Flash Mob

I think that social media plays a central role in planning any flash mob. Flash mobs seemed to have only become popular in the last ten years when social media has gained popularity. I can’t imagine success for flash mobs if they didn’t have an easy way to constantly communicate, spread the word, and then distribute video of their performance. In this particular flash mob, I think that social media could have been a more essential tool had it been utilized earlier on. There seemed to only be a week at the most to advertise the class’s flash mob on social networks. I think that the way to really deliver a message on social networks like twitter is to use repetition. What could happen is that a follower can read the announcement for the flash mob and then forget about it. Had this been planned for weeks, students could have tweeted about it once or twice a week in order to drive in the point and reach more followers. 

From the planning of the flash mob, I learned that it is important to have multiple avenues to reach followers. We used an email, a Facebook page, and twitter to appeal to followers and reach them in different ways. I think if it were planned earlier, we could have gotten more of the campus involved by using flyers with contact info. Overall I think that the planning of the flash mob was successful, but I think that it could have been more successful if it was started earlier.

Complex Ideas and Social Media re: Kony2012

This is a really interesting prompt because I feel that my answer is yes and no. My initial instinctive answer to this question is that yes, it is possible to convey complex ideas/messages via social media, however, I think in some ways it is necessary to combine multiple forms of social media in order to have understanding. For example, I saw news about Kony2012 on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, and eventually in the video (which was available on YouTube and other video hosting websites). 

The point I am trying to make is that first, the gravity of it was implied by the volume of posts about it on multiple websites. It was EVERYWHERE so I understood that it was important and notable, therefore triggering me to watch it.

The second point I am making is that had I seen information about the movement on Twitter or Facebook alone, I might not understand it below the surface, i.e. its complexity. Because Twitter only allows 140 characters, it was necessary to provide links to outside sources in order to convey a complex idea. But it also works both ways, had I just seen the video, I probably could have understood the complexity of the issue however, it was the brief and descriptive messages that included the link that brought me to the video.

To conclude, I think that there are some social media websites that need their messages to be simplified in order to be understood. Twitter because of its character limit and Facebook because readers simply won’t stay interested in long posts. Because of this, these sites need to utilize other social media sites such as blogs or videos in order to relay the actual complexity of the idea. In contrast, sites like Facebook and Twitter also have strength because they have unbelievable popularity, and viewers are able to gauge the importance and relevance of topics based on how much they are appearing on their feed. So overall, my answer would remain to be both yes and no that complex ideas can be conveyed through social media.

How I Search

I’ve always thought of myself as pretty proficient when it comes to searching. When I was younger I used to utilize multiple search engines when searching, but now Google is really the only site I use because of its dominance. Searching for the information you want seems a little more difficult in recent years because of the growth of sponsoring for Google and search engine optimization. If I had to lay out a guide based on how I search for information, this is what it would include:

1.       Always use Google. It is the most popular and should give you any site you are looking for. If you dig a little deeper than the one search option, you’ll find that Google allows you to narrow your search with tools like, when the info was published, how strictly it is filtered, language, region, including x words, excluding y words, reading level and so on. 

2.       For your initial search, type what you think the least educated person would put in. If you’re looking for cheap shoes in Boston, search “Shoes Boston Discount”, for example. If you’re looking for a more specific answer, be more specific with what you type, for example, “Shoes Heels Leather Boston Newbury Street”. 

3.       Always go a little further and see what they offer for links, images, video, news and maps to get a fuller search of whatever it is you are looking for. I really like that Google is connected with Youtube because you can more specifically search for videos

4.       Going beyond the first or second page of results isn’t usually worth it. I don’t usually go past page 3. If a site is popular, it will have better search engine optimization, so it is probably a better source. 

Those guidelines basically reflect my own personal searching, hopefully it will be helpful for others as well!

Different Approaches to Blogging

I think that the way I approach by blog depends on the avenue in which I am blogging, and whom I perceive to be my audience.

For example, all of my current blogging is through Blogger and school related, so my blog topics pertain to whatever the assignment asks of me. Because of these factors, despite the blog being public, I just assume that my audience is only my professors and classmates. This affects my blogging because I am not necessarily concerned with sounding cool or pushing a lot of my personality into my work as much as I am focused on completing the assignment. Another assumption that I make is that people outside of class wouldn’t be interested in my blogging because it is so specific to topics that they have no knowledge of. So those are a couple of factors that contribute to my current style of blogging.

In comparison, I used to keep a personal blog on Tumblr. This is a different situation because for this blog my main focus was about looking “cool” and representing my personality through mostly photos, videos, music and some writing. This publicity of that blog affected the way that I blogged because I was under the impression that strangers could be interested in what I was saying and posting and I wanted to keep it interesting for others and myself—rather than now when I am blogging exclusively academically.

In both situations, I would say that I never felt that my writing felt “high-risk” at all. I have never been the type of person to be publicly opinionated or controversial, so I think simply because of my personality, this has never been something that has been a concern. What I enjoy about blogging (in both ways) is that it is a more casual way of writing. I feel less tied down by formatting and professionalism and encouraged to use my real voice more so than an academic one.

The retailer I chose to analyze is TOMS shoes. I think the website looks great and is very easy to navigate. The design is both consistent and reflective of their products. It is very clean looking and modern so you are drawn to looking at the different aspects of it. 

Because they are a company with a cause, it is important for them to illustrate that on their website. “Our Movement” is one of the tabs at the top and gives you a few options of pages that will explain their mission as a company. Here they have a video that shows what their mission is as a company:

When you are on the TOMS homepage, you will first see that they have a blog. That link is located at the top and is clearer than the other social media sites. If you scroll to farther down on the page (which isn’t long to begin with), there is a box labeled “CONNECT” which includes Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and RSS buttons. I also noticed that as you move onto other pages, that are not sales pages, the buttons more to a more prominent, left side of the page. 

I think that because an important part of this company is their cause, it is perhaps more important for them to build community with their customers. When you click on the different buttons, you are encouraged to “follow” or “like” in order to “stay up to date with the movement. I think that this is a good tactic for getting customers involved because they feel connected to the company after having bought their product. I think that this investment will make them more likely to want to stay up to date on the progress of “the movement” and more likely to be involved socially. On Twitter, TOMS gives links to videos, products and promotes other causes so I think they are speaking to the right market. 

Overall I feel that TOMS is doing a pretty great job of building community through social media sites. I think that they are aware of their target market, and are doing a good job of speaking to them. They have a certain way of using design and photo to be consistent and compelling in their advertisement and website. I think if anything, TOMS could improve by maybe just tweeting more and having a larger presence on Facebook. I think they are a pretty well known and respected retailer, so that they could have even more success in the social media world.