Blogageddon 2015

Cats have long been the subject of memes. The reason why has never been suitably explained, but who cares? Cats are cute. This blog post is basically an excuse to post some of my favorite cat memes because cats are awesome. I really don’t feel the need to explain myself with this post. Maybe marketers can utilize cats in marketing campaigns or something (Friskies did it; below)... 

So, Cats:

Keyboard Cat

Longcat

Grumpycat getting monetized on Facebook (Relevance!)

Ceiling Cat

Hipster Kitty

Standing Cat

...and Your Moment of Zen

Anyone with a Twitter or Instagram has probably encountered a hashtag at some point. Hashtags, a pound sign (#) followed by a topic are used on social media sites to group related posts into topical feeds.

#20DayOfDallas will make U feel a lot of different emotions #VeganOnions will definitely make U feel grossed out 😂 https://t.co/yPsr1xK2hK

— #20DaysOfDallas (@camerondallas)

April 11, 2015

Many internet users probably did not encounter hashtags until using social media, but, contrary to popular belief, hashtags did not begin with Twitter. Hashtags were first used in the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to categorize related items in the 1990s. It was not until 2007 that hashtags were used on Twitter. Chris Messina, a microblogger, is said to be the first Twitter user to use hashtags.

how do you feel about using # (pound) for groups. As in #barcamp [msg]?

— Chris Messina® (@chrismessina)

August 23, 2007

Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, and other social media platforms adopted the hashtag as a way to cross-reference posts about the same subject matter soon after Twitter. Since, the hashtag has evolved into a powerful marketing tool. Hashtags are important to marketers for two primary reasons: they segment relevant posts via a cross-referencing query, and hashtags can be used to promote brand awareness and loyalty. Say that I clicked on the hashtag “#MyDreamIn5Words” on Twitter, which is currently trending. Relevant posts using this hashtag would populate my feed, segmenting the feed into what I (the user) wanted to read. Marketers can then capitalize on these trends by segmenting their audience, and thereby promoting their brands via a currently trending hashtag.

#MyDreamIn5Words Meet the Trailer Park Boys pic.twitter.com/bBENl2fRpr

— Trailer Park Boys (@TPBReactions)

February 18, 2015

Another way for marketers to seize upon the hashtag to segment their social media presence into an even more targeted way is to start their own hashtag campaign. In 2013, Nike used

Four downs. Four quarters. For everything. #makeitcount

— Nike (@Nike)

January 8, 2013

According to Social Media Today, “recent changes to U.S. law, enacted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), make it clear that bloggers and marketers must “clearly and conspicuously” explain issues of payment or endorsement.” Stealthily marketing a product or service while acting as if you are simply participating in online discussion is not only unethical, but now illegal. Marketers must be more transparent, disclose who they are, and what they want. 

It may sound like these sort of practices are more applicable to scams, rather than legitimate companies, but scammers aren’t the only ones taking advantage of not disclosing their relationships with their employers. Even with legitimate companies, a grey area exists with their marketing activities online.

Last week, a controversial image of a dress hit the Internet via Tumblr. No, the dress wasn’t controversial because it was risqué—people simply couldn’t agree on what color it was.

http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112073818575/guys-please-help-me-is-this-dress-white-and

Some people argued the dress was gold and white; others argued that the dress was actually black and blue. The subsequent arguments ended lifelong friendships, ended marriages, and made parents disown their small children. Initially, no one had any answer for how the same photo of the same dress could be perceived as being such dramatically different colors. Some suggested the differing perception was related to one’s emotional state, but this seemed like pseudo science. Others claimed that the whole thing was a hoax involving doctored images. Finally, some claimed that the illuminati “conducted this whole dress situation to replace Obama with a lizard without being noticed.”

THE ILLUMINATI CONDUCTED THIS WHOLE DRESS SITUATION TO REPLACE OBAMA WITH A LIZARD WITHOUT BEING NOTICED #whiteandgold

— STOP THE ILLUMINATI (@Illuminati_Stop)

February 27, 2015

In the past decade, the landscape of college football has changed drastically. In the past season, the NCAA has shifted away from the Bowl Championship format to a four-team play-off system, which saw Ohio State University get crowned as the national champion. Ranked fourth entering the playoff, Ohio State would not have even been afforded the opportunity to vie for a championship under the Bowl Championship format. While the four-team playoff is a drastic change to the college football landscape, the biggest change to college football over the past decade did not take place on the field or with a rules change—the biggest change to college football was the use of social media as a means of college football coaches, fans and players to interact; however, the biggest impact may be on the next generation of college football players: high school recruits. Like any other teenager, high school football players use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to communicate with friends. With strict rules NCAA rules about phone calls, text messages, and in-person interactions, coaches have increasingly turned to social media to communicate with prospective players; however, coaches are not the only ones turning to social media to interact with these prospects. Fans of certain college football teams often interact with high school players that are considering playing for their favorite college team. Most of the interactions between fans of certain college teams and high school athletes are positive, but the impact of social media—especially Twitter, can also be negative. In fact, sometimes interactions between fans and prospective athletes can make or break a high school athlete’s decision of where to attend college.

Fans can keep on thinking they're words don't hurt in recruiting if they want to. Statement from Ohio St signees mom pic.twitter.com/7AiTXt8bAW

— Chad Wilson (@GridironStuds) February 7, 2015

High School All-American running back Michael Weber’s mother reacts to negative tweets he received from fans of the University of Michigan. Consider the case of high school All-American Michael Weber. Weber was one of the top high school football players in the nation this past year. Weber, Detroit, Michigan native, originally planned on playing college football locally at the University of Michigan; however, he chose to reevaluate his decision when the University of Michigan’s head coach was fired after a lackluster season. Weber, a 17 year old, announced he was considering playing at another university via Twitter, and was met with a backlash from the local community.

@mikeweber25 we don't need yo Ass

— SuperBowl Bound (@jordanturne53) November 22, 2014

@mikeweber25 We don't want you at UM anyway - probably couldn't hack the academics anyway. You definitely aren't a Michigan Man

— Joe Thomas (@bazookajoet) November 22, 2014