Online Social Media class @NECSocialMedia

I believe Facebook and other social media platforms might have swayed some people who were on the fence when it concerns the presidential election. I think that people who supported Donald Trump were not going to switch and start supporting Hillary Clinton and vice versa people who supported Hillary Clinton were not going to switch and start supporting Donald Trump because of some news story posted on an online social media platform. Now these stories could have affected how the undecided voter voted in the election. These stories could have also pushed some voters to just abandon voting in the election all together. But in the end, I think Donald Trump attracted certain voters who resonated with his platform and Hillary Clinton attracted voters who agreed with her platform. A large portion of those who voted for Trump were just tired of the political establishment that Clinton represented and were looking for a fresh change. They were able to overlook his flaws and see the big picture he represented.

  I think the increase in the cable news viewership helped fuel the fake news commentary before and after the presidential election. Viewers were searching for answers and clarity to the posts they viewed on their social media platforms. This was exasperated by the blatant bias of the news media either to the left or to the right. Fox News seemed to support Trump and bash Clinton any chance they could get and CNN and the other news networks spent the majority of their programming on bashing Trump. This only fueled the fire within the supporters of Trump, the silent majority that went out and elected Trump President of the United States to the astonishment of the left.  

As humans we are a very complex species. We grow up in a world that influences our view points. Our families, friends, community, society national and international has an impact on what we think. These perspectives on how we see the world becomes part of who we are. Our points of view become so ingrained that changing our belief system can be difficult. We become comfortable with our opinions. We are social animals, therefore we want to belong to a tribe and a tribe that thinks as we do makes us feel we are a part of something more. To go against our group would make us an outcast and as a species we need to be liked and wanted.

With the rise of social media such as Facebook we get to be a part of a whole new digital tribe, where we can exchange ideas and find the group we are comfortable with that agrees with our opinions, a sort of like minds club. According to “Five Key Takeaways About the State of News Media in 2016” social media has become the network where many individuals get their news information, especially the millennials. Social media has put a dent in the newspaper market and in time I believe they will go the way of the dinosaur. Yet, according to that article it reported that cable news stations such as CNN, FOX and MSNBC have remained steady.

That said, social media has a place in society but it also has a dark side. Zuckerberg founder of Facebook had no choice but to take some responsibility for a growing amount of opinionated posts known as, “fake news.” Is Zuckerberg truly responsible for individuals posting what they believe are wrong with our society? Or are we the people,the ones who are truly responsible for feeding into these false stories?

The information on social media has grown into a monster because the opinions put out there feed the minds of the left, right and the in-between. Therefore, why bother finding out the facts and the truth of what is written if one agrees with it. That has been part of the problem with information. It is real or is it fake? Without finding the facts we the people accept the written word without blinking an eye. Do we do this because we fear the truth? If we find out that our belief system is nothing but an empty lie what then? As a complicated species we would feel betrayed, confused and lost. So we remain living with our false security and allow the rise of individuals such as Paul Horner to write stuff that targets what he didn’t like in society. He must have had a Machiavellian sense of humor that he took delight in tricking people to change the way they think. Paul Horner has just died and his death is under investigation. He got his moment of fame. He was able to bluff the public into believing President Obama was gay and a Muslim. He was interviewed by the Washington Post and stated Trump won because of him.

So how gullible are we as a group? Have we become so intertwined with our tribe that we lose our individuality and forget to think critically. Zuckerberg became the scapegoat to a problem that is not going away. Horner may be dead but someone else is out there already taking his place. As long as we refuse to search for the truth and become enlightened, people like Horner will be there trying to tempt us into believing false news is real news.

Having not looked ahead at our assignments, I didn’t realize we’d be blogging about last week’s choices of challenges this week.  Since my choices didn’t quite fit this week’s assignment, I chose to blog instead about the #CheerioChallenge, which started in June 2016.  Patrick Quinn, the social accounts manager and co-founder of a parenting site called LifeOfDad.com, didn’t want to get up because his three-week-old son Maxton was sleeping on his lap.  When he became bored he began stacking Cheerios on the infant’s nose, and then he blogged about it on the site.  He posted a picture of his attempt at stacking the cereal with the statement, “Take the Cheerio Stack Challenge!!” and the question, “How high can you go?”  Men all over the world couldn’t resist the challenge of trying to outdo him.  People began to respond within fifteen minutes, and within an hour, hundreds of people had posted their attempts at the challenge.  Twitter received 25,487 tweets by 19,666 contributors.  It had become a trend.  Unlike the Ice Bucket Challenge, no one gains financially from the challenge.  Instead the participants are rewarded only with “the thrill of winning or the agony of defeat”.  Some men balanced more than twenty rings, some made pyramids, and one even stacked three pancakes in a variation of the theme.    

Here is a story and video about the #CheerioChallenge:  http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/18/health/dads-fathers-day-cheerio-challenge-trnd/index.html  

Officials at the Cheerios Company and General Mills became aware of the challenge and tweeted about it.  The timing couldn’t have been better.  Because the following Sunday was Father’s Day, the story was spread by CNN, the Today Show, Good Morning America, USA Today, Buzzfeed, Mashable and others.  

Videos were spread worldwide on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under the hashtag #CheerioChallenge.  Reese Witherspoon participated.  Macklemore stacked twenty cheerios on top of the forehead of his daughter, who was asleep in a baby carrier strapped to his chest.  Even then-President Barack Obama took the challenge, as seen on this video:  https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=president+obama+and+th+echeerio+challenge&view=detail&mid=161A76CD651211290BE3161A76CD651211290BE3&FORM=VIRE

According to CheerioChallenge.net, more than 375,000,000 people submitted photos of their attempts at the challenge, generating more than 250 major media placements, and there were more than 3,500,000 social media engagements during its first week.  The campaign eventually won a silver lion in Cannes in June, as reported by the LifeofDad.com co-founder, Tommy Riles.    

Here is a photo I found on the Facebook page of LiveEachDay:  

If I didn’t see the photo with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it!  

Here is a gallery of photos of the challenge in progress, including my favorite with a stack of Cheerios on a kitten: https://parade.com/487206/lindsaylowe/cheerio-challenge-the-funniest-photos-of-dads-stacking-cereal-on-sleeping-babies/

Here is a video of someone stacking dog biscuits onto a dog’s head while the obedient pup sits still patiently.  I love that this person found a way to include his “baby” in the challenge.  https://www.facebook.com/zigglerocks/videos/vb.1433822933613594/1612178385778047/?type=2&theater

Cheerios and LifeOfDad.com partnered to host a contest in which they asked dads to post photos online with the hashtag #StackingSweepstakes to win a family trip to the Mall of America.  Baldemar Guerrero, III, won with this photo:  

People posted photos of their lizards with stacks on Tumblr, and even the Cartoon Network joined in with this meme:  

According to an article written by the Creative Editor of the website adweek.com, Tim Nudd, last month, the Cheerio Challenge “turned into a user-generated branding campaign with phenomenal scale”.  I wonder if the campaign would have died sooner if General Mills hadn’t wisely capitalized on the moment and given it publicity on its websites. The General Mills Company seemed to resonate with fathers by acknowledging that more and more dads are becoming active in their children’ s lives, and some are becoming stay-at-home parents while their children’s mothers are earning the money for the household.  According to adweek.com, the Cheerio Challenge caused “the largest spike in brand awareness for Cheerios or any General Mills cereal brand in recent years”.  

Although no social cause benefitted financially from this challenge, it did highlight fathers’ importance in the lives of their children, so hopefully an awareness was made of their value.  I’m sure the sales of Cheerios didn’t suffer, either, since just writing this blog has caused me to crave a bowl of Cheerios with two percent milk, toast and a tall glass of orange juice.  

Participating in, or even just hearing about, the challenge caused people all over the world to feel good about the Cheerios brand.  This kind of user-generated content, although cost-free to Cheerios has been invaluable to Cheerios because of all the free positive publicity it generated for General Mills, which I am sure translated to sales, which led to increased profits for the company.  

After approximately a week of dads’ posting photos of their children and pets with stacks of Cheerios on their heads, children began to post photos of their parents with stacks of Cheerios on their heads, courtesy of the children.  They created  a rival hashtag #CheerioRevenge.  

This Cheerio Challenge has been referred to as a genius marketing ploy, but I don’t think it was planned; do you?

I will end my blog with this photo found on Pinterest:  

Each day when I drive my car I see them on the side of the road. Sad faces holding sign for help, for a way out. The homeless seem to be growing in numbers. They set up camps gathering together as a tribe or alone trying to survive in this world. Not all of them are drug addicts, or suffering from mental illness. Some have been depleted of their possessions and lost everything due to an illness like cancer. While others have lost jobs and couldn’t make payments on rent and bills. Some have run away because of abuse within their home. Still others do have a job but minimum wages have kept them from affording a place to live.

Through the years my daughter and I have stopped and sometimes have given them money and other times have brought cold water and something nutritious to eat. We found out that they could use a blanket or something as simple as a toothbrush. We tried to advise them to go to a shelter. One woman was afraid of the shelter she said, “It wasn’t safe.” We found out that in many shelters there are bedbug infestations, food that lacked nutrients and only filled their stomachs but didn’t give them the vitamins to stay healthy and energetic. Even the staff was not always compassionate but treated them unkindly.  

Yet is being on the street safer?  To many of the homeless community, it is, if you are lucky and gather with a group that you trust where each one will look after the other and their belongings. Weather can be a dangerous factor. One can say Arizona is sunny but heat reaching up to 115 in the summer is a killer. Heavy rains during the monsoon can destroy their homesites which are made of cardboard boxes for those living on the street. Eating food from a garbage can is unhealthy. Standing on a street corner begging for money is humiliating. Being harassed by nearby neighbors and anyone passing by and the police do not try to solve the issue instead they just add to the problem by arresting them or telling them they must leave. All this takes a toll on these people’s health, physically, mentally and emotionally.

It happened here in Arizona. A camp in Mesa was disrupted and the Veterans who served this country were told to leave. Many were homeless not due to PTSD but they were not able to get jobs or housing due to their physical disabilities. One can only wonder what is wrong with our politicians to not reach out to help the homeless community and veterans. Instead, after saying yes that they could stay the people who run our state government changed their minds (they can use a new mind) and the vets who have gotten support from people with donations, now would have to move on with no help from the politicians we all voted in.

The homeless are vulnerable and they must suffer from stress, anger and unworthiness because of how they got here and of not knowing what the next day will bring.  If any one homeless tries to get work what address do they give?  The street they live on? Or the shelter where they share a room with a few other individuals?  Many want a better life in order to feel safe and bring back some sanity and self-esteem into their lives.

Maybe it is as if these individuals are invisible to our society or are considered the outcasts of society and are looked upon with distain instead of compassion. This in the long run would make it difficult for all of us to reach out and help these people who are in need.  These opinions and messages that society tells us what is right or wrong makes people tend to judge a certain group without knowing the facts especially with the homeless. The stereotype of the homeless drug addict is what most people see the homeless as. There are some but most did not want or expected to be in this situation.

This happened to one of my daughter’s students. She noticed that this girl was falling a sleep in class and that led her to find out what was going on. The girl left home due to violence but she also could not afford a place to stay and was sleeping in her car because she only was working for minimum wages at night. My daughter spoke with the school and though them and her they found a place she could stay. It was just a room to rent but it kept her off the streets and she graduated and is now going on for her nursing degree.

The next time anyone of us stops to give a homeless person a donation. We all need to take the time for just one moment and do more then just ask them their name. We should ask them some questions about themselves. And make them feel human again. I did that and the man told me that he was ok he even built a good shelter for himself and invited me to come see it. I declined politely. Yet, I wonder if I had gone maybe I would understand more what it was like to be him what it was like to live on the street. Instead I looked at this video to see what it like to look into a day in the life of someone homeless.  

It makes anyone realize that this kind of situation can happen to each and everyone of us. Maybe instead of sitting in our home with the feeling of safety and comfort watching a day in the life of someone homeless we could spend a night sleeping on the streets as if we were homeless and get an idea of what being vulnerable feels like. Then daring a friend or friends to do the same and having that friend get another person to do it. Could this catch on like the Bucket Challenge or would it just remain invisible like the homeless themselves as we walk pass them or drive pass them each day.

For week 5 viral post I have chosen to do the #DropAndGiveMe10 challenge. I am not going to lie, I struggled a good amount on this assignment. I originally picked the mannequin challenge but as I was researching it it seemed so superficial and dumb it is where people freeze randomly in groups, it did not promote anything or any change in the world. I wanted to find a challenge that truly was making a difference in people’s lives, as the ALS challenge has. So I started searching for a different challenge to report on and at first I came across the give them 20 challenge which is around the same idea as the drop and give me 10 challenge but you do not donate money and it is to help find jobs for veterans and is suppose to show people the challenge veterans face trying to find jobs when they are back home. Which I also think is a wonderful idea. But feel the challenge is poorly executed so I moved on and continued searching. Eventually I came across the drop and give me 10 challenge and I have dedicated to chose it for my assignment. I really liked the idea of a challenge giving children scholarships and educational opportunities that they may not have gotten to experience otherwise.

As I began to researching the drop and give me 10 challenge I have learned that it was founded by the Fallen Patriots, which is a 100% non profit organization that uses all of the donations(direct quote from the websites mission statement) “to provide college scholarships and educational counseling to military children who have last a parent in the line of duty.”  Something else that I really like about this foundation is the fact that on their main page you can see their financial audits for the year which I think is really cool and shows they are not hiding things. All in all I think the Fallen Patriots is a wonderful foundation and I hope that the drop and give me 10 challenge resurrects and goes even more viral than it had in the past.  

How to:

The drop and give me 10 challenge was created by the Fallen Patriots. There are four steps to completing the challenge.

Step one: Decide how much money you are going to pledge for each push up you can do.

Step two: Film yourself completing the challenge. In the video also challenge three of your friends to complete the challenge also.

Step three: Post your video online on different social media sites such as; Youtube, Facebook, twitter, or Tumblr. Use the hashtag #DropAndGiveMe10 challenge.

Step four: Make your donation.

Here is a video example of someone doing the drop and give me 10 challenge. He pledged $2 a push up and did 10 push ups so he will donate $20 then he challenged 5 people to also do the challenge instead of the regular three.

History:

The Fallen Patriots Foundation was founded in 2002 by David Kim, who had served next to Sergeant William Delaney Gibbs from the 7th infantry division in Panama, who was killed just 5 five days before Christmas in 1989. He had left behind a wife and unborn daughter. David Kim was inspired by Sargent Gibb’s sacrifice and that is why he founded the Fallen Patriots foundation in 2002 when David Kim returned to the United States.  

Facts:

Research conducted by The Lucas Group has found that an estimated 20,000 dependents have been left behind by troops killed in the line of duty over the past 35 years needs some financial assistance.

97% of casualties are mean, leaving single mothers to care for their families. 63% of surviving spouses make less than 50,000 a year.

The Fallen Patriots foundation has helped almost 800 kids go to college. The Fallen Patriots Foundation has also donated over sixteen million dollars financial aid and educational opportunities since being founded in 2002.

But does it have a viral SPARK(T)?

I had actually never heard of the drop and give me 10 challenge until I was looking for charitable challenges on Google. It did go viral, just not as viral as the ice bucket challenge had. I believe that the drop and give me 10 challenge has the potential to go as big as the ALS Ice bucket challenge did.

If we think about SPARK(T) the drop and give me 10 challenge has it.

It is Sharable. You do the challenge in a video form and challenge three of your friends to do the challenge also. ( it has the same snowball effect aspect that the als challenge had)

It is Participatory. Everyone can be challenged to do the video and everyone can share it.

It is Authentic. It challenges you to do push ups, and sponsor yourself. How many other challenges do you know that has you do push ups then donate for each push up you can do?

It is Relatable. Everyone knows how high college is and most people deeply appreciate people in the military.

It has a Kick. It has a hashtag ,people can watch it. It does not have a wikipedia page, yet but the Fallen Patriots have a Twitter page for the drop and give me 10 challenge.

It also has the Time aspect. Because there is no other viral trend or challenge going on right now that I know of. There is a lot going on in the world right now, but I do not believe it is anything everyone is talking about like crazy so right now would be the time for a mass viral challenge like the drop and give me 10 challenge to happen.

Sources:

It was actually kind of hard to find information on the #DropAndGiveMe10 challenge because apparently there is also a drop and give me 10 exercise challenge and information on that popped up a lot. So if you would like to do some more research into the #DropAndGiveMe10 challenge I would suggest always using the hashtag because that is where I had most of my luck finding information on the challenge. Most of the information in the post if from the Fallen Patriots website.

Link to the fallen patriots website: http://www.fallenpatriots.org/#home

Link to Fallen Patriots mission, history, and financial audits: http://www.fallenpatriots.org/who-we-are  

Link to #DropAndGiveMe10 page: http://www.dropandgiveme10.net/

Link to #DropAndGiveMe10 Twitter: https://twitter.com/dropandgiveme10

Link to more YouTube videos of the Challenge the first 7 are of the challenge: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=drop+and+give+me+10+challenge

For week 3s ‘braking bad’ tumblr post assignment I have chosen the lays “Do us a flavor” contest.

In 2013 Lay’s potato chip company decided to do a contest where fans could get involved and create their own flavor of chips, which would then be voted on and put on the market. If your flavor was chosen you would not only receive bragging rights for having the best idea for a chip, but also a cash prize of one million dollars. People went crazy thinking up all kinda of crazy ideas! Ranging from the first years winner of cheesy garlic bread, to some crazy ideas such as moldy couch. I know I was trying to rack brain trying to think of something witty and tasty, unfortunately I couldn’t think of anything appetizing enough! Lays had now made the contest a tradition, every year the flavors get wilder and wilder. With the success of the contest in the United States, Lays Canada also hold the same contest annual now.    

The “seed” of the lays campaign worked for sure! They wanted to and are able to get people talking about lay’s potato chips. Weather its what crazy flavors could people are thinking up, or have you tried so and so flavor. People are talking about lays. Which in return they would release the top three voted chips. Which you do by going to lays social media accounts or their website. This years top three finalists are: Everything Bagel with Cream Cheese, Crispy Taco, And Fried Green Tomato Chips. I personally voted for everything taco, because that sounds amazing! Also apparently they are already out to try, so I will have to check them out.

Here is a link to 2014′s finalists I chose to link this years list because I feel like mac & cheese should have beat out wasabi ginger, and was wondering if anyone else agreed. Ew! : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/16/lays-new-flavors_n_5592413.html 

Here is a link to lays Wikipedia page talking about the contest: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lay%27s

Here is a link talking about the 2017 flavors: http://www.refinery29.com/2017/07/164052/lays-do-us-a-flavor-finalists-2017

Here is a link to the do us a flavor official page: https://www.dousaflavor.com/