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Real vs. Fake Instagram

Many people are worried about what they post online, but Instagram has allowed people to post more freely, or so they think. Instagram is a popular social media platform that we have all learned about during the Hootsuite modules. Recently, people have been making private accounts, aside from their regular Instagram account, called Finstagrams. People will post pictures, videos, and captions that they would not want the general public viewing. Personally, I have seen people using drugs, alcohol, and type captions about their “crazy” night, or relationship drama. Typically users keep their Finstagram on private and only allow certain people to follow them, such as close friends. As we have all learned, these photos, videos, and captions will still remain in their digital footprint even though their account is private.

I think back to the story that Jerry shared with us all in class about the student who lost a job opportunity because of a digital photo recognition scan. Individuals who use Finstagram inappropriately are putting themselves up at risk for future employment opportunities. Finstagram is most popular with teens and young adults. It would be sad if a photo you posted online during your freshman year of high school, came back to haunt you when you are graduating college looking for a job. With technology improving every day, this will be a sad reality for many individuals. 

The whole concept of Finstagram is quite confusing to me. I understand that people want a way to share certain content with certain people, but if that is the real them, in their most authentic state, wouldn’t that be posted on their regular Instagram account? Many people use their regular Instagram accounts to portray the best possible version of themselves to the world. It makes me question who is real, and who is not online. 

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Collegiate DECA & Social Advertising

Using paid advertisements on CMU’s Collegiate DECA chapter would be beneficial to our chapter. We would be able to reach a larger audience and potentially grow the size of our chapter. Unfortunately, CMU’s DECA chapter does not have room in their budget for paid advertisements all year. DECA most likely would be able to afford paid advertisements during recruitment though. 

One goal for CMU Collegiate DECA is to increase the size of our chapter. Typical recruitment techniques used in the past have been speaking in business classes, sending recruitment meeting information out to students via CMU’s outlook email, and having a booth at Main Stage. From what I know, DECA has never looked at using social media as a way to recruit. With the demographics of campus, I am confident in saying that using paid advertisements during recruitment would reach potential members. For two-three weeks at the beginning of the school, DECA could use paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. If DECA starts implementing some of the ideas I have suggested so far, their social media accounts would be more active. Potential members would see this, and hopefully, perceive our brand in a good light. It would give future members an idea of what it is CMU Collegiate DECA does, and if this registered student organization would be a good fit for them. 

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To implement, or not to implement, that is the question

As a consultant, you hope the recommendations you make will be implemented by the organization you are working with. In my case, CMU’s Collegiate DECA chapter is my client. The past week I sat down with our advisor, chapter president, and social media chair, to discuss what I have recommended so far. Dr. Melton said in the lecture, “The key is to help them see how social media can help them and the organization as a whole accomplish their goals.” This idea was brought into our conversation. We talked about how social media could help Collegiate DECA stay connected with alumni and how everyone in our organization could get involved in our social media. If our members at the least become brand ambassadors, we will be one step closer to being a social organization. 

Dr. Melton said that “Change happens when the perception of social media goes from being a talk or threat to a tool or community.” Social media has always been seen as a task for CMU Collegiate DECA because it has never been consistent. By getting all the members of our organization involved, it will hopefully turn more into a community. We want our members to help create the content. This way they feel as though they are apart of the change. However, we would still have final approval from our social media chair of what gets posted, so everything stays in the same voice.

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Why Do You Use Social Media?

Have you ever asked yourself why you use social media applications? Reflecting on this concept every now and again is useful. It allows you to think about the content you absorb, how often you use social media, and how it makes you feel.

The content you absorb is influencing and shaping you into the individual you are. Taking the time to go through what accounts you are following allows you to reflect on what you want to be taking in. If you feel that an account is not impacting your life in a positive way, delete it. Following fewer accounts on social media will save you aimless scrolling time. 

People spend a lot of time on social media. I have noticed in social settings that people scroll to pass the time. Whether it is waiting before class, inline at the grocery store, or in the waiting room of a doctors office. I am guilty of this habit as well, but I am working on being more mindful of my time. People who use social media are connected to not only to the physical world but the digital world.  

Social media can make you feel several emotions. Realizing how much time you actually use social media to “stay connected” to other people can be depressing. What could you be doing with that time? The content you follow also plays with your emotions. Some content you follow may make you feel uplifted and inspired. However, other content can lead you to feel melancholy. Social media can make you feel a lot of ways. Checking how you feel after scrolling through Instagram may lead you to rethink about why is it you use the app.

When I studied abroad in England for 2.5 weeks, I realized I did not use Twitter, and much other social media, the whole time I was there. I had never felt more connected to the physical world rather than the digital world in my young adult life. I realized the app was a waste of my time. I deleted the application after my study abroad and have never looked back. This realization made me ask myself why I used social media applications. Now ask yourself, why do you use social media applications?

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Growing Collegiate DECA’s Advocate Community

Hootsuite Module 4 discussed how to grow your companies advocate community. It is better to have a small, dedicated community rather than a lot of followers with no activity. Having advocates on your companies social media accounts will hopefully increase activity on the pages. If DECA had activity on their social media accounts, it would be best to reach out to those individuals advocating for the brand already. Since they do not have much activity, DECA should reach out internally to their members to become advocates first.

Collegiate DECA can build community on Twitter and Facebook without turning first to their members. On Twitter, they can engage with individuals who are interested in DECA, business, leadership, and entrepreneurship since this is tied into DECA’s mission statement. On Facebook, DECA should consider replying back to posts or comments in a timely fashion. This has the possibility of the original post being visible on the individual's timeline. Their friends would see the activity and might check out DECA’s page. 

Growing any companies advocate community will help create trust around the brand. I know I am someone who is influenced by what others say and recommend. If DECA begins to slowly grow their advocate community, hopefully, they can grow the activity on their social media sites too!

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What’s the Vision?

Chapter Four of our textbook, The Social Organization, highlights the importance of creating a vision for community collaboration within an organization. Creating an organizational vision for community collaboration is intended to serve two purposes. First, leadership recognizes the importance and value of community-based collaboration. Second, it recognizes where collaboration can add value to help the organization achieve their goals. 

If leadership recognizes the importance of community collaboration, the rest of the organization's members should follow suit, if the leaders in place are influential. Business leaders, representing the major business units, should be involved in the creation of the vision. The collaboration between these diverse leaders will ensure the vision is written to benefit the business. 

The leaders creating the vision will make sure the statement reflects organizational goals and strategies. Ultimately, the vision will add value to help the organization achieve their goals. Community collaboration will not help the organization meet every goal though. The leadership team needs to critically think about what specific business goals can be meet through community collaboration when developing the vision statement. 

If you choose to create a vision statement for your client project, consider working with the leadership of your organization. You will gain a better understanding of what their organization is trying to accomplish. You can brainstorm together on how community collaboration can help them meet some of their goals. Typically vision statements are written containing the following information: Who, collaborating around what, will deliver what benefits to themselves and what value to the organization? This format will guide you in the development of your vision statement with your client. 

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Collegiate DECA’s Social Media Strategy

Hootsuite Module 3 was covering social media strategy from A-Z. This module discussed several topics covering goals, best tactical practices, operational considerations, and evaluating your success. This was the module I was hoping would come next in the Hootsuite modules. After discussing Client Project 2/Hootsuite Module 2 with my client, Collegiate DECA, they were asking me well what should we be posting? I told them I did not know yet, but after completing this module, I have an answer for them!

When developing a strategy for DECA, I first completed a detailed audit of our audiences for each channel, an internal audit, and finally a competitor audit. When setting goals for DECA, I thought about not what we are doing now, but where could our social media accounts go. For example, who should our intended audiences be? Should our competitors be other Collegiate DECA chapters in Michigan or other College of Business registered student organizations, such as the American Marketing Association? When thinking about the best tactical practices, something I really considered was DECA’s brand persona and voice. I knew multiple people would be posting for DECA, so I thought about, how can these different people still use the same voice? A solution I came up with is that every post has to be reviewed by Mack, the member who is ultimately responsible for DECA’s social media this year. 

I am looking forward to sitting down with Mack to discuss Client Project #3. I hope she is receptive to the ideas I have to present and can provide feedback for future installments of the Client Project. 

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The Legal Side of Big Data

After watching the lecture on, “The Legal Side of Big Data” presented by Doug LaLone, it made me reflect on my internship this past summer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. I was unaware that in 2015, 78.8 million health records were hacked from Anthem Blue Cross. It all makes sense now why BCBSM stressed the importance of keeping protected health information, or PHI, extremely confidential during our internships. They started to drill this idea into our minds on the first day of orientation. At orientation, they made it clear to us that in some of our roles, we would have access to PHI. 

I worked with another intern, Andrew, throughout the summer on a project. I noticed Andrew carried his laptop with him everywhere he went! I am not kidding, even when he was ordering food in the cafeteria at the Renaissance building. I finally asked him, “Andrew, why do you carry your laptop everywhere? Don’t you ever just lock it up in your desk drawer?” He told me that he had access to PHI and that he was scared to leave his laptop, not by his side. LaLone talks about this when he was discussing how to protect data. He said to confirm that employment agreements are up to date and that employees have limited access to data. 

It appears now BCBSM does have a method to protect PHI. They do only allow access to certain employees of the company. For the employees who do not have access to PHI, they still train them through compliance training on the impact of losing PHI. As a member of society where my data is kept on databases throughout several companies, I hope those companies have procedures set in place to keep my data safe. 

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A New Approach to Personal Data

The use and distribution of our personal data is very normalized in our society and culture. The chances of something significant happening to you based on what data a company has on you is very rare, yet it is still possible. The public is starting to shift their paradigm on what should and should not be allowed when it comes to our personal data.

The article, “Blockchain Could Help Us Reclaim Control of Our Personal Data” published in the Harvard Business Review explores the idea of using distributed ledgers rather than central databases. If distributed ledgers were used everyone would be in charge of their own data. This would include browsing history, medical history, academic history, etc. The user would be in control of their information by holding a key to their account. If you wanted to share data with someone you could allow them access to certain information.

One of the bigger advantages to this model is that if you want to sell your data you can personally make that choice. The current system is set up where companies that have data on you, sell it to other companies to make a profit. Distributed ledgers would change the business model and put the power back in the hands of the consumer. 

After the activity we did in class this week, I feel like most students and citizens of our country, would prefer the use distributed ledgers rather than central databases. Power should be in the hands of the individual rather than in the hands of corporations! 

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Getting Organized

Would you run a half marathon with absolutely no training? No, of course! Your body and your mind are not prepared for that strenuous of a race. The same holds true for organizations that want to optimize their social media profiles. Before optimizing their profiles, a company needs to organize their profiles. Taking the time to get organized, it like taking the time to train for a race. If you take the time to prepare, you will most likely be more successful in the end!

There are plenty of ways to organize your social media profiles such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, in order to successfully optimize them. On these four social media sites listed, an organization should first create and set up their profile. Settings on these sites can be used to customize your follower’s experience. For example, on Facebook, you can change what the public can do on your page. Strategically thinking about what you want the purpose of your profile to be, will make setting up the profiles much easier. 

A company should take advantage of the key spaces on the profile. For example, on Twitter and Instagram, there is a short biography spot. Space is limited ranging from 150-160 characters depending on the site. What to fill in that space is completely dependent on the company. If your company is valued on their excellent customer service, then adding the customer service phone number in the bio could be a strategic move. 

Remember, organization leads to optimization! 

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Getting Active on LinkedIn

The power of social media is expanding every day. As a young professional who grew up sharing, posting, tweeting, etc. online, I am at an advantage to use social media to improve my professional social media presence.

I value LinkedIn as being one of the top professional social media platforms. One of my goals is to become more active on LinkedIn. Before starting my internship in May, I updated my profile because I knew throughout the summer I would be networking with several people. Connecting with professionals on LinkedIn is one of the easiest ways to stay in contact. 

I want to become more active on LinkedIn by posting about my experiences, sharing articles, and joining groups. I shared an article once during my internship that highlighted the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan internship program. I also posted right after my internship ended to share my experience overall. That post had 85 likes, 7 comments, and reached almost 5,000 people! I was shocked at how many people saw my post and the amount of invitations I received to connect with new people. 

I recognized the value of posting on LinkedIn after getting more active on the platform this summer. I have had employers reach out to me based on what information I have shared on my profile. I want to continue posting, at least once a month, to stay active. This semester in one of my business communication classes, we have to film a video resume and elevator pitch. I plan on uploading my video resume and possibly my elevator pitch to LinkedIn. This will set me apart from other users on the site. It will also be beneficial for individuals who are visual or auditory learners because instead of reading about what I have done, they can watch and listen to me speak about my experiences. 

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Consult Your Way To The Top!

Working as a freelance consultant is seeming to become more popular. With the continuous advancements in social media and the rise of an entrepreneurial spirit in America, individuals are getting more active in the gig economy. I believe there are three important qualities that make up a successful consultant: time management, problem-solving, and communication.

The first quality is the ability to manage your time effectively and efficiently. If you are working as a consultant, you most likely will be working with several different people or organizations. With a variety of projects on your plate, that have deadlines unique to them, it is essential to be able to manage your time.

The second quality that makes a successful consultant is someone who is excellent at problem-solving. The company or individual you are consulting for, most likely is coming to you because they do not know what the problem is. As a consultant, you have to first identify the problem, and then critically think of a strategic solution. If you exceed your client's expectations, by your creative problem solving, there is a good chance they will hire you again in the future and recommend your work others.

The third quality is the ability to communicate. If you are working with several clients at once, you will have to respond to each of them in a timely matter. I imagine a lot of communication is done over the phone, or through email. Therefore, the ability to communicate efficiently, both verbally and in writing is crucial. If you are working with several clients, you most likely will be interacting in a variety of industries. Your clients will have different products, services, target markets, etc. that you will have to take into consideration when constructing your messages for their audiences.

Working as a consultant seems like it would be a lot of fun! You are able to take a skill you have worked on, such as social media marketing, and help several companies all at one time. It may be fun, but I am sure it is also a lot of work. In order to be successful as a consultant, regardless of what area you specialize in, you should be able to manage your time, problem solve and communicate.

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The Ad Driven Internet Business Model

Maciej Ceglowski describes the birth of the internet’s business model. The internet business model that currently exists drives surveillance and data collection online. I created this diagram to represent what it is. 

This diagram is extremely simplified, but when watching the “Internet With The Human Face”, I drew this to express Ceglowski’s model. In this diagram, a business, for example, Converse, is giving money to a “computer sky business”, which is Axciom. Axciom collects data online from customers. In return, Converse purchases the data from Axciom. Converse then finds relationships between the data and decides where to place advertisements online and how to advertise its products. When those ads do not increase sales, Converse will purchase more data from Axciom. They then can create ads that tell more of a story (Investor Story Time). Axciom will receive more money, to gather more data etc. and the cycle continues. 

What inspired me from this speech is hearing the passion Ceglowski had for this topic. He offered a solution at the end of the speech. He began by saying we need to regulate what is going on! We need to regulate the data, how long it lives, let people opt out if they want and you should be able to look at data on you. Ceglowski also said that this right is for everyone, in every country! 

Sharing his idea, inspired me to care a lot more about internet surveillance. As someone who uses the internet every day and has been for a little longer than a decade, there is tons of data on me. How much of that is accurate is unclear? I have grown so much in 10+ years, and have changed my preferences. I wonder if the data on me is current, up to date? 

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Clicks Turn Into Cash

Whether you have sat in a marketing, information systems, or a human resource class, the phrase, “big data” most likely has been used by one of your professors. It seems that this term is the hot topic in today’s business world. The scary part though is that consumers are not focusing on it, and many do not even understand what it means.

The lecture from class this week, as well as the 60 Minutes’ Data Brokers story, revealed what is going on behind what we see on our screens, and when we make a purchase at the super market. Very few consumers are not asking the question, “Is my information private?" The answer is no.

Large companies such as Acxiom, monitor every click, purchase, and search we make as a consumer. Acxiom then sells this data to other companies so they can better understand how to market their products/services to the consumers. This is why big data is such a powerful tool for companies! They are able to store and analyze a lot of data to make connections between what would appear unrelated items.

The first thing to do to limit the harm of using big data is making the consumer aware of what is going on. You can take extra precautions as the consumer when searching the web, and downloading apps. When searching the web, you can use the site duckduckgo.com. This site does not track what you are searching. However, once you search what you are looking for, the next site you go to may track you. When you are looking to download an app, you should first read the fine print of the terms and conditions. This lets you know exactly what the company is taking from you.

However, many things are hard to control as the consumer. For example, every time you use your credit card for a purchase, whether online or in a store, that data is being kept and sold. In fact, according to the 60 Minutes special, many retailers have a second stream of income from selling this data about you. Many of these companies are making more money doing this, then selling their actual products or services. As the consumer, you would always have to pay with cash to avoid this.

I am ashamed to admit this, but at this point in time, I do not really care what data companies have on me. I am well aware that I am allowing companies to track my locations, purchases, etc. from the apps I have on my phone, and by not using a more secure search engine. I would rather use the internet for free, then pay the cost that companies pay to monitor my every click!

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Freedom

Louis C.K.’s interview with Conan and Sherry Turkle’s interview with Bill Moyers, both made a similar point of the importance of solitude. Louis C.K. said, “You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something. That's what the phones are taking away, is the ability to just sit there.” Sherry Turkle said, “I believe the capacity for solitude is terribly important to develop. I even believe that if you don’t teach your children to be alone, they will only know how to be lonely.” Some people believe myself included, that there is truth behind these statements. 

When I was a freshman in college, I came to the realization that at the end of the day, I am going to be alone by myself, so I might as well have fun by myself! This includes not only having fun but taking time for myself. Setting aside time for solitude every week is very important to me. My form of solitude is yoga and meditation. 

From my practice, I have noticed that when I am in social situations and my friends are on their phones, I do not have the need to be on my phone as well. I am comfortable sitting in silence. Sherry Turkle made the point of there being two separate realities; real world with real people and the world within your phone. There is a variety of things to explore and observe within these different worlds. However, it is important to be mindful of when you are using your phone, and what you are taking in.

The advancement of technology, regarding cell phones, has affected our lives in a variety of ways, both positively and negatively. At the end of the day, you are fortunate enough to choose how much screen time you want to use. 

http://billmoyers.com/segment/sherry-turkle-on-being-alone-together/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbYScltf1c

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Taking A Time Out: My Social Media Usage

Taking time to remove yourself from individuals, activities you are involved in, or social media, are opportunities to take a step back from your everyday life. It allows you to be mindful and observe your habits. It is a time for self-reflection, which I believe is important to do every so often. This week, I logged my social media use for one day, and the following day I took a 24-hour cleanse from social media. 

The day I logged my time spent on social media, I spent two hours and twenty minutes throughout my day on Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Facebook! I was surprised at how fast that time totaled throughout the day. Since this was only one given day, I cannot determine that I spend that much time everyday. Some days I may end up spending a lot more! It would be interesting to do this experiment over a week and find an average. 

The day I took a 24 hour cleanse from social media was overall successful! I became a lot more aware of my habits. I realized that every morning when I wake up, I reach for my phone and want to check my social media accounts. Going forward, I want to replace this habit. Before checking my social media accounts in the morning, I want to do something productive first! I did end up caving and checking my LinkedIn. I replied to a few messages, and checked my notifications. I was proud of myself though because I did not sit there and scroll the feed. Normally, I would have spent another 5-10 minutes doing that.

One tip that I can give to anyone reading this blog is to shut off his or her social media notifications! I did this about a year ago and have noticed a change in my habits. I check my social media a lot less frequently and spend less time on each application. Instead, I will take breaks throughout the day to go through the applications, than checking them every time I receive a new Snapchat or Facebook notification. 

I do not think I will ever delete all of my social media accounts because I use them as a creative outlet. It was a way to express myself and observe how others express themselves online. It is a platform to share articles, photos, or videos that either I create, or find from other individuals. I am able to stay connected with friends, family, and random individuals I meet on an everyday basis. Instead of taking a complete time out from my social media usage, I think the next healthy step is to find more of balance. I will keep you all posted on how doing something more productive in the morning before checking my phone goes!

#socialmedia balance challenge

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How Social Media Makes History

The Ted Talk done by Clay Shirky called, “How social media can make history,” was filmed in June 2009! With 1,673,287 views on Ted.com/talks, this video itself has made history.

A key point that Shirky made is that social media creates a conversation between an organization and the followers of the organization. No longer is it just the organization that is sending out messages to consumers, but both parties have a platform to share their opinion. That platform is social media.

Social media has given some power back to the consumers, and taken away some power from the organization. Social media has created a much healthier relationship between the two sides. No longer is the consumer’s voice hushed, but it is able to raise its voice whenever it pleases. This is revolutionary in how we can think about doing business in today’s fast moving, social society. 

Organizations know that if their product or service fails a customer, that customer has the freedom to voice their opinion online.  They know that the upset customer has followers who will like, share, retweet, etc. the post criticizing the organization. On the other end of the spectrum, organizations also know that if they exceed a customer's needs, that customer in return may praise that organization online. 

These screenshots were taken from https://www.reviewtrackers.com/examples-responding-reviews/ to give an example of how powerful the consumer is in their relationship with an organization. 

The relationship between the consumer and the organization is one that continues to evolve every time a new way to send a message is released. The sooner an organization uses social media to connect and create a relationship with their followers (consumers), the faster they may gain that loyal customer.