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sciencespies · 4 years

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The Decade's Biggest Technology Disappointments

https://sciencespies.com/news/the-decades-biggest-technology-disappointments/

The Decade's Biggest Technology Disappointments

Like most teen years, the past decade in technology started out someplace relatively innocent before growing moody, dark and disillusioned. In 2010, we were excited about new iPhones and finding old friends on Facebook, not fretting about our digital privacy or social media’s threat to democracy. Now we are wondering how to rein in the largest companies in the world and reckoning with wanting innovation to be both fast and responsible.

Over the past 10 years, new technology has changed how we communicate, date, work, get around and pass time. But for every hit, there have been high-profile disappointments and delays. That includes overpriced gadgets for making juice, face computers, promises of taking a vacation in space and companies claiming to be saving the world.

The failures served a purpose, acting as reality checks for the technology industry and the people who fund, regulate or consume its products. Tech companies spent the last decade first trying to grasp, then distance themselves from, their impact on society. Facebook’s famously decommissioned “move fast and break things” motto sounded plucky in 2010 and laughably misguided in 2019, when the company had, in fact, broken things.

It was a decade when billions of dollars were thrown at tech companies, and yet many of the promises those companies made never materialized, blew up in our faces or were indefinitely delayed. And while tech failures are nothing new, taken together they brought the innovation industrial complex closer to earth and made us all a bit more realistic – if less fun.

Like proper adults.

The benevolent, world-saving tech company

“Don’t be evil” read Google’s famous motto, which sat atop its code of conduct until 2018, when it was quietly demoted to the last line.

At the beginning of the decade, that is exactly how many of the largest tech companies and CEOs marketed themselves. Their products were not only going to make daily life easier or more enjoyable, but they also would make the entire world better – even if their business models depended on ads and your personal data.

“Facebook was not originally founded to be a company. We’ve always cared primarily about our social mission,” chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a 2012 letter, just before the company’s initial public offering. He outlined lofty visions going forward, including that Facebook would create a more “honest and transparent dialogue” about government through accountability.

Instead, the decade turned toward disinformation, and hate speech spread on social media. Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube were used to spread disinformation ahead of the 2016 U.S. election, while Google briefly worked on a search engine for China that would censor content. Companies profited off mountains of user data they collected but failed to protect, as major data breaches hit Equifax, Yahoo and others.

In response, workers are pushing back, growing into quiet armies attempting to redirect their companies toward social goals.

Face computers

Google co-founder Sergey Brin debuted Google Glass in 2012 by wearing a prototype of the smart glasses onstage. Its real PR outing came later that year when skydivers live-streamed their jump out of a blimp above San Francisco during a Google developer conference.

By showing information in front of the face instead of on a phone, Google said, the $1,500 Glass would allow people to interact more with the world around them. Instead, its legacy has been questions about our right to privacy from recording devices, the word “glasshole,” and at least one bar fight. The company stopped selling Glass to consumers in 2015 and shifted it to a workplace product, targeting everyone from factory workers to doctors.

Google was not alone. Microsoft made HoloLens, a technically ambitious piece of eyewear that looked like round steampunk goggles and used augmented reality. Facebook bought virtual-reality goggle maker Oculus for $2 billion and heavily invested in and promoted it as a gaming and entertainment device (and the future of social media). Magic Leap, another augmented reality headset promising immersive and mind-blowing entertainment, managed to raise $2.6 billion and only release one $2,295 developer product.

Eventually we may wear glasses that display useful information on top of the real world, outfitted with smart assistants that whisper in our ears. Google’s early attempt at a consumer face-wearable was not destined to be that device.

A more efficient way of eating

Juice. Colorful, thirst-quenching, packed with vitamins, on-demand juice. It seemed an unlikely thing for Silicon Valley to try to disrupt. But in the 2010s, entrepreneurs’ impatience with preparing and even consuming the calories necessary to survive led to a number of eating innovations.

One of the decade’s most memorable tech failures asked the question: What if you spent $699 for an elaborate machine that squeezed juice from proprietary bags of fruit and vegetable pulp for you? The answer, discovered by intrepid Bloomberg journalists in 2017, is that you could squeeze those packets with your hands instead of overpaying for a machine. That machine was Juicero, and it raised $120 million in funding before shutting down just five months later.

Other food innovations have fallen fall short of their revolutionary promises. Smart ovens became fire hazards; meal-kit delivery start-ups went under; robots tossed salads, mixed drinks and flipped burgers; and pod-based devices for random foods (cocktails, tortillas, cookies, yoghurt, jello shots) failed. And then there’s Soylent – a meal in drink form, designed to save time by cutting out “tasting good” and “chewing.” Soylent has managed to find a small but enthusiastic fan base, and even got into solids recently with a line of meal-replacement bars called Squared.

The decade’s real food change came from delivery apps that pay on-demand workers to bring meals made in actual kitchens to your door. Those companies are dealing with employee protests over low and confusing pay while trying to become profitable.

Non-Facebook social networks

Remember Path? Color? Yik Yak, Meerkat and Google Buzz? And iTunes Ping, Apple’s short-lived attempt at making its music hub social? Start-ups and the tech giants alike launched social products over the past decade, but few succeeded.

In 2010 there was Google Buzz, which was quickly replaced by Google+ in 2011. The service struggled to attract users and experienced privacy issues, such as a bug exposing more than 52 million people’s data. It was finally declared dead this year, though some of its best features live on in Google Photos.

Vine burned bright for too short a time before being closed in 2016 by Twitter, which had bought the company for a reported $30 million in 2012. (Speaking of Twitter, it hung on thanks in part to its popularity with politicians, celebrities and people who are mad online, though it is far smaller than Facebook. Snapchat and TikTok have also carved out niches.)

Facebook dominated at the start of the decade and continues to dominate at the end, in part by buying or blatantly copying any competitors along the way. It acquired Instagram and WhatsApp, integrating both more closely with the Facebook brand. Even with major scandals and fumbles, its global user base grew to more than 2 billion people.

A crowdfunding, DIY revolution

For a short time, it looked as though the next generation of gadgets would come from outside the usual Silicon Valley idea factories. They would be dreamed up by passionate hobbyists, prototyped on 3-D printers and funded by fans instead of venture capitalists (though still manufactured in Shenzhen, China). Despite some notable successes – Oculus, Peloton, Boosted Boards – it turns out getting an idea from your cocktail napkin to market is pretty tough.

Notable failures include the disappointing Coolest Cooler, which featured both Bluetooth and a blender and raised more than $13 million on Kickstarter in 2014. It failed to deliver products to a third of its backers; many that shipped didn’t work. Others never materialized, such as iBackPack, which was supposed to produce a WiFi hotspot. The people behind it raised more than $800,000 and were accused by the Federal Trade Commission of using those funds to buy bitcoin and pay off credit cards. Skarp Laser Razor, a razor with dubious hair-removal technology, managed to get more than $4 million in pledges from interested customers before Kickstarter suspended its campaign for violating policies on working prototypes.

(Kickstarter said the vast majority of its products make it to production and that it aims “to be quite clear about the fact that not all projects will go smoothly.”)

Consumer 3-D printers also failed to live up to the hype. We were supposed to have a printer in every home, spitting out replacement LEGOs and screws, art projects, and even food. The high cost of the devices and the skills needed to use them could not compete with overnight shipping.

Drones dropping deliveries

“Could it be, you know, four, five years? I think so. It will work, and it will happen, and it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said.

The year was 2013, and Bezos was on “60 Minutes” to unveil the next big thing in package delivery: drones. He said that within that time frame, quadcopters would be able to drop packages from warehouses at customers’ doors within 30 minutes. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

In 2016, Amazon showed off its first commercial drone delivery in a rural area of the United Kingdom, a 13-minute delivery of an Amazon Fire TV streaming device and a bag of popcorn. Its latest drone iteration was on display earlier this year at MARS, its weird tech conference, again promising that drone deliveries were coming soon.

But as of the end of the decade, Amazon packages are still being delivered by humans. In fact, Amazon announced in 2018 that it was adding 20,000 delivery vans via third-party delivery partners to its ground fleet. Other companies, including Uber, UPS and Alphabet’s Wing, have also been testing drone deliveries, and it’s possible that we will have boxes from the sky onto porches in the next decade.

Vaping to fix smoking

It was supposed to be safer than smoking and a way to quit nicotine altogether. While vaping has indeed caught on, its biggest selling point has blown up in recent years. Eight deaths and more than 2,500 cases of lung-related illnesses have been linked to vaping in the United States.

Critics say fun-sounding flavors and colorful devices, most notably from the company Juul, have made vaping wildly popular with teenagers – one in four high schoolers vapes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now the FDA and lawmakers are investigating vaping companies. But if we draw on experience from the cigarette industry, vaping is not likely to disappear anytime soon.

Amazon’s big phone play

Apple and Google have direct access to billions of people with their smartphone operating systems and hardware – 2.5 billion devices run Google’s Android operating system, and 900 million iPhones are in use.

One company noticeably absent from our pockets is Amazon, but not for lack of trying. After several years of stealth development, Amazon announced its Fire Phone in 2014. The smartphone did not look like much, started at $199, ran on a customized version of Android and was available only on AT&T. Amazon reported $83 million of unused inventory in late 2014, and it discontinued the Fire Phone a year after its introduction.

Now that Amazon is competing against those two companies for voice-assistant dominance, its lack of a smartphone is even more glaring. It has put Alexa in anything with a microphone, from cameras to headphones and, soon, eye glasses. (It is on smartphones, but you have to open the Alexa app first.) Meanwhile Apple’s Siri and Google’s Assistant are already in pockets, built into the core of the devices and listening for their next cue.

Tourists in space

It is no secret that big-name billionaires love space. Despite their passion, the three boldest aspiring space barons have made and missed deadlines for sending people into space this decade.

Richard Branson said Virgin Galactic would fly tourists into space by 2020, but its last test mission was two test pilots and a crew member at the start of last year. Bezos said at an Air Force Association conference in late 2018 that Blue Origin would send a test flight into the upper atmosphere with people on board this year, but the most recent test flight, on Dec. 11, contained no humans. In 2017, Elon Musk announced that SpaceX had taken deposits to fly two passengers around the moon in 2018. That flight did not take place. He has the whole next decade to hit a different goal, set in 2011: sending someone to Mars by 2031.

There are plenty of interested customers. Virgin Galactic has sold tickets to more than 700 people wanting to take a trip to space at $250,000 a seat.

If there is one thing on this list we would not want to rush just to meet a deadline, it is loading civilians into private rockets and hurling them into space.

#News

#12-2019 Science News #2019 Science News #Earth Environment #earth science #Environment and Nature #Nature Science #News Science Spies #Our Nature #planetary science #Science #Science News #Science Spies #Science Spies News #Space Physics & Nature #Space Science #News

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magzoso-tech · 4 years

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New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/the-decades-biggest-technology-disappointments/

The Decade's Biggest Technology Disappointments

Like proper adults.

The benevolent, world-saving tech company

“Don’t be evil” read Google’s famous motto, which sat atop its code of conduct until 2018, when it was quietly demoted to the last line.

In response, workers are pushing back, growing into quiet armies attempting to redirect their companies toward social goals.

Face computers

A more efficient way of eating

Non-Facebook social networks

A crowdfunding, DIY revolution

(Kickstarter said the vast majority of its products make it to production and that it aims “to be quite clear about the fact that not all projects will go smoothly.”)

Drones dropping deliveries

“Could it be, you know, four, five years? I think so. It will work, and it will happen, and it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said.

Vaping to fix smoking

Amazon’s big phone play

Tourists in space

It is no secret that big-name billionaires love space. Despite their passion, the three boldest aspiring space barons have made and missed deadlines for sending people into space this decade.

There are plenty of interested customers. Virgin Galactic has sold tickets to more than 700 people wanting to take a trip to space at $250,000 a seat.

If there is one thing on this list we would not want to rush just to meet a deadline, it is loading civilians into private rockets and hurling them into space.

#Miscellaneous

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poop4u · 5 years

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The Books on My Bookshelf

#Poop4U

Holy moly, Batman, the books on my night stand are piling up. Here’s a sample:

OUR DOGS OURSELVES, by Alexandra Horowitz. (Released September 3rd, but available for pre order.) This thoughtful book by the author of The Inside of a Dog and Being a Dog deserves to be read by dog lovers everywhere. I say that, full disclosure, not having read the entire book yet. An “advance readers edition” came several weeks ago, and I will admit to, at first, feeling a bit wary of how much new information it would contain. But then I started reading it, and this is, bravely and insightfully, a book that goes far beyond the usual musings about our relationship with dogs.

One early chapter is titled “Owning Dogs,” and explores our contradictory relationship with dogs–legally defined as property and yet considered by many of us to be family members and best friends. I’ve said in the past that if someone took one of my dogs it would be kidnapping, not stealing. But that’s not what the laws says. This is an issue that we’ve never adequately addressed, involving many complicated considerations, and I appreciate Horowitz’s attempts to continue a conversation about it.

Another chapter looks at our country’s spay and neuter practices–no controversy there (!). The author takes this issue on full frontal:

“For me simply to bring up the topic of de-sexing for discussion will be, in the eyes of some, impermissible. So sacred is the policy–so heartfelt (and good-hearted) is the intent behind it–that one is almost not allowed to talk about it.”

But of course, she does, and asks us to look carefully at costs and benefits of our current belief in whole-scale spaying and neutering. (Note this other article that looks at the costs of spay-neuter policies.

Our Dogs, Ourselves also takes on the biology and ethics of current breeding practices, among other topics, so expect to be engaged. Horowitz faces these controversial issues head on, and I love her for it. In subsequent posts I’ll no doubt talk about these issues, perhaps agreeing or disagreeing with the author, but grateful nonetheless that she is talking about them.

Last thing: Horowitz or her editors deserve an award for “best titles ever,” after The Inside of a Dog (from Mark Twain’s “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”) Our Dogs, Ourselves is, of course, reminiscent of Our Bodies, Ourselves. Kudos.

TRANSFORMING TRAUMA: Resilience and Healing Through Our Connections with Animals, edited by Philip Tedeschi and Molly Anne Jenkins.

Well, this is a fundamental switch from a book like the one above, but I highly recommend it to people who are interested in trauma recovery, especially in relation to animal-assisted interactions and therapy. Those of you who have read The Education of Will are aware that trauma is a central theme is my life’s story, so this is a book that speaks to me professionally and personally. What I like about the book is its integration of kindness and benevolence, along with lots and lots of good, solid science that backs up what we know, and don’t know, about the impact of human-animal interactions in the recovery of trauma.

Actually, “The impact of human-animal interactions in the recovery of trauma” is title of the first chapter, whose lead author is Marguerite O’Haire (who I refer to as “The Woman Whose Talks Should Never Be Missed”). Seriously, this chapter is worth the price of the book for its summary of evidence-based research, and introducing (to most of us), the concept of “bio-affiliative safety”, in which other animals allow trauma victims to turn off their vigilance and mechanisms of defense.

This is not beach reading. For example, in Chapter One, relating to bio-affiliative safety: “In Porges’ explorations of the polyvagal system and the concept of neuroception, we can begin to understand how the presence of a nonhuman animal interaction may offer critical information . . . “.

But that’s exactly why I am a fan of this work–we need to continue to push beyond the feel-good, rosy picture of all animals helping all people all the time, and support serious science that looks at exactly how, and how not, other animals can help us humans recover from trauma.

The other perspective that is vital in Transforming Trauma is its emphasis on never using animals in a way that discomforts or exploits them. Here, here.

DOG BEHAVIOR, MODERN SCIENCE AND OUR CANINE COMPAIONS, by James Ha and Tracy Campion. Also not a beach reach, this book is a treasure trove of information for people who are interested in the integration of science and dog training. It includes a great deal of history and analysis of animal behavior studies, from Darwin’s interest in canine skulls, to cost-benefit analyses of decision making. It’s both practical (lots of stories from the author’s case studies) and theoretical (kin selection and dogs–who talks about that?).

What I love most about this book is based in part on my shared academic experience with one of the authors, James Ha. Both of us were trained as ethologists, and both of us spent years studying animal behavior in a general sense before we became involved in the dog world. I’ve always believed that to truly understand dog behavior, you need to understand the full range of behavior found in the animal world, so that you can put dogs in perspective. That’s exactly what this book does, and that’s why, for example, reading the chapter titled “Debunking Dominance: Canine social structure and behavioral ecology” is like a breath of fresh air. The chapter begins thus: “The social structure of a species, and hence their social behavior, is based upon resource distribution”. Oh, oh, music to my ears to see this in print. This is such an important concept to grasp, as is the fact that individuals of very closely related species can behave very differently, in part based on resource distribution. (Compare male-dominate chimps versus matriachal bonobos for example.)

Anyone who argues against “dominance or force-based training” would profit from reading this chapter, from its distinction between dominance and aggression, to the evidence that wolf packs in the wild are not “dominated by a alpha” but led by parent-like adults who take on roles of defense and hunting/provisioning, primarily based on sex.

There’s lots and lots more in this book, and I look forward to reading more of it, I’m thinking it will be a great way to start my every morning. (I tend to read fiction at night, non-fiction in the morning. You?)

GOOD AS A GIRL: A MEMOIR, by Ray Olderman. Ready for a paradigm shift? This book has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with dogs, but it holds a special place in my heart because it was written by a man who saved my soul in college. Quite literally. I was taking his class in literature at UW-Madison and working part time at the Primate Center. Long story, but at that time, the housing conditions for the monkeys at the Center were profoundly different than they are now. And pretty awful. When I went to the someone in charge to talk about what I felt were abuses, he literally told me “There is no biological evidence that monkeys can feel pain.” Yup, that’s what he said, in the mid 1980’s. I had thought that perhaps I could have some effect on the way the monkeys were treated, but it became clear that my ability to do so was negligible.

I couldn’t quit, I desperately needed the money, and I mean desperately. I could barely afford to eat. And yet working there violated everything I believed in. I stopped sleeping, and had a hard time just getting through the day. Ironically, in my literature class we were reading a book about a man who thought he could change a corrupt system by working within it, but was eventually destroyed by it. I finally went to see my professor, Ray Olderman and told him I was living the life we were reading about it. And it was killing me. And I couldn’t quit, I was beyond broke and there were no jobs available at that time of year. He hired me on the spot, finding some spare money to help him with grading. I will never forget it, and will always be grateful.

And so, I admit to a profound lack of objectivity about Ray’s book. But here’s the thing. I loved the book. Ray’s mother had wanted a girl, and had no pretense that she was disappointed when Ray turned out to be a boy. And so, at age eight, he vowed to her that he’d be “as good as a girl”. We follow Ray throughout his life trying to understand the female perspective while negotiating the complexities of Madison WI in the 70’s and 80’s during a time of profound cultural change.

If you’re interested in a delightful memoir about a guy who “couldn’t keep his mouth shut,” fought the system all of his life while doing all he could to understand women, this book is for you.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: This weekend seemed to be a celebration of small, flying animals. This bee and butterfly kept displacing each other until they finally settled into feeding on opposite sides of the Hyssop flower.

Here’s the butterfly by itself; it appears to be a species in the Checkerspot group, but I’m not confident to say which one exactly.

This is one of my favorite insects, a hummingbird moth. Check out the video in the link, it’s really fun.

And here’s the source of its mimicry, still finding nutrition in this tacky looking Bee Balm flower.

Swallowtails everywhere. Monarchs too, although I could never get a shot. I hear that Monarchs are doing better this summer (yay!), and it’s also wonderful to see so many bees out. Finally! The wet spring and early summer was so hard on them, and they have enough challenges right now.

What brought you joy this week, whether a new book, animals or plants? You know I’d love to hear.

Poop4U Blog via www.Poop4U.com Trisha, Khareem Sudlow

#poop4u #cute dog #dogs of tumblr #puppy doggo #doglover #doggrooming #my doggo #dogmeme

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unlovedaddict · 5 years

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unifiedsocialblog · 5 years

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How to Manage a Social Media Crisis: A Practical Guide for Brands

On social media, things can move blindingly fast. Sometimes, it’s an Instagram post of an egg going inexplicably viral. But sometimes, it’s a PR crisis that seems to come out of nowhere.

Your best chance to make it through a social media crisis is to prepare ahead of time. Have a solid plan, a list of key stakeholders and responsibilities, and a clear chain of command.

Of course, it’s even better if you can prevent a crisis before it begins.

In this post, we’ll look at methods for spotting potential issues as they emerge and how to shut a problem down in the early stages. If that doesn’t work, we’ll show you what to do if you end up with a full-blown social media crisis management situation on your hands.

Bonus: Get the step-by-step social media strategy guide with pro tips on how to grow your social media presence.

9 social media crisis management tips for businesses and brands

1. Create a social media policy

Some of the worst social media situations start with an employee posting something inappropriate. Fortunately, these are also some of the easiest crises to avoid.

The best way to prevent this type of social media crisis is to create a solid social media policy for your company. It should provide clear guidelines for appropriate use, outline expectations for branded accounts, and explain how employees can talk about your the business on their personal channels.

The details of your social media policy will vary based on factors like your industry and the size of your company. Here are some subjects all social media policies should include:

Copyright guidelines. Don’t assume employees understand how copyright applies online. Provide clear instructions about how to use and credit third-party content.

Privacy guidelines. Specify how to interact with customers online, and when a conversation needs to move to a private channel.

Confidentiality guidelines. Describe what business information employees are allowed (even encouraged) to share, and what should be kept under wraps.

Brand voice guidelines. Do you maintain a formal tone? Can your social team get a little goofy?

Lockheed Martin’s social team got a little too casual on social media for World Photo Day 2018. The world’s largest arms producer posted a tweet asking followers to share a photo of one of their products. The now-deleted tweet said:

“Do you have an amazing photo of one of our products? Tag us in our pic and we may feature it during our upcoming #WorldPhotoDay celebration on Aug. 19!”

This carefree tone from an arms manufacturer would probably have brought in some challenging replies in the best of circumstances. But just a few hours later, CNN broke a news story that a Lockheed Martin bomb has been used on an attack that killed children in Yemen. People seized on the story and started responding to Lockheed Martin’s photo request tweet with CNN’s photo of a bomb fragment from the attack.

2. When Lockheed Martin got shut down hard on #WorldPhotoDay

Lockheed Martin is the world’s biggest arms manufacturer, and a top American defence contractor.

This tweet received intense backlash. What a surprise ???? pic.twitter.com/traJXp9awz

— Josh@PerkyMarketing (@PerkyMarketing) October 3, 2018

Lockheed Martin’s response was basically not to respond. They simply deleted the original tweet. The challenge of trying to make a problematic post disappear is that screencaps live on in the many news stories about the blunder. Consider this an example of how not to handle a social media crisis.

2. Secure your accounts

Weak passwords and other social media security risks can quickly expose your brand to a social media crisis. In fact, employees are more likely to cause a cyber security crisis than hackers are.

The more people who know your social media account passwords, the more chances there are for a security breach. Don’t share passwords among the various members of your team who need access to your social accounts. I use a centralized system like Hootsuite to control use permissions and grant the appropriate level of access.

Centralizing access also allows you to revoke access for employees who leave the company or move to a role that no longer requires them to post on social.

When the New York Daily News laid off half its employees, a departing member of the social team started posting strange GIFs to the paper’s Twitter account.

Aww, someone deleted the .gif. But —the internet is forever! ???? pic.twitter.com/VHK8vNQgCp

— Rebecca I. Allen (@rebeccaallen) July 23, 2018

The Tweets were relatively harmless. A situation like this could quickly turn into a social media crisis, though. What if the rogue employee posted confidential or inflammatory material?

A similar situation happened back in 2013, when HMV laid off a large portion of its staff. The company’s Twitter feed was a play-by-play of the mass firings, beginning with “We’re tweeting live from HR where we’re all being fired! Exciting!!”

But here’s the key HMV Tweet you can learn from:

“Just heard our Marketing Director (he’s staying folks) ask ‘How do I shut down Twitter?’”

Hey @hmvtweets – deleting the tweets and ignoring the situation doesn't mean it didn't happen: http://t.co/beiwPaMN #hmvxfactorfiring

— Lily Sangster ???? (@lilysangster) January 31, 2013

It’s critical to have control of your social channels. Managers to know how to limit or revoke access in a social media crisis management situation.

3. Use social listening to identify potential issues

A good social listening program can help you spot an emerging issue on social media well before it turns into a crisis.

Monitoring brand mentions can give you some advanced warning of a surge of social activity. But if you really want to keep an eye out for a potential social media crisis, you should be monitoring social sentiment.

Social sentiment is a metric that captures how people feel about your brand. If you see a sudden change, that’s an immediate clue to start digging into your listening streams to see what people are saying about you. A sudden spike in brand mentions is always worth investigating, too.

Using Hootsuite Insights, you can set alerts so you’re automatically notified if there are major changes in sentiment or volume of mentions. This gives you advance warning of a crisis while it’s still in the early stages.

ZeroFOX is another great software solution for advance warning of a potential crisis. Integrated with your Hootsuite dashboard, it will:

send you alerts about dangerous or offensive content targeting your brand

malicious links posted on your social channels

and scams targeting your business or your customers

4. Define what counts as a crisis

People are going to say rude things about you online. That’s a fact, not a crisis.

But if enough people are saying the same negative things about you on social, all at the same time, that might be a crisis—or a potential crisis waiting to explode. What really identifies a social media crisis is a major negative change in the online conversation about your brand.

In order to identify a change from the norm, of course, you have to know what the norm is. Your ongoing social listening work should give you a pretty clear idea of what a normal day looks like for your brand.

For negative comments to count as a crisis, there also needs to be potential long-term damage to your brand. Even if a large number of people are posting negatively, it may be best to respond through customer service channels.

As an organization, you should define how much of a change in sentiment you need to see before you can start thinking about the event as a potential crisis. Once the numbers hit that threshold, review the situation with the appropriate people to decide whether you should implement your crisis communication plan.

On that note…

5. Craft a crisis communication plan

A company-wide social media crisis communication plan allows you to respond quickly to any potential issue. Instead of debating how to handle things, or waiting for senior managers to weigh in, you can take action and prevent things from getting out of control.

Acting fast is important. More than a quarter of crises spread internationally within just one hour. But it takes companies an average of 21 hours to defend themselves in any kind of meaningful way. That’s nearly a full day for the crisis to make the rounds on the web with no meaningful intervention from your team.

On December 23, 2018, a security guard at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Portland called the police on a black hotel guest for “loitering” in the lobby while taking a phone call. The guest posted video of the event to Twitter, sparking a #boycottDoubleTree hashtag.

The hotel’s first tweet after the incident was a tone-deaf Happy Holidays post. That post got 403 comments from angry Twitter users, with no response from the hotel.

For Christmas this year, I’ll be telling all my friends to avoid your hotel, and to tell their families not to stay there when they visit. Instead of wasting time trying to ignore what happened, why don’t you fire the security guard in question and make some real changes?

— Katie Steele (@k8eesteele) December 26, 2018

It took three whole days for the hotel to even acknowledge the incident on Twitter. Yes, it was the holidays. But three days is too long.

Your plan should describe the exact steps everyone will take on social media during a crisis—from top executives to the most junior employees. Include a list of who needs to be alerted at each stage of a potential social media crisis.

Your social media crisis communication plan should include:

Guidelines for identifying the type and magnitude of a crisis.

Roles and responsibilities for every department.

A communication plan for internal updates.

Up-to-date contact information for critical employees.

Approval processes for messaging posted on social media.

Any pre-approved external messages, images, or information.

A link to your social media policy.

No matter how well you prepare, the nature of a crisis means you won’t be able to resolve everything with just one or two social media posts. But people expect to hear from you, and it’s important for you to acknowledge the problem right away. Even during holidays, you need to be able to respond quickly in case of an emergency.

A couple of humble and informative posts buy you the time to put the rest of your social media crisis communication plan into action. Simply acknowledge that there’s a problem and let people know that more information is coming soon.

6. Stop all scheduled posts

During a social media crisis, scheduled posts will at best make you look goofy.

Take, for example, this App Store tweet encouraging followers to download the New York Times cooking app. It’s a perfectly reasonable tweet to send out the day before Thanksgiving.

Need some help planning your #Thanksgiving feast?

Try the @NYTimes cooking app: https://t.co/zlAMOoUS3R pic.twitter.com/kfWN3H1RPG

— App Store (@AppStore) November 21, 2018

One problem: Apple was facing a major outage at the time, and the App Store was down.

In this case, Apple just looked a bit silly, and the tweet gave followers more ammunition to complain about the outage.

But a pre-scheduled post that goes out in a social media crisis situation can also make your brand look ignorant and insensitive. The DoubleTree Happy Holidays post mentioned above could well have been a scheduled tweet.

In a worst-case scenario, a scheduled tweet during a crisis could completely derail your crisis management plan. It’s critical for all communication to be planned, consistent, and appropriate in tone. A scheduled post will be none of those things.

Shut down all scheduled posts as soon as you activate your social media crisis communication plan.

7. Engage—but don’t argue

Once you’ve posted that initial response, it’s time to get key staff working on more in-depth messaging. That might mean a press release, an official statement, or a letter or video from your CEO

But since we’re talking about social media, simply issuing statements won’t cut it. You’re going to have to engage with people who may be saying very negative things about you online.

Keep it short. Avoid getting pulled into a long discussion of what went wrong. Instead, try to move the conversation to a more personal channel, like private messaging. You could also offer a phone number, email address, or other means of communicating outside of social media.

When Johnson & Johnson faced a crisis of allegations about asbestos in its baby powder, the company created a webpage and a Twitter thread specifically addressing the main concerns people were expressing both on and off social media. The social team actively responded to concerned tweets, and referred people to the webpage for consistent information.

Hello there. We understand your concerns about the headlines you’ve been seeing, and we want to put your mind at ease – our talc is safe. We are committed to the highest safety and quality standards in every Johnson’s product. Please visit https://t.co/aCzCAGe46R to learn more.

— Johnson & Johnson (@JNJNews) December 29, 2018

Of course, some people will simply keep arguing with you until you stop responding. When it’s clear you’re not making progress, acknowledge the concerns and frustrations, but stop taking the bait. Getting pulled into a fight online will not improve the situation. During a social media crisis, people are watching, so you’ve simply got to take the high road.

8. Communicate internally

Communicating internally is a crucial part of your crisis management response. This keeps everyone on the same page and helps to prevent misinformation and the spread of rumors.

Make sure everyone in the organization knows exactly what they should (or should not) say about the crisis on social media. Hootsuite Amplify offers an easy way to distribute pre-approved company messaging to all employees that they can share on their own social accounts.

9. Learn from the experience

Once you make it through your first social media crisis, take the time to debrief and examine what happened. Keep a detailed record of everything you did, and how well it worked.

This is a good time to get the whole company together to talk about the experience you’ve all been through, and share knowledge and experiences from different teams. Maybe the customer service department had some important insight. Or maybe public relations has some new guidelines that need to be incorporated into your social media plan.

Take the time to examine your social media plan. Think about anything you could add that would prevent a similar crisis from occurring in the future. And review your crisis communication plan to look for opportunities to incorporate lessons learned.

Use Hootsuite to manage and monitor all your social profiles in one place. From a single dashboard you can see what people are saying about your brand and respond accordingly. Permission, compliance, and security features will also come in handy when handling or mitigating any PR crisis. Try it free today!

Get Started

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3one3 · 7 years

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The Sequel - 861

Forgettable

André Schürrle, Juan Mata, other Chelsea/BVB players, and random awesome OC’s (okay they’re less random now but they’re still pretty awesome)

original epic tale

all chapters of The Sequel

“What was the last song stuck in your head?”

“Uhhhm...This morning, “Unforgettable”, from French Montana and J. Balvin.”

“Has it got a big beat that stays in your head, or is it catchy lyrics?”

“My girlfriend was playing it in the car last night- you know, singing and dancing with it very loud.”

“Is she a talented singer?”

“No,” Juan snorted with a great big smile. “The chorus part is in Spanish and she can’t say the words fast enough.”

“You’ve traveled to many different places, as a footballer, and on hol-“

Okay that’s enough, Christina grumbled after pausing the short video clip from a fun interview Juan gave at Cobham on Monday for a popular YouTube creator who produced football-related content with a number of typical partners like adidas, the Premier League, and Whisper Films. The rider was waiting for her agent and a TV crew from Sky Sports to arrive to do her own interview on Tuesday morning for the evening’s primetime coverage of one of the last days of the Olympics. They wanted Dirk, so they had to come to her, and they were late. Christina made what was fast looking like a mistake in deciding to kill some time by reading her Twitter mentions.

She had a very distant relationship with her fans on social media. Her policy was “don’t read the replies”, and Tim practically forbade her from responding to any of them unless she was specifically doing an open Q&A. Sometimes she interacted with actual friends in public on Twitter and Instagram. She commented on their photos, for example, or made jokes at their expense on Twitter. Sometimes she even flirted publically with André on both platforms. Mostly she just posted information and photos that she thought her fans would enjoy. Someone in Tim’s office also posted content on her behalf. Largely ignoring the comments and avoiding engagement didn’t mean she was unaware of the broad trends in conversation about her and among her supporters, and detractors. Christina was aware that there was a fairly vocal bloc of fans in her 600,000-strong following that was very much Team Juan. They called attention to everything she or the Spaniard did or said that could be some form of evidence to prove that they were either in love, having an affair, or secretly married. The bloc had its own warring factions that argued the details. So it didn’t come as a huge surprise to her that many of them, and perhaps some of Juan’s fans too, took note that he mentioned a girlfriend, that he said he was with her on Sunday night, and that his restaurant posted a photo of two Olympic medals that happened to be the same colors as hers on its Instagram that night too.

I’m not sure I can even be mad at him for this one ‘cause he probably has no idea what goes up for the restaurant. I actually think that’s Antonio’s job, and Antonio probably didn’t think he was going to go and drop the G-word in an interview 15 hours later, or ever, for that matter. This won’t get on Schü’s radar since he doesn’t look at his mentions either, but if these girls make enough noise then The Sun or the Mail are going to pick this up and make a thing out of it. Should I tell Tim, or just hope it goes away? I didn’t post anything about being in London, and Juanin knows like every Spanish person in sport, so it could have been someone else’s medals. I wonder if he’s even noticed this new- A knock at her office door put the brakes on Christina’s conjecture.

“Yeah,” she called to Tom. It had to be Tom, because no one else waited for a response after knocking. They just opened the door.

“They’re here,” he told her, meaning the visitors.

“Can you show them up to the lounge or something? I’m...err...busy-ish.”

“Schü is taking them up there for coffee.”

“Thanks. Is Dirk ready?”

“Yes. He would like to go back outside though.”

“We won’t be long, I hope.”

Tom nodded and shut the door he’d only just leaned through to talk to the boss. She originally disliked that her office door was solid and lacked a window. It was proving handy though, because sometimes she didn’t want anyone to see what she was doing in there. Sitting at her desk and glaring forlornly at her laptop wasn’t exactly a private activity, but it would have required an explanation if say, André peeked into the office on his way to the lounge upstairs.

I should tell Juanin which song is stuck in my head, and why. It’s “1000 Nights”. I know he knows it. I think he introduced it to me. It’s about wasting 1000 nights apart, and guess what. I did the math. I broke up with him almost exactly 1000 days ago. And sometimes it does feel like “for 1000 nights, I’ve been a restless soul”. I’m the poster child for all sorts of restlessness, and he’s proven to be my rest so, so many times. But Schü is too. Sometimes. Less than he used to be. Not often enough, really. Christina sighed and picked up her iPhone to text the Spaniard about his very public girlfriend reference, but she just stared at the black screen for a few seconds. I’ll call him later. I don’t want to get all...whatever...right before an interview. She slipped her feet back into her Rainbow flipflops under the desk, and then went looking for the party.

The literal crew appeared to be setting up right in the barn aisle, at the junction between the long part with all the stalls and the perpendicular aisle connecting it to the indoor. Dirk was on the crossties getting ready for his close up. His rider stopped to give him a kiss on his velvety nose on her way to the viewing lounge, which was where she figured they would do the interview. Everyone else who came to her farm to speak with her on camera wanted to do it up there. The interviewer and her producer were enjoying some lattes when she arrived, with Tim. André was a really great barista. He saw crafting espresso-based beverages as a competitive challenge. Every coffee was a chance to beat his personal best creation. He had a cortado waiting for her. They all talked about the Olympic experience and discussed how the interview would go. The subject asked the most basic of questions about it, like if her feet were going to be in the shot and if she had enough makeup on or needed to go reapply. She’d chosen nice clean, standard horse show color Pikeur breeches and a black adidas tee with a belt in between, thinking she would only be shot from the waist up. She also did her standard, casual daytime makeup. One of her Olympic pet peeves, for her whole life, was when American medal winners went on the Today Show in street clothes and excessive makeup and looked out of place and uncomfortable and unnatural. The media tried to turn them into celebrities and had to pluck them out of their athlete environment to do so. They put gymnasts used to wearing spandex every single day into ill-fitting jeans and tops that made them look deformed. Christina didn’t like that, and she didn’t want it to happen to her any more than it had been throughout her relationship with André. His status lent to her elevation as a recognizable name and face independent from her sporting reputation, and that was less objectionable to her, mostly because it wasn’t her choice. Being an Olympic medalist really didn’t feel any different than being a non-Olympian. The presence of a Sky Sports crew in her barn wasn’t even that exceptional. The only thing about her Tuesday that stood out from any other was her appointment at the Ferrari dealership. The woman interviewing her definitely wanted to know if her life was changed by the experience, and Christina told her the jury was still out but that, in general, she felt a new sense of accomplishment for having ticked off such a significant goal. She also asked her if she planned to reward herself for the achievement.

“Will you go somewhere for a holiday, or buy something, or maybe there is a week of binging on unhealthy food?” the interviewer asked her with a smile. They spoke in English because the rider preferred to do long-form interviews in her native tongue, to be more precise and thorough.

“I get to be home for a few weeks, which in itself is a treat,” she smiled back at the pretty brunette who covered all things equestrian. They’d talked many times before. “And I’m rewarding myself with...a new horse, actually,” Christina chuckled. Don’t brag. “A prancing black stallion.” Her innuendo was picked up immediately.

“Of Italian breeding, perhaps?”

“Could be,” she winked. Move on, lady. Don’t make me admit on TV that I’m buying myself a Ferrari. That’s such a spoiled rich girl thing to do.

She let her off. They wrapped up the questions and then moved outside to get some footage of the equine medal winner and talk about his experience in Tokyo, though his partner mentioned him as part of her answer to nearly every question already. The producer wanted to shoot him loose in a paddock, with the two women just talking in front of him. The horse was a ham. He wanted to be the focus of the shot, and the conversation, instead of background dressing. He stood patiently behind them and tried to interact with them instead of just eating grass or walking off to explore. The producer guy was loving it each time Dirk put his head over Christina’s shoulder, or sniffed at her face as if to give kisses.

“We should get permission to use some of this footage in the videos on the website for his breeding,” Tim said quietly from the other side of the paddock fence, where he and André were watching. “Buy yourself some semen and get not just a tremendously talented jumping horse, but also a lovable pet.”

“I think everyone interested in Dirk’s semen already knows he’s her 1200lb lap dog,” the other athlete shrugged. “Let’s not give her ideas about videos, or anything like that. Let her be for a while.”

“I have nothing for her after the pre-arranged media. Have you two done anything special to celebrate yet? Oh, remind me back in the stable, I have the bank check for the down payment for the car.”

“I don’t know if she’ll want to get the special one today or think it over after the test drives,” André replied. His wife’s Ferrari was going to be paid for with Lilly XO charter money, and owned by the corporation Tim set up to own the boat, for tax purposes. The company’s second address was the agent’s office. “There is also a small chance that she drives all of the cars and then decides she doesn’t need one. It’s so difficult for her to spend that much money on something for herself, still. Shoes that cost as much as a used Vauxhall are fine. Treating herself with a dream car...might be too much to get past her practicality filter.”

“Make her get it. She deserves something big.”

“I think for her the reward was the team gold- the result. She woke up early this morning and sat in the bathroom for 40 minutes with Lukas to see if he would poop in his little toilet. If she did something truly special last week and deserves a lot of special treatment, no one told her. I think she’s already moving past the Olympics and starting to worry what big thing will come next.”

“Is there any chance what’s next is a brother or sister for Lukas?” Tim turned to make eye contact with his favorite client, but both men were wearing sunglasses and couldn’t see each other’s eyes anyway. Still, André knew from the small grin that his agent thought he might be hoping Christina’s next big goal might not be in the saddle. And it made him wonder if it was that obvious to everyone that he did wish his wife could obsess over something else- perhaps something that was more for both of them than just for her. He wasn’t thinking about another child, however.

“None whatsoever.”

“Ah. Hey, it looks like they’re finished.”

“Good. She wants to ride before we go to Düsseldorf.

“You should get her to take the day off since you have off.”

“I just told you- it’s back to normal here already.”

“Maybe she’s just waiting for someone to tell her she did something special and is worthy of taking at least a little time to celebrate and honor that...”

“Are you trying to say I’m not making a big enough deal?”

“I expected her to be hungover from an Olympic-themed party, and balloons in the house, and champagne glasses left all over the kitchen with a few sips left. You let me in the front door and there was no “Congratulations, Princess” banner hanging in the foyer and I thought, “Wow, have the housekeepers been here already this morning?” You didn’t give her a party with her friends or anything?”

Christina saved André from having to answer the question for Tim, but not for himself. She had questions for their agent about whether or not she could do a quick promo for some show for the network, so he went with her to speak to the producer. The footballer was left with his thoughts.

Should I have organized a big party for her, he wondered. She doesn’t really have friends here yet besides Marco and Mario, and she got here in the morning, so she saw Stefanie and Kyle and Isandro and did whatever big congratulations thing already before I could have had a party for her. It would have had to be last night. I didn’t even think to do it, he reminded himself, wary of letting himself off the hook on the difficulties of the logistics of a celebratory party when he knew full well that he didn’t think of doing it and then just decide not to because of those things. It didn’t occur to him that Christina might want or enjoy something like that. I assumed she would be most happy to be home with Mausi and me, and back with Dirk. But come on! She knows how proud I am of her, and she knows I think what she did is a big deal. I don’t need a party to show her that. And she would probably be annoyed if I had my parents here. André couldn’t help but consider the way his ex-teammate honored Christina’s achievement. She told him all about the lovely dinner, and how much she enjoyed being with Juan’s parents. Chris wouldn’t like coming home and having to host houseguests, and I don’t think she even cares that they were so proud of her too. She likes his parents better. They’re closer. I doubt she’d even have the relationship she has with mine now if not for Mausi. You don’t get to choose your parents but she kind of does because hers are not in the picture, and she chose Juan’s. His parents didn’t mind that she broke up with him and has been torturing him for years. Her relationship with Mama and Papa has never been the same since we were separated, and then it got worse last year when we were fighting al the time. Ugh, whatever. Letting her know I love her and I’m in awe of her and I’m inspired by her and what she did to get to last week and then what she did there really has nothing to do with parents, or parties. She knows.

“Hey babe, can you hand me Dirk’s halter?” Christina interrupted from the other side of the fence. She was standing on the bottom board and leaning over the top. “He won’t leave the camera equipment alone and he’s gonna get out when they go through the gate.” André passed the leather halter and lead to her. It had been on his shoulder, because he was a good Horse Husband and a good dad, and just held whatever was thrust in his lap, or put it on his arm, or safely in a pocket.

“Are they done?”

“Yeah. I think I should bring him in with us so Tom can put his bell boots back on.”

“Why are they all out right now?”

“We’re switching to daytime turnout today. Poor Calvin must be so lonely inside by himself right now,” Christina said before turning her lower lip over to pout sympathetically for her monstrous Hanoverian, who had to wait until they were finished shooting in his paddock before he could be turned out.

“Why don’t you ride him first since he’s already in?”

“I think I want my salami sandwich first.” Her eyes grew big and comical- a sort of self-deprecating gesture meant to mock her sometimes-limitless appetite. She stepped off the fence and turned her head to check on Dirk, who was checking the lighting guy for treats.

“Can I-“

“Be right back.” His human hurried to catch him before he could break something, scare someone, or sneak out behind the girl trying to carry two cases of electronics through the partially-open gate.

Eat lunch with you, the BVB man finished silently. Is it fair to say I can’t wait for the media stuff to finish in a few days so that I get her to myself for a while? Or is the media hype part of the whole experience and I should be happy for her that she gets this attention? Does she even care? Why do I have so many questions? Life has too many questions lately, André lamented. He hated second-guessing himself on matters relating to his wife. He was right to think it used to be easier. No one could instill doubt in him the way Tim just had. He knew what his girl was thinking, how she would take things, what she wanted, and what she needed. For most of their marriage, and their brief relationship before that, he didn’t have to wonder so often if he was doing the right thing. That was one of the reasons he loved Christina. They had an unmatched understanding of one another.

Christina was polite about seeing her visitors out. She had no urge to hurry them out and get on with her day. A side effect of securing those precious medals was no longer feeling like every day was a race to get to something. No matter how packed her schedule, her attitude was laid back. It took that switch for her to even recognize that she’d felt like she was hurrying toward something every day for a long time until about a month before the Games, when she transitioned to dragging her feet on everything because she didn’t want to arrive at her fate anymore. When she woke up the morning after the individual final in Tokyo, the way time passed changed. It no longer went too quickly or felt slowed down by her conscious effort to retard it. Time was just time, and it moved along in “real” time. She didn’t have 5 minutes to herself that day, but it didn’t feel that way. The noticeable change in her perception of time was strange but liberating.

“Lunch time?” André suggested as soon as the front door of the small van shut behind the Sky Sports interviewer in the front passenger seat. He and Christina were standing in the open doorway at the parking lot end of the main aisle, and the sunlight from above hit just her face because of the roof. Time hadn’t slowed down for him. He felt anxious about everything, all the time. He realized when he turned to look at his girl that he should have taken a few seconds to just enjoy how gorgeous her face looked in that sun. She hated sunburn, and she feared and respected UV rays because of a history of melanoma in her family and a desire to preserve her youthful skin, but her face really loved sunlight. Her pores shrunk, her cheeks plumped, and the little wrinkles seemed to disappear. Her face was like a flower turning up to the nourishing sun and perking up its petals to its most splendid and beautiful. André didn’t get to savor his sunflower because he asked her about lunch, and she had to look up at him to answer, and cover her eyes from the sun, and squint, and scrunch her face as she considered whether or not to go have her sandwich.

“Yeah, I guess so. Are you staying?”

“Is there enough salami for two?”

“Yes, but you know, the whole reason I brought the salami and the baguette and the cheese over here is to keep you and the Munchkin and the nanny from eating it,” she grinned. Several days’ worth of lunch ingredients accompanied her to the stable that morning. Good food was safer in the refrigerator in the lounge than in the kitchen.

“You can’t even eat all the bread before it goes stale,” her partner reminded her before sticking his tongue out at her and tugging on her bouncy and voluminous ponytail.

“If I put my mind to it, I could eat all the bread in the world. I fucking love bread.”

“I know you can, Prinzessin,” he chuckled. “You can do anything if you put your mind to it, clearly. I love you for that.” His hands reached out for her on their own, and captured her whole head in addition to the base of the ponytail. “I love that you never quit.”

“You’re so cheesy. And can you lean a little this way? Your big head can block out the sun.”

“Big head. Big brain.”

“Uhhuh sure. Big hair too.” Christina reached up to pat the side swept pouf of hair atop his head. “Let’s eat.”

See? Even when I try to tell her, seriously, what her accomplishment means to me, she just laughs and makes fun of me. I don’t have to do a party. She knows, the player reiterated inside as he followed her up the empty aisle. Their barn was full of light and the woody scent of pine mixed with the sweetness of fresh hay. Every stall but Calvin’s was picked clean and topped up with fluffy bedding. All of the black water buckets were scrubbed and filled, and there was a pile of hay in a back corner. Christina demanded that her staff take care of those things as part of the morning chores when the horses went out during the daytime. There was no taking the whole day to ready the stalls for the horses to come in in the evening. They had to be cleaned and set up right away, so that the aisles themselves could be blown and swept clean and not littered with soiled bedding and bits of hay falling out of wheelbarrows traveling back and forth to the muck pile outside. It also ensured that any horse having to come in during the day, to be ridden, or seen by the vet or farrier, for example, would come in to a clean stall ready with hay and water for him. That was important to her. It kept the animals comfortable and stress-free, and the whole process ensured order in her operation. Some of the other trainers who shared facilities with Eddie and Simon were not as deliberate in managing their grooms and stable, and things got in the way of finishing drawn out chores and then the chores never got done and horses were put back into dirty stalls with swampy buckets and nothing to munch on.

Another thing André loved and most especially respected about his wife was her ability to learn and absorb real knowledge from her experiences. Part of it was that she never forgot anything, and part of it was her special skill in following keen observation with intelligent deduction. Her mind collected all available information and processed it in a way that allowed her to use it right away, and in the most effective way. Her husband admired her ability to be good at totally new things just because she paid attention to everything and could translate her observations into policy, so to speak. She’d never run an elite show barn on her own before she suddenly found herself owning one. She’d never cared for a child of any age before she became a mom, and she handled it exceptionally well in his eyes. She had no media experience but knew how to handle press and how to conduct herself from the get-go. Those things stood out to him because he couldn’t do the same thing. He wasn’t good at adapting. He needed many things to align in order for him to succeed. The window in which he had the right conditions to play football at the level and consistency he desired was quite small, and it took him forever to figure out the conditions and how to create them.

“Are you going home to hang with Lulu Schü?” Christina asked him following his last bite of Genoa salami and provolone. Her sandwich was smaller so she finished it more quickly. They ate at the kitchen-style table in the viewing lounge. Spencer and Lucky were lying on the floor but remained vigilant in case of dropped food. They were mostly just happy to be free again instead of confined to their playpen outside the back entrance to the barn, where they couldn’t get into trouble with the TV people.

“Yeah. His singalong show with the sheep starts soon. He likes when I sing with him. I’m not usually home when it’s on.”

“What was the last song stuck in your head?”

“From the show?”

“In general.”

“”Swalla”. The guys play it in the dressing room constantly. Marc never stops dancing.”

“Do you remember what I was listening to when I was getting ready this morning and you were obsessively trimming your nose hair with the little buzzy thing?”

“No. Why?”

“Just wondering.” The rider emitted a barely perceptible sigh and picked up her water bottle for a sip.

0 notes

athena29stone · 7 years

Text

What Actually Works in EdTech? with Tom Murray

Episode 119 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Today Thomas C. Murray @thomascmurray is the 2017 US “Thought Leader of the Year” and shares what actually works in edtech. In this podcast, Tom shares the research and highlights, some of which are included in the book Learning Transformed that he co-authored with Eric Sheninger. (Enter the book giveaway contest.)

This episode is sponsored by Bloomz.com

Sponsored by Bloomz I’ve been using Bloomz for three years now and I love it. Go to www.coolcatteacher.com/bloomz to find out why Bloomz is the best parent-teacher communication system out there. I’ve included a comparison matrix with features to help you figure out what system is best for you.

Listen Now

Listen on iTunes

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

Below is a transcript modified for your reading pleasure. For information on the guests and items mentioned in this show, scroll down to the bottom of this post.

****

Transcript for Episode 119

What Actually Works in Edtech? With Thomas C. Murray

Link for this show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e119

www.coolcatteacher.com/e119

[Recording starts 0:00:00]

VICKI: Today, we’re talking to Thomas C. Murray. @thomascmurray

Point A: We need to be asking what works because we’re spending a lot of money on education technology.

He’s the co-author of Learning Transformed. http://amzn.to/2ulm8s1 So, Tom, what actually does work in Edtech?

TOM: Hey, Vicki. What an honor it is to be with, my friend. So great to be on your show. So, Vicki, here’s what we’re seeing; nationwide, we’re spending billions of dollars on educational technology. So many times, we’re seeing schools and teachers thinking that technology is going to solve the learning issues that we’re seeing, and that technology can just transform old practice. And that is not the case.

You know, Vicki, when I was a cabinet member in my school district, where I served for 15 years, my very last board meeting, the school board president looked at me – and this was the budget meeting, and, Vicki, that’s always the fun one, right – school board president looks at me and says, so, Tom, if we’re going to spend this additional x dollar amount of money on this technology, will student achievement increase next year?

And I got to tell you, Vicki, that’s actually a great question, coming from the person that’s in charge of tax money and signing on the dotted line. So what does work? What is it that actually works?

Point B: Since edtech has been around a while now, some research is emerging to guide us in its use

TOM: Vicki, let me tell you a couple of things. So we did, through Future Ready Schools and my teams at the Alliance for Excellent Education, we partnered with Dr. Linda Darling Hammond, one of the top known researchers in the world when it comes to education and what works, and our team at Stanford University, to dive into the topic of what is it that actually works.

Research Finding #1: (What Works) Learning must be Interactive

TOM: So, first, what was found was that the learning has to be interactive. We have to make sure that when we’re using technology with kids, that the kid is actually interacting with the learning. To give you some concepts or some concrete examples of that, very quickly; interactive learning, the national Edtech plan coins that as active use versus what we would contrast being passive use. So what works is when students are actively using the technology.

Research Finding #2: (What Works) Use Technology to Explore, Design and Create

TOM: It really dovetails nicely with the second point in the research of what actually works without Edtech; and that’s the use of technology to explore, to design and to create, and that’s showing worth the money every time.

[00:02:00]

Research Finding #3: (What Doesn’t Work) Converting Worksheets to Technology

But the flipside to that, what’s not, is what I would probably deem the most prevalent practice in our country, in my opinion, and that’s the “digital drill and kill.” We take the worksheets of yesteryear that used to be in the desk, in the folder; we put them on a Chromebook or we put them on an iPad, and all of a sudden we’re celebrating that we’re paperless, we’re celebrating that everything is online. And then that’s the case; we haven’t changed anything, we’ve just made it more expensive.

Research Finding #4: (What Works) Teachers are the Most Important Aspect of Effective Technology Integration

And so, Vicki, what really works, first and foremost, it’s remembering that the pedagogy is the key. The teacher is the most important aspect when it comes to integrating technology, not the device.

When we take a look at the third aspect related to the research on the use of technology, it’s the right blend of teachers and technology. And what that actually means is something we’ve always known; what’s right for one student is different than another. And that’s just differentiation, or personalization now being the buzzword we’re all using, when we take a look at what actually works.

Question: How Do we Improve Education in America?

VICKI: Now, you were actually named education thought leader of the year for the US for 2017, which is a pretty big title, Tom. You know, people are asking you policy questions all the time. When people ask you how do we improve education in America, what’s your answer?

TOM: Well, I appreciate that. And some people like to joke that, do I just sit back and think all day? Is that what that’s all about? And I’ll be the first one. You know, I’m not a huge advocate for awards. It’s a nice honor by any means, but I would share that with the countless educators that I work with around the country that do an amazing job for kids every day. What’s the answer?

Focus on on Fostering Good Relationships Between Teachers and Students

TOM: I’d say, first and foremost, the key to a solid foundation in education comes down to relationships. Our job is about loving and caring about kids and doing whatever it takes to help students move forward. We all know, as educators, kids come to us with amazing issues on their backs, and then sometimes they’re walking into our classrooms with struggles that many of us have never faced. And so we need to, number one, make sure that we are loving and caring about kids and doing whatever it takes.

Policies should focus on creating authentic, personal learning experiences

From a policy end, one of the ways, in working with the Senate and the Congress in Washington, D.C., one of the areas that I’m truly trying to push is making sure that we’re creating dynamic, authentic and personal learning experiences for kids.

[00:04:00]

You know, we’ve standardized so much related to, No Child Left Behind, and a Nation at Risk prior to that; and we’ve standardized so much over the past number of years, we’ve often lost the authentic side of things.

How do we make learning personal? How do we make it authentic; not just for students but for teachers as well, when we talk about things like related to professional learning and so on and so forth? So focusing on relationships and loving and caring about kids, but then how do we create dynamic, authentic learning experiences.

And where we started, Vicki, when we look at the use of technology, technology can be an amazing accelerant for student learning, and it can also help provide and amplify great teaching practices.

Question: What can we do about so many teachers leaving the profession?

VICKI: Tom, a lot of teachers – and you talk to these teachers, so you know what they’re saying. A lot of them are getting out of education because they feel like they’re in a strait jacket, they feel like they’re being dictated to of what to say, they feel like they’re being scripted, and they don’t feel like they have the autonomy and freedom to have these dynamic, authentic, personalized learning experiences in their classroom.

The Leadership Gap

TOM: And I would agree with that, Vicki. And I think it’s awful that we’re losing so many great people that love kids because of that. And you know what that comes down to, in my opinion; there’s a leadership gap in our country. We need to have dynamic school leaders, and our work through Future Ready Schools is focused on that, that create a culture of innovation in their schools where teachers can take risks when teachers stumble, because it’s going to happen just like leaders are going to stumble, that they’re picked up and walked behind and encouraged. And when leaders are creating that environment, teachers are thriving.

But in toxic school environments that are not having such a culture of innovation, teachers are leaving in droves. And so one of the things we need to make sure that we have is dynamic school leaders that can help lead the way to empower teachers so teachers can run and do what teachers do best. Some of the best people that I’ve ever worked with in the world are brand new teachers that have a heart for kids, that are doing whatever it takes. And we need to encourage them, we need to love them, and we need to do whatever it takes to support them along the way. And that’s a school leadership issue that we need to deal with nationwide.

[00:06:00]

Question: What is the answer to those who blame the leadership in Washington, DC for this?

VICKI: Well, you know, some people blame, want to point, of course. Everybody blames D.C. for everything, but they want to say this toxic test culture started with some of the legislation that we’ve just put so much pressure to change things. Should we pull back on the pressure, or what do we do?

TOM: You know, I think when we look at No Child Left Behind, and then that was a bipartisan bill back in the day, it did put that pressure on to accountability and testing. But it did bring some good things out when it started to look at places like subgroups.

Understanding inequities is a good byproduct of recent education legislation

TOM: And, Vicki, we have huge inequities in our country when it comes to our students of color in certain areas, our females and the opportunities they have, or maybe in some of our rural districts. And so it did put a magnifying glass on those things. And that’s a good thing, because it really pointed out some of the issues in our nation we’ve had related to severe inequities in certain areas.

Over standardization is a problem

TOM: However, what I would say is where it’s been negative, and where we probably all agree on this, is the incredible pressure related to things like testing and accountability, and in areas that it’s been tied way too much where it hasn’t just been a snapshot or a metric. You know, I look at standardized testing and I think I reflect back to 30 years ago, I was taking a standardized test in second or third grade; however, it was a very different metric. That was some sort of a benchmark or maybe just a common assessment. It didn’t come with today’s pressures or today’s national scores that we see.

ESSA should help states and local districts move back from over standardization

TOM: So what do we do? Fortunately, with ESSA, the new law of the land, it’s giving a lot of power back to the states; it’s giving a lot of power back to the local districts, which is absolutely a good thing, in my opinion. But what we want to do; make sure we have strong leaders that make strong decisions for kids.

Teachers must learn how to effectively use their voice to advocate for schools and children

And what can we do? If I’m a teacher; use your voice. Use your voice in a respectful way, but show what and why and how things are going to be better for kids. I think sometimes as educators, we don’t give ourselves enough credit; we think, nobody is going to listen to me, or nobody is going to listen to that person. But as we continue to bind together for kids and preach, truly, what’s best for kids, people will listen. You know, we vote people into power.

[00:08:00]

And so we continue to put people in positions that make poor decisions; well, then we need to maybe vote differently. And so I don’t want to say that from one side of the aisle or the other, but what I say is we all have a voice. We have a voice, first and foremost, for serving kids, but we have a voice also politically at the local, at the state, and also at the federal level. And I would encourage every educator to truly fight for what they believe in.

Those who say they are “just a teacher” miss out on their power

VICKI: And you and I are both a product of the fact that we were really just regular educators. We still are, but we have a voice because we chose to exercise the voice through the web, right?

TOM: You got that, Vicki. And sometimes I’ll hear that, “hey, I’m just a teacher; I’m just a teacher. “And my response is always, then you have just the right opportunity to transform the lives of children every single day. And so our teachers are the backbone of the freedom in our country; our teachers are the backbone of supporting and loving kids of our country. And so I don’t want to ever hear somebody say, “I’m just a teacher”, because they do have just the opportunity to change the lives of people every single day.

VICKI: Because, teachers, we are remarkable. When somebody says, “I’m just a teacher,” I’m like, “oh, yeah, you are a teacher, and teachers are remarkable. They are amazing.”

And we’ve got a lot to think about. The book is Learning Transformed. Check the show notes for our giveaway. And thank you, Tom.

TOM: Vicki, it’s always a pleasure, my friend. Great to hear your voice today.

[End of Audio 0:09:19]

Learning Transformed Book by Eric Sheninger and Thomas C Murray

[Transcription created by tranzify.com. Some additional editing has been done to add grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors. Every attempt has been made to correct spelling. For permissions, please email [email protected]]

Full Bio As Submitted

Thomas C. Murray

Tom serves as the Director of Innovation for Future Ready Schools, a project of the Alliance for Excellent Education, located in Washington, DC. He has testified before the United States Congress and works alongside that body and the US Senate, the White House, the US Department of Education and state departments of education, corporations, and school districts throughout the country to implement student-centered, personalized learning while helping to lead Future Ready and Digital Learning Day.

Murray serves as a regular conference keynote, was named one of “20 to Watch” by NSBA, the “Education Policy Person of the Year” by the Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015 and “Education Thought Leader of the Year” in 2017. His latest book, Learning Transformed, was released in 2017 with ASCD. Connect with him at thomascmurray.com or @thomascmurray.

The post What Actually Works in EdTech? with Tom Murray appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://www.coolcatteacher.com/e119/

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ralph31ortiz · 7 years

Text

What Actually Works in EdTech? with Tom Murray

Episode 119 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

This episode is sponsored by Bloomz.com

Listen Now

Listen on iTunes

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

Below is a transcript modified for your reading pleasure. For information on the guests and items mentioned in this show, scroll down to the bottom of this post.

****

Transcript for Episode 119

What Actually Works in Edtech? With Thomas C. Murray

Link for this show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e119

www.coolcatteacher.com/e119

[Recording starts 0:00:00]

VICKI: Today, we’re talking to Thomas C. Murray. @thomascmurray

Point A: We need to be asking what works because we’re spending a lot of money on education technology.

He’s the co-author of Learning Transformed. http://amzn.to/2ulm8s1 So, Tom, what actually does work in Edtech?

Point B: Since edtech has been around a while now, some research is emerging to guide us in its use

Research Finding #1: (What Works) Learning must be Interactive

Research Finding #2: (What Works) Use Technology to Explore, Design and Create

[00:02:00]

Research Finding #3: (What Doesn’t Work) Converting Worksheets to Technology

Research Finding #4: (What Works) Teachers are the Most Important Aspect of Effective Technology Integration

Question: How Do we Improve Education in America?

Focus on on Fostering Good Relationships Between Teachers and Students

Policies should focus on creating authentic, personal learning experiences

[00:04:00]

And where we started, Vicki, when we look at the use of technology, technology can be an amazing accelerant for student learning, and it can also help provide and amplify great teaching practices.

Question: What can we do about so many teachers leaving the profession?

The Leadership Gap

[00:06:00]

Question: What is the answer to those who blame the leadership in Washington, DC for this?

Understanding inequities is a good byproduct of recent education legislation

Over standardization is a problem

ESSA should help states and local districts move back from over standardization

Teachers must learn how to effectively use their voice to advocate for schools and children

[00:08:00]

Those who say they are “just a teacher” miss out on their power

VICKI: And you and I are both a product of the fact that we were really just regular educators. We still are, but we have a voice because we chose to exercise the voice through the web, right?

VICKI: Because, teachers, we are remarkable. When somebody says, “I’m just a teacher,” I’m like, “oh, yeah, you are a teacher, and teachers are remarkable. They are amazing.”

And we’ve got a lot to think about. The book is Learning Transformed. Check the show notes for our giveaway. And thank you, Tom.

TOM: Vicki, it’s always a pleasure, my friend. Great to hear your voice today.

[End of Audio 0:09:19]

Learning Transformed Book by Eric Sheninger and Thomas C Murray

Full Bio As Submitted

Thomas C. Murray

The post What Actually Works in EdTech? with Tom Murray appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://www.coolcatteacher.com/e119/

0 notes