Location based social media platforms

When I first realized there were location based social networks, I honestly thought it was a little bit creepy and really hinders your privacy. You can “check in” on different platforms such as Facebook and Instagram but of course that's only if you want to. That is one reason why I really like Facebook and Instagram, its not like people can constantly stalk you and find out where you are, unless you actually give the information out. It is basically an extra feature if you choose to use it and “check in”. On that note, if you are someone that likes privacy and does not like to tell the world where you’re at all the time then the App Foursquare is not for you. The entire app is based around your location which many people have no problem with but I am not a fan of.

Until May 2014, if you had a foursquare profile anyone could see where you were if you were nearby but they recently removed the “check in” and location sharing feature entirely. Now, they focus on personal local recommendations. If you want to find out the best place to eat in your area, you can find reviews of a certain restaurant and base your decision on others comments about it. Now there is a separate app that foursquare created called Swarm that is strictly for location sharing. This basically just split the foursquare app in half and changed the whole design. The overall consensus of the creation of two separate apps is that people are really upset, one of the quotes i saw said: "This will be studied years from now as a textbook example of how to ruin a prominent brand."

I don’t have a foursquare or swarm profile and don’t ever plan on getting one, but the people that were daily active users are not happy about the change and understandably so. It reminds me of the very recent change to Snapchat. You can no longer see your friends’ top friends which people are not happy about. I think if you have something good and successful, why change it?

Location based platforms can have many benefits such as getting real time location based information which is trending right now.  Though, it may also have down sides such as privacy issues and what is known as “check in” stress which is pretty self explanatory. It just depends on your personal preference when it comes to social media platforms. CHOOSE WISELY!

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/06/this-is-the-new-foursquare/

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/business-career/communication/what-are-location-based-social-networks

http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-strategy/why-location-based-monitoring-is-critical-to-your-social-media-listening-program/

Pizza Delivery Guy

I first want to link out to these two articles so you can understand my frustration when watching this video involving a pizza delivery man and a car dealership in Westport.  

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/15/us/car-dealership-pizza-guy/

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/01/westport_car_dealership_worker.html

First of all, money is what makes the world go around. If you don’t tip the people that serve you in any way, there is a problem. It is a respectful thing to do and important that people realize the power of a tip and how much some people rely on that money.

The first thing I thought about after watching the pizza delivery man video is how absolutely ridiculous it is. Where have people’s manners gone now-a-days? It is upsetting to watch this video and it is less than two minutes long! The car dealership workers were utterly in the wrong. Yes, the pizza delivery guy (Jarrid Tansey) should have made sure that the car dealership did not want cash back but that is hardly the focus of the entire backlash this video has received. The articles I read said that the car dealerships intention was to embarrass the pizza delivery man. The dealership posted the security video hoping it would make Tansey look bad but it ended up really hurting their business.

The main point I take out of this video is the power of social media. This short clip became an overnight hit and not for a good reason. The language and disrespect towards the delivery man is sickening to watch. It is amazing to me how mature and civilized Tansey acts during this whole encounter. He spoke in a calm matter and tried discussing the situation with the dealership in the best way possible. Tansey leaving the dealership the way that he did speaks volumes about his character.

      http://www.gofundme.com/xx9js

Please click on the link above and donate to Jarrid Tansey. He was just doing his job and to get verbally attacked by three or four people in the dealership office was not called for. The conversation should have stayed between Tansey and the man that gave him the money. The women’s comment about what she was going to do to Jarrid Tansey if he didn’t get out of the office is so pathetic. Also, everyone in the office laughing about the whole situation after he left is the most disturbing part. I believe the three workers in the office showed no class. They are all grown adults and it is about time that they act like it.

As you can see if you click on the link above, most of the donations are around 7 dollars, to give back for the 7 dollar tip he did not receive from the dealership. Even after the whole situation was over Jarrid Tansey was quoted saying:

"I hold no grudges and I project no negativity towards anybody including F & R. I believe in karma. I just want to stay humble through all this because that's how a human should act day to day. I'm glad that - a lot of times bad news travels fast. In this case it seems like good news is traveling faster than the bad news."

It is unfortunate that cases like this have to happen in the world but in a way it has almost brought the internet together to support Jarrid. The “internet community” has supported Tansey by raising almost 32,000 dollars for this man and has nearly destroyed the F & R car dealership business. People were spamming the company’s pages with negative comments and giving horrible reviews about the customer service.  The article above mentions how F & R even had to get police involved to stop some of the comments. They put themselves in a horrible situation and at least now they learned their lesson. I guess some people just have to learn the hard way. 

It is a sad reality that something like this has to happen and a video has to go viral in order for people to conduct themselves in a smarter manner. I can almost guarantee that had this video not gone viral no one would apologize for what transpired. The car dealership is just trying to save its horrible image.

The internet is such a powerful tool and can really change people’s lives. This is just one of the many cases in which people can come together and have organizational communication on the World Wide Web.

Social Media Platforms

I believe it’s quite obvious that Facebook is the most popular social media site but I was very curious to see how other platforms compare. One of the articles I read gave statistics regarding the number of world wide users on social media sites. This article was written in 2014 so the numbers are lower then the present day stats but it gives you a good idea of the difference in the amount of users. Facebook had a social media presence of 1.3 BILLION people that are monthly active users! Keep in mind the next two sites after Facebook are Google+ and Twitter with a combine total of 795 MILLION.

 Facebook is over 10 years old and is still leading the pack. How and why has Facebook been able to stay so successful you might ask? Well, there are a lot of reasons in which my second article outlines pretty clearly. I think the most important plus when it comes to Facebook is how easy it is to use. People of any age, anywhere around the world can use it without much difficulty. It is very simple to find other people and connect with them in a matter of seconds. The fact that Facebook is so big makes it easy for people to get their message across and have a vast viewing audience. Another plus is that Facebook is not limited to 140 characters like you are with Twitter, and it has a simple design unlike (the now dead) Myspace. Not over complicating social media sites is imperative if you want to reach a wide audience.

 

I have had Facebook since 2009 and have never been confused while on the site, however I can’t say the same thing about Twitter. I just signed up for Twitter a few weeks ago and I have had countless questions already. You can re-tweet and favorite and tweet? Why make it that complicated? I would consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to different social media sites. If I get confused by Twitter there is no doubt that older generations who didn't grow up in the technology era will also be confused. When it comes down to it, people use social media to connect with others in some way. Why not make it simple and easy to work? You will gain a greater number of users not only of different ages but also an increase of worldwide profiles.

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/126998-10-reasons-why-facebook-has-lasted-10-years

http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/social-media-statistics-2014/499230

Articles vs. Blogging

When i was growing up i did not understand why people wanted to have a blog. I did not understand what was so special about it or what the difference was between writing a regular article online and blogging. A lot of my friends were doing it in college and they would get a lot of feedback from random people about their blog posts. They all really enjoyed writing it so I knew there was something special about it. I decided I wanted to do some research and look at the specific differences between blogging and writing online articles. Also, I wanted to look into the pros and cons of blogging. This is relatively new to me so any extra information I can get about blogging sure does help.

Posting articles online is a good way to get information out, but it is more like a one way street. You don’t get as much feedback and social interaction as you would if you were writing things on your blog. If you want people to be interested and engaged with your writing I would go the blogging route. However, if you are just looking to get massive amounts of page views and circulation then writing article is the best for you. I am not saying one is better than the other but depending on the type of person you are and what you want to accomplish with your writing, it might be better to use a certain platform.

A vast majority of the people I talk to love to use their blogs, but others down right despise it and only use it for a short period of time.

 I wanted to look into the pros and cons of blogging. Some of the pros are: 1). It is easy! Who wouldn't want to create one?! It takes a matter of minutes! Also, the outreach is incredible and it can bring certain communities together! Talking about similar interests is something that everyone wants to be a part of. Some of the cons that have been said are: you need to regularly update it, and honesty can be hard and get you into trouble on your blog posts. You have to decide for yourself if you have the drive and ambition to keep up with your blogging. 

I understand both sides to this argument but I believe it would behoove people to get a blog and take it seriously.

http://www.elledecor.com/shopping/shop-talk/the-pros-cons-of-blogging-a-70424

http://kevin.lexblog.com/2014/01/16/do-not-confuse-writing-an-article-with-blogging/ 

                        

Social Media change

 Social media has had a huge impact on communication and will continue to change the way people communicate in the future. There is a much quicker spread of information not only domestically but also globally. Globalization would not be possible without the use of the world wide web or the various social media platforms available. Let us consider the news surrounding ISIS, or from a domestic standpoint, the Ferguson trial. Twitter feeds blew up during this period with hastags talking about the news surrounding these very important events. I very rarely watch TV or the news so I get the majority of my information from networking sites. I learned everything about ISIS and Ferguson strictly from my social media sites. The news articles that appear on Facebook and Twitter are quick and to the point which is exactly what all college students need. Not only does news spread faster across the world because space and time aren't an issue, but now news is available right at your fingertips. You can "Google" anything you want now-a-days and get the answers you are looking for in a matter of minutes. I would say social media has made every day life more convenient. You can meet up with old acquaintances via social media or even collaborate with people and groups using Facebook.
 Though there are many positives that come from increasing amounts of social media sites, there are also many negatives. People are having a much harder time with face to face or voice to voice communication. We would rather send an email or text message to someone then call them on the phone or meet up with them in person. Social cues and communication skills are dwindling just from the lack of practice. People (including myself) are also becoming less formal with how we communicate. When i was growing up i had a "Pen Pal" that i would write letters to and i really enjoyed it. Now-a-days people just communicate on social media platforms. Call me old fashion but i would rather go back to a time when things were a little bit more formal. People built stronger connections with others because they had to see them in person if they wanted to talk to them. Also, our use of library books has significantly decreased. No one wants to spend hours looking for a certain book when you could type it into the internet and get a quick answer. It is a sad thing to think about that books will slowly start to disappear even more. There are both up sides and down sides to social media becoming such an integral part of our lives but i think no matter what, social media will only keep expanding and we will become even more dependent on it.