisers.  Typically, we would send one email a month with all important information they need to know, and it never fails that a good portion of students do not get the message.  How do I get my message to Gen Z?

My target audience does not have a long attention span.  I see a to the point email with the basics, but they see a wall of text they do not want to read.  This week my classes were given an assignment to complete a study journal that breaks down exactly what they do for one hour.  I have 60 students in my classes, but so far not one of them has studied consecutively for more than fifteen minutes with the average being ten minutes.  However, they find plenty of time for Snapchat and Instagram.

Facebook is the number one social media network for most users, but Gen Z users prefer the more immediate services such as Snapchat and Instagram for keeping in touch with their close friends (Morrison, 2016).

Two to three years ago Twitter was my go to for social media to reach out to students, but it appears across the board that Twitter is on the decline. A Pew study found that 82% of young adults online use Facebook, about 55% uses Instagram, but approximately 32% use Twitter(Duggan, 2015).

Snapchat is one of the most popular forms of social media for the younger generation.  Snapchat users view more than 7 billion videos per day(Hackett, 2016).  Unfortunatley, I do not want a message to disappear after ten seconds because I want a student to be able to reference the information in the future.  I will have to continue my search for the best emerging media techniques for my demographic.

References

Duggan, Maeve. (2015, August 19). The Demographics of Social Media Users. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from: http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/08/19/the-demographics-of-social-media-users/

Hackett, Robert. (2016, January 12). Snapchat’s Video Traffic is Catching Facebook. Fortune. Retrieved from: http://fortune.com/2016/01/12/snapchat-facebook-video-views/

Morrison, Kimberlee. (2016, March 24). How is Gen Z Using Social Media? Social Times Retrieved from: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/how-is-gen-z-using-social-media/636574