All Things Social Media Marketing

William Noorlag

[noorwill-blog]

Say Goodbye to Vine

A Guardian article titled, “Vine video-sharing app to be shut down by Twitter,” describes what many would call an unforeseeable situation. (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/27/twitter-vine-video-sharing-mobile-app-shut-down-costs) While the Vine website is to stay active so as to not completely delete all user videos, Twitter has announced that it will be shutting down the Vine mobile app over the course of the next few months in order to cut down on their number of employees and overhead as they are experiencing some financial trouble. Earlier today, October 27th, 2016, Twitter announced that there would be hundreds of layoffs. The Vine app was apparently seen as unnecessary in the eyes of Twitter administrators attempting to cut costs because of Twitter’s recent video-sharing integration to the site.

This is extremely shocking to me for a multitude of reasons. I supposed it makes since when cost-cutting to first remove the dwindling aspects of your company. Vine app membership has been steadily declining for months…but why? And furthermore, why is Twitter in this situation in the first place? The one area of the economy that I think of as more than stable right now is the social media sector. It seems to be booming and on the up-and-up now more than ever. Twitter is the last company I would have expected to announce financial problems in this economy, and it makes me wonder about the future of social media. Does it truly have a lasting place in our society?

https://twitter.com/noorwill/status/791803677077929984

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The NFL’s Social Media Fines

The NFL is hitting players with some pretty serious fines ($25,000-100,00) and potential loss of online posting rights for posting “unapproved video” to social media outlets during games. An article published by mashable.com titled “Internal memo shows NFL’s strict new rules on game-day social media use by teams,” explains what’s going on (http://on.mash.to/2dwzPll). It all spawned from a player posting essentially live video of an illegal hit on Cam Newton during the game. The player who hit Cam was fined $18,231, but the person who posted the video of the illegal hit was fined $25,000. At first glance, it would seem the NFL is trying to prevent illegal content distribution. They then went on to define “unapproved media” as anything not posted by a preapproved NFL channel; this includes ANYTHING from memes to selfies. So where do their motives lie? Some speculate that rather than an attempt to prevent illegal content distribution, this is an attempt to bolster their social media marketing.

It would make sense if no posting was allowed during games, so as to have the athletes completely focused on the field, but that’s not the case. Posting is allowed mid-game as long as it’s club reposts of league content. This leads me to believe that the NFL does not care about their players posting during game, only that their posts are drawing the right kind of attention to the right places. Considering the NFL’s money-hungry past (and present), I am not surprised.

https://twitter.com/noorwill/status/784196704081817600

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Social Media and Happiness

The emotional effects of social media on humans, specifically young people, is a hot topic to say the least. Many people think that social media have begun to control people’s lives and affect their moods for the worst. A recent article published by The Guardian, “Does quitting social media make you happier? Yes, say young people doing it,” (https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/sep/21/does-quitting-social-media-make-you-happier-yes-say-young-people-doing-it) pretty much says it all in the title. The kids quoted in the article list a variety of reasons for this, like the fact that they enjoy face-to-face conversations. Without social media, they don’t feel the need to waste time presenting their lives a certain way to an online community. They generally feel much happier not constantly looking at the posts of others and comparing their lives to how others present their own. Kids also say they enjoy the free-time not consumed by constantly checking for updates.

This is something I’ve discussed with my peers quite extensively, and most of them tend to disagree. They believe that social media affects a user only as much, and in what ways, the user allows it to. The general consensus from my discussions on the topic is that social media is an extremely beneficial tool that does not inherently have any effect on an individual’s mood. However, I disagree with most of my peers. Young people are very impressionable, and I feel as if the constant need to present one’s life in a certain way or view the presentation of others’ lives will subconsciously affect an individual in a detrimental way. This short video, “A Social LIfe,” does a great job at visually displaying the dangers of social media on an individual’s emotions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXdVPLj_pIk.

https://twitter.com/noorwill/status/779119991140474880

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Twitter’s “creator revenue programs”: Blurring Lines Between Community and Commerce

On August 30th, 2016, Twitter posted an article to its blog titled: “Twitter monetization, now at your fingertips,” which you can find here: https://blog.twitter.com/2016/twitter-monetization-now-at-your-fingertips.

The article was written to announce the growth of their pre-existent creator revenue programs, which allow content creators on Twitter to charge for their content. The expansion of these programs gives creators of all sizes various ways to gain content-generated revenue. The Amplify Publisher Program now allows creators the option to charge for videos by simply ‘checking a box’ before posting a Tweet.

Another new feature is “Twitter pre-roll ads.” Should creators choose to charge for content, then an advertisement will run before the video and the creator will share in some of the profits from the ad.

“Niche” is a platform that connects content creators with “top brands” in an effort to create valuable, branded content, providing opportunities for industry leaders and content creators alike.

The expansion of these programs by Twitter is just one of many examples of the blurring of lines between the social community and social commerce sectors of social media. Even though this affects average users (may have to start paying for previously free content), it is more geared towards content creators and advertisers. While this particular program offered by Twitter may be considered unobtrusive to most, its concept helps drive home a point I believe firmly in: the over-integration of commerce into community will lead to a diluted, invasive experience with our social media that may eventually drive us away.

https://twitter.com/noorwill/status/772967784355471360