#com120

[phanilar]

The Great Unfriending Experiment

I chose the ones who I thought are least likely to get offended - those with strong ties and those with very weak ties. So, I unfriended Khara, a really close one, Jan and JV whom I was close, too. For the other three, I took the chance to unfriend them on Facebook since they aren't my real-life friends. We were just schoolmates and never talked. I have no intentions on adding them again.

I felt curious about what their responses will be and intrigued. I kind of felt comfortable even if I unfriended them because I know how close we are given all the self-disclosure we had and how we maintained our social capitals, while I don't even feel sorry for some.

I had help from two of our other friends. I asked Nica to chat Khara and JV, and Allan to chat Jan with something like, "Alla, nakitam jay post ni Panyangen?" so that they'll visit my timeline and see that I unfriended them. Jan and JV added me immediately upon finding out. They thought for awhile if they did something bad to me. Jan said he was anxious thinking what he could've done. It felt warm how he was concerned because I thought he was going to brush it off despite us being a little close. JV, a gay friend, said he was hurt and sad if I were to unfriend him, perhaps even for real. I cannot do that though. Though Khara instantly re-added me, she responded differently. She said she knows I love her anyway and she's confident about our tie strength.

I was actually thinking of unfriending Nica, but I remembered how she cried to me a few times before on how our other friends have forgotten about her. That's when I decided to unfriend Khara instead to avoid misunderstandings with Nica and I know how much she's hurt already; I don't have the heart to make her cry more. For others, I was curious, and I wanted to declutter.

I can never unfriend my father who's living abroad. Facebook and Messenger have been our media of communication for many years. I miss him every day - no passes.

As I said, they're the ones who added me first again, which I accepted instantly. They felt relieved when I did and chatted them. Now, we all know that we want our social capitals, our relationships to be maintained. Though we don't meet often now, our proximity is close and we all anticipate of seeing each other again.

[this-is-not-clarissa]

ISSUES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

I recently uploaded a vlog on Facebook that tackled the issue on fake identities. The video was much appreciated and received by my Facebook friends. Some of them commented and added facts. While some of my close friends, messaged me privately, voicing out their appreciation and concerns.

I took time in choosing an issue to talk about. I considered factors like: do I have enough knowledge to talk about this topic, is this already given much light, and if this issue is this timely.

Before shooting the vlog, I wanted to make it look cozy and comfortable. Surely the result looked cozy enough for the viewers to react well on my video. I proceeded posting on Facebook, where I limited my viewers to my Facebook friends only.

Ciao!

[this-is-not-clarissa]

Social Media Usage Patterns

The social media usage pattern of the group we interviewed (Middle-Aged Male Professionals with ages 21-40 years old) and my own usage pattern has slight differences. Since I'm a student, I'm nearly on the internet most of the time while the male professionals we interviewed were only online when they have free time. However, our purposes on using social media, top visited platforms and go-to devices were the same.

I agree with the Social Media Usage Framework proposed by AIMIA. It was well-organized in a way that it can be easily understood and comprehended. In Labucay's study, it only gave a little justice to the framework since it was taken years ago. A lot of technological advancements and media transformations happened since then. However, the framework I came up with is patterned with the proposed framework of AIMIA.

I made it simple to avoid any complications. As you can see in the x-axis, we have determining factor that has something to do with the means to access the internet and in the y-axis, we have the level of social media exposure.

Here are the 4 factions:

Semi-active social media users - users that cannot access the internet directly, needing to ask favors from people who can

Passive social media users - users that does not only lack the means to access the internet but only have few people to ask help with, hence the low social media exposure (also have factors like no signal in their area)

Active social media users - users that have proper means in accessing the internet in any time they wish

Partially inactive social media users - users that own personal gadgets and equipments yet lacks the interest in using social media hence, they have low exposure in social media

That's it for the framework I came up with! I hope you learned a thing or two from me :>

Ciao!

[this-is-not-clarissa]

Identity Creation through Social Media

The identity I've presented in social media is almost identical to my personality in person. I came up with my identity, thinking that this identity will reflect on my physical self and my future. I instilled it in my mind that whatever mistake or stupidity I make on social media will came haunting me. That is why I'm cautious.

I think before I click.

My social media identity was greatly affected on how I act on person. Since I don't want to create a façade that will mislead people I met online, I stay true to myself. Although I couldn't deny that I join trends, the actions that I make always align with who I really am.

[jmbenge-blog]

Fathers and Parenting

Fathers and Parenting

             By the time a child is eight weeks old it begins to be able to distinguish the difference between their mother and their father. Men and women tend to parent differently. A strong presence of a father is beneficial for a child in many ways for both girls and boys. This strong involvement of a father has benefits from when a child is a toddler all the way until the child becomes an adult. When bad behavior happens with your child there are certain steps that can be taken to correct this behavior.

 How Men Parent Differently Than Females

(Why Kids Need Their Dads/The Involved Father)

             Fathers encourage competition, independence and achievement. Fathers encourage children to take risks. Things from encouraging their kids to learn to walk to riding their bike. Women are often more of a protector of their children and often feel their children might get hurt. They will flinch if the child falls when learning to walk or if they fall off their bike while learning to ride. A mother’s response to a child falling off a bike would be to cuddle and nurture the child. The father would tell them they are ok and encourage them to get up and try again. Fathers also encourage children to overcome obstacles such as talking to strangers or learning to swim in the deep in of the pool. A mother would expect the worst and not want their children in the deep in, but to learn sometimes the kids need to just jump in and do it. Fathers tend to be bigger protectors of their children when it comes to predators and bad influences. A man will not be shy to quiz a young boy who has come to take his daughter out for a date. Fathers are also more willing to discipline their children. Mothers are often soft hearted and sometimes don’t want to upset their children and see them sad. Men however are able to confront their children and enforce the discipline that their children need. Fathers do not sugar coat any situation. They tell the child like it is. They have no problem telling them that if they do not do well in school, then they will have a hard time getting into college and doing well in life. Women do not like telling their children how their failures would affect them.

 Benefits of a Fathers Presence

(The Involved Father/Why Dad’s Parenting Techniques Can Be Better)

             There are many benefits to having a strong presence of a father in a child’s life. Children with involved fathers are more sociable. Children tend to be more ready to start school and deal better with being away from home all day. They also tend to do better in school and are less likely to repeat grades and show behavioral problems at school. Girls that have a strong relationship with their father tends to have higher self-esteem. Teenage girls with a strong father daughter relationship are also less likely to get pregnant. As girls grow and mature into women they are more likely to have successful relationships when they had a close relationship with their father growing up. Boys who have a strong relationship with their father show less aggression and also have higher self-esteem. They tend to be less violent when they grow up having a father around. Activities that fathers can do to be more involved with their children include things such as eating dinner together, watching television, playing games outside or inside and even videos. Other activities such as taking trips together are also beneficial.

 Steps for Correcting Bad Behavior

(4 Steps to Change Child Behavior, Empowering Parents)

             Even with a fathers presence children tend to have some bad behaviors that need correcting. To be successful there are steps that one can take to ensure that the issues get resolved. The first step in correcting bad behaviors is to define the issue. This could be anything from the child not cleaning their room or doing their homework, to not coming home when they were supposed to. When you define the issue you need to discuss the problem with your child and explain to them why it needs to be corrected. The next step in correcting bad behavior is to plan a goal. To do so you should explain to your child the changes that need to be made. Tell them what is expected of them. Maybe they need to have their homework done by a certain time or that their room so be picked up before they go to bed each night. Nothing is worse than dirty clothes all over the floor. When you plan this goal you need to be as specific as you can with your child. If it is something specific that you expect of them, then you should tell them. Don’t assume that they know every single thing that you expect of them. The final step that you need to do when correcting bad behavior is to create steps toward the goal. Your expectations that you have for your child should not only be specific, but they should also be measurable, realistic and time efficient. You shouldn’t expect them to be able to accomplish something if they do not have the time to do so, so it is important to review all these expectations.

 Conclusion

             While in every child’s case a father is not often present, but when a father is in the picture it is important for the child to have a strong relationship with their father. There are many benefits from having a close relationship with a father that will carry from infancy all the way to adulthood. Also sometimes a child needs discipline and there are certain steps to be followed to correct the problem in a realistic time setting.

[dfammedia-blog]

Access to Television: Fae

The development of new media has caused our access to television to increase significantly and in multiple ways.  The amount of television that we view now compared to what we viewed when television first came out has increased exponentially.  The amount of televisions that we see in people’s homes has also increased throughout the years.  Also through the invention of the internet came the development of streaming services. 

According to TV Basics (2012) the average American household today watches about eight hours of television a day.  This is equivalent to 56 hours of television viewing per week or four months of non-stop viewing a year.  With this statistic, if a person lived to be just 65 years old they would have watched 18 years of television!  This compared to the approximately four and a half hours of television that was being watched in 1950 is a huge difference.

In the graphs you can see how much the amount of televisions in the home has increased over the years.  In 1950 it started out as 9% of homes have a television, and in 2012 97.1% of household have a television.  Then when we look at the multiple television sets we see another jump.  In 1950 only 1% of houses had multiple televisions, and in 2012 58.5% of households have multiple televisions.

The reason that the amount of view time increased is because the amount of televisions in the home increased.  The amount of sets in homes increased because the technology became more easily available and therefore became cheaper.  This is all due to new media that has come out which makes it easier to put digital pictures on the screen.

Another development in new media that has increased our access to television is the internet and streaming services that are offered through the internet.  Some of the top streaming services that a person can subscribe to are Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, AppleTV, Google Chromecast, and Roku.  These are only seven of the many streaming services that are out there for people to use.  These streaming services allow viewers to watch their favorite shows whenever they want to.  It also is usually free of advertisements, so no commercials!  According to Dossier (2014) over 33 million Americans subscribe to some sort of streaming service.  This number keeps growing and will continue to grow as these services keep adding more shows. 

Our access to television has increased because we have more televisions in our homes due to the ubiquity of the technology needed to broadcast.  Also our access increased even further with the development of streaming services through the internet.

Note: Graphs were found at TV Basics (2012).

References

Dossier, S. (2014). Statistics and facts about Netflix. Retrieved from www.statista.com/topics/842/netflix/.

TV Basics (2012). TV Basics: A report on the growth and scope of television. Retrieved from www.tvb.org/media/file/TV_Basics.pdf.

[dfammedia-blog]

Social Media & Television: Fae

Social media has served television very well in recent years.  Every broadcasting network has different social media plans that they use to increase their viewership and to maintain their current fan groups.  There are multiple strategies that are in these social media plans.  Some strategies that Brown (2012) mentioned on Brainzooming.com are:

Use hashtags during the show

Promote the brand through social media

Do contests over social media

Feature viewer’s content on social media

Have live-tweet sessions with actors or actresses during the show

Use multiple social media channels

Throughout this blog my examples will be about ABC Family’s show Pretty Little Liars.  I think that this show does a lot of work with their social media team to make sure that they are doing everything that they can to keep their fans engaged in the show.

Pretty much every time that you turn on your television, no matter what channel is on; there is a hashtag of some sort in the corner of the screen.  Pretty Little Liars does this the entire time that they are on-air.  During the whole hour episode “#prettylittleliars” is in the top corner of the screen.  When something big happens or there is a funny moment a special hashtag appears and replaces the regular “#prettylittleliars”.  Some examples of these are “#AlisonIsAlive”, “#MonaKnows”, and “#RIPMona”.  Featuring hashtags during the show reinforces that viewers should be live-tweeting/posting while they are watching the show. 

ABC Family does a great job of promoting all of their shows through social media.  In between seasons of Pretty Little Liars they posted a countdown picture every day for the season premiere.  As a fan of this show at first I thought, “Really? They are starting to countdown; the season finale was last night.”  Then as the premiere got closer I found myself getting more and more excited.  Even though I was annoyed when it was 60 days out it still kept me thinking about the show. 

Pretty Little Liars also does some contests via social media to win free show merchandise and even trips to the set for the show.  Some of the contests over the years were singing or remixing the show’s theme song, creating a 12-page Pretty Little Liars calendar, and an “A is everywhere” photo contest.  These contests create more fan loyalty, especially if they win!  Not only that, if you are a fan and participating in these contests it just makes you more excited about the show each week.

Another way to create fan loyalty is by featuring your fans content on your social media pages.  Pretty Little Liars does this by re-tweeting their fans’ tweets during the show, posting fan art on Instagram, or reposting fans pictures of them dressed up as the characters or doing something related to the show.  This shows fans that the show really values their viewers, and it also encourages you to post content in hopes that you will get re-tweeted.

Having live-tweet sessions with characters from the show while the show is on gives fans an opportunity to actually talk to some of their favorite characters.  They can ask the actors or actresses questions about the show or even about their personal likes and dislikes.  Pretty Little Liars does this every week, rotating cast members.  I have seen questions like: “Who makes you laugh on set?” or “Do you like sweet or salty?”  Regardless of the question it makes fans feel like they are getting to know that actor or actress. 

The final and most important social media strategy is to use multiple social media channels.  I follow Pretty Little Liars on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, so every day I am bombarded with messages from Pretty Little Liars.  From the show’s standpoint this is a good thing because they are keeping their fans up to date on what is going on and keeping the excited about the show.

While every show and network uses a different social media plan most of the shows who are on the cutting-edge of social media use these six strategies: use hashtags during the show, promote the brand through social media, do contests over social media, feature viewer’s content on social media, have live-tweet sessions with actors or actresses during the show, an use multiple social media channels.

References

Brown, M. (2012). Social media: 19 content strategy ideas from a TV network. Retrieved from http://brainzooming.com/social-media-19-content-strategy-ideas-from-a-tv-network/14247/