Students Torturing Students

For our last project in our English 211 course, we were given the role of a teacher and were to make a module based on a social media platform. This was extremely interesting as there are so many to choose from and who really pays attention to how they get started. Everyone uses them it seems, but how they got started and who is behind them is not really important, or so I thought. For this project, it definitely comes into play.

For this project, I worked with my good friend Tiffany Dye. After some back and forth about this project, we agreed to us YouTube as our social media platform. We both had interest because of the amount of use and traffic that the site receives. We thought that everyone seems to use the site for different uses, whether it be for educational reasons or entertainment value. Now that we have chosen our platform, it’s on to making a module.

We had a few discussions in person and on the social media messenger Hangouts. We discussed the direction we wanted to go in regarding the quiz, discussion, reading content, and an assignment based on the site. Having students in mind, we wanted to challenge those who are unfortunate enough to engage our module. We didn’t want to make it too easy, but rather try to educate and let them have fun with it.

We split up the work. Tiffany chose to do the information links that led to the quiz and had a great idea for the discussion. The quiz was going to entail the creation and general information about YouTube. The discussion was based on those who got their big break on YouTube. It showcases a great video on how people can “make it big” if they are lucky and opportunistic. A bit of an added challenge is that students must not cover the same person who “made it,” in writing about an individual who made it big, or captured their fifteen minutes of fame.

I chose to take on the assignment and the blog entry. For the assignment, I chose to let users take a short overview of how to make a channel, which is a big part of the YouTube experience. It allows people to find other users easily by subscribing to said user’s channel. This gives each user the ability to have the videos that they are most likely interested in, front and center and easily accessible. I also wanted to give users the knowledge of how to monetize their video. To let their video make them money for them. For the blog entry, I found a great TedTalk video that illustrates why videos go viral and how to capitalize on that moment. We felt that this was a good video to include and that students should write their thoughts on why they think videos go viral, what they would make a channel about and their thoughts of any benefits of monetizing their videos.

We tried to incorporate Mr. Depner’s way of approaching his modules as a guideline. This proved to be useful in some aspects such as making links guide the student in the right direction. How to get them thinking about what we were presenting them as well as providing information that would educate as well as entertain.

Together, I think Tiffany and I did a great job on this project and had fun doing it. I thought this was a fun and engaging part of the class. Hopefully, Mr. Depner will be able to use our module in the future and students will enjoy the content as much as we did putting it together.

Well Needed Break: Not a Moment Too Soon

Thanksgiving has to be one of the top three holidays in my opinion. It always has been. Growing up my family has always put a high priority on gathering and spending time with one another. A moment in the year when everyone can pause their hectic lives and take a minute to reflect and appreciate each other.

As time has ticked on, our family has aged and found ever increasing distance between one another. This makes it very challenging these days for everyone to get together to enjoy this time together. The kids have grown up and now have families of their own to support. Though distance is great and visits with my extended family have grown further in between each one, I still put a high importance on this day.

Now, it is not so much about me spending time with cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Though I love and miss them dearly, it is not about having my parents or sister’s family around one dinner table. My family gets very little time to sit and enjoy one another due to crazy schedules. It is a rare occasion that we can all sit and relax, enjoy a movie or a board game, or not have to worry about extra-curricular activities.

We are a small family that is on the go. Our daily routine consists of early mornings with not enough coffee or sleep. Waking 6-year-old twins up early, against all better judgment, so they can quietly get dressed without waking their 1-year-old light-sleeping sister. Momma and I also must walk on eggshells to avoid baby girl from the dreaded not enough sleep morning. Dropping the twins off at school while hoping they can make it through the day without a meltdown or disciplinary note. Then it’s off to my own classes where I try to avoid being too unprepared.

After returning home, it’s a few hours of splitting babysitting duties with momma, answering questions as if I were replacing Siri, and earning my stripes as an unpaid Ultimate Fighter referee. With school and family life being so demanding, the only thing stopping my hairline from receding further is the stubborn gray hairs starting to replace the brown ones.

Thank God for Thanksgiving Break, it gives us all a chance to unwind and prepare for the final leg of this semester. We all could use it by this time, and we definitely took advantage. We got some time to lay around together and bond. We got to eat a great meal that my beautiful lady prepared (it was delicious, babe). Though, by now I’m pretty sure that everyone has had their fill on turkey for a while. I definitely could use some time to recuperate before we have anymore.

I am looking forward to the end of the semester. Biology has been incredibly difficult. It has been more demanding than I originally expected. I don't know how anyone would ever want to be a biology major. Then to add math and two other classes, I have had my ass kicked thoroughly this semester. I have been able to persevere and keep my head above water. It looks like the final is the only thing left in most classes.

I also had a chance to soak in the incredible game on Thanksgiving. Watching the Cowboys beat the Redskins is one of my little joys in life. Glad I get to have that joy twice a year.

To those who are in school, good luck on your upcoming finals. To them and everyone else, Happy Holidays.

Tribal Marketing

Seth Godin is an entrepreneur, writer, and an innovator of effective ways to spread ideas. His Ted Talk video details an effective strategy for mass marketing. His strategy to get the word out, not by spamming the masses or trying to get everyone to see your idea, but rather share the idea with those who have strong feelings about said topic or idea put forth. Those who strongly care for the idea will share it with their network of friends and likely to their friends.

His work was effectively organized. He opened by sharing a story about a dogcatcher who felt there was a better way of dealing with stray dogs than picking them up and euthanizing them immediately. In a perfect world, these animals would have the opportunity to find a companion. Their thinking was that maybe they don’t have to change the world, but rather the minds of the community. He set forth on a mission to city council with the community behind him, the ones who felt strongly about the issue. He ultimately accomplished his goal of making San Francisco a no-kill city. Then he moved on and accomplished the same in a county in New York, North Carolina, and Reno, Nevada. He didn’t have to target the masses, just the ones he knew would stand with him when it mattered.

He then moved his storyline to mention other marketing models. He offered models that were effectively targeting the masses. He offered that Henry Ford introduced his idea of transport and mass production of vehicles in a way that “changed the fabric of an entire country.” He also spoke of how media pushed ideas on their audience. How advertising is used to attract the attention of potential consumers and how those consumers are mesmerized and marketers capitalize utilizing what they know appeals to them. Whether it be by the usage of sex appeal, children, or appealing to egos.

Finally, he gave an alternative way of thinking, the introduction of tribes. By focusing on those that share strong beliefs or ideas, you can cut down on the effort involved to get your idea to the masses. These like-minded individuals will share it with other like-minded individuals and they will share it with friends or acquaintances in their network. The great idea can be mobilized not by the original thinker, but at the hands of others. His main purpose was to share an effective way for anyone with a product or idea to market their idea. It doesn’t take tons of people to get the word out, it only takes a few to have that idea spread like wildfire.

I think Godin effectively got his message across. The mentioning of other marketing models strongly supports his thinking, because those tactics of marketing are not available to the everyday consumer. His way of spreading ideas can be effective for everyone, not reliant on your ability to afford a television spot for advertising or plugging a product on the radio. Social media gives the majority of people worldwide the ability to make connections with others and share ideas. It’s up to us to effectively utilize it, to make the most of it and make it work for us.

He compares this type of model to a tribe. In particularly, the one with the idea is compared to the tribe leader. The tribe leader becomes so because of his ability to think, to challenge, and to offend. How are you able to share your story? The tribe leader shares information with the tribe and the tribe delivers the information. Communication between tribes is like the communication between friend networks. His story is about building a culture. An interconnected culture between tribes. Our world is filled with tribes, networks among friends is a strong example of this. He also shows in this speech how to get your idea beyond your own network, beyond your friend’s network, and into networks beyond the narrow spectrum and into a broadband society.

Lesser of Two Evils

              

                How many of you expected to wake up Wednesday morning with the news that Hillary Clinton had won the election in a landslide. I’m not going to lie, I did. Forget for a minute that her husband had infidelities while in the White House. Forget her stance on abortion, that she backs aborting a fetus up until the moment the doctor slaps the baby on the ass and hears its first adorable cry for its mother. Forget the emails that contained confidential information that could have carelessly compromised national security. Or the fact that when she was asked about the existence of said emails, she deleted them and violently smashed her phone with a hammer. There are so many decisions made on her part that discredit her ability to be our commander and chief. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYKAzJcU-DA)

                On the flip side, you have a Republican nominee that has no political experience. Donald Trump has been the voice of controversy throughout his career. He is the real estate mogul that made it big in the Big Apple. He is famous in part for being wealthy, for flaunting around a Russian supermodel wife, and for the infamous words “Your Fired.” Most recently he is known for words like “bigly, braggadocious, and yuge.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEzYEJW0Tyo) He has also made headlines for possible sexual assault and caught on film bragging about such instances. He has open hatred towards the Latino and Muslims communities. To put it blatantly, he is a misogynist, egotistical, racist. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5wBY6D7V34)

                There is not much to like about either candidate. Tuesday was Election Day. The night started with talk of how Hillary was going to run away with the election. In the early going, her camp was very excited. As the voting stations were closing across the east coast and votes were starting to be calculated, optimistic Democrats were jubilant.

               

                The Republican camp was optimistic themselves, as they had taken control of two of the swing states, Florida and North Carolina. Talks that Trump had a long path ahead of him began to wear heavy on the Democrats. As red began to fill the map on the rural areas, talks of how Hillary was going to make up votes. Another big domino fell shortly after as Ohio was painted red. Leading at this time in the electoral college, the Republican camp realized there was a real chance for them.

                Hillary forced the issue and claimed New York, Minnesota, and California. States such as Oregon and Washington state as well as D.C. were all painted blue. Calls were being made to states that had polls closing later in the night or had traditionally been late to get their votes turned in. States like Wisconsin and Michigan were states that predominately voted Democrat, so even though Trump had a slight lead in the polls, hope was that the Democratic votes would come in to help her regain the vote lead in those states.

This is a map of the states and their contribution of electoral college by size.

                As the night went on more states were painted red. Texas, the Dakotas, and Montana were all filled in for the Republican candidate. A break in the action lasted for around two hours as votes were being tallied. It didn’t look good for Democrats. Arizona went to the republicans, and then the backbreaker. Pennsylvania was turned red. At that time, it was academic. He held a lead in the remaining states, and there were not enough votes to be counted in the Democrats favor. Michigan and Wisconsin were also added to Trump’s total count.

The Republicans claim the House of Representatives and the Senate.

                In total, Trump carried 290 vs. Hillary’s 228 electoral votes. It was a big night for Republicans all around as they captured the majority of votes for the Senate as well as the House of Representatives. Some are already saying that Hillary did not spend the amount of time necessary in states that in recent history has voted Democratic. Maybe that is the case, or maybe she underestimated her opponent. Maybe the national media is so blinded by their own political biases, they refused to open their eyes to what was actually unfolding right before their eyes. The exit polls showed Hillary in the lead, therefore Hillary was clearly the favorite to win.

                One thing is for sure, America needed change. I’m not convinced that Trump is who is going to facilitate change. I’m not sure if it was the lesser of two evils who took the night. Maybe the U.S. voters felt that they had to get away from Democratic control. If that was the case, they did in dramatic fashion. Whatever the case, we have a new President-elect. We enter a new era, a time of uncertainty, in a time when we could use some assurance. I hope that we make it through stronger than we enter this period. A recent quote sums it up pretty well, “We can make it through a Trump presidency, we might not be able to make it if Hillary were to become president.” I’m not sure if this is the case, but maybe someone a bit unorthodox is what this country needs. God Bless America, we could sure use it.

A night full of emotion.

Protesting Trump after the election.

Trump protest in Chicago.

The Quest for Twitter Followers

Briefing

   

Recently in my English 211 course, my class was challenged to accumulate the most followers possible. The winner of the challenge would get Awesome points. Quite the reward if I say so myself. When I started this project, I had posted two hundred forty-two tweets and had twenty-five followers. Most of the posts are little articles that I have found interesting or my thoughts on a current event. I never really got into twitter. My main purpose of having it was to check up on sports. You can get an inside look at what people are thinking at a certain moment. In the sports world, it’s interesting because you can look at tweets they send out when something big is happening in their life or bonehead decisions they made.

The Strategy

My strategy was to tweet about current events that were going on. One of my main points was to tweet about the upcoming election. With all the drama surrounding the two main candidates, finding interesting stories was not that difficult. Find the article, add my thoughts, and throw in a few hashtags, such as #Vote2016, #HillaryClinton, #Trump should be sufficient for efficient post circulation.

The next big event was the World Series. I knew tons of baseball fans, as well as analysts, would be following the action. I was getting into the action as soon as project commenced. I tried a few polls as well as questions in an attempt to get interaction with people scrolling through twitter at the time. I looked at trending hashtags and used as many as I could. Using such hashtags as #WorldSeries, #MLB, #ChivsCle, as well as the individual team names #ClevelandIndians and #ChicagoCubs were all used in my tweets.

Another event I knew would draw some attention was NFL games. While the games are played, there is tons of twitter activity. While watching the game, I would comment on the action. Giving up-to-the-minute updates on the action using #NFL or the teams involved. Being a Dallas Cowboys fan, I am full of valuable tidbits of information to entice potential followers. It just so happened that the Cowboys played a prime time game, meaning no other games were happening when they were playing. A perfect opportunity to drop #DallasCowboys, @Dak, @EzekielElliott, #DC4L and get into the twitter action, posting about every big play. I also posted a few polls to my twitter feed, pertaining to the outcome of the games.

The Outcome

My twitter feed has been very active during the duration of the contest. I posted over 100 tweets during the time of the project and using the hashtags I previously mentioned has netted me a ton of activity on my feed. Some of my posts have generated upward of three-hundred views and a ton of likes. Unfortunately, follows have been hard to come by. I only generated two additional followers, but in the mean-time, lost two of my previously accepted followers. Therefore, during this challenge I have gained a total of zero followers. I thought my tactics would get me action and it did. I might have been able to gain a few followers if I had directly hashtagged #follow or #followme. Hindsight is 20/20, but with the popularity of twitter, I doubt that many people would follow based off of a few random tweets. I think I will continue to use twitter on occasion. The challenge may be over for the class, but I have made it my mission to gain some followers, not just a simple browse and go.

It's a Shame

                In Jon Ronson’s Ted Talk video, “When Online Shaming Spirals Out of Control,” he demonstrates through shared stories how social media is ground zero for public shaming. When comments written by individuals are not received as anticipated, people on social media are quick to tear your life to shreds. It turns into a feeding frenzy of social media critics, ready to pounce and voice their opinion whether it is unjustified or inappropriate.

He shares two stories in particular that are meant to grasp the audience and shake them into correlation. He shares the account of Johan Lehrer, who was a pop science writer found guilty of plagiarism. When giving a speech to publicly apologize for his transgressions, he arrived at the foundation unaware that just behind him was going to be a live twitter feed of the event. During the event multiple tweets were published trashing Lehrer and his attempts at reconciliation.

An even worse incident involved a PR worker, Justine Sacco thought it would be a great idea to make fun of unfortunate situations in third world countries before boarding her plane. The twitter-verse ripped her to shreds while on the plane napping on her long flight. Before she landed, “she had become the top trending topic on twitter.” It started off as bad public relations, but turned worse before she landed. People posted horrific tweets wishing harm upon her and attacking her viciously. As the night went on people were calling for her job. She was ultimately fired and left with a traumatic recollection of the events as they unfolded. The worst part was that her comments were not meant to be racist or truly insensitive, but as a joke from someone from a higher social class, someone higher up in the social hierarchy. As she put it, “Living in America puts us in a bit of a bubble when it comes to what is going on in the Third World. I was making fun of that bubble.”

As Sacco and Lehrer found out, the days of social media being kind to the shortfalls of their fellow man are gone. What is left is a pit of hungry piranhas. They found out the hard way how social media responds when blood is in the water.

I think Ronson did an excellent job of organizing his speech. He talked about early days of social media as well as eased into increasingly disturbing stories of the unfortunate victims, whether truly deserving or not. The stories he shared were captivating, it was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, I couldn’t look away and had to pause to read every tweet to not miss a detail. I thought it was one of the best Ted Talk videos I had seen.

Ronson truly delivered a powerful message of how people of social media are willing to dehumanize individuals and tear their world apart. As the shaming gets more intense, the level of disturbing publications rises to the point where the writers of such publications are heinously attacking their fellow man. Their morals seem to fly out the window as the shamers get joy from producing the filthiest, inappropriate tweets.

The purpose of this speech was relevant in our society and is a growing issue. In today’s society, people are very quick to jump to conclusions and castrate others without sufficient evidence. Without knowing how that person really acts or how they carry themselves. The trauma that this causes could lead many into reclusion, depression, or contemplating suicide. All because of some thoughts that were not well received. During his speech, Ronson says “we tend to identify with the kindhearted defense attorneys, but give us power, and we become like hanging judges.” This is true, as every one of us has the ability now to make our voice heard. We’ve realized “that we can hit them with something we understand that they don’t, we can get them.” And get them we do.

But that is not what this world is about. It is not about making someone pay for a stupid comment or tweet that they have made. It is about forgiveness. Giving a second chance for people to learn from their mistakes. Let them make amends and return to a functioning member of society. Tearing people down and demoralizing them to the point of self-isolation is not the answer. It is more beneficial to give them advice and help guide them to make better decisions as well as build them up. It is not only better for us as a society, but as individuals as well.

Critical Facebook Fail

In Derek Thompson’s article “The Facebook Effect on the News,” he takes a critical look at the articles that make the cut on most people’s news feed. He takes the stance that Facebook is not a valuable contributor of news circulation, but rather circulates fluff articles such as what Kim Kardashian did over the weekend.

His organization is weak at best. He starts his article mentioning his intentions for an article based on Facebook’s takeover of the number one spot of user homepages. That Facebook is user's main source of finding information as it is user-friendly and uses information from their likes, shares, and hides to build a feed specific for them. He supports this information with the comparison of referrals given to BuzzFeed, between Facebook and Google.

He then furthers his support by listing the top stories of the 2013 calendar year as built by BuzzFeed. He starts with a list of top 20 articles from Twitter. Although most of the headlines would draw attention from newsfeed scrollers, only about ten of them are actually considered news (and that is being rather generous). The top ten mainly is made up of actual news articles though.

He then builds the suspense by listing the top 20 stories from search engines. Nearly 70 percent of the top stories would be considered as actual news, even if the news you were looking for was concerning the firing of Paula Deen.

Upon entering the list of top stories from Facebook. It is evident that it is filled with nonsense, mainly things that you should see, use in your daily life, or stories to get an emotional response.

The primary purpose of Thompson’s article is to discredit Facebook’s contribution to society as nothing more that senseless dribble that shows up on personal newsfeeds because actual news is not a priority for the average American.

Though the article does raise questions about the content that American’s find entertaining, it does not offer any groundbreaking information. At this point in time, and even in 2014 when this article is published, this is rather outdated information and he should have moved on to his next article topic. Move along, nothing to see here.

All of his sources cited are produced from buzzfeed. I find this rather limiting. Other sources could and should have been used. Maybe from a source that doesn’t have their hand in most of the said mindless dribble that is found on Facebook. Besides the outdatedness of his article, this is the second disturbing fallacy the writer presents. An article against a source should provide evidence from credible sources. I guess real news sources could care less about trivializing Facebook feeds.

The author’s organization was easy to understand. He made his case but failed to make a lasting impression. Anyone who knows how Facebook is organized, knows that it is based on individual user’s preferences. Many of whom choose not to hide, but rather skip over the nonsense that doesn’t relate to them. I think it is rather weak that he closes off his article with the bold statement “The News Feed is perhaps the world's most sophisticated mirror of its readers' preferences.” This article was not written before the pinnacle of Facebook’s reign, but when users interest in the site has already plateaued. This article is at least four years too late. To revisit the information presented in this article is a waste of the writer’s time in my opinion, a hit to his credibility as a writer, and is pointless in itself. It is not news to anyone and wouldn’t make The Onion’s back page.