Gracie's Blog

CMU

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Become a Social Organization

After completing the “Content Marketing Fundamentals” module this week, I learned a lot about developing effective content for businesses.  

When it comes to developing content for business, having a plan of action is extremely important. Without a plan of action, it’s hard to post the right content at the right time. A great way to attack this problem is by creating a content calendar.

A content calendar is primarily used in publishing to plan future themes and stories. However, bloggers and social media managers have since adopted the use of content calendars to organize their content and communication techniques. Content calendars not only minimize stress but help encourage focus on short-term and long-term goals.

There are several benefits to creating and using a content calendar. To begin, a content calendar allows proper and timely scheduling of important promotional posts through social media. Organization makes everything readily available and easily accessible. And finally, professionalism comes as well. Consistent and organized content looks professional because it is organized, time efficient and creative.

It is critical for organizations to follow these principles of planning content. Without following these principles, organizations could lack engagement on posts and become irrelevant. Posting quality content, allows organizations to stay relevant and actively involved. By following these principles, social media engagement will go up and an organization will thrive.

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Community Collaboration

After reading the Social Organization chapters, this week, I learned a lot about the effective principles for online communities through social media.

The first principle I found to be extremely important is the “Six F’” model. The model stands for folly, fearful, flippant, formulating, forging and fusing. Understanding each attitude can dramatically help businesses differentiate and appeal to multiple different audiences.

Being able to understand when community collaboration is appropriate or not. It would be much more appropriate with larger groups of people, allowing them to bring differing ideas to the table. Community collaboration is much less useful with smaller groups. At the end of the day, having the awareness and understanding of your particular business is what’s most important. Knowing this can help with creating goals and formulating a plan of action. This is when vision statements really help. Having a vision statement can provide clarity, direction, guidance, and inspire more participation.

With my own client, I think a direct vision statement would be really helpful. My client needs clarity and a more cut and dry vision to follow because there really are a lot of ways to go about handling their social media. Having a clear vision statement is the best way to go about my personal client’s social media use.

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The Legal Side of Big Data

This week I had the chance to watch “The Legal Side of Big Data”. Before this class, I had no prior knowledge on what big data was and how it can be an issue. However, after watching this video, I had a completely different perspective.

Businesses & Big Data

When thinking about businesses, a lot of consumer information is stored and most likely tracked. This is huge for businesses to understand. If consumer information is not kept secure a lot can go wrong. Especially when it comes to credit card information. Credit card information is extremely personal to consumers and would be a major issue, not only for the consumer but for the business as well, if it got out. Businesses should have open communication with their consumers to inform them if their information gets out. This is the best way to do some damage control and remain in the best light with consumers. No matter what, businesses need to prepare for the absolute worst so they’re ready for anything.

Consumers & Big Data

Just like businesses, consumers need to be very aware too. Consumers need to be wary of what information that choose to put where and have a damage control option if something were to go wrong. They need to keep track of exactly where they put their personal information and keep tabs on it daily. At the end of the day, a consumer’s only way to minimize risk is to be cautious and aware of every possible outcome and be ready to act when something goes wrong.

Finding a Balance

Whether you’re on the busines side or the consumer side, the best way to find a balance is to prepare. Preparing for the worst is the best thing to do even when you don’t think anything will go wrong. Businesses need to work to prevent any possibly risks just like consumers. Having a highly secure system is something, I believe, every business needs to have. They must keep their consumer information confidential and secure in order to keep retaining clients. Consumers need to feel as if their information is safe. The best way to minimize the risk is to prepare for any possible problem and have a plan of action ready to be set into place.

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Junk News

This week I got to read “Three reasons junk news spreads so quickly across social media”, by Phillip Howard and Samantha Bradshaw. The authors emphasized three major reasons on how junk news is spreading.

Algorithms

Algorithms was the first major reason outlined. Algorithms are supposed to be an extremely useful tool that brings in different types of data to keep users engaged and entertained. The problem here, is that the way algorithms have been used isn’t helping. Instead of giving out completely relevant information and news, the news is biased and false. Of course, right now is election time. Everywhere you look, there’s something political to see. The only problem here is that if the information being shared is biased and false, this can cause a lot of problems. Having honest conversation is extremely important, especially when it involved electing your next leader. I don’t think it’s fair to see false information. How can we know the truth and have a well-rounded view when we don’t know the truth?

Advertising

The next reason discussed was advertising. Advertising does bring in a lot of revenue to social media platforms, especially because most social media platforms are free. The problem here is that these social media sites track what users search and post and then choose the perfect advertisement for you to see on your feed. For me, I always see advertisements for clothes because online shopping has become an addiction. It’s so hard to scroll past when I see something I like. These ads almost always pull me in no matter what it is.

Exposure

The last reason discussed was exposure. At the end of the day no matter what we all choose to believe, our information is always connected. I know that I see some of the same advertisements on multiple social media platforms whenever I scroll. I think this is a bit strange because honestly, we never know what is true or what is biased. A lot of what’s on the internet is false information and I think this can be very dangerous in the long run.

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

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What does it take to be a Social Media Consultant?

This week, I’m going to discuss a few necessary qualities of social media consultants and what I would do if I were my very own consultant. 

Important Qualities

There’s a lot of important qualities a social media consultant should have. As a consultant you are individually responsible for your performance and the results you can produce for your client. There is a lot of individual responsibility, which is why I believe having a few key qualities will provide the best outcome for the client.

First of all, a social media consultant must have extensive knowledge on the client and what they are looking for. Knowing what your clients’ needs are is the best way to get them to the place they want to be. To have legitimate objectives and goals is much easier and attainable than going in completely blind. Knowledge of the client saves money, time and resources.

Another extremely important quality is having extensive knowledge of specific social media platforms. I personally think timing is a huge deal. Knowing the right time to post to get the maximum amount of views is a powerful tool that not many think about. Extensive knowledge of different platforms is so important. The client needs to best possible social media accounts for their business. Not all businesses need what Instagram can provide for them. Knowing what each site can provide for the client is key in high performance and being the best possible social media consultant around.

Being my own Consultant

If I were my own social media consultant, I would absolutely step up my LinkedIn activity and Instagram. I find social media marketing extremely intriguing and would love to have the chance to be the social media marketer for a major company. In order to get myself ouf there LinkedIn is always a great option. Actively posting and connecting with important people, career wise, would help get my name out there for new opportunities.

On top of that, because of my career goals I would like to step up my Instagram presence. If a future employer wanted me to show my social media marketing skills, I would want Instagram to be a place I can rely on showing them what I can do.

As far as what I’ve already done, I do have a semi-active presence on LinkedIn, but I definitely ignore every notification I get. I also think this Tumblr account would be another great reference for me to use. Even though it’s a blog for a class, it still is completely relatable to real-life. I definitely need to take a look into what social media platforms would be best for my personal brand. However, as of right now, I think I have some ideas for myself and would really like to implement them into my daily use of social media.

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How Business Models Influence Online Surveillance

This week I read the article, The Internet’s Original Sin, by Ethan Zuckerman and watched, The Internet with a Human Face, by Maciej Ceglowski. Both of these sources gave me a major realization on how internet business models influence surveillance and gathering our data on the internet.

In Maciej Ceglowski’s talk, he discusses how big data is collected and used in advertisements by different companies. Ceglowski relates advertisements to investor’s story time. Investor story time is described as when someone pays you to tell them how rich they’ll get when you finally put advertisements on your website. The business model for most companies is solely based on the internet and how you advertise on the internet. There is no official agreement between users and website that states what information is completely yours or the information that is being tracked. Ceglowski ends his talk with a few suggestions on how to go about this situation. He suggests limiting the amount of data that can be stored, how long that specific information is stored, and limiting what can be shared. I completely agree with this because at the end of the day, there is no contract between users and the website. Spreading the word and taking gradual action is the only way to create awareness and make a change.

In Ethan Zuckerman’s article, he explains his time working for Tripod.com and related to how Facebook designs their business model. He explains how business models for internet businesses are solely based on advertising. Advertising is how free websites make money. They are providing a service to the website and consumers for free. This is why data gathering and the idea of “Big Data” has become some popular. Tripod.com tried several different business models until they finally realized this was the best decision for them. It allowed them to generate the most revenue. However, to get attraction to your specific website you have to show what value your website has. If the advertiser doesn’t see the value, this business model won’t work. Although, websites may seem like they’re not collecting your data and tracking you information, everything is a business. Money matters and if advertising and “Big Data” is the only way to make money, then a business is going to do it. Unfortunately, that is the harsh truth of the world. I think knowing this is extremely important as a consumer because you have to almost have a bit of a shield up when it comes to anything in life. Things may seem all find and dandy but there is always some type of ulterior motive that you always need to be aware of, especially in business.

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The Truth About “Big Data”

Hi again! Today’s blog post is all about the harsh reality of social media and how “Big Data” can be a privacy breach. 

My reaction to “Big Data”:

I only had minimal prior knowledge of the term “Big Data”, but after watching both Dr. Melton’s lecture, and The Social Dilemma, I had a completely different outlook. I was always very curious how my own social media activity is connected to the daily things I do. And now I actually know. “Big Data”, is exactly what social media platforms do to lure you into do what you do. There is a specific business model that tracks a user’s search history, posts you interact with, different things you’ve watched and so much more. The business model then takes all of this information to bring up little enticing things to get you hooked. In my opinion, this is a bit shocking and somewhat violation of privacy. I don’ think it’s fair to have such minimal things, like search history, available to basically everyone. This is, to me, is a breach of privacy. However, tracking the posts you interact with isn’t something that makes me feel violated. Anyone can see if you liked or commented on a photo, so I simply don’t think this is too big of a deal.

“Big Data” …a powerful tool?

At the end of the day, “Bid Data” is an extremely powerful tool. As I mentioned earlier, it tracks our information and how we interact with different social media aspects. Access to this information provides a lot of control to a business. They can essentially control what we do and how we do it. It’s definitely a way to get in our heads and mentally toy with us. The Social Dilemma gave a prime example of this when they forced that kid to continue watching videos instead of going to soccer practice. “Big Data” is something that has the ability to control us and truly does breach our personal privacy.

My Views to Limit Harm:

As a society, we need to make this known. This is something that we essentially have no control over, but we can know about to take caution when using social media. Everyone overlooks the dangers of social media. In my opinion, “Big Data” is just one of them. The mental tole this can all take on someone can be fatal and needs to be addressed. The documentary was extremely informative and very disturbing at the same time. It’s really made me think of how I need to go about using every app I have on my phone and watching my search history. Awareness of “Big Data”, is one of the best ways to at least try to have some control over our social lives.

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Detach from Social Media

Hi everyone! In today’s blog post, I’m going to explain how I detached from using social media for a whole week. Crazy, I know.

I already utilize screen time on my phone to help me control how late I stay up scrolling through social media apps like Tik Tok and Instagram. So instead of that, I tried to pay attention to when I pick up my phone the most. I noticed recently, right after my alarm goes off, I grab my phone and spend way too much time scrolling through everything in bed. This had made it really hard for me to actually get out of bed on time and get myself ready for the day.

So, my experiment was to use my iPad as my alarm instead of my phone. I turned my phone completely off at night, after my screen time ran out, and put my phone on my desk instead of my nightstand. I deleted all social media accounts from my iPad so I wouldn’t be tempted to scroll through in the morning. Since my classes don’t start until 11:00 am, I decided to set my alarm for 9:30 am, to work out and shower before I used my phone.  

I tried this for an entire week and actually found myself being much more productive. I was tempted the first few days to grab my phone and check my notifications. However, by the third day I wasn’t even fazed. I would wake up, get out of bed and actually have a productive morning and felt like my mind wasn’t racing a million miles a minute. This also really helped me focus on my schoolwork and just getting things done in the morning. I found myself becoming more of a morning person this week, which I never ever thought would happen. I felt a lot less anxious about my days because I didn’t have the added distraction of scrolling. It was a very productive time and I got much better sleep. I would wake up feeling refreshed and looking forward to my morning routine without my phone.

I really encourage everyone to create their own experiment like this. It can be whatever fits best with your schedule and daily life! Just see how things turn out. I feel like we are all guilty of spending way too much time on social media and this is a perfect way to test some things out. Personally, I want to continue this experiment and add it into my everyday life. I think it really helped me in every aspect of my life while also not limiting me from the guilty pleasures of scrolling!

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Social Media-Good or Bad?

There’s no question that social media has dramatically affected all of our lives. However, the real question we should be asking is…is it a good effect or a bad one? Well, if you ask me it’s a bit of both.

Social media allows us to connect with others. Whether you’re connecting with family from across the Pacific or just stalking that perfect celebrity you love (we all have one), it still provides some type of tangible connection. These connections may land you the dream job of your life or just allow you to escape reality for some time. At the end of the day, the thing that matters is how MUCH you let it affect your life. 

Trust me, I know how easy it is to get way too deep. The moment you see that one person like that other persons post you click on their name and you find that other person you want to stalk and an hour later you’re watching videos of the most random thing in the world. While we all wish we could say we’ve never done nothing of the sorts, we all have. This is where we really need to check ourselves. Is it worth spending hours on end getting too deep in Instagram? Would you have finished that assignment earlier? Who knows?

I can say that I have been that person that gets way too deep on social media. It happens and when you finally look up from the screen you ask yourself “where the hell did the time go?”. After these moments, I swore to myself I would never do it again. Of course, it happened again but that’s just because notifications are designed to be looked at immediately. In Max Stossel’s video, he explains just that. Notifications are meant to be annoying to get you to look at whatever the notification is. Notifications are the trigger. And that is exactly why we find ourselves, hours later, way too deep.

Having access to the internet is great. If you don’t know the answer to something, easy, type it in Google and you’re good. The internet allows us to expand our knowledge, to an extent, and learn something new. It all depends on the person searching. If you’re searching for juicy celebrity gossip, Google has it. If you need a tutor or help with an assignment, Google still has your back. 

This is great and all, but I personally believe it limits life experiences. If Google can give you all the answers, then why mess up and learn from your mistakes? I think the Internet provides such a great resource, but it needs to be used as just that. Life experiences are going to be what mold you into the person you become. Life experiences can’t be taught from just making a Google search.

Emma Rathbone’s article had me saying “ain’t that the truth”. She explains how before the Internet, our connections with real-world things was much more intense. We would play outside, read a book, or play “school” in the basement. We had an imagination and that seems to have diminished from social media use. I remember what it was like to be a kid with no phone, no internet and no social media. I had quite the imagination, but I never needed anything more. I lived my life with what I had and loved every minute of it. There was no pressure to look like the gorgeous supermodel or to have the perfect Instagram aesthetic. All I cared about was my imaginary students learning the math I taught them in the basement.

This specific blog post has made me wonder what we would all be doing in our free time if we had no social media. Would we have a wider imagination? Be outside more? Have better social skills? Or would we be wanting the connection to social media we have now? All I know, is that I will be much more aware of how often I check my phone. Let’s focus on the social interaction and the face-to-face skills we can learn by putting our phones down for just a second. You could be missing out on something, who knows?  

Max Stossel- https://vimeo.com/370135963

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

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Hi there!

My name is Gracie Backus and I am a marketing major at CMU, with a minor in information systems. I originally came to CMU to play Division 1 soccer, however, after suffering a critical head injury I was forced to hang the cleats up and focus on my degree. I will graduate this May, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration!

After I graduate, I hope to work for a major corporation on their marketing team. I am extremely passionate about all things fashion, health and wellness, and sports. I would love to pursue my marketing career in any of these areas, but I firmly believe in jumping on any opportunity thrown my way. I never want to limit myself to one industry. Gaining experience and learning about several different industries is powerful in the business world.

This summer I was the marketing intern for Barton Malow. Throughout the summer, I learned how the pursuit side of marketing works and saw how valued marketing really is to Barton Malow. I made long lasting connections and friends through the experience and loved learning about the industry.

With that being said, I’m excited to learn more about the social media side of marketing. I’ve never had a blog, but always wanted to try it out. I really hope to learn about the blogging world and how social media, done the right way, can really help a business. By the end of this semester, my goal is to gain enough knowledge on the professional side of social media and use it as one of my strengths when pursuing future career opportunities.

Exemplary use of Social Media Company: Vogue

One company that I believe uses social media in an outstanding way is, Vogue. Vogue is an American monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine covering many topics including fashion, beauty, culture, living and runway. Vogue began as a monthly magazine but has now expanded to a personal website and to different social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.

Vogue has a worldwide presence meaning the audience is massive. By using these different social media sites, they’ve made it easier for those across the world to stay up to date and “in the know” on what’s going on. For example, they post daily on Instagram and always have a direct link to the website with the complete article within the post. This makes it easy for anyone scrolling through Instagram to find the article of interest.

Vogue also covers current events and connects them back to their personal brand in some way, shape or form. I think this is especially powerful when having such a diverse audience. You’d think with that large of an audience and that many different social media sites, Vogue wouldn’t be able to keep up with that much content. However, I think Vogue has mastered their social media ways and has created a cohesive social media marketing strategy.

Website: https://www.vogue.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/voguemagazine/?hl=en