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!