Brooke's Blog

[brookeliss]

Week 14 Blog Post

Developing content for businesses is very important. The main importance is to have a plan for posts. Without a plan of action it is hard to keep up with what needs to be done. A good way to attack this is to create a content calendar. A content calendar can be created the week before the actual posts need to be posted. This will provide a timeline for a business to follow. The timeline allows posts to be posted at prime times where most people are using social media and where the posts will get the most traction from followers. Without this timeline of when to post on social media it can be easy to fall behind and post when followers are not looking. The timing of posts is also very important. For example if you post something on a Friday night it is very likely that not many people will be on social media at that time. A content calendar will help prevent this as it will be a guideline to follow for a business. This will also allow content and posts to be developed in advance so when the time comes all businesses have to do is click post. 

Organizations must follow these principles of planning content. This will provide optimal posts to be highly valued by customers. Without following the principles of content strategy, organizations could fall behind and lack engagement on posts. The idea of content calendars will allow organizations to stay on track of timing of posts and stay up to date with quality posts. Posts are not always about quantity but about quality. Following the content strategy principles will allow organizations to get the most out of their social media. Social media engagement will go up when an organization is on a good posting schedule.

[brookeliss]

Week 11 Blog Post

The Social Organization outlines what principles are needed and followed by businesses in terms of social media and strategies. Companies can use these different principles in order to develop their goals and to target their audience and keep engagement going throughout their social medias in the ways they want to. 

The first set of principles I will talk about is The “Six F” model of attitudes toward social media. These six F’s are important to understand because identifying each can help a business grow their social media and appeal to their audience. The six attitudes are folly, fearful, flippant, formulating, forging, and fusing. Each attitude is a little bit different but understanding the variation between the different attitudes can help identify a company’s need. Folly people consider social media as a source of entertainment with no business value. Fearful people see social media as a threat to productivity. Flippant attitude doesn’t take social media seriously. Formulating people recognizes the value of community collaboration and the need to be more organized. Forging people are beginning to use productive collaboration in their daily work lives. Lastly, fusing people treat community collaboration as a very important part of their work. Each organization can have one of these attitudes and identifying them can help an organization see what they need to do in order to improve their social media. 

The Property Biz, a residential redevelopment business, is in the formulating attitude of the “Six F” model. This is because they have some social media but have not made it a priority or kept up with the business on social media. They recognize its importance but need to desire time to establishing that online presence with customers and creating that collaborative environment. 

In organizations there are always many purposes but it is hard to decide which of those purposes and goals to pursue. The “No, Go, Grow” model allows a way to determine if and how a collaboration effort can move forward. The first stage is the No Stage. This is the first hurdle and the key questions are “Is there a clear and desirable purpose for the community?” and “ Is mass collaboration appropriate for the purpose and the community?” Once a company decides on a purpose they can decide the next steps to take. The next stage is the Go Stage. This is based on whether a potential collaborative community will be able to take on its own effort with minimal support. If they start the effort and it works then the company gives it a Go and continues to support a collaborative effort. The next stage is the Grow Stage. This is the stage where those efforts are continued and organizations try to continue to create a collaborative environment and pursue that specific environment. This is an important decision because this can take up a lot of an organization's time. 

These principles are important in helping many different businesses. Considering this model, The Property Biz (a residential redevelopment business), is in the Go Stage. This is because there is the identification of what type of collaborative environment suites the company but more of a need to pursue that purpose. This would be seen in developing the social media more and onto different platforms. 

Source: Anthony J. Bradley, Mark P. McDonald, “The Social Organization”

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The Legal Side of Big Data

The presentation “The Legal Side of Big Data” by Doug LaLone brought up a lot of good points in relation to Big Data. When it comes to businesses a lot of customers information is stored and potentially tracked. It is important for businesses to make sure that this information is secure so that the customers information cannot be taken. This is huge in terms of credit card information as personal information from customers cannot be easily accessible to just anyone. Businesses should be informative to customers by sending out notices immediately if there is a data hack and customers’ information is exposed. Overall, businesses need to prepare for the worst and prevent those risks before a hacking happens. 

Consumers also need to be aware. They need to be aware of what they are putting into different systems. It is also important for consumers to keep track of where they are putting their information and name so you can track if a company’s data gets exposed or lost. Consumers should be aware of where they are putting their information and prepare for the potential risks. 

The best way to balance is to prepare. Businesses need to prevent the risks before they happen because once a breach happens it is very hard to fix. It is important to put in security to prevent hackers from breaching companies security and gaining customer information. Treat the information as something very valuable because there are ways that hackers can find their way with different strategies. I also think there needs to be regulations on big data when a transfer or purchase of a company happens. Overall, it is very important for every one to stay away of the information being transferred. 

Presentation:

“The Legal Side of Big Data” by Doug LaLone

https://chipcast.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=4fe95594-73e5-4b1a-8a3c-83896b88b6d9

[brookeliss]

Junk News - Week 8

This week I read the article titled Three reasons junk news spreads so quickly, written by Philip Howard and Samantha Bradshaw. The article gives an in depth description on how algorithms, advertising, and exposure are able to spread junk news and the ways in which our social media profiles interact with it. 

The first reason describes algorithms. In short algorithms provide a certain level of content and helps determine where and who this news is delivered. This way the algorithms are used to target user engagement. For example, algorithms help us find the information that we are looking for. When you search something in google the most popular pages pop up. Even though there are thousands and thousands of websites that also popped up you are going to pick the ones at the top because they are the easiest to access and get the information that you need. 

The second reason is advertising. Companies are often collecting data on users in order to target them. This is widely used for advertising. Often ads pop up that are related to what we are interested in or looking for. Advertising has the goal of getting consumers engaged by attracting them through ads that appeal to consumers. I often have ads pop up on my social media that relates to the shopping I had done the previous day. As soon as I visit a companies website once, their ads pop up on my Facebook in order to bring me back to their website. 

The third reason that junk news spreads so quickly is based on exposure. Exposure deals with the fact that people will choose what they want to see and will leave what they do not want to see. This leads to a bad balance of news that people are seeing. This limits points of view and opinions that are valid in news especially elections. Exposure is going to cause consumers to see what they believe in and leave what they do not. This can cause closed minded individuals to stay closed minded. 

Overall it is important for businesses and people to know what is happening. This means that if you see something on that might not be what you are used to then take a look at it and see if there is something you might be able to learn from it. It also means to keep an open mind and check your facts as some of the news that pops up on your feed might not necessarily be true. The junk news is targeted at individuals but it is our job to make sure that the truth is what is being shown.

Article: https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/blog/three-reasons-junk-news-spreads-so-quickly-across-social-media/

Authors: Philip Howard and Samantha Bradshaw. 

[brookeliss]

Social Media Consulting

Social media consulting can require a few different qualities in order to get the greatest social media benefit for a company. I think it is important to have really good communication. This is key because most people have very busy schedules and it might be hard to line those schedules up. It makes it important to make good use of your time, ask all the questions you need to, and listen very quickly. This will prevent the number of meetings required. It is also important to be creative and observant. These kind of qualities will allow a social media consultant to quickly adapt to a different company and identify the type of help they need. With different companies comes different target markets and different images to uphold. Identifying these two characteristics of a company and working with them to develop a social media presence is very important and can help speed up the process while creating quality social media content. 

I personally believe that my professional social media presence is not very good. The social media I immediately think of when thinking professional is LinkedIn. Before my internship this past summer I had very little on my profile and barely ever used the app. All I really had was my profile and not very many connections. This summer I met a lot of people at my internship and was able to gain a lot of connections. I do not think I need to post on LinkedIn but it would be a great tool to develop more connections. In the future, I would like to connect with more people that I meet so I can keep in touch with them. I think doing this will help develop my profile and can help show my knowledge professionally as well as provide more opportunities for jobs in the future. 

[brookeliss]

Surveillance and Data Gathering

After reading the article The Internet’s Original Sin by Ethan Zuckerman and watching The Internet With a Human Face by Maciej Ceglowski it really opened my mind up to how internet business models influence surveillance and data gathering on the internet. 

In Ethan Zuckerman’s article he explains his time working for Tripod.com and often related to how Facebook designs their business model. He focuses on how business models for businesses on the internet are mainly focused on advertising. Advertising is how the free websites and apps make their money because they are providing the service of the website to customers/users for free. In order to advertising companies want their ads to be targeted to the correct people. This is why data gathering has become such a large part of our lives without anyone really even knowing it. After Tripod.com tried a number of different business models they found out that this was the best way to generate enough revenue. In order for business to want to advertise on your website it is important to show the value that your website has. This includes things like daily use, amount of interaction, and of course the data that the website gets from their users. Although, websites may have good intentions it shows that the data gathering still might be violating the consumers privacy. 

In Maciej Ceglowski’s talk he talks about how big data is collected and used by advertisement for companies. He relates advertisement to investor’s story time. He describes investor story time as when someone pays you to tell them how rich they’ll get when you finally put ads on your website. He talks about how this is the business model for most company’s that are solely based on the internet. He also talks about how there is no agreement between a user and a website that says what information of yours might be being tracked. At the end of his talk he gives a few ideas of where to start. Some of the main ideas he stated are to limit the data that can be stored, limit how long the data is kept, and limit what can be shared. He gave a lot more examples of where to start but I think all of these would be great places to start so consumers can stop falling into the trap of the internets business models.

Sources:

Maciej Ceglowski - The Internet With a Human Face https://vimeo.com/102717446

Ethan Zuckerman - The Internet’s Original Sin https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/advertising-is-the-internets-original-sin/376041/ 

[brookeliss]

Big Data and Privacy

Before watching the social dilemma there was a lot that I had not realized. There is lot that happens behind the scenes when it comes to Big Data. Big data keeps track of everything you do. This is such a powerful tool because organizations can use this information to better their business and target people. Although, businesses may be able to do this it does have a false sense of security. This is because not many people realize how much they are truly being tracked. There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages to Big Data.

The fact that everything you do on your phone and computer is being track and monitored is slightly terrifying. The idea that Big Data is being held so that everything you do or send is out in a system somewhere and technically it is never gone. This can be dangerous because it can violate your privacy as well as your sense of comfort when using a device that you paid for. At this point in time almost every single person is attached to their phones. There are also positives. This could the fact that this kind of data can help businesses thrive and find customers that will fit their products best. Even though this is a positive I think there is some information that should be kept to ourselves and not tracked. 

I think that is important for people to become aware of what is happening behind the scenes. This way people know what is being tracked and they are aware and can limit what they do. This could lead to doing more hobbies that do not involve technology. I also think it would be a good idea to have an option on your device that you can choose what will be monitored or if you want to be monitored. Another option would for companies to make customers aware of what they are tracking rather than just taking our information and data. This way you do not get creeped out when an ad pops up about something you were just talking to your friends about. The Social Dilemma does  a great job at making people aware of what companies can do with our information and movement around the internet. 

[brookeliss]

Social Media Experiment

For my experiment I decided to give up my phone for 4 hours in the morning after I woke up. I did this for 5 total days. I did this because when I wake up in the morning the first thing I always do is go on my phone. I wanted to see what would happened if I eliminated this option from my routine. 

The first day that I did this I did not know what to do when I first woke up. I laid in my bed for a little bit then eventually went back to sleep. This probably was not the best way to cope with the change but I was immediately tired and had nothing else to do. When I woke up I immediately wanted to go to my phone but could not. I decided to get up and just get ready for the day. The second day I decided to immediately get up and get ready for the day. I found myself already being more productive as I showered and got dressed a couple hours earlier than normal. Since I could not go on my phone I ended up starting working on some homework. Normally, I never do homework in the morning and always do it at night. I ended up using this routine for the rest of the days following. I would get up, get ready, work on homework, or prepare for class. As the days went on I felt less and less tired and my eyes felt less strained from immediately waking up and looking at a screen. I was much more productive in the mornings and found myself being a lot more prepared for my classes throughout the day.

Overall, the experiment helped me become a lot less distracted and more productive with my mornings. Normally I will just lay in bed scrolling through Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. This was very different for me and I found myself struggling a lot on the first day. After the first day I found myself really taking advantage of my time rather than just laying in bed. It was more motivating to get out of bed and work on things that resulted in me being more productive. I also had a lot more time at night to relax because I would get so much done in the morning. I did however feel like I was missing something because I could not respond to texts or get updated on what was happening on social media. Not using my phone made me feel kind of secluded from the world and my friends. The temptation to not go on my phone was very hard to overcome but was definitely worth it in the end and I might continue doing so moving forward.

[brookeliss]

Social Media

Social Media has become a huge part of everyone’s life. It is incorporated in to every day use and it is hard to not participate. It has both positive and negative aspects to its use. All of this is shown in two different article’s. The presentation by Max Stossel shows how we interact with social media and he makes a lot of good points on how social media can make you feel. 

He points out how social media companies are watching your every move. Social media’s goal is to always get you to come back. Max uses the example of Snapchat streaks really well. In order to keep your streaks you have to go back on the app within 24 hours. This is key because social media is very time consuming and can become almost addictive. There is also the aspect of how social media only shows the good in everybody’s life. This can be misleading because nobody sees what is going on in the background. This can negatively affect everyones mental health due to the natural tendency of comparing yourself. 

Emma Rathbone also has a great perspective in her article that explains what people did before they had phones in the internet. There was a lot more interaction between people and objects. People had to figure out what to do when there was boredom rather than just grab their phone and find a game or app to use. Life was a lot different.

Although there are some negative effects of social media, there are also a lot of positives. For example, the access to information. If you do not know something there is a quick google and you found your answer. Technology and social media also allows us to keep in contact with everyone. I think social media and technology is really good for the most part. I can use it to keep up with news around the world without having to sit down and watch the news. I am able to easily keep up with friends and family at a distance which was not possible many years ago. I do think that it takes up a lot of time and I find myself getting distracted very easily. It makes me procrastinate a lot more on assignments and I find my mind being distracted from everything that I really need to get done. It is a huge part of my daily life because I am always going on apps to browse everything being posted. One time that I did not have service was when I went to Mexico for a week and did not have access to my phone. It was very relaxing as I felt like I did not have nearly as much to worry about. It provided an escape where I could enjoy everything around me and what I was experiencing rather than being consumed by my phone. I enjoyed not having to constantly check every app to see what everyone was up to and instead I could just enjoy the moment.

Emma Rathbone Article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/26/before-the-internet

Max Stossel Presentation:

https://vimeo.com/370135963

[brookeliss]

About Me

Hello everyone!

My name is Brooke Liss and I am a senior at CMU majoring in finance with a minor in information systems. This past summer I was able to have a virtual internship with Comerica Bank. This allowed me to see the banking industry and ultimately really enjoy it. This led to me to recently accept a full time offer to be a commercial underwriter at Comerica Bank following graduation in May. I hope to use this opportunity to succeed and hopefully move up in the company eventually. 

I took this course because it filled an elective for my information systems minor but I also hope to learn how a business can leverage social media for their own good. I am hoping this blog will help me expand my knowledge of social media from personal use to more of a business aspect. I also hope to learn more about how blogs work because I have never really used one before.

A company that sticks out to me is Wendy’s. They are very interactive with customers on twitter and will tell everyone the honest truth. It is interesting because they also like to argue with their competitors on twitter to show who has the best food. This is something that targets the current generation and keeps people interested in their company and food. Overall, they make their social media very relatable and funny and have mass collaboration over all social media platforms.

https://twitter.com/Wendys?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor