Web for Mass Communication Summer 2017

I had the awesome opportunity to watch a documentary called “WikiLeaks: We Steal Secrets” by Director Alex Gibney. 

The documentary itself breaks down just exactly what WikiLeaks is, who Julian Assange was, and who assisted him with where he is today. Overall, I felt like the documentary was very biased towards one side: against Assange, which I did not find fair. Therefore, for my project I broke down the pros and cons of such a power being in the hands of the people.

During this age, media makes it a requirement for freedom of information. The basis of the internet is free, open domain and so is our democracy. Therefore, it is important to the citizens of this world to demand information, regardless if its classified, and be given it. Although, this power may change the way the world works more than people realize.

After 9/11 President Bush began keeping “State secrets”, saying that the citizens only needed information on a need to know basis. WikiLeaks did not like this. WikiLeaks has released many different classified documents and videos. The most well known one is “Collateral Murder”, which is the video of an apache helicopter gunning down innocent Iraqi bystanders. In an attempt to cover up the incident, the government claimed that these innocent bystanders were threatening and attacking. When the video was released, this got the attention of many people because it showed that the government was attempting to cover things up. 

WikiLeaks has incredible potential as long as it is utilized in the correct manner, by the correct people. It cannot fall into the hands of just anyone and the information being published must be verified. I think this helps bring truth to the freedom of speech because it gives people an outlet to anonymously share information they could otherwise get in trouble for sharing.

If you’re actually asking yourself this question, you are more than likely interested in Mass Communication and I'm assuming you’re also a GCSU student. 

So what is it in the day of a life of a GC mass comm major? These are the top 5 things that mass comm majors encounter often:

1. Just consider the third floor of A&S your new home. You will get comfortable walking the three flights of stairs rather quickly. As you walk up the stairs, you are guaranteed to see at least one or two mass communication professors walking down the stairs (I typically run into Karlis or Schiffman). 

2. You will live in the mass comm computer lab. Don’t you dare forget that pin code because you’re gonna need it the last two years you’re here. This place is open a lot, even after hours. Mass communication students are put onto a special list to enter the building after hours in order to get to this editing lab. Its best if you work in the dark in the sound proof room, you get your best thinking and editing done in there.

3. Lugging around equipment is embarrassing and heavier than you think. You would assume a tripod and a camera bag were quite light, you would be wrong. Get your muscles ready because those bad boys are due back to Michael by noon the next day, unless you check it out for the weekend. 

4. The familiar old smell of Terrell Hall will become a requirement for you while visiting your professor’s office hours. As will the creaky stairs. 

5. The professors are absolutely stellar (and no I'm not trying to suck up, but if it’ll get me an A, English is my favorite). But honestly, I've never had an issue go unresolved or a problem not be answered within the day. They are here to support us, help us through this crazy thing called college, and really do care about our success. Also, most of them are super great connections within the business and they can give some real insight into what our future careers are going to look like! So take advantage of this!! 

Have I efficiently convinced you that mass comm is the best major ever? I might be a bit biased, but I don’t believe you can go wrong with it. It is where our future is heading. Technology advancements put us more forward every day and I'm excited to see where this major will bring me!  

For as much as I love Twitter, I really dropped the ball on this one. While trying to keep up with my social media accounts, work, and this class I had a difficult time balancing when I tweeted and what I tweeted.

I did learn more about my beloved app than I expected to though.

1. Twitter lists are kinda nifty. They are a great way to gain information from many accounts at once. You can easily apply profiles to the list and then sort through tweets from those accounts on one timeline. I did not know this existed before taking this class and I found them useful. I’m thinking of making one for my coworkers and I. 

What would you use a twitter list for?

2. Twitter is an extremely important platform for two way communication. Within this class, Central GA experienced the fugitives escaping. That news story was everywhere on my social media feeds, because I live here, but it also began appearing on everyones. Many people wrote in with tips and leads, trying to help the police find these guys, but most of them were not accurate. This led to misinformation being giving to the police. I was intrigued by the entire case, so I tweeted about it saying, “check this out, social media is making it hard for police to find these convicts due to fake tips. What do you think?” and a WMAZ journalist reached back out to me! He said, “I would agree. In the matter of a few hours last night, we received a lot of messages on FB about them being all over Georgia. Peoples immediate reaction is to share posts first, then ask if they’re credible. Needs to be reversed” and I agreed with him. People post willy nilly without putting thought into what they’re sharing and this is the dangerous territory. 

3. Which brings me to my final point. Be careful what you post on Twitter. People are always watching, even if you think they are not. It effects your personal brand, the brand you represent, and potentially could impact your future employment. Not only does this apply to personal accounts, but also businesses. Be careful what you post, ensure that it represents your brand and your mission statement. Respond to everyone on Twitter (NOT JUST THE BAD COMMENTS). 

Twitter is still and will always be one of my favorite apps. I really enjoyed being able to get a different perspective on it. I liked having to utilize it for business, rather than pleasure because it opened my eyes to the functions that twitter has that I'm hoping I can bring with me into my future endeavors.

Also, follow your girl on twitter: itsmegan_yo 

Are you bored in Milly all summer? Are you not sure what there is to do here? (because we all know, there isn’t much). I'm stuck here all summer too, so I feel your pain and I may be able to help.

For most of this summer, I've been given the pleasure of adventuring around town with my best friend, Amy, looking for things to do in Milledgeville. We have tried every new summer cocktail downtown, tried all the wings in town, and were planning to take a trip on the Milly trolley. But why did we do these things? Because she is currently writing for a blog about all things to do in Milly! Its a really awesome source when you’re looking for something to do on a nice day or get some advice on what’s popular in Milledgeville.

Not many Milledgevillians know this blog exists, because its housed on the VisitMilledgeville town website, which I did not even know Milledgeville had. If you scroll down thought you will eventually stumble upon it. The blog is called “MeetMilledgeville” and it houses information ranging from Andaluysia Farms, to trending summer styles, to how to have a stress free summer. 

The coolest part about this blog is the information is catered to our geographical area. The writers go to school here, they create the culture, and they have all the insider tips. They know where the best things are and what the most fun activities to do are. 

One of my personal favorite blogs that Amy wrote was “stress free summer” (and no, its not only because a picture of my legs and my dog made the screen lol). Amy delves into the different activities to do on a lazy, boring Milledgeville summer day. I have done all of these activities, some of them are tradition within the culture here. The one that I'm showcased in is for the dog park at the Greenway. But, my favorite one is ending at Bartram. It’s something most people forget about, but when the weather cools down in the evenings, its the perfect summer activity.

If you want to check out that post: https://www.visitmilledgeville.org/articles/post/stress-free-summer/

This is a great source to go to if you’re in the Milledgeville area bored, visiting for the weekend, or looking to get to know our state’s fourth capital! 

Do you have any suggestions that you did not see on the blog that you would like to add? 

Do you know what Hootsuite is? Watch the link below to get an inside view:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1l86Gw8dGo

This was not my first time using Hootsuite, but it was the most informative time. I had only previously dabbled in, but now I'm officially certified! 

The best function is the most obvious: the ability to control many different social media accounts from one source. With this function, it allows organizations to post to multiple accounts, across different platforms, at the same time. AND you can schedule these messages! Therefore, businesses no longer have to wait until “prime” posting time, they can schedule it to post at a certain time and on a certain date. This helps with organization of what is being posted, when its being posted, and it helps decrease the amount of stress on the poster. The only catch is with Instagram. With Instagram, you have to physically go into the app in order to post to your feed, so I feel if they adjusted that then Hootsuite would be nearly perfect. 

I think another important function is the analytics tab. You are able to create what social profile you want to create a report for and you can create it, seeing who views your page, where they are, how much feedback they received etc. This is more nifty than the analytics given within an app because it shows real time information and you can compare the account to the previous week, to show historical growth. 

 Campaigns is also a really neat feature. You are able to create a social media campaign with the touch of a button. That certainly would have made my strategic planning class easier when we made a plan for Adam’s Acres. A few examples of things you can choose from are “sweepstakes”, “sign up”, “Instagram gallery”. Sweepstakes is a user contest, sign up is used to gain more information about prospective customers, and Instagram gallery gives you the opportunity to create a gallery based on hashtags used. An example is the Grove. We frequently use the hashtag #GroveMilledgeville. Most people think we use it to continue to be annoying, but actually whatever pictures are posted within that link are showcased on our community rewards program.

Overall, Hootsuite is very informative. Although I got a short crash course, I am interested in going back and diving deep and getting hands on into some of these cool features. 

Gary Vee is quite an interesting fella. He was a Russian immigrant and moved here at the young age of 3. From there, he began working at his family’s wine business at the age of 14. He was absolutely garbage in school (which in his book he claims education does not have a direct correlation to ones success, because it clearly did not help him lol), but he created a personal brand and incredible business for himself. 

In Chapter 1, Gary talks about his 8 commandments that he lives by in his personal and professional life:

1. Bring value to the customer.

2. Provide 51% of the value in a relationship (where it’s employee, client, or stranger)

3. Always play the long game of lifetime value

4. Smart work will never replace hard work; it only supplements it

5. People are your most important commodity

6. Patience matters

7. Never be romantic about how you make your money

8. Try to put yourself out of business daily.

He evaluates everything into two categories: clouds and dirt. The clouds are these commandments, the philosophy and beliefs at the heart of a family or a business. The dirt is about being a practitioner and working towards the clouds. Gary says, “if you religiously follow just the few core business philosophies that mean the most to you, and spend all your time there, everything else will naturally fall into place.” That’s it, sounds so simple, right? Its not, it takes work. It takes a person knowing they’re craft, being passionate about what they do, and wanting to succeed and thats just the start.

If you could ask Gary Vee anything, what would it be? I’m actually interested to know, but you can also get an actual answer from his website: http://ask.garyvaynerchuk.com

In Chapter 2, Gary stresses the importance of how the name of a start up business does not entirely mean its success, and the same within business. The business itself must stand out and disrupt the category, not the name. He also mentions how it is more beneficial to speak to the already converted, rather than attempting to convert people. For example, you would not call a company you know does not believe in fax machines, trying to sell faxes. You would call the business you know needs faxes. Same for the Grove, we would rather “sell” our property to people who have already lived here and “bought” our product before, its easier than getting a new person in the door. 

Therefore, success in Gary Vee’s eyes are: well balanced blind luck + DNA + confidence + hustle. What do you think it takes to succeed? 

That is a question you can most certainly answer just by opening up your Snapchat app! Snapchat just released an update for the application that allows friends to see where you are, allows you to post snaps from your geographical location, and allows you to view snaps from large events all across the world. They’re calling it SnapMap, and boy is it a mass comm majors heaven!!

Snapchat is going to change the way people communicate with this. Users will be able to view where their friends are, what they are doing, and go and join them! This brings digital relationships into physical life, which is something we all know this generation needs a little of. 

It also gives public awareness to events going on! This is a great feature for FREE PUBLICITY, yup you read that right, free publicity. If people see your event or post from your event, people from across the world can watch. I think thats incredible. Early today I was watching snapchats from the London Eye and the Eiffel Tower. 

The one downfall is you have to wait for users to post these snapchats in these locations, but I feel once this update catches on, their won’t be an issue with a limited amount of posts. 

This update is forming Snapchat into a digital community, where everyone is connected to one another. I feel as though they may be taking a Groundswell approach to this by integrating an online public communication system, they will definitely be collecting many analytics from users and using that data to further update their app. Snapchat has already come so far and I am so excited to see where else it leads!

Check out Snapchats official release video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvl82FfnUvw

Do you like this update? Have you even downloaded it yet? If not, I would definitely give it a try. You have the ability to either choose to allow everyone, your friends, or no one see your location. So if you’re concerned with privacy, you can still check it out! 

@web4masscommmeg

In my Web for Mass Communication course, our second book of our short semester is “Groundswell” written by Charlene Li and John Bernoff. The groundswell is defined as: a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than the traditional institutions like corporations. Examples of this would be how people review purchased items for others to read, so the next person can educatedly decide to buy it or not. 

Throughout the book, case studies and examples are used to allow the reader to better understand the tough concepts, which I really enjoyed.

The first portion of the book is introducing the reader to what exactly the Groundswell is, how people participate, etc. My favorite example from these chapters was the adult fans of legos (AFOLs). Legos are typically marketed towards children and the parents of children, but their is 5-10% of companies sales that go to AFOLs. This causes the AFOLs to participate in online lego forums. With this example, Bernoff and Li found three different types of participants. 1. creating. 2. reacting. and 3. reading. Each of these different participants still add to the groundswell and continue to make it grow. 

So far the best part of this book are chapters 4-7. Within these chapters, Li and Bernoff give really good advice on how to tap into the Groundswell. They begin by saying that most companies know where they want their company to go, but they do not know what to do to achieve that. They focus on the tools they have, rather than the main objective and smaller goals to get there. They also dabble in how listening to what the key public wants is a very important part about reaching your objectives. At the end of the day, customers are the one’s who create the brand. My first example of the product reviews is also an example of this. Another example touched on in the book is about blenders and how one guy decided to blend many crazy things in this blender, to see if it would hold up and posted those videos online, this caused people to want to buy this blender more since they saw such great reviews of it. I found a funny Youtube video of Groundswell author, Josh Bernoff, actually participating in “Will it Blend”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps5_Y5RZeg4

Overall, I think this book has potential. It is a theory that I am struggling to grasp and that I never thought of, so I'm excited to learn more from this book.

Twitter, everybody knows about it, everyone has a different opinion on it, but have you ever actually thought about what inspired Twitter or how useful of a tool it can become? I’m sure, much like myself, you’ve focused on Twitter for funny memes, keeping up with friends, and subtweeting about exboyfriends, so i’m here to enlighten you on what exactly Twitter is.

Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. These gentleman worked for a podcasting company, Odeo, and spent a day brainstorming for what we now know as Twitter. Twitter is considered a hub for fast, efficient, breaking online news. As most people know, you are alloted only 140 characters, but that typically is a good thing, because no one wants to be reading novels. 

Check out this video for an overview of how exactly Twitter works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvFCBxm-mX

Not only does Twitter give people a platform for communication, it also has many useful features. They offer a “connect” tab, where you are able to find people that you may know or that may fit within your interests that you can follow. 

My personal favorite feature of Twitter is the “trends for you” tab. Its underneath the search bar and it gives you Twitter trending topics that may be interesting to you. That way you can see what breaking news stories are popular, without actually having to search for them. 

Along with this is also Twitter’s “today moments”, which give you an overview of different tweets from a variety of accounts, news sources, videos, etc. about a current breaking story. Its my favorite way to find my news. This tool is also very nifty for companies attempting to gain more social media traction, they can utilize trending topics to see where the conversation is at, then add on to it.

Now, you may be asking, how can Twitter help us in the mass communication industry? I found this super nifty site that states about nine reasons why Twitter is our best friend.

https://www.postplanner.com/blog/9-twitter-features/

Some that I felt were most important were:

1. Pin a Tweet permanantly. Twitter gives a user the ability to pin a tweet to the top of the page. This is a great feature because companies are able to pin a popular tweet or an important tweet to the top of their page, so more people see it. 

Have you ever utilized this feature before? I know I have when I think I’ve said something funny.

2. Twitter’s Advanced Search. This gives a user the ability to track who mentions you, find tweets based on location, phrases used, hashtags, languages that it is written in, and date that it was tweeted. This is definitely a useful tool to see where your key public is and to keep up with conversations.

3. Twitter analytics. This was not from the post planner list, but its a very useful tool. By signing on to Twitter on a desktop, users have the ability to see who views their page, how many views, how many people interacted with a tweet, and where they are located. Companies can utlize this to see how well their Twitter is doing and what changes they can make in order to reach more people.

Overall, Twitter is a very useful tool in the mass communication field for breaking news, keeping up with publics, make personal connections with consumers/fans, and guiding the conversation.

Here is some parting advice for the mass communication student living in the Twittersphere: https://www.poynter.org/2012/what-every-young-journalist-should-know-about-using-twitter/188408/

Who knew that I would ever enjoy reading a text book... I certainly did not. But, Erik Qualman surprised me by capturing my attention with his witty humor, interesting facts, and relatable information in Socialnomics. 

This book really does have some great tips on how to utilize social media to your benefit. My three biggest take aways from this book were:

1. Social media CAN be a good thing and it is not going anywhere any time soon. I say CAN because if it is utilized correctly it is beneficial, but it is very easy to abuse the power of instant communication. For example, social media is actually doing more harm than good to find the GA Putnam County fugitives. People are sharing posts that are inaccurate, causing others to believe them to be true and creating mass confusion and panic about what is right. It is also making it difficult for the police to get ahold of legit leads, rather than fake ones posted by just any body on social media. 

2. If you want more followers, its all about personal branding and responding, responding, responding. Your job is to listen to what your followers say/want and communicate with them. Social media platforms such as Twitter make it much easier and faster for responses between business and customer. The better relationship you form with your followers, the more likely they are to turn into customers.

3. I have been using social media since 2006 and I am still alive to tell the tale. *queue Harry Potter flash back of Mcgonagall yelling at Hermoine, Harry, and Ron when they destroyed the awesome troll in Sorcerers Stone* 

Social media is important. It globalizes our community. It makes us connected in ways that it has never been connected before. We are 24/7 in tune with one another with the simple tap of a finger. Anything that you do will be found and anything you say will be seen. It helps us save time, gives us endless entertainment, and brings us real time news. Remember, never post something you wouldn’t want your mother or grandmother to see. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this textbook. That may be because I'm a total social media nerd though. These are my top three takeaways, does anyone else have anything else they found more important than what I did? I’d be interested in seeing how different people interpret different things. I also wonder if our opinions of the book depend on our prior opinion of social media (whether an avid user or the opposite). What do you think? 

Also, if you want to check out some of his advice without picking up the book, check out this link! 

http://socialnomics.net/category/social-media/

Caught your attention, didn’t I? That’s because we are all in our twenties and can relate to the title. I find that one of the best ways to get people to actually stop and read a blog post of yours is to focus on appealing to your key public and posting content that is simple and user friend. A person who hones in on that skill is Amanda, the brains behind the blog “Advice from a Twenty Something.”

This blog is full of posts revolving around anything from wellness, beauty, love, jobs, etc. The first thing that I noticed about this blog site was how simple the layout and color scheme were. It was user friendly, easy to move around, and had every post neatly categorized. 

The first post I checked out was “10 things to do less of in 2017″, I’m cheesy I like the self improvement blogs (ladies, are ya with me out there?). The content of the post was straight forward, “stop putting yourself down”. “don’t ignore anxiety”, “don’t compare yourself to others”, generic make-you-feel-empowered type of advice. And I did feel empowered. She made it seem as if I really could stop doing these in 2017 (update: I haven't, i’m only human) but I can still try and she put into words things that I know that I need to work on that I didn’t necessarily have the words to describe. That’s how I found most of her posts to be. I linked the post below, what do you think about it? Did you feel like these were accomplishable? 

http://advicefromatwentysomething.com/10-things-to-do-less-of-in-2017/

I think a blog focusing on the crazy, confusing, every changing life that twenty something year olds have. It is a great place to get advice on fashion, DIY projects, cleaning supplies, how to score a job, how to be a good human, it appears to be a wonderful resource for someone trying to figure this crazy thing called life out and I think that is what called to me about it. Everyone wants a self help book on how to get through life and this is the closest thing I've found so far, besides calling my mom of course. 

Have you found any other resource to get through life? Any different blogs or media entrepueners? 

Social media, its something our generation uses every single day without even realizing it. But, what exactly is social media? According to LifeWire, social media is two separate words conjoined together in order to create a whole new meaning. “The “social” part refers to interacting with other people by sharing information with them and receiving information from them”. That simply means socializing with the peers that are within your social circle. The second word “media” refers to “an instrument of communication, like the internet.” Therefore, with both of those words together it creates the definition for social media being a place where you can share and gain information with others on a web-based communication platform. 

You can check out more on that definition by following this link:

https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-social-media-explaining-the-big-trend-3486616

Social media is explained very well in the book called “Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business” by Erik Qualman. Within the first few chapters, Qualman does a very good job of introducing us to how people communicate via online tools. He begins by explaining what “World of Mouth” is, meaning one person advocates for a certain product by telling a peer, this in turn leads for that peer to tell another person and so on and so forth. Although, this could create misinformation due to people either A. not knowing the first individual and not trusting their opinion or B. getting misinformation about the product. The one good thing that social media helps us with is “less likely to be misunderstood or diluted over time”.

Social media is very important in physical reality, not even just virtually. I mean this in the sense that the life you live offline is what is represented on your social media, which could make or break a job opportunity or a scholarship opportunity or things like that, just with one simple post. It’s crazy to think that a virtual platform holds such importance in our lives. Not only does it give business control over our lives, we also control businesses. Anyone can post a review over a restaurant and any time another person searches for this business, they will see that review. Therefore, if one bad experience occurs, it could tinge the way others who are googling for the business see it.