Haley Schneider

After learning all about social media from the business perspective, I think that implanting social media recommendations can be hard. Especially if you are just reading about the implantations and not actually learning about them yourself. Trying to promote your brand or company takes time.

Client Project

The client that I picked was the Clarke Historical Library, located at Central Michigan University. They don’t sell any products, instead they offer services. The Clarke Historical Library has very rare books; including first additions and signed copies. They also have different collections of manuscripts and CMU history, including all of the CMU past presidents’ papers. These are free for students and community members to use and look at.

The biggest challenges that the Clarke has is that most students don’t even know where they are located. This is a problem and the fact that their social media accounts aren’t up to data, they have old pictures on all the social media sites that they use. I also think that they could add a couple more social media sites, one of these being Instagram. I think the Clarke could have some problems with keeping up with their social media accounts since they are a smaller department within CMU.

What I Learned

One aspect that is so important to a business social media content is how it is developed and shared. How information reaches consumers and how they receive the information is important. Trying to get a post to stand out from all the others, so that the consumer remembers your product or service is also difficult.

Development

When creating a post, businesses should think about who will typically view the information. They should then tailor their content for these viewers. Make sure that you use a strong caption, add visuals, interesting content, and find popular posting times. All of these tips will help a business as they develop what type of material they want to post.

A company that does a great job doing at doing this is Busch Light. If you browse through look at their social media site, you will see many posts of their new Busch Light Apple. Busch also uses multiple platforms to advertise their product, like Twitter, Facebook, radio, and TV. By coming up with different flavors and showcasing their products in a fun way, they are gaining new consumers and are keeping their old ones happy as well.

When creating posts, businesses should consider if there is an opportunity. Creating posts that are to their advantage that has pictures and captions is a great way to get old and new consumers alike interested in your company.

Sharing

The information that is posted by a company must be easily reached by the consumer. It must also be interesting enough for the consumer to pause and share the content. If a consumer is interested in the beginning of your post, they are more likely to continue viewing the entire post. Popular forms of social media are the best and easiest way to share information ab out products and services.

HubSpot is a good example of this sharing information and including images that draw people into their content. Their social media is easy to find, and they use similar styles of photos when posting. This makes it easy for the consumers to recognize.

Social Organization

Effective Principles for Building an Online Community

There are many ways to build a community, and an effective way to do this is by social media. Building a social media community can be very difficult, but the book, Social Organization How to Use Social Media to Tap the Collective Genius of Your Customer and Employee by Anthony J. Bradley and Mark P. McDonald talks about many ways to build an effective online community.

In business, the use of community collaboration can be very effective. This could be when multiple people in one business, or multiple businesses, work together and use their talents to create a bigger picture. If everyone works together in collaboration for the good of the company, or companies, they can get the bigger picture which can lead to heightened performance for everyone involved. However, not every company or group of people work well together, the big picture isn’t met always met and sometimes you have too many people involved in handling important information. Community collaboration is not suitable for challenges that require deep analysis and if sensitive information is involved when these things are involved, it is better if defined teams or groups are working with each other instead of multiple people.

The “No, Go, Grow” model approach is provided by Bradley and McDonald. The first stage is “No” this stage is the first hurdle that every collaborative community must deal with. In this stage, you have to think if you have a specific purpose for the collaboration, if not, then you should think about the purpose. The “Go” stage is the second step. This stage is only made after determining a well-formed purpose, the purpose is suitable for social media, characteristics of the purpose can succeed primarily on its own. This all helps to see if the collaboration is ready or not. The last stage is “Grow”, is to see how far it will go. This stage is to see if the idea can make a corporation income and to see if it is worth an investment.

Growing an Online Community

After doing the Hootsuite Training, I learned that it is more important for a business to have a small group of dedicated followers. Having a dedicated community involvement is more important than having a large group of followers who do not want or like to engage in the business, and online community. This can help in my client project as I can help the business reach out the patrons and the community by developing a small but engaging following.

Businesses

In today’s world, business take private information and sell it to other businesses without the consumer knowing about it. A business should be worried and think about what could happen to consumers. This is why companies should think about how they use big data, if they are collecting information about their consumers, they should be open and honest about it. A company should have a policy in place to protect their consumers. I think that if somehow someone broke into the information that a company has on their consumers then they have a policy and know how to tell their consumers and provide information. This is something that most people worry about while sharing information. A company also should to be honest when something does happen, and a company should tell people when they are collecting information about them. Another thing is that a company should have a good reason to collect information on their consumers and they should tell them why they are collecting the information.

Consumers

Consumers have to be cautious about the information that they share with businesses. They have to be aware that the information that they share could be easily shared with others and that someone could hack them and get their information. They should also be aware of a company’s policy, if they have one, about what happens to their information if someone hacks the company. A consumer should also read through the information that they usually just click by and agree to. This way they can understand what they are agreeing to before they even have an account on the site. A consumer also should think about what they are doing and why they are doing it before do it. You need to be aware that a business could be watching your every move while on their site and even when you are off their site.

Solution

As people use social media more and more, we will continue to see more and more junk news and mail. Junk mail is mail that is fake, it realizes on people to believe that it is really to for them to pass it along to their my and friends which can cause panic and lead people to believe that what is said is try. In a post called “Three Reasons Junk News Spreads so Quickly Across Social Media”, by author Phillip Howard and Samantha Bradshaw, the reader gets an inside look at why information moves so fast across social media and how junk news is spread.

Algorithms

Algorithms help us avoid searching through pages and pages of information, that aren’t relevant or that we don’t need. When searching on Google, this can be very helpful, however when looking at social media this can lead us to junk news. Social media pages use algorithms to determine which content should be relevant to consumers which leads to the spread of Junk news. By having the information picked by an algorithm instead of a professional, someone who knows what news is true and not, we are sharing news that is not true because algorithms are deciding what news should be shared, not us and not professionals. Which leads most people down a rabbit hole, searching and believing information that is not true. An example that I have in my personal life of an Algorithm is Facebook. I will scroll through Facebook and see fake news or theories that my friends and family have posted and shared, these posts may or may not be true. With algorithms, Facebook uses these posts to displays them for me to see and if I like it or repost it, it will show up on others screen. Which is how fake news is spread so fast.

Advertising

There are two ways that the advertising model contributes to junk news. The first way is that it rewards viral content or clickbait. Clickbait is designed to attract someone’s attention so that they click on the link to a webpage. Clickbait provokes an emotional response and plays off of people’s sense of biases or outrage. Social media also empowers various actors to micro-target potential voters without accountability. This can lead to social media advertising targeting voters with messages. My personal example of this is Facebook. I will be looking up something on Google or talking about something with my fiancé and suddenly there’s an ad for it on my Facebook page.

Exposure

On social media sites, people usually only share their beliefs which usually are the same believes as their family and friends. People will usually follow social media pages that agree with these believes. This makes it hard for a social media site to charge someone’s mind on their believes. On any social media site that you have, you can see this. You are exposed to only certain things that you agree with and that your friends agree with, which is usually what you agree with as well. On Facebook, users will most likely only follow pages that have similar opinions as them.

Be Aware

Businesses and people should consider what they are looking at before they believe what they are looking at. Before you share anything, you must make sure that what you are reading, and sharing is true. You should not rely on social media to give you all the news going on in the world. People should consider reading and listening to different political news outlets; such as Fox which leans more towards a republican side, and MSNBC which leads more towards a democratic side. That way before you post something you are getting both sides of the story. People and businesses should understand the importance of getting different sources before completely believing in something.

Most Important

The most important thing for a social media consultant to know is that they must deliver what they client want, and they may not know what they want. You have to know what is most effective for your client and how to help me. A client may have no idea where to start or how to get their business out there, which is why you have to help them. When you are a social media consultant, you must have an open mind and understand the website that you are using. You must fully understand the social media sites that you are using. You have to be up to date with the newest form of social media and the most popular. So that you can attract the audience to your clients media pages. The more social media that your client has, means the more people that they can reach, however you must represent your client is a way that they wish to be represented. This is why you really must know the company and people before working with them on an important project like managing their social media accounts. 

Improving my Professional presence

Big Data

Big data is the storage of large data sets which relates to information privacy. The data sets contain a lot of information about people and all or most of this information is private. Companies today, can then use the data sets to buy and sell information about you and others, without your permission. Users don’t even know that this is happening, and they don’t know what information is out there about them or about their loved ones.

Big data is such a powerful tool because it is so large, and it contains so much data about everyone that companies can use it to help predict things and movements. A company can use big data by seeing what most people search for, when they search for it, and much more. From this, a company can learn if someone has a kid in their house and if they should send coupons for baby dippers and formula or for toys and clothes. This helps a company figure out their target market and target their audience based on the information that they gather. However, this can be very harmful, as someone could figure out exactly where you live and know exactly what you are going to buy. Companies have access to this information about you, and you never gave them permission to have it. Many places know when your birthday is, how old your kids are, where you live now, where you go to school, and much more. This is personal information that you never gave out to a company, but they have it, because they bought it from someone else.

Limiting big data would be really hard. Companies already have the information about you, you can’t get it back now. However, I do think that there should be a limitation on how much data a company can know about you. I think that companies need to be more transparent and let people know that they buy data from other places so that they know more about you. I also think that there should be a way for someone to opt out of sharing that type of information. One thing that I think of is apps and how much information is shared between app companies and other companies. I think that there should be away for someone to not share information about themselves with the apps that they use. I realize that this would hurt most apps as they are free but if someone is buying an app, to not get commercials, or has a subscription to a service like Netflix or Hulu, then their data should not be shared unless the person themselves gave the company permission to do so.

As a society, I think people need to be more aware of what companies are doing and people should know how much information they wish to share. I also think that more companies should be held responsible for buying and selling data. A company should be able to access a certain amount of data, but no one should be able to know when you have a baby. This actually happened to my brother and sister, once they had a baby, they both started to buy dippers and soon they were getting coupons for dippers, formula, toys, and other baby supplies. This is something that is a little scary, as companies knew so much about my siblings that they knew the exact brand of dippers each one would buy. Personally, I think I need to be more aware of what information I am sharing on the web or in an app. When something is optional, I shouldn’t fill it in, and usually I don’t because I know that some companies might just buy that piece of data.

Business Models

New business models are made to spy on people. Companies watch your every move on the internet recording what you look up, click on, view, and like. The company is trying to get to know you better by watching what you do, they are trying to understand what you would buy so that they can market their products to you. Companies now know that the more they knew about their target market; the more people will buy what they are selling.

When I first started this experiment I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I don’t really like social media, so I didn’t think it was going to be to hard for me. I can’t cut out screen time all together though because I work for 7.5 hours during the week. 

I did this experiment on Friday July 3, 2020 I did picked this day because I didn’t have to work so I could cut out the 7.5 hours of screen time from work.

Morning

When I woke up, I did what I always do, texted my fiancé good morning, and then I remembered that I couldn’t go on social media, which is what I usually do when I wake up. I only look at Facebook in the morning but it is something that I also do. However, I found this very good for me, since I did have the day off from work, I just got ready for my day. My fiancé and I were going to his aunt and uncles cottage for the day. I talked to my parents which was nice, since I wasn’t on my phone we actually talked about my wedding and the plans that we have done as well as what we still needed to do. We also talked about our plans for the day. 

Afternoon

I went over to my fiancé’s place around 11:30 and got ready to go to the cottage with him. As we where driving it was so weird not to be able to get on social media at all, but it gave us a change to talk about the wedding plans, that I had talked about with my parents earlier in the day. We also talked about the rest of the weekend and our plans. Once we got to the cottage, it was easy to forget about social media, we talked to his aunt, uncle, cousins, his parents, and his siblings. We also went swimming and just enjoyed being by the water.

Night

My fiancé and I left the cottage around 5:30 and when we got back, we went to the bar with some of his friends. After going to the bar, we went back to his place and had a bonfire, just the two of us. He got on his phone and started to look though his social media accounts, since either of us really got on during  the day. As he was scrolling, I really wanted to get on but then I realized I don’t need to. The only social media account I would have used is Facebook and I really didn't want to get on. I don’t use social media before going to bed, I always text my fiancé goodnight and then I turn on a Netflix episode and fall asleep.

Conclusion 

I realized that not being on my media accounts was actually really easy. I was busy all day with family and friends, which did make it easier. I don’t really use social media, I would rather use Netflix, Amazon Prime video, and just text people. I really do like having face to face communication rather then using any type of social media. After doing this experiment, I would not mind unplugging from social media for a week or even a couple of weeks. I really believe that its good for you to not use social media accounts, as you get to see the world around you and hang out with family and friends more. I really think everyone should unplug at some point in their life. 

By watching this speech and reading the article, I learned a lot about social media and how we are starting to be controlled by it. Every social media site wants our attention and they want it to last for as long as it can. By having notifications, these social media sites know that they can trap us and before we know it, an hour as gone by. Before the internet, companies couldn’t advertise to younger people and now the can. The internet has added some complications to the world, but it has also allowed us to grow and learn new things.

Social Media Influence

After listening to Max Stossel’s talk and reading Emma Rathbone’s article, I realize just how much social media plays people and how we all pay attention to each other’s lives. Social media influences my daily life in many ways. Growing up, I learned a lot about myself, since my parents didn’t allow us kids to use the computer too much. I had to be creative, coloring playing with toys and learning about the world were all things that I did, just like Emma talks in her article. I did write letters to people in order to stay in touch with them and I do agree with Emma, this was a simpler and easier time. I didn’t get my first iPod touch until I was thirteen and I didn’t get my first phone until I was almost sixteen. Learning about who I am and who I want to be came from my family and friends, not the media. However, as I got older the more, I do realize that I look at social media. Today, I know that social media affects more of my life then I would like it to. My fiancé and I will be talking to each other and looking at our phones, we are usually both on some type of social media, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or something else. Social media is a time filler for me, looking at it is a way to take up time and maybe have a laugh or two. I know I compare things with what other people are doing or making, such as vacations or food. However, I know that comparing your life to someone else’s is not smart, so I try not to. Which is why I try not to get on my social media accounts too often.

Internet Constantly available:

Having Internet constantly available affects my life in positive ways and negative ways. If I don’t have the answer to something that my mom asks me, I will usually look it up. This has saved time because we aren’t going to a book or map to figure out where we are and where we need to be or what hours a certain store is opened. However, I think having the internet at the tip of our fingers if very dangerous, as people are becoming addicted to their phones, social media accounts, and having the Internet whenever they want. Knowing what I do, I will start looking up one thing and then get distracted by something else and then end up spending an hour on my phone without even meaning to. This is why having internet at the tip of our fingers is dangerous, it can lead us down the rabbit hole.  

No Internet for an Extended amount of time:

Max Stossel’s talk mentioned that 50% of teens say that they are addicted to their mobile devices and I can believe it. If something would happen to my phone, I would be lost, my phone has a lot of information about me and others on it. It has my social media accounts, email accounts, and it has all of my contacts in it. Not having that constant connection is very hard just like it’s hard not to have internet. First off, I should say that I need the internet to do my internship at Auto-Owners, so not having internet for a long period of time means I can’t work. Other than that, not having internet is annoying and I get bored. I will usually watch Netflix, Hulu, or stream tv at night with my fiancé, so when we lose internet or don’t have it for a while, we both get bored and we want to find something to do. The only time that I don’t have internet is when the power goes out, and its only for a couple of hours so I usually can just wait it out. However, sometimes my fiancé and I get really board and we end up finding a board game, card game, or even sometimes cleaning. However, I have learned that not having internet is not a bad thing, sometimes you need a brake and having the power go out for a couple of hours to let yourself unplug is the best thing. 

More Intentional

One thing that I would really like to be more intentional about is how much I use my social media accounts. Even though I feel like I don’t use them that much, I know I actually use them more then I think I do. I also want to learn how to become less dependent on the internet and my phone. Like I said, I use my phone for everything, and that’s not always the best thing to do. I also want to get my screen time down to 3 hours per day for my phone, which does seems like a lot still, but having a high screen time is hard for me because I usually like to have something playing the in the background when I’m falling asleep. So, stopping that habit and learning how to sleep in my quite room is one thing I should do. I should also limit the amount of time that I text, I feel like I’m texting quite a bit and it’s to [people that I can see in person and if fact its people that I see on a daily basis. If I could just want until I see them later on that day, instead of texting them, I could save a lot of screen time. I’m not really a fan of just watching tv, I like to have it on for the noise again but most of the time I’m not actually watching it.

Hello everyone! My name is Haley Schneider, I’m a senior at Central Michigan University, majoring in human resource management and minoring in business information systems and finance. I am currently working as an intern at Auto-Owners Insurance Company in the Lansing offices but I am working from home due to COVID-19. I hope to get a full time position so that I can continue working for Auto-Owners after I graduate from CMU. 

While in this course and through this blog, I hope to learn about learn more about the effects of technology and social media and what impacts this could have on a business and whether it’s a negative or positive effect. I also hope to showcase the things that I learn throughout this course and get a better understanding of technology. 

A company that I feel uses social media well is Nike. Nike is on multiple different social media platforms. Nike knows how to tap into the mood of the public, not only that but Nike also promotes their products by using famous sports teams and people. Nike also has global affairs and creates conversations around big sporting events, such as the 2019 Women’s World Cup. Nike likes to have multiple sport teams that it sponsors, as soon as the game is over, Nike likes to release something. With the pandemic happening, Nike released a new campaign to get people to play inside and play for the world. This was Nike’s attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19. As a company, Nike’s media platforms speak out about public matters and promotes equality for all.

https://twitter.com/Nike