#promotion and advertising bias

[otherkinnews]

Twitter promotes hatred against transgender people, furries, therians

Summary: Since buying Twitter, Elon Musk has been pushing the platform into fascist politics by either manually or algorithmically suppressing LGBTQ content, welcoming back neo-nazis who’d been banned, and boosting hate speech. This Pride month, he used the platform to promote a stream of an anti-transgender movie, What Is A Woman? (2022). The movie attempts to ridicule transgender people by comparing them to other groups, so it contains misinformation about furries: the litter box urban legend again. It also had an interview about therianthropy with Naia Okami, who rejected therianthropy again a few months afterward. The free stream gathered more than 62 million views that day, so it will be how many people first heard of furries or therians. Twitter keeps getting worse for marginalized groups, and now for furries and therians too. If you and your friends haven’t already migrated away from the nazis-and-transphobes site, we have advice on how to move to safer alternatives: Mastodon, Tumblr, Discord, Dreamwidth, and forums. We also have advice on media literacy skills, how to recognize nazis and transphobes on social media, how to guard against this happening in the future, how to support transgender rights, and some options for what to do with your Twitter when you leave. At the end of this article, we have a timeline of events that happened in this story.

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Musk promoted an anti-transgender movie

Since last October, billionaire Elon Musk has owned Twitter, a social media site with 450 million users. He started June by pinning his quote retweet of an anti-transgender movie. He remarked, "Every parent should watch this." The movie is What Is A Woman?, by Daily Wire columnist Matt Walsh. The Daily Wire invited everyone to stream the 95 minute movie for free. It is a propaganda piece that uses misinformation to oppose the existence of transgender people. Until then, the movie had been behind a paywall. Media Bias Fact Check describes the Daily Wire as a right-wing news and opinion site that has medium credibility. The civil rights nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hate Watch has called Walsh and his boss “peddlers of fear and disinformation about LGBTQ people” (Wilson, Nov 22, 2022). Musk has been known for his transphobia since before he bought Twitter (Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle, Dec 13 2022). NBC reported that the Daily Wire’s CEO and other anti-transgender influencers such as Robby Starbuck had demanded for Musk to make the site stop suppressing the movie for its hate speech. Musk complied. Walsh, who had released the movie in June last year, said “What a great way to ring in Pride Month.” (Tolentino and Ingram, NBC, June 2, 2023).

What is that movie, and why is it so harmful?

The movie’s title refers to how they spend the movie interviewing various people about what a woman is, with the goal to discredit the validity of transgender people. Matt Walsh and Justin Folk had a bad enough reputation that no transgender people or allies would willingly appear in their movie, so they tricked people into showing up. They founded a front group called the Gender Unity Project LLC, and used a registered agent to mask their connection to it. Their producer used a fake name when reaching out to people to interview. They advertised the movie and LLC to potential interviewees as being “about transgender and LGBTQIA+ communities, and the challenges they face in today’s culture” and that it would “[explore] the real lives of people in the LGBTQIA+ communities, and to shed some light on the topics of gender identity, and gender fluidity, in a way that will capture the attention of all Americans and be educational.” Transgender rights activist Eli Erlick discovered they were not who they seemed, and exposed them immediately.

The movie intentionally misrepresented and disparaged a variety of professionals and transgender individuals who Walsh misled into interviewing with him. He used deceptive editing and ambush interview tactics to make it look like the interviewees were either in complete agreement with his hateful perspective, or were contradicting themselves and didn’t make sense. He used the movie to push false claims about transgender people, including trying to connect transgender identity to sexual predation and implying that transgender individuals will regret transitioning or that transitioning is dangerous.

Far-right director Robby Starbuck plans to release a similar movie this summer, titled “It Takes a Village.” This will also be a hateful propaganda movie opposing the existence of transgender people. Starbuck, like Walsh, lied about the movie goals to potential interviewees. Erlick caught and exposed this trick even earlier than the last one. Starbuck’s team members misrepresented the project as “highlighting gender affirming care and the issues facing trans youth.” Erlick believes that Starbuck may have planned to arrest her should she have agreed to fly to Tennessee for the offered interview.

How did this movie misrepresent furries and therians?

A common illogical argument that bigots use to criticize LGBTQ people sounds something like this: “If we let women marry one another, then wouldn’t it be just as absurd if we let people marry animals? If someone can identify as a woman, wouldn’t it be just as absurd if someone identifies as an animal?” Walsh used that tactic in his picture book Johnny the Walrus. Walsh’s movie has segments about furries and therians, in an effort to say that saying you are a woman is as absurd as saying you are an animal.

In one segment in the movie, Walsh interviews Sara Stockton, a family therapist. She incorrectly tells him that furries have demanded litter boxes in schools. Reuters Fact Check has an article that debunks that part of the movie. It’s well-known to be an urban legend that has never happened in any school. Conservatives have circulated it for the past few years to satirize transgender students asking to use the restroom of their choice. An alterhuman community historian did a presentation about how the legend has developed (House of Chimeras, 2022). The legend is why a few of this year’s hundreds of anti-transgender bills in the US say they also oppose people who identify as animals. Those are Montana Senate Bill 544, North Dakota House Bill 1522, Oklahoma Senate Bill 943, and Indiana Statehouse Bill 380.

In the next segment, Walsh interviewed Naia Okami. Okami has frequently sought and accepted media publicity for the past decade, even with producers her peers advised her to avoid (Okami, Oct 18, 2022). Around the same time as when she interviewed with Walsh, she accepted interviews with two other far-right media known for their hostility toward openly transgender people such as herself: The Sun (Jan 23 2022) and Fox News (Feb 7 2022). In these three interviews, she described herself as a wolf otherkin and therian. When Walsh tried to get her to describe herself as transspecies, she “vehemently rejected” that, so Walsh didn’t use those parts of the interview in the movie (Okami, June 5, 2022). (Okami has never called herself transspecies, and had spoken against the word for years.) Instead, against her wishes, he referred to her as a “trans wolf,” a label that she never used and which makes her “want to vomit” (Okami, June 8, 2022). A few months after the movie came out, she announced that she no longer calls herself a therian. She said, “I will always be a wolf girl; but I am not nor do I want to be … a member of the alterhuman, therianthropy, or otherkin communities” (Okami, Oct 18, 2022).

Like many of the other interviewees, Okami has explained how she was interviewed under false pretenses by a producer who used an alias. She shared records of her correspondences with the producer. She was not aware that Walsh would be the one interviewing her. He asked “intentionally provocative and leading questions.” She was looking into taking legal action, because the movie used the appearances of herself and others without informed consent (Okami, May 21, 2022).

By the end of the day, Musk’s promotion of the free movie on Twitter had caused it to have more than 62 million views (Tolentino and Ingram, NBC, June 2, 2023). This may be how most people in the world first hear of anything like otherkin, therians, furries, or transspecies identity. This may contribute to more widespread attitudes that are misinformed about and hostile toward these groups.

Musk’s Twitter welcomes fascists while suppressing LGBT speech

Musk has a history of supporting antisemitic and fascist ideology and espousing anti-LGBT rhetoric. One of Musk’s first actions when he bought Twitter was to share an anti-gay conspiracy theory published by a right-wing news source about the October 2022 attack on Paul Delosi. Twitter under Musk rolled back content policy protections for the site’s transgender users. He has also been known to quote Nazis, has reinstated the Twitters accounts of multiple neo-Nazis who were previously banned for hate speech, and has transferred his Twitter CEO title to a former Trump appointee. On Transgender Day of Visibility, users noticed that Twitter’s algorithm flags tweets for sensitive content if they contain the words LGBT, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, trans, queer, gender identity, pronouns, or TERF. Meanwhile, it doesn’t flag the words gender critical (which is what many transphobes prefer to call themselves), Nazi, fascist, or fascism. The algorithm’s source code shows that it’s designed to suppress and hide tweets that contain external links, misspelled words (as happens when users to try to get around suppressed words), and all mention of Ukraine. If you wanted to stand your ground and use Twitter to speak up for good causes, that’s exactly what it makes sure nobody will hear.

Musk vows to criminalize transgender healthcare

Musk pushes his anti-transgender attitudes in more places than just in this platform he owns. He vowed that he will be “actively lobbying to criminalize” gender affirming care in individuals under the age of 18. He supports long-term imprisonment without parole for anyone who supports or assists in such care, including therapists (Thakker, New Republic, June 2, 2023). He can wield unmatched influence over politics because he is the world’s wealthiest person at more than $100 billion dollars (Toh, CNN, May 31, 2023).

What you can do

Leave Twitter and bring your friends. Musk, and the platform he has through Twitter, is a threat to our civil rights and our lives. Twitter is not a safe place to be, because it is increasingly being turned into a fascist platform. As long as you’re there, you’re handing money to fascists, even if you’re not paying a subscription (Solarbird, April 23, 2023). You can’t fight the normalization of fascism by continuing to contribute to a fascist space (Solarbird, Dec 7, 2022). If you work for free to be a content provider for Twitter, then you are supporting fascism. Remember a German proverb: “If one nazi sits at a table, and ten other people sit there talking with him, that’s a table with eleven nazis.” It will become harder to avoid sitting and talking with Nazis on Twitter, because Musk says he will get rid of the option to block users (Ngo, Washington Times, June 8, 2023). Many users have been migrating away from Twitter. We strongly advise that you do so as well, and help your friends migrate, too. You must, to protect your friends, and to quit supporting the normalization of fascism.

Follow relevant news, and sharpen your media literacy skills. Whenever a friend shares a news article with you, see what Media Bias Fact Check says about that news source, and see what Reuters Fact Check and Snopes have to say about its content. Avoid boosting or interacting with transphobes and nazis on social media by learning how to recognize their characteristic jargon and the “dog whistles” that they use to signal themselves to one another. See the Anti-Defamation League’s encyclopedia of hate group symbols. Here’s a list of dog whistles racists and nazis use, ones transphobes use, and more that transphobes use. We recommend following Solarbird’s Fascism Watch blog post series, where she has been keeping track of news about the rise of transphobia and fascism, with an eye on its rise on Twitter. If someone contacts you for interviews or media projects, your job is to research them and their previous work before you agree to anything. Document everything. If they turn out to be exploitative, spread the warning fast. Take some notes from how Erlick does it.

Donate to good causes and support marginalized peoples. Some reputable organizations that support LGBTQ people and their rights are The Trevor Project, GLAAD, Mermaids, Human Rights Campaign, and National Center for Transgender Equality, or other civil rights organizations, such as  The American Civil Liberties Union. Be cautious about sound-alikes that impersonate good organizations, and use Charity Navigator to check their backgrounds. Boost and donate to your friends’ personal fundraisers for their health, legal expenses, and moving expenses. Donate to the social media platforms that you prefer, so they can afford to keep going. Support and mutual aid means more than just sending money to the right places. Listen to your friends who are LGBTQ or members of other marginalized groups. Educate yourself.

Mastodon is a better Twitter

What is Mastodon? From the perspective of a user, Mastodon looks and behaves very similarly to Twitter. If you’ve used TweetDeck or other front-ends for Twitter, then Mastodon’s layout will look familiar. Users can create short posts, use hashtags, boost other people’s posts, and follow one another… even if those other people are on different Mastodon servers. Each Mastodon server is independently run, and has its own rules and moderators. These servers communicate with one another via the Fediverse, an interconnected network of servers. This is similar to how you can use a Gmail account to send an email to someone on a Yahoo account: they’re on different servers, with their own rules and owners, but they can communicate with one another. This decentralization protects against the owners or users of a particular server being able to ruin the whole thing for everyone.

How do you sign up on Mastodon? Click on a server in the below list of ones that we recommend, and then click “create account.” If it says an invitation is required to create an account, ask a friend for one from that server, or try another server. Don’t get overwhelmed trying to choose the perfect server before you begin. After all, you can use it to talk to people on any other servers, if its moderators haven’t chosen to block those particular servers. If you join a server, and then you don’t like its rules or moderators after all, or if the culture there goes bad, then you can move to another server, automatically bringing your follow list with you. You can carry on your Mastodon experience without a pause and without getting stuck with moderators you distrust. We recommend these servers to our readers because they’re LGBTQ friendly, welcome various sorts of alterhumans, are opposed to hate speech, and are open to new users, though some require an invitation. They’re owned and maintained by ordinary hobbyists and volunteers who care, not corporations or evil billionaires. Later, consider chipping in a little money to support your favorite server, if they offer that option.

https://awoo.space - This server “isn’t aimed at any specific audience, though there are a lot of queer furries here for some reason.”

https://bark.lgbt - This server *is* aimed at queer furries.

https://beach.city - Lightly themed around the cartoon Steven Universe.

https://chitter.xyz - For furries.

https://dragonscave.space - This dragon-themed server is especially for users who are visually impaired.

https://equestria.social - For fans of My Little Pony. The moderators speak French as well as English. (By the way, you can find servers in whatever languages you want, which is great for immersion language learning.)

https://meow.social - For furries.

https://plural.cafe - For plural systems.

https://plush.city

https://tech.lgbt

https://weirder.earth - Moderator team includes people who are POC, LGBTQ, and plural. Good track record at standing up to racism.

How do you make friends and find interesting blogs to follow on there? No algorithm plays matchmaker for you. We use hashtags, which is the only part of a post that shows up in a search. Usually people put hashtags that describe themselves and their interests in their #introduction post to help find others who share those interests.

How do you stay safe on there? Anyone with technical proficiency can create a Mastodon server and use it for good or bad. However, the Fediverse’s very design makes it easy for you to avoid the bad. Some Fediverse servers say they prohibit hate speech, but have been disappointing at enforcing that. Their moderators are overwhelmed, and unfamiliar with the needs of BIPOC, so racism goes unchecked. Those are widely-recognized problems with the servers mastodon.social and mastodon.online, so we don’t recommend joining those ones. Some Fediverse servers choose to allow hate speech, such as BlueSky. If you join a server that blocks problematic servers such as these, then those entire servers won’t be able to communicate with your server at all, period. Think of the story of the nazi bar: if a bartender lets in just one customer who wears nazi insignia but is polite, then that customer will come back with his nazi friends, everyone else will leave, and it will have become a nazi bar. A bartender who doesn’t want to accidentally find himself running a nazi bar has to prevent that from happening by kicking out even that one polite nazi. The Fediverse uses the nazi bar phenomenon against the nazis. Bigots and those who welcome them get isolated into their own space, and out of yours. By blocking entire servers because they have nazis there, your own server becomes something like Twitter without the nazis (Solarbird, Nov 6, 2022).

Mastodon has another safety feature: built-in content warnings. There is a widespread requirement to CW for content that is sexual, disturbing, or a spoiler. Followers will only see what’s beyond the CW if they click to open it. That’s good consent culture, and it makes Mastodon less stressful to scroll through than Twitter. In your settings, you can also filter out posts that use words that you don’t want to see at all.

Tumblr is great if you liked retweeting

What is Tumblr? Tumblr is a social media site that hosts 572 million blogs. It’s less similar to Twitter, but it does have a feature like retweeting, called reblogging. Even better, you can add tags to what you reblog, so you can categorize and later find things you’ve reblogged. That makes Tumblr an ideal platform for circulating fandom content, art, and memes.

How do you sign up on Tumblr? You can sign up on Twitter with just an email address, without sharing other personal information. Tumblr allows for users to have one primary blog, and as many side blogs as they want. You can customize the appearance of your blog using HTML and CSS. On desktop, install the browser extension xKit Rewritten and play with its settings to improve your experience of Tumblr.

How do you stay safe on Tumblr? You can curate your experience with blocking and filtering. Use tags to give content warnings, which others can use to filter your posts, and view them only if they consent to see that content. For that to work, don’t censor words. You can hide posts that use certain words, which helps you filter out posts from users who hate LGBTQ. Here’s a guide for how to do that. And another guide with screenshots for how to do that in the settings, and another guide. On desktop, install the third-party browser extension, Shinigami Eyes, which often helps warn you that a Tumblr account is known to express anti-transgender views.

How do you make friends and find interesting blogs on Tumblr? Tumblr tags are great for that. Use this web address, and replace the word “food” with some other key word for any topic that interests you: https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/food?sort=recent It will show you the most recent posts that people have tagged with that word. The accounts you follow will often reblog from other users, and you can use those as leads to find other interesting blogs.

Discord has many ways to communicate

What is Discord? Discord is a combination of many forms of communication in one. It supports group chat rooms, private messaging, voice calls, video calls, and streams for both one-on-one direct messages and for groups. It isn’t similar to Twitter at all, but it’s fantastic for talking with friends and meeting new people. All Discord servers are all required to follow Discord’s Community Guidelines, which bans hate speech, harassment, and violent extremism. Many plural systems enjoy using a bot on Discord, PluralKit, which lets you create something like separate accounts for each of your system members, without having to sign in and out.

What servers might you join? Discord allows for the creation of servers based around specific interests and groups of people. Servers can be tight-knit private groups, or huge public groups, or anything in-between. Most servers have a specific theme or focus that they adhere to. There are some excellent servers about being alterhuman. Ask your friends for recommendations and invitations to these and other servers.

Dreamwidth.org is the best social blog site

What is Dreamwidth? Dreamwidth is a social blogging platform based off of code from Livejournal. If you used Livejournal long ago, Dreamwidth will feel like home. If you’ve only used Twitter or Tumblr, you can adapt to the differences soon enough, because it has an especially well made FAQ. (Here is a collection of more info about how to use Dreamwidth, written for people who are more accustomed to Tumblr.) Dreamwidth focuses on creating your own original content and interacting with other folks’ original content in personal blogs and in “communities,” which are group forum blogs. Dreamwidth’s design is ideal for long pieces of writing, serialized works, and conversation threads. Because of this, many blogs that are especially active on Dreamwidth today are those that focus on fan fiction, role play, personal diaries, and essays, but you can put nearly any kind of subject matter there.

How do you join Dreamwidth? On the front page of Dreamwidth.org, click “create free account.” (Paying a subscription to help support the site will give you a few perks, but a free account is just as functional as a paid one.) Make up a username. Tell your email address and birthdate, which you can keep private in your profile settings. You can customize the appearance of your blog. We strongly recommend you use Solarbird’s theme that makes your blog mobile-friendly.

How do you find friends and interesting blogs on Dreamwidth? You can discover more blogs that focus on things you like by adding a list of interests to your profile, searching for others who put those interests in their profiles too. You can look at the Latest Things (the newest posts and tags by all users). You can also use Dreamwidth to follow the news! Dreamwidth has a built-in RSS feed reader, so you can use it to subscribe to content from other sites. Many sites offer RSS feeds: major news sources, comics, subreddits, Tumblr blogs, AO3 tags, and more. YsabetWordsmith regularly features interesting active communities in her FollowFriday tag. For the alterhuman readers of our blog, we recommend joining these communities:

Dreamwidth_therians: A members-only group for therians and otherkin.

Fictionkind: A members-only group for fictionfolk to discuss their experiences based on prompts.

Otherkin: A public group for otherkin.

Otherkin_haven: A members-only group for otherkin.

OtherkinNews (that’s us!): A volunteer-run blog for sharing news for otherkin, therianthropes, fictionfolk, plural systems, and all sorts of alterhumans.

PluralArchives: Citations of plural and pluralish phenomena collected in one place.

PluralStories: A searchable catalog of plural and pluralish stories.

TheriThere: A comic about therianthropes and otherkin.

Forums make great community spaces

If you simply want a place to talk with friends about shared interests, consider web-based forums. Each forum has its own rules, moderation teams, and features. Search for forums that are built around your fandoms or other interests. We recommend these for alterhumans:

Alt+H Forums: A quiet forum hosted by Alt+h, a nonhuman advocacy group. It is about alterhuman experiences as a whole.

Draconity: A forum focused on dragons specifically. It had a site-wide update in 2022.

Draconic: This forum for dragon otherkin has been running continuously since 1998.

Nonhuman National Park: A forum focused on inclusion and intersectionality of nonhuman, alterhuman, and plural identities.

What do you do with your Twitter after you leave?

Some people choose to delete their Twitter account completely. This erases all their tweets and connections to other users. Any conversation threads with this user will have pieces missing. That can interfere with other users’ archival efforts. Erasing your tracks that thoroughly can also make it difficult for your friends and followers to discover where you disappeared to and why.

If you don’t want to delete the account altogether, then sign into it once every 30 days, to prevent it from getting automatically deleted for inactivity. You don’t need to post anything: just sign in (Twitter, inactive account policy). Some people use a third-party tool to automatically delete all or most tweets. Removing content from the site is a good way to withdraw support from it. However, some users report that their deleted tweets come back later.

Should you leave your account public, or set it to “protected”? That status makes it so all your tweets, followers, and followed users can only be seen by users who you manually accept as your followers. Pros: this mostly prevents unwanted interactions or follows from random users, while leaving behind a signpost to let your friends know where you disappeared to and why. Cons: privating can interfere with others’ efforts to archive conversation threads just like if the account had been deleted. Archival tools can only pick up your tweets if they’re public. -- Appendix: A timeline of events related to this article

2022 January. The Gender Unity Project, LLC, invites transgender people and allies to interview in a movie. Meanwhile, Okami has interviews in The Sun, and UK breakfast TV show This Morning.

2022 February 7. Okami’s interview on Fox News. On the same day, Erlick publicly exposes that the Gender Unity Project is deceiving transgender people into interviewing with Walsh.

2022 March. Walsh publishes Johnny the Walrus, a picture book about a child being pressured to become a walrus, in parody of transgender children.

2022 May. Okami blogs a public statement about her involvement in What Is A Woman? with documentation of how they deceived her into showing up to it.

2022 June. Walsh releases What Is A Woman? Okami writes a detailed criticism of that movie.

2022 October. Okami announces that she no longer calls herself therian or otherkin. Musk buys Twitter and immediately posts an anti-gay conspiracy theory. He lays off thousands of employees, many crucial to the maintenance of the site software. He invites many users back to Twitter who had previously been banned for being nazis and white supremacists (Washington Post, Nov 11, 2022). Anticipating that Twitter will soon crash and/or become effectively a far-right site only, thousands of users leave or prepare to leave Twitter, filling their profiles and pinned tweets with links to where to find them on other social media sites.

2022 December. To discourage this, Twitter introduces an algorithm that prevents users from putting links to other social media sites in their profiles, and threatens to ban users for doing so.

2023 March and April. Users notice that Twitter’s algorithm suppresses tweets that contain external links, misspelled words, or mention of Ukraine. It suppresses LGBT related words, but not fascism related words. Twitter’s policy stops protecting transgender users against harassment. Even news agencies are quitting Twitter, such as NPR and PBS.

2023 May. To discourage this, Twitter starts banning accounts that have been inactive for a short amount of time.

2023 June. Musk quote-retweets and pins the Daily Wire’s free stream of What Is A Woman? The same day, he vows to lobby for the imprisonment of therapists who support transgender youth.

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About the writers: Alterhuman community historians  and archivists House of Chimeras, Page Shepard, N. Noel Sol, and Orion Scribner collaborated on this article. Thanks to Solarbird for her Fascism Watch blog series, which helped us find news sources for much of what has been happening with Twitter.

This article is also on the Otherkin News Dreamwidth.

#long post #very long post

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The bikini is the most important thing since the atom bomb.

Diana Vreeland

The origins of contemporary bikini day may be traced back to a French engineer, a Parisian exotic dancer, a nuclear testing site in the United States, and a postwar fabric shortage.

In 1946, Western Europeans joyously greeted the first war-free summer in years, and French designers came up with fashions to match the liberated mood of the people. Two French designers, Jacques Heim and Louis Réard, developed competing prototypes of the bikini. Heim called his the “atom” and advertised it as “the world’s smallest bathing suit.”

French fashion designer Louis Reard was determined to create an even more scandalous swimsuit. Réard's swimsuit, which was basically a bra top and two inverted triangles of cloth connected by string, was in fact significantly smaller. Made out of a scant 30 inches of fabric, Réard promoted his creation as “smaller than the world’s smallest bathing suit.”

Réard claimed that the bikini was named for Bikini Atoll, the site of nuclear tests by the United States in the Pacific Ocean.

Louis Réard's bikini was so little that he couldn't find anyone brave enough to wear it. After being rejected by a number of fashion models, he came across Micheline Bernardini. She was a 19-year-old nudist at the Casino de Paris who consented to be the first to try on his daring bikini. Michelle Bernardini debuted this revealing costume at the Piscine Molitor in Paris during a poolside fashion show, and it revolutionised swimwear on 5 July 1946. The bikini was a hit, especially among men, and Bernardini received some 50,000 fan letters.

Before long, bold young women in bikinis were causing a sensation along the Mediterranean coast. Spain and Italy passed measures prohibiting bikinis on public beaches but later capitulated to the changing times when the swimsuit grew into a mainstay of European beaches in the 1950s. Réard's business soared, and in advertisements he kept the bikini mystique alive by declaring that a two-piece suit wasn’t a genuine bikini “unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring.”

But it really took when what we would call cultural influencers took to it. It was in 1953, thanks to Brigitte Bardot, that the bikini became a "must-have" and the history of the bikini became historic, when she was photographed wearing one on the Carlton beach at the Cannes Film Festival. She also wore one in 1956, in the film "Et Dieu… créa la femme".

The United States also caught on to the trend, as it was only two years later that Ursula Andress posed in a white bikini on the poster for the James Bond film, Dr. No. The poster created a considerable marketing coup, and women adopted the bikini. According to a study by Time, 65% of younger women adopted the bikini in 1967.

There is no question the bikini is hardly modern. Many think they date back to ancient Roman times because of the murals uncovered in excavated ruins in Sicily. This isn’t really true.

Despite the celebrated images from the mosaics in Piazza Armerina, of the ancient Roman girl wearing what looks like a bikini, the answer is, “not really”.  The ancient Roman girls weren’t even first to wear what to our eyes looks like a bikini. However, the fact that we seem to find “bikinis” in ancient depictions should make us rethink our hubristic bias that we in modern times have invented everything and that people in ancient times didn’t know how to live.

Archaeologists have found evidence of bikini-like garments that date to as far back as 5600 BC. That’s roughly 5000 years before the Romans did so. In the Chalcolithic era of around 5600 BC, the mother-goddess of Çatalhöyük, a large ancient settlement in southern Anatolia, was depicted astride two leopards while wearing a bikini-like costume.

Two-piece garments worn by women for athletic purposes are depicted on Greek urns and paintings dating back to 1400 BC. In fact, even just the notion that women participated in sports in the ancient world should make us sit up and take notice.

Today we tend to imagine women in the ancient world as being practically sequestered in their homes, spinning, weaving and having babies. But this is a gross oversimplification of their role.

Active women of ancient Greece wore a breast band called a mastodeton or an apodesmos, which continued to be used as an undergarment in the Middle Ages. While men in ancient Greece abandoned the perizoma, partly high-cut briefs and partly loincloth, women performers and acrobats continued to wear it.

In the famous mosaics to be found at Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina, the girls who seem to be wearing the “bikini” are Roman and the so-called bikini had already been around for at least 5,000 years by then. In the artwork “Coronation of the Winner” done in floor mosaic in the Chamber of the Ten Maidens (Sala delle Dieci Ragazze) in Sicily the bikini girls are depicted weight-lifting, discus throwing, and running.

The bikini was gradually done away as Christianity became more influential as the centuries wore on. Christian attitudes towards swimming restricted the clothing of women for centuries, the bikini disappeared from the historical record after the Romans until the early 20th century with Louis Beard’s re-invention of the two piece bathing suit as the ‘bikini’.

Photos: In 1956 Emilio Pucci designed this bikini inspired by the mosaics of the Villa Romana Del Casale in Sicily.

#vreeland #diana vreeland #bikini #femme #history #fashion #style #woman #louis reard #bathing suit #beach #ancient rome #ruins #inspiration #ancient world #bikini atoll #atomic bomb #paris #italy #sicily #culture #society

[madamlaydebug]

The Destruction of Black Civilization and The Origin of African Civilization by Chancellor Williams were challenged at the Prince George County high school libraries in 1993 because the two volumes were said to promote “racism against white people.” In a complaint filed with the state, the works were called “racist pornography” written “to provoke emotions and actions of racial prejudice, bias, hatred, and hostility towards citizens and students in Maryland.”

A widely read history of Africans well researched analysis details the development of civilization in Africa. Now ask yourself, what information is contained in this they really did not want you to know? And do you know it?

Challenged and Banned Books by and about African Americans

Young and Black In America by Rae Pace Alexander

1983—After the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union sued the Elk River School Board, the Board reversed its decision to restrict the title to students who have written permission from their parents. (MN)

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down by Ralph D. Abernathy

1989—Burned protest in Denver because it alleges that Martin Luther King, Jr. was involved with three women. E. Napoleon Walton, the publisher of the Denver Cosmopolitan Advertiser, stated, “[Abernathy] has his freedom of speech, and we have our freedom to burn it.” (CO)

And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

1982—Challenged at the Northside High School in Lafayette, Louisiana. (LA)

1987—Challenged at the Longview school system in Washington because some “students could be harmed by its graphic language.” (WA)

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

1983 – 2009—Over thirty-five challenges in twenty states since the book’s publication.

2009—Challenged in the Newman-Crows Landing School District on a required reading list presented by the Orestimba High English Department. A trustee questioned the qualifications of Orestimba staff to teach a novel depicting African American culture. (CA)

Another Country by James Baldwin

1963—Considered obscene, the book was banned from the New Orleans Public library. After a year of litigation, it was restored. (LA)

Blues for Mister Charlie by James Baldwin

1980—Challenged in Sioux Falls, South Dakota because it’s “pornographic,” and it “tears down Christian principles.” (SD).

Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

1994—Challenged as required reading in the Hudson Falls Schools because the books has recurring themes of rape, masturbation, violence, and degrading treatment of women. (NY)

1998—Challenged as a ninth-grade summer reading option in Prince William County because the book “was rife with profanity and explicit sex.” (VA)

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

1989—Removed from the St. Paul High School Library because the book contains obscene language and explicit descriptions of sexual activity. (OR)

Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone by James Baldwin

1983—Four members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee called for its rejection because Baldwin’s work preaches “bitterness and hatred against whites.” (AL)

The Toilet by Amiri Baraka

1969—Expurgated at Eastern High School to eliminate “four-letter words or vernacular.”

Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown

1974 – 1987—Challenged five times in four states. (WI, FL, LA, OH, OR)

1987—Challenged at the Parkrose High School because the content is “violent, the language offensive, and women are degraded.” The protestors also questioned its relevance, claiming that Parkrose students have no need to understand life in a black ghetto. (OR)

A Hero Ain’t Nothin But a Sandwich by Alice Childress

1976 – 1994—Challenged five times in five states. (NY, GA, TX, MD, SC)

1976—Removed from Island Trees School Union Free District High School library along with nine other titles because they were considered “immoral, anti-American, anti-Christian, or just plain filthy.” (NY)

Rainbow Jordan by Alice Childress

1986—Challenged at the Gwinnett County public schools because of “foul language and sexual references.” (GA)

1986—Banned from Spokane middle schools because the book’s storyline about a prostitute’s daughter was “too mature.” (WA)

Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver

1969 -1979—Challenged five times in four states. (CA, CT, NY, WA)

1975—Challenged at the Greenwich High School library because the book is “crime provoking and anti-American as well as obscene and pornographic.” (CT)

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

1994—Retained in the Yakima schools after a five-month dispute over what advanced high school students should read in the classroom. Two parents raised concerns about profanity and images of violence and sexuality in the book and requested that it be removed from the reading list. (WA)

2013—North Carolina school board considers banning the book after the mother of an 11-grader complained, claiming Ellison’s work was inappropriate for 11th grade summer reading, citing both language and subject matter.

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines

2006—Challenged as an eighth-grade district-wide reading assignment in the Puyallup schools because “racial slurs and stereotyping are used throughout the book, as well as scenes of sex, rape, and implied incest.”

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

2004—Removed from the college bookstore at Louisiana College, Pineville by the college president “because a love scene described in the book clashes with the school’s Christian values.” (LA)

My House by Nikki Giovanni

1992—Challenged by the Duval County public school libraries because it contains the word “nigger” and was accused of containing excessive vulgarity, racism, and sex. (FL)

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

1979—Responding to criticism from an anti-pornography organization, the Ogden School District restricted circulation of Hansberry’s play. (UT)

Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron

1998—Challenged in Brooklyn because it was considered racially insensitive. (NY)

The Best Short Stories By Negro Writers an Anthology From 1899 to the Presentedited by Langston Hughes

1976—Removed from Island Trees School Union Free District High School library along with nine other titles because they were considered “immoral, anti-American, anti-Christian, or just plain filthy.” (NY)

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

1997—Challenged for sexual explicitness, but retained on the Stonewall Jackson High School’s academically advanced reading list in Brentsville. A parent objected to the novel’s language and sexual explicitness.

Call Me Charley by Jesse Jackson

1979—Parents of a black fourth-grade student filed suit against Grand Blanc school officials after a teacher read this title to their son’s class. The work includes a black youth “Sambo,” “nigger,” and “coon.”

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcom X with Alex Haley

1993—Challenged in the Duval County Public School district because the slain Black Muslim leader advocated anti-white racism and violence. (FL)

Mirandy and Brother Wind by Patricia McKissack

1991—Challenged at the Glen Springs Elementary School in Gainesville, Florida, because of the book’s use of black dialect. (FL)

Daddy Was a Number Runner by Louise Meriweather

1977—Removed from all Oakland junior high school libraries and its use restricted in senior high schools, following a complaint about the book’s explicit depiction of ghetto life. (CA)

Beloved by Toni Morrison

1995 – 2007—Challenged seven times in six states since its publication. (FL, TX, ME, IL, ID, & KY)

2007—Challenged in the Coeur d’Alene School District. Some parents say the book along with five others should require parental permission for students to read them. (ID)

2013—Parent wants the book removed because she believes it depicts scenes of bestiality, gang rape and an infant’s gruesome murder, content she believes could be too intense for teenage readers.

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

1994 – 2007—Challenged eleven times in nine states since publication. (AK, PA, FL, MA, MD, NH, CA, CO, MI)

2005—Banned from the Littleton curriculum and library shelves after complaints about its explicit sex, including the rape of an eleven-year-old girl by her father. (CO)

2013– The board of education president in Ohio is criticizing the inclusion of the book on the Common Core Standard’s recommended reading list for 11th-graders, labeling the controversial work “pornographic,” and wishes to ban it from the classroom.

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

1993 – 2009—Challenged in five states due to its sexually explicitly language. (OH, GA, FL, MD, MI)

1998—Removed from the St. Mary’s County Schools’ approved text list by the school superintendent overruling a faculty committee recommendation. Complaints referred to the novel as “filth,” “trash,” and “repulsive.” (MD)

Sula by Toni Morrison

2000—Challenged on the Poolesville High School reading list because of the book’s sexual content and language. On October 5, 2000, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Paul McGuckian dismissed the bid to band the work from the curriculum. The school, however, decided to remove the book from the summer reading list. (MD)

Learning Tree by Gordon Parks

1976 – 2006—Challenged seven times in seven states since publication. (WY, MD, RI, WA, FL, MN, AL)

2006—Challenged on the summer reading list at LeFlore High School in Mobile becdause the author frequently used inappropriate words, such as “nigga,” “bitch,” “bastard,” and “ass.” (AL)

The Black Poets edited by Randall Dudley

1982—Banned for use in English classrooms at the Tinley Park High School because the book “extols murder, rape, theft, incest, sodomy, and other acts.” (IL)

Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

1994—Challenged in the Spokane elementary school libraries because it stereotypes African Americans as eating fried chicken and watermelon and drinking beer at family picnics. The book is based on the memories of its author’s family rooftop picnics in 1930’s Harlem. The book won the 1992 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for its portrayal of minorities. (WA)

Push by Sapphire

2005—Challenged, but retained at Fayetteville High School despite a parent’s complaint that it was sexually explicit. The complainant also submitted a list of more than fifty books, citing the books as too sexually explicit and promoting homosexuality. (AL)

The Friendship by Mildred Taylor

1997—Challenged, but retained in the Prince George’s County school system after a parent claimed that book has “no redeeming value.” (MD)

The Land by Mildred Taylor

2008—Removed from the Turner Elementary School media center shelves in New Tampa as age inappropriate. A parent challenged the book because the novel contains a racial epithet. The book was a 2002 Coretta Scott King Author Award recipient. (FL)

Mississippi Bridge by Mildred Taylor

2001—Challenged by retained at the Donahoe Elementary School library in Sandston despite objections of its “negative content and [that] it’s riddled with prejudice.” The novel by the Newberry Medal-winning author tells the story of a young black man who tries to save white passengers in a bus accident, despite being ordered earlier to give up his seat to “white folks.” (VA)

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor

1993 – 2004—Challenged four times in four states. (LA, CA, AL, FL).

Bloods: Black Veterans of the Vietnam War: An Oral History by Terry Wallace

1987—Banned from the West Hernando Middle School library in Spring Hill because of “harsh language and presents a moral danger to students.” The librarian filled a grievance and the book was returned to the shelves following a ruling by the American Arbitration Association. Forty minutes after the book was returned, the book was removed again, pending a review by an advisory committee. (FL)

Down These Mean Streets by Thomas Piri

1976—Removed from the Island Trees Union Free School District High School library along with nine other titles because they were considered “immoral, anti-American, anti-Christian, or just plain filthy.” Returned to the library after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 25, 1982 in Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 et. al. v. Pico et. al., 457 U.S. 853 (1982). (NY)

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

1984 – 2008—Challenged eighteen times since publication. (CA, VA, MI, TN, WY, NC, PA, CT, FL, OR, TX, WV, OH)

1985—Rejected for purchase by Hayward school trustees because of “rough language” and “explicit sex scenes”. (CA)

The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker

1997—Removed from the Jackson County school libraries along with sixteen other titles. (WV)

Jubilee by Margaret Walker

1977—Challenged in the Greenville County school libraries by the Titan of the Fourth Province of the Knights of the Klu Klux Klan because the novel produces “racial strife and hatred.” (SC)

The Destruction of Black Civilization and The Origin of African Civilization by Chancellor Williams

1993—Challenged at the Prince George County high school libraries because the two volumes promote “racism against white people.” In a complaint filed with the state, the works were called “racist pornography” written “to provoke emotions and actions of racial prejudice, bias, hatred, and hostility towards citizens and students in Maryland.” (MD)

Black Boy by Richard Wright

1972 – 2007—Challenged nine times in seven states since publication. (MI, LA, TN, NY, NE, TX, FL)

1987—Challenged in the Lincoln school libraries because of the novel’s “corruptive, obscene nature.” (NE)

Native Son by Richard Wright

1981—Challenged in North Adam’s due to the book’s “violence, sex, and profanity.” (MA)

1988—Challenged in the Hamilton High School curriculum in Fort Wayne because of the novel’s graphic language and sexual content. (IN)

[dojae-huh]

There's a little bit of a fight happening on Twitter about the lack of "support"/sm post from Doyoung for Jungwoo's new OST today that's ballooning cause a big jungwoo fans account got involved in defending akgae fans of jw making comments about Doyoung. Now even normal accounts are fighting and insulting both Jw and Dy about impact, charting, and sales of merchandise. This reminded me of your posts about fans using the members as proxies to fight and feel righteous about and feel part of ingroup. Funny how this situation repeats and expands even when people know they should ignore solo/akgae stans.

Doyoung is the 127 neo who took the most care of Jungwoo, and this was ignored. His habit of advertising his friends' works (not all neos do it for so many people and not just their closest friends) was also used against of him.

Both sides of the fans are at fault. Those who start and those who response and make it worse. Moderation was an important part of a fandom in the past, people were made to follow rules and troublemakers were punished. Nowadays it is the other way around.

As you said, situations like these wouldn't evolve like this if other fans ignored the perpetraitors. There are fans who want to play victim or feel righteous on both sides though.

Playing the victim card and joining an "opressed minority" is very benefitial for bullies and narcissists. On their own they are weak humans, however, the umbrella of "opressed/mistreated" gives them the shield and ability to attack others. "I say awful things and behave nasty, but you can't beat me, I'm a poor victim, you will be a bad person if you oppose me in any way. Be afraid of others' scorn and keep silent".

I ask all Doyoung's fans to not get involved in such pesky fanwars (I know some of you here do). Have more dignity and integrity. Even if the accusations feel unfair, it won't help neither you, nor your bias (his image in the fandom, his mood when he sees his fans are attacking his friends), nor the stan community (spreading of toxicity and discontent instead of fun and creativity). Laughable accusations from antis (I'm not talking about serious attempts at defamation) should be made into a joke, not combated with zeal. Stay adults and don't turn into toddlers following an example of other toddlers.

(Some) Taeyong and Ten's fans, instead of enjoying the comebacks and new music, also compared the number of shows and promotions. It's like people want to partake in misery instead of having fun. Social squabbles between ingroups are more important than the art itself. The first make them feel more alive, more involved, more noticed.

What was the latest stupid thing I saw... Giselle's fans attacked Taeyong's fans over Loewe, their impact as BAs. Fans want to instigate a fight so badly, they look at every corner for every thing to use to make their proxy look the champion, lol.

#ask me way #food all around chips all around

[datasciencemumbai]

Mastering Event Planning: A Beginner's Guide to Event Planning Essentials for Beginners

Introduction:

Welcome to the exciting world of event planning! Whether you're organizing a small gathering or a large-scale event, mastering the basics of event planning is essential for success. In this beginner's guide, we'll cover the essential principles and techniques that every aspiring event planner should know. From budgeting and venue selection to marketing and logistics, let's dive into the fundamentals of event planning and set you on the path to success.

I. Understanding the Fundamentals of Event Planning II. Budgeting and Financial Management III. Venue Selection and Logistics IV. Marketing and Promotion Strategies

I. Understanding the Fundamentals of Event Planning:

Event planning is the process of organizing and coordinating all aspects of an event, from conception to execution. It involves careful planning, attention to detail, and effective communication with stakeholders. Through an Event Management course, beginners can learn the foundational principles of event planning, including setting objectives, defining the target audience, and creating a timeline for execution.

II. Budgeting and Financial Management:

Budgeting is a critical aspect of event planning, as it dictates the scope and scale of the event. Beginners should learn to create a detailed budget that includes all expenses, such as venue rental, catering, entertainment, and marketing. An Event Management course can provide aspiring event planners with the necessary skills to create and manage budgets effectively, ensuring that the event stays within financial constraints.

III. Venue Selection and Logistics:

Choosing the right venue is essential for the success of any event. Beginners should consider factors such as location, capacity, amenities, and accessibility when selecting a venue. Additionally, logistics such as transportation, accommodations, and equipment rentals must be carefully coordinated to ensure a seamless event experience. Through an Event Management course, beginners can learn best practices for venue selection and logistics management, ensuring that every aspect of the event runs smoothly.

IV. Marketing and Promotion Strategies:

Marketing plays a crucial role in attracting attendees to an event. Beginners should develop a comprehensive marketing plan that includes strategies for reaching the target audience through various channels, such as social media, email marketing, and traditional advertising. An Event Management course can provide beginners with insights into effective marketing and promotion strategies, helping them generate buzz and excitement around their events.

Conclusion:

Congratulations on completing this beginner's guide to event planning essentials! By mastering the fundamental principles covered in this article, you're well on your way to becoming a successful event planner. Whether you're organizing a corporate conference, wedding, or community event, the skills and knowledge gained from an Event Management course will set you apart in the competitive field of event planning. Have questions or thoughts to share? We'd love to hear from you in the comments below!

Ready to take your event planning skills to the next level? Enroll in BIA's Event Management Course today and kickstart your journey towards a successful career in event management!

#event management #event organizer #management

[briannamwood]

Week 3: Social Media, Privacy, & Internet Business Model

Welcome back readers!

In our increasingly digitalized world, the impact of big data and algorithms cannot be overstated. The rapid growth of technology has transformed the way we live, work, and connect with others. After watching the lecture and the Netflix documentary "The Social Dilemma," it's important to reflect on the immense power exerted by these tools and the potential dangers they pose. In this blog post, I will explore the reasons why big data and algorithms are powerful and delve into the associated risks. Additionally, I will discuss strategies to address these issues on personal, professional, and societal levels.

The Power of Big Data and Algorithms

Big data and algorithms have become formidable tools due to their capacity to process and analyze vast amounts of information efficiently. Their strength lies in their ability to identify patterns, make predictions, and optimize outcomes. Here's why they are so powerful:

Data-Driven Decision Making: Businesses, governments, and organizations use big data and algorithms to make informed decisions. These tools can analyze consumer behavior, market trends, and even predict disease outbreaks, leading to more effective planning and resource allocation.

Personalization: Algorithms are responsible for the highly tailored content and advertisements you encounter online. They analyze your preferences and behaviors, aiming to enhance user experience and increase engagement.

Efficiency and Automation: Automation, driven by algorithms, has improved productivity in various sectors. This includes self-driving cars, recommendation engines, and smart manufacturing.

Scale and Speed: Big data and algorithms can process information at an unprecedented scale and speed, offering insights and solutions in real-time.

The Dangers of Their Use and Abuse

Privacy Invasion: The collection of vast amounts of personal data raises concerns about privacy. The documentary "The Social Dilemma" shed light on how user data is harvested and monetized by social media platforms, potentially undermining individuals' privacy.

Filter Bubbles and Echo Chambers: Algorithms that prioritize personalized content can trap individuals in filter bubbles, reinforcing their existing beliefs and limiting exposure to diverse perspectives.

Manipulation and Misinformation: Big data and algorithms can be weaponized to spread misinformation and propaganda.

Bias and Discrimination: Algorithms can perpetuate and even exacerbate societal biases, leading to discrimination in various aspects.

Addiction and Mental Health Concerns: The addictive nature of social media platforms, driven by algorithmic recommendations, has raised concerns about their impact on mental health and well-being.

Addressing the Issues

1. Personal Level:

Educate yourself about data privacy and digital literacy to protect your personal information.

Limit your screen time and be mindful of your online consumption.

Diversify your information sources to break free from filter bubbles.

2. Professional Level:

Emphasize ethical AI and data use in the workplace. Develop guidelines and policies that promote fairness, transparency, and accountability.

Invest in employee training to ensure awareness and responsible use of data and algorithms.

3. Societal Level:

Advocate for stricter regulations and policies governing data collection and algorithm use.

Hold tech companies accountable for ethical practices and demand transparency in their algorithms.

Promote digital literacy in schools and communities to empower individuals to navigate the digital landscape effectively.

In conclusion, big data and algorithms are undoubtedly powerful tools with the potential to revolutionize industries and improve our lives. However, they also pose significant dangers when misused or abused. To strike a balance, we must address these challenges on personal, professional, and societal levels to ensure that the digital age benefits all of humanity without violating fundamental rights and values. It's a journey that requires collective efforts and continuous observation.

Until next time,

Brianna W.

[dommarhooober]

Hoobish Thoughts #1: Poll results and beyond

Ok so like I REALLY didn't plan for if I started making a new Conscience Navigators chapter while a Neighborhood Navigators poll was going on. Like, do I stop my flow and immediately work on that?????? Or do I try and finish up the main chapter so I can work on that next?????? Do I flip flop between em? Will the fans know I'm not working on the N.N entry???? They don't take long to make cuz I can ignore most of the continuity the main story has.

I mean I'm probably gonna do the flip flop thing cuz if I fully stop the chapter making them:

I'll probably lose my flow, and

Moral not stonks if I do that 💀

Also, imma do the losing poll votes after chapter 32. Tho they may happen after the Alia one with Kel cuz I REALLY like that idea. Or maybe I should do another poll with em?

OR OR, maybe I could look for another writer? But they'd have to read the whole thing, and be in to the idea, and be fine with Omori NSFW (no sex) like vulgarity and whatever the hell RW Mari thinks love and affection is. Not to mention the whole thing with Dommar's coworkers that I'm maybe gonna change. Cuz like the story (in my eyes) still looks like some dude wanted to write about him getting all da fictional girls.

Imma talk about that now. Like I'm REALLY SORRY if anyone thinks I'm horny and wanted to make Perfectheart and Mari NSFW/risque shit. If I was interested in another fandom, there'd still be their personalities in whatever Conscience Navigators would become. It's just what I thought was the most interesting to imagine, write, and read. I specifically made it so the AU takes place many years after the canon game so I wouldn't encounter any age issues. Even Perfectheart, who is days old in canon, is at LEAST 20 cuz 2018 - 1991 = 27. Wait a sec that means Sunny is, like 43 (assuming he's 16 in Omori). I gotta make Bitchheart cast immortality on him in Neighborhood Navigators or something.

Tho maybe I could go around explaining the NSFW content in my story better. Y'all know about the Omori AU Q & A Twitter? Very based, tho after answering "what was the hardest part of your AU to make?" I was blocked. My answer was, well, I'll show you the pic:

Could be a bunch of reasons why they blocked me (I was responding to a lot of their questions and MAYBE they thought I was annoying. Also they might think I was trying to legitimize UH OH CRINGE, which is not what I was trying to do). Don't harass them. Or say anything. It's their right to block whoever for whatever reason, and they don't need to tell anyone why.

And also, if you think the story isn't NSFW, you're just wrong. Thing is rated M on AO3 (I thought of a better way to tell ppl this than just "READ THE TAGS" so will do that soon), there's other concerning tags, the incident Dommar referenced when texting Hajime, the one Hajime referenced a bit later, all the gore can be unsettling to read, RW Mari's mouth has to upset someone, and also there's the whole thing with Dommar's coworkers. It's just not SFW, even tho it has no sex scenes!

Is there some sort of negative bias towards NSFW in the community? Negative as in people will try to cancel those who make it, or harass em, or call them names without researching. Cuz some people say DNI (I think that means Do Not Interact) if NSFW n shit and I only noticed that after I already started talking to em. Do they like not want me to speak to em in general? Or is it just don't mention my AU? (the one that makes the most sense to me) I'm very confused and very overblowing this issue but like I don't wanna be called an UH OH CRINGE promoter.

Also completely unrelated, but should I advertise my twitch streams when they happen? I mean, I made a post about it on X one time saying "I STREAM!!!!1," but that brought a lot of commission persons looking for dat dough. All 43¢ of it.

If you read all this, you're entitled to SOMETHING. Idk what or if I can give it to you, but you at least have my appreciation.

#drabble #shower thoughts #Dinner thoughts #Essay oops #omori #ao3 #omori au #omori fanfic #conscience explorers #neighborhood navigators #conscience navigators #omori fandom #quotev #scp foundation #monologue #Helped to type this #AGAIN DON'T THROW SHADE ON THE TWITTER I MENTIONED OR THE HOOB_CARRIER WILL FIND YOU #e #dommarhooober

[kierancampire]

I just watched "Big Vape The Rise and Fall of Juul" on Netflix but I have some issues.

It's no secret that Netflix has a bias in its documentaries, it's repeatedly been shown and proven to hide evidence and talking to certain people to feed into a narrative, and while it has seemingly improved on that, it still does it.

But my biggest issue with this is, the documentary is so incredibly fucking hypocritical. Majorly so. So to sum up the point of the documentary, in a sense, is that vaping is bad, it's harmful, it's an unknown science that was propelled faster than it should have been, it led to a million issues to everyone involved, and people need to be more aware of what they put in their bodies. Except. At the exact same time it is saying the exact opposite of all of that.

But this is where the hypocrisy bothers me. So a large chunk of this documentary is dedicated to shaming Juul, and saying how while they said they are only for adults and it was to stop addiction, it was secretly being targeted to kids, and while on one hand they were saying "No this is bad and dangerous" on the other they were saying/showing "But either way it is cool looking and isn't harmful, so you shouldn't be doing it, but if you do eh there are worse things you can do." and the entire time the Netflix documentary obviously frames that as bad. EXCEPT THEY DO IT TOO. The entire first episode is dedicated to how innovative and cool Juul was and how hard they worked to make the product, barely anything bad is said. They then show all the adverts, in full, that Juul was criticized for and were labelled as bad for targeting children. Then sprinkled all throughout the following episodes they show people smoking Juul, people working for the company defending it, insisting that people should do it and it's fine. They show and interview people who are addicted to their Juuls/vaping, some of these people having almost died and suffered from collapsed lungs, some admitted they are more addicted to vaping than they ever were to cigarettes, like, really bad things, but then show these people laughing about it and going "But eh I enjoy it so whatever!" and play it off like nothing! A girl literally cries confessing vaping almost killed her, but then she is shown repeatedly vaping and laughs it off saying she feels no need to quit as she feels fine now! And then it ends it all by blaming Vitamin E and saying Juul actually causes no issues, it was purely another thing so eventually don't smoke that and you'll be fine

And that's what I hated! This documentary is partially framing itself as being anti Juul/vaping, and has people calling out the way Juul advertised and how they handled all the complaints and criticisms. But then it does exactly that. It frames itself as critiquing this company and everything it did, but then it does exactly what the company did and seems to be promoting vaping/Juul more than it's discouraging it. Like again, at one point it critiques Juul for creating an epidemic and having no support network for quitting it, even showing a mother crying about her addicted son. Yet does it do anything to show how to quit vaping or ways people can get support for it. No.

Like I could keep going on but this is already long winded and me repeating myself! But everything it seemingly portrayed itself as attacking Juul for, how they presented themselves, handled the situation, for having secret ulterior motives and investors who are the enemy, how it played off the issues, gave conflicting views and facts. Literally everything this documentary seemed to be "slandering" Juul for, it itself does, and it came across more as not so secret advertising and support for Juul than it was anti it. Which, if it wants to do that, fine. But it doesn't frame itself like that. It's so hypocritical and seems so exceptionally biased in all the wrong ways!

#personal #big vape the rise and fall of juul #big vape #juul #netflix #vape #documentary #big tobacco

[sohailmastan]

Digital Marketing Tools

Digital marketing: What Is It? The use of digital channels to promote goods and services to customers is referred to as "digital marketing." Websites, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other channels with a similar function are used in this kind of marketing. With the introduction of the internet in the 1990s, digital marketing gained popularity.

Emblix Acedemy is the best training institute and provides best Digital Marketing Tools to get professional.

Digital marketing is frequently seen as an additional strategy by businesses to reach customers and comprehend their behaviour. It has some of the same ideas as traditional marketing. Traditional and digital marketing strategies are frequently combined by businesses. However, unconscious prejudice is one of the unique issues that face digital marketing.

KEY LESSONS Marketing to consumers via digital channels, including as websites, mobile apps, and social media platforms, is known as digital marketing.

Internet marketing, which only takes place on websites, is distinct from this type of marketing.

Digital marketing deals with luring clients using email, content marketing, search engines, social media, and other channels. How to stand out in a world that is overrun with digital marketing advertisements is one of the main issues that digital marketers confront.

Implicit bias is one of several problems with digital marketing.

How Does Digital Marketing Function? Marketing is the term used to describe the activities a business engages in to advertise its goods and services and increase its market share. It takes a mix of sales prowess, advertising knowledge, and the capacity to deliver items to end customers in order to be successful. Marketers are experts who perform these duties either internally at businesses or externally at marketing agencies.

Traditionally, businesses concentrated their marketing efforts on print, television, and radio. These choices are still available, but the internet caused a change in how businesses interact with their customers. Digital marketing became useful in this situation. Websites, social media, search engines, and apps—anything that combines marketing with consumer feedback or a two-way connection between the business and its customers—are all used in this type of marketing.

Companies were driven to alter their marketing tactics by emerging technologies and trends. In the early years of digital marketing, email rose to become a common marketing technique. The focus switched to search engines like Netscape at that point, which enabled companies to tag and keyword products to stand out. Companies are now able to track data and respond to consumer trends because to the growth of websites like Facebook.

Nowadays, businesses can sell themselves, their goods and services, and themselves to consumers more easily thanks to smartphones and other digital gadgets. People prefer utilising their phones to access the internet, according to studies. In fact, a Pew Research Centre research found that more than 75% of American adults frequently use their phones when shopping.

1) Interactive digital marketing is frequently utilised to target particular client base groups. Receivers and Sources Advertisers are frequently referred to as sources, and the people who get customised advertisements are known as receivers. As McDonald's did with shift workers and travellers, sources frequently target very particular, well defined receivers.

The business used digital advertisements since it was aware that these customers constituted a sizable portion of its late-night business and used digital gadgets. McDonald's targeted them with adverts displayed at automated teller machines (ATMs), petrol stations, and websites that its consumers frequently visited, encouraging them to download the Restaurant Finder app.

Channel Types for Digital Marketing

As previously mentioned, print (newspapers and magazines) and broadcast (TV and radio) advertisements were the traditional methods of marketing. These channels are still in use today and still exist. Digital marketing platforms have changed and are still changing. The eight most popular digital channels that businesses can use to strengthen their marketing efforts are listed below. Remember that certain businesses could employ many channels in their endeavours.

Website Promotion

All digital marketing efforts revolve around a website. It is a very effective channel on its own, but it also serves as the platform for a number of different web marketing efforts. A website ought to convey a brand, a product, and a service in an understandable and memorable manner. It should be quick, simple, and mobile-friendly.

Paid-Per-Click Promotion

Paid advertisements can be used by marketers to target internet users on a variety of digital platforms thanks to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. Advertisements for goods and services can be displayed to users who are conducting searches on Google, Bing, LinkedIn, X platform (formerly Twitter), Pinterest, and Facebook using PPC campaigns set up by marketers.

These ads can target users specifically based on their hobbies or geography, or segment users based on demographic traits (including age or gender). The two most widely used PPC systems are Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

Content Promotion

Reaching potential customers by using content that appeals to them is the aim of content marketing. The typical process for promoting content is to publish it on a website and then use social media, email marketing, search engine optimisation, or even pay-per-click campaigns. Blogs, ebooks, online courses, infographics, podcasts, and webinars are some of the content marketing tools.

Email Promotion

One of the most successful digital marketing methods is still email marketing. Email marketing is not the same as spam email, despite the fact that many people think it is. Companies can connect with prospective customers and anybody else interested in their brands and products with this sort of marketing.

Many digital marketers add leads to their email lists using all other digital marketing methods. They then develop client acquisition funnels employing email marketing to convert those prospects into paying customers.

Use of social media

A social media marketing campaign's main objectives are to increase brand recognition and foster interpersonal trust. As you learn more about social media marketing, you can employ it as a channel for direct marketing or sales as well as lead generation. Twitter and promoted posts are two instances of social media marketing.

Affiliate Promotion

One of the earliest types of marketing is affiliate marketing, and the internet has given it new life. Influencers who use affiliate marketing to promote other people's products are paid every time a lead or sale is generated. Millions of dollars are paid out each month to websites that sell products from numerous well-known corporations, including Amazon, through their affiliate programmes.

Video Advertising

One of the most well-known search engines in the world is YouTube. Before making a purchase decision, many internet users visit YouTube to learn something new, read a review, or just to unwind.

To launch a video marketing campaign, marketers can choose from a variety of platforms, such as Facebook Videos, Instagram, and TikTok. Integrating video into SEO, content marketing, and more extensive social media marketing efforts helps businesses use it most effectively.

Text Messages

Companies and nonprofit organisations use text messaging, also known as SMS or short message service, to tell clients about upcoming sales or to provide them with possibilities. SMS marketing campaigns are another tool used by candidates for political office to promote their platforms. With the development of technology, many text-to-give initiatives now enable donors to make a direct payment or contribution by sending a short text message.

Digital marketing is distinct from internet marketing. Digital marketing can occur through mobile devices, on a tube platform, in a video game, or through a smartphone app. Internet marketing is advertising that only appears online.

Digital marketing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

It's important to keep in mind that key performance indicators (KPIs) are used by digital marketers just like they are by traditional marketers. KPIs are quantitative means for businesses to assess the effectiveness of their marketing over the long term and gauge how they stack up against the competition. Corporate plans, financial objectives and successes, operational activities, and even marketing efforts are all areas that can be measured.

Some of the most popular KPIs that marketers can utilise to assist businesses in achieving their objectives include the following:

Blog Posts: This KPI can be used by marketers to determine how frequently a business publishes blog posts each month.

Clickthrough Rates: Businesses can use this KPI to determine how many email deliveries result in clicks. This covers the quantity of recipients who open emails and click links to complete transactions.

Conversion Rate: This metric concentrates on call-to-action marketing campaigns. These initiatives solicit people to take specific activities, including making a purchase of a good or service prior to the expiration of a deal. By dividing the total number of requests made by the number of successful engagements, businesses may calculate the conversion rate.

Social media traffic measures the volume of interactions with business social media pages. Likes, following, views, shares, and/or other quantifiable activities are included.

Website Traffic: Marketers can monitor how many people visit a company's website using this indicator. This data can be used by corporate management to determine whether the layout and style of the website influence sales.

Challenges in Digital Marketing

For its practitioners, digital marketing presents unique difficulties. Digital marketers must stay current with how these channels operate and how users interact with them as they proliferate quickly. To effectively sell their goods or services, marketers must be knowledgeable on how to leverage various channels.

Because recipients are being overwhelmed with more and more competing advertisements, it is getting harder to hold their attention. It can be difficult for digital marketers to analyse the enormous amounts of data they collect and then use that data to create fresh marketing initiatives.

The difficulty of properly acquiring and utilising data emphasises the need for a marketing strategy based on a thorough comprehension of customer behaviour in digital marketing. For instance, it can be necessary for a business to employ various methods, such as website heatmaps, in order to understand the customer journey and emerging patterns of consumer behaviour.

Even when marketers and businesses take every precaution to prevent it, implicit bias still manages to find its way into digital marketing. The term "implicit bias" describes attitudes and preconceptions that are formed unconsciously.

Algorithms are crucial when businesses create their marketing plans since they form the basis of digital marketing. These algorithms are frequently developed with the goal of being objective. However, the outcome isn't always what was intended.

This is thus because different people, such as engineers, developers, data scientists, and marketers, all of whom have implicit biases, code algorithms. This implies that they might unintentionally programme, input, and modify data.

Even adding stock images or videos to a campaign can introduce implicit bias. Companies could accidentally utilise photographs and films of heterosexual White people while ignoring Black people, Native Americans, and people of other colours, as well as persons with varied body forms and abilities.

A digital marketing agency: What Is It?

A company that specialises solely in marketing to consumers via digital platforms is known as a digital marketing agency. This include developing and implementing campaigns for business clients across a variety of platforms, including social media, pay-per-click marketing, videos, and websites.

What Does SEO Mean in Online Marketing?

Companies can use search engine optimisation (SEO) to drive more traffic to their websites with the aim of having their names and websites appear at the top of any search results page. This can happen while using editorially chosen or organic search results. Companies' names and websites are more visible to customers when SEO is successfully integrated into their digital marketing plans.

Internet marketing: What Is It?

Any form of marketing that only occurs online is referred to as internet marketing. This indicates that it only appears on websites. It is distinct from digital marketing, which also encompasses internet marketing, social media marketing, and mobile app marketing. Mobile phones, digital gadgets, and other platforms can all be used for these marketing campaigns.

Why Should I Work in Digital Marketing?

Along with data analytics and social media expertise, digital marketers need to have good writing abilities. For the majority of jobs in digital marketing, a bachelor's degree is required. These jobs can be found in business-related fields like marketing or closely connected ones like communications. You might also choose to enrol in bootcamps or courses for digital marketing. Additionally, it may be beneficial to complete an internship while still a student.

#digital marketing #Youtube

[narhinafan]

Even though most of the Naruto movies aren't Canon the one that I think is objectively the worst one because of hindsight is definitely road to ninja road to ninja had so much potential. I mean after we had one piece strong world Manga artist had started getting involved in movies regarding their franchises and road to Ninja was supposed to be the first Naruto movie to have kishimoto's involvement yet that movie didn't feel anything like that kishimoto would not have approved of. It's such a shame because I really like the concept of alternate versions of existing characters interacting with the main universe and I think having it be an actual alternate universe instead of a genjutsu would have been a lot better. it's such a shame like we could have explored the alternate versions of Sasuke and why he's such a Playboy Hinata why she is the way she is hell you could explore even an alternate version of Sakura even. I mean they could have had the entire konaha 12 there and finding out how different and similar they are to their counterparts. Oh no let's just give us a bullshit movie about a ship that was never going to be Canon to begin with God I hate what they did to road to Ninja it could have been so good had it not been for the bias towards Sakura what a waste. The movie failed to deliver on fan service it was literally false advertising we were led to believe we were going to get a movie that had a heavy focus on the konaha 13 instead we got a bullshit shit ship movie I guess you could tell the difference between the movies that came out after it the last and road to boruto actually feel like they had involvement from kashimoto unlike the first supposed kishimoto involved Naruto movie what a disappointment that's what what road to Ninja will always be to me.

Yeah Kishimoto's involvement for road to ninja was mostly designing the characters counterparts and the draft of the story focusing on the Namikaze family scenes and doing a one shot for advertising.

However the actual script was done by a member of the anime team which was famous for teasing NaruSaku in the anime and adding scenes that weren't in the manga. basically they took Kishimoto's story draft and shoved NaruSaku in when it wasn't meant to.

The promotional material put focus on teasing Naruto/Hinata and Sasuke/Sakura, even though the movie itself teased NaruSaku as well.

Further more they even stole from Hinata's confession scene, but replaced her with Sakura.

Kishimoto was really looking forward to doing the family scenes that he couldn't do in the manga since Kushina and Minato are dead as well. You can tell those scenes really had Kihsimoto's touch since they were likely in the story draft unlike everything to do with NaruSaku.

#pro naruhina #anti narusaku

[omegaphilosophia]

Capitalism and the Search for Truth: Unveiling the Hindrances

In today's globalized world, capitalism has become the dominant economic system, shaping societies, institutions, and even our pursuit of knowledge. While capitalism has its benefits, it is essential to examine its impact on the search for truth and the quest for knowledge. In this blog post, we will explore how capitalism can act as a hindrance to the pursuit of truth, stifling intellectual freedom, distorting information, and prioritizing profit over the common good.

Commercialization of Knowledge: Under capitalism, knowledge and information become commodified, subject to market forces and profit-driven motives. The commodification of knowledge can lead to the prioritization of research and information that is financially profitable rather than necessarily advancing truth and understanding. This bias can limit the exploration of unconventional or unprofitable ideas, hindering intellectual diversity and innovation.

Influence of Corporate Interests: In a capitalist society, corporations wield significant influence over the dissemination and production of knowledge. Corporate funding and sponsorship can shape research agendas, academic programs, and media narratives. This influence may result in conflicts of interest, where research and information are tailored to fit corporate agendas or protect corporate interests, potentially suppressing findings that challenge prevailing narratives or threaten profit-driven industries.

Inequality and Access to Education: Capitalism's inherent economic disparities can hinder the pursuit of truth by limiting access to education and opportunities for intellectual development. Unequal access to quality education, resources, and research facilities disproportionately affects marginalized communities. This deprivation of opportunities and knowledge perpetuates systemic inequalities, preventing diverse voices and perspectives from contributing to the collective search for truth.

Media Consolidation and Sensationalism: Under the capitalist media landscape, media outlets are often driven by profit motives, sensationalism, and the need for higher ratings. This focus on attracting viewers and maximizing profits can lead to a distortion of information and a prioritization of sensational stories over factual accuracy. The pursuit of truth can be undermined as media organizations strive to capture audience attention and generate advertising revenue, compromising the integrity of news reporting.

Intellectual Property and Patents: Capitalism's emphasis on individual ownership and proprietary rights can hinder the free exchange of knowledge. Intellectual property laws and patents can limit the dissemination of information, hindering collaborative efforts and impeding the collective search for truth. Profit-oriented motives may incentivize withholding or restricting access to vital scientific discoveries, impeding progress in fields that require open collaboration and sharing of knowledge.

While capitalism has fostered economic growth and innovation, it is important to critically examine its impact on the pursuit of truth and knowledge. By commodifying knowledge, promoting corporate interests, perpetuating educational inequalities, distorting information through media sensationalism, and prioritizing intellectual property rights, capitalism can pose significant challenges to the search for truth. As we navigate the complexities of our capitalist society, it is crucial to foster intellectual freedom, promote equitable access to education, encourage independent and critical thinking, and prioritize the common good over narrow profit-driven motives. By recognizing and addressing these hindrances, we can strive for a more inclusive and truth-seeking society that values the pursuit of knowledge for the betterment of all.

#Capitalism #Truth-seeking #Pursuit of knowledge #Intellectual freedom #Commodification of knowledge #Corporate influence #Conflicts of interest #Inequality in education #Media sensationalism #Intellectual property rights #Distortion of information #Capitalism and truth #Economic systems #Knowledge commodification #Access to education #Corporate influence on research #Media bias #Open exchange of knowledge #Common good #Critique of capitalism #philosophy #epistemology #knowledge #learning #ethics #education #chatgpt

[dojae-huh]

There is a rule in sales that roughly 5% know they want your product, 15% know they don't want your product, and 80% have no formed opinion/thinking about it. Promotion, repeated advertisement, customer services mainly work with the 80%. A person might pass a nice looking cafe many times, but finally visit it with a date.

People don't change their opinions on the spot. Especially if these opinions are challenged, especially when they are emotionally winded up. However, a seed of doubt can be planted, a new perspective remembered and tested later. Little strokes fell great oaks. It might take months, it might take years. A person will change, but the original instigator of this change won't know about the influence.

Some of the readers who came to this blog weren't interested in Jaehyun or even disliked him a little. Through association with Doyoung, my posts highlighting Jaehyun's qualities that he doesn't show during 127 group vlives, some of those readers warmed up to Jaehyun.

There are more lurkers than active participants online. They might not voice their own opinions, but their interest and participation in the fandom, with the idol group can be influenced by what they see, who they read. This is why it is more productive to write positive posts, insist on the right honest view on events, provide an alternative to "mainstream narrative", than arguing with antis or multiplying negativity with "how dare they say this and this about my bias".

Have you noticed how it happens? A stan twits without any links "another day, another attack on my bias". Moots, not knowing what's going on, start to ask the OP in the comments what has happened. The OP either answers vaguely or says he/she will DM. Oftentimes something that, say, an Indonesian anti wrote will be translated into English. The hateful message is spread thanks to the fans themselves. They themselves make everyone aware that their bias is under attack. One anti fan stirs hundred fans into a frenzy.

It's kind of like the problem with global news. When in the past people knew only about disasters in their area, that directly affected them, but nowadays media bring them anxiaty and fear for their safety talking about broken dams and fallen aircrafts all over the world. And as the world is big and someone dies somewhere all the time, a person can't have a peaceful day to celebrate.

Same happens inside the fandoms. Your own part of the fandom in your country can be completely at peace, busy with organising cafe events, but the celebration doesn't last because someone across the globe twitted something nasty about the bias.

People have eyes, if they regularly encounter evidence of the accused idol actually being a great person and an artist instead of fullfilling the painted by antis image, they won't believe slander. Antis will work as black PR, i.e. spread the name and attract attention. Their vile posts will be turned into lemonade.

Lastly, "fans represent their idol". Back to the lurkers. Positive, kind, funny fans, a welcoming atmosphere, interesting events to participate will look very inviting. "If the fans are so nice, their biases should be nice" connection will be formed.

When you're smilin', when you're smilin'

The whole world smiles with you

When you're laughin', when you're laughin'

The sun comes shinin' through

But when you're cryin', you bring on the rain

So stop that cryin', be happy again

Keep on smilin', 'cause when you're smilin'

The whole world smiles with you

[digit-one]

Digital Marketing

The term digital marketing refers to the use of digital channels to market products and services in order to reach consumers. This type of marketing involves the use of websites, mobile devices, social media, search engines, and other similar channels. Digital marketing became popular with the advent of the internet in the 1990s.

Digital marketing involves some of the same principles as traditional marketing and is often considered a new way for companies to approach consumers and understand their behavior. Companies often combine traditional and digital marketing techniques in their strategies. But it comes with its own set of challenges, including implicit bias.

Digital marketing involves marketing to consumers through any number of digital channels, including websites, mobile devices, and social media platforms.

This form of marketing is different from internet marketing, which is exclusively done on websites.

Digital marketing is a broad field, including attracting customers via email, content marketing, search platforms, social media, and more.

One of the biggest challenges digital marketers face is how to set themselves apart in a world that is oversaturated with digital marketing ads.

Digital marketing comes with various challenges, including implicit bias.

How Digital Marketing Works

Marketing refers to activities that a company uses to promote its products and services and improve its market share. It requires a combination of advertising savvy, sales, and the ability to deliver goods to end-users if it's going to be successful. Professionals, known as marketers, take on these tasks either internally (for companies) or externally with marketing firms.

Corporations traditionally focused on marketing through print, television, and radio. Although these options still exist, the internet led to a shift in the way companies reach consumers. That's where digital marketing came into play. This form of marketing involves the use of websites, social media, search engines, and apps—anything that incorporates marketing with customer feedback or a two-way interaction between the company and its customers.

Increased technology and newer trends forced companies to change their marketing strategies. Email became a popular marketing tool in the early days of digital marketing. That focus shifted to search engines like Netscape, which allowed businesses to tag and keyword stuff to get themselves noticed. The development of sites like Facebook made it possible for companies to track data to cater to consumer trends

#Required Skills #digital marketing #seo marketing #sem marketing #social marketing

[cogitoergofun]

A gunman opened fire at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Saturday night, killing five people and injuring 19 others. At the time, Club Q was hosting a drag show and was expected to hold two more drag events the following day to honor Transgender Day of Remembrance. Now, however, lives have been stolen, others have been critically wounded, and Club Q has closed its doors until further notice. 

Adding salt to the wound of all of this is the hypocrisy of Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who tweeted that “the victims & their families are in my prayers.” This is the same person who has become notorious for her anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, wild conspiracy theories and glorification of guns and who has played a significant part in helping mainstream some dangerous talking points about queer and trans people. Unsurprisingly, her tweet fell flat and sparked outrage from the LGBTQ community and its allies, who unapologetically called her out for failing to acknowledge exactly who was targeted in the attack. 

As a queer person, I’m heartbroken and devastated by the shooting, but as a journalist, I am unfortunately not surprised. The shooting at Club Q is a tragic yet predictable outcome of demonizing LGBTQ people and using children as political pawns.

When I first reported on the right’s anti-LGBTQ “grooming” narrative back in April, I was afraid that this hateful rhetoric would lead to violence, and now my worst fears have been confirmed. For months, bad-faith actors on cable TV and social media have relentlessly attacked our community, whipping up hysteria and constant threats, much of which has unfortunately been spread and legitimized by certain politicians like Boebert. 

Throughout her career, she has repeatedly expressed her disdain for the LGBTQ community. In recent months, she has baselessly accused drag queens, trans people and LGBTQ-allied teachers of “grooming” young children. She’s compared gender-affirming medical care to mutilation, vilified trans athletes and claimed that LGBTQ characters shouldn’t be in TV shows that kids might watch. Boebert also suggested that there should be an age limit on when people can come out or transition, similar to the age restrictions on alcohol and tobacco products. In August, she even warned drag queens to “stay away from the children in Colorado’s Third District” in response to a flyer advertising Drag Queen Story Hour at a local library. 

Furthermore, she has amplified the Twitter account Libs of TikTok, perhaps one of the largest purveyors of anti-LGBTQ disinformation and rhetoric. Run by Chaya Raichik, Libs of TikTok has targeted LGBTQ people, drag events and Pride celebrations across the country.

[...]

Boebert is not alone in her actions and sentiments, however. She is just one among many conservatives in the public eye who have promoted Libs of TikTok and used their platforms to peddle hatred and rile up extremists. In fact, her comments are part of a much larger moral panic fueled by conservative pundits and politicians, who have revived many old-school homophobic stereotypes and exacerbated the current vitriol against trans and nonbinary people to score cheap political points. This has resulted in a wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation in many states across the country, which follows an increase in bias-motivated harassment and hate crimes. 

In addition to Boebert and Libs of TikTok, political leaders like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Fox News anchors like Tucker Carlson; as well as conservative activists like Matt Walsh and Christopher Rufo, among others, have repeatedly attacked drag queens and other queer and trans people, spreading lie after lie and conspiracy after conspiracy. 

Now that preliminary hate crime charges have been brought against the suspect in the shooting, it’s hard not to draw a direct line from the purveyors of this violent rhetoric to the fact that this act of violence happened at an LGBTQ club.

For too long, their words and actions have inspired others to harass and threaten LGBTQ people at gay bars, Pride events and drag shows, and now their hateful rhetoric has helped incite a deadly attack that has stolen precious lives. What else did they expect was going to happen? You can’t constantly stoke fear and hate and not expect violence to ensue. You can’t baselessly smear and vilify an entire group of people for simply existing and accusing them of being a threat to children and not expect some people to feel compelled to take matters into their own hands.

[lorenzomambrini1]

While reading the case, It surprised me the impact that culture and preconceived prejudices had on the brand positioning of Unilever’s Fair & Lovely.

Culture in this case created a market space for fair skin products worth more than 40% of the total market in India in 2014 (0.4$bn, Skin whiteners & lighteners).

Brands built their whole positioning on these prejudices, specifically promoting fair-skin colors as more desirable than those darker-skin. They portrayed fair skin as an aspirational attribute obtained through the adoption of their product building around this concept most of their communication efforts.

Reading this case, it is very interesting to think how these brands will evolve as culture changes in emerging markets such as India. To understand this we can look at the experience of developed markets (US, UK, Europe) where in the last decades marketers has started a process to eradicate “Colorism”, (a discrimination against those with darker skin) and build more inclusive brands. There have been three key actions behind this process:

1. Create awareness about this issue – Colorism could be also unconscious as a legacy of the past. Therefore it is very important to build awareness about it, launching specific campaigns addressing the issue and being intentional when taking the advertising shots

2. Be intentional on the choice of the casting – Brands have started casting darker skin models to fight against this collective bias, making sure that diversity is maintained by measuring the share of darker skin (and other ethnicities) models over time.

3. “Decentering whiteness” - Extend the product line and built marketing campaigns aimed specifically at Black consumers (and other ethnicities). An example of this could in cosmetics space, where before there were mainly white-focused products, and now introduced makeup that enhance every skin tone without changing it.

It is still a process that is far from over where brands play an important role in eradicating this prejudice and bias.

#mitsloan2022sbrandingb

[priyanka10m]

Digital Marketing

Marketing that uses electronic media electronic devices and which can be used by marketing experts to convey promotional publicity messaging and measure its impact through your customers. In real, digital marketing refers to marketing events or campaigns that appear on electronic device. It can be in any forms, including paid social ads and social media posts, online video, display ads, search engine marketing, etc.

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is promotion of brands to connect with customers using the internet and other forms of digital communication. This contains email, social media, and web-based advertising, text and multimedia messages as a marketing channel.

Types of digital marketing

There are various approaches or different ways within digital marketing depending on interaction with electronic media. They are:

1.           Search engine optimization

Search engine optimization SEO, is a marketing tool. SEO is a science because which research and weigh different important factors to achieve the highest possible ranking. The most important elements need to consider when optimizing a website includes:

•            Quality of content

•            Level of user engagement

•            Mobile-friendliness

•            Number and quality of inbound links

2.           Content marketing

SEO is a major factor in content marketing, it’s a strategy based on the distribution of relevant and valuable content to a target audience.

As in any marketing strategy, the goal is to attract leads that ultimately convert into customers. But it works so differently than regular traditional advertising.

Content marketing is little tricky. Content marketing writers required to  rank highly in search engine results with engaging people who will read the information, share it, and interact further.. When the content is proper, it will establish strong relationships throughout the process.

3.           Social media marketing

Social media marketing means increasing traffic and brand publicity by engaging people in online discussion. The most booming platforms for social media marketing are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter with LinkedIn and YouTube.

Social media marketing includes active participation, it is a popular way of getting attention. It's the most famous media for B2C marketers. Social media marketing gives built-in engagement metrics, which are useful in helping you to understand how you can reach the audience.

4.           Pay-per-click marketing

Pay-per-click marketing PPC, is posting an advertise on a platform and paying every time someone clicks the ad.

How and when people see your ad is complicated. When a spot is available on a search engine results page known as a SERP the engine fills the spot with essential instant auction. An algorithm prioritizes each available advertise based on a number of factors, including:

•            Advertise quality

•            Keyword importance or relevance

•            Landing page quality

•            Bid price

Every PPC campaign has one or more target steps that viewers are meant to complete after clicking the advertise or post.

5.           Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing allows everyone to make money by marketing another person's business. You can be the promoter or the business who works with the promoter. It uses a revenue sharing model. If you're the affiliate, you get commission when someone purchases that item.

If you're the merchant, you pay the affiliate for every sale they help you make. Some affiliate marketers choose to review the products of one company, perhaps on a blog or other party site. Others have relationships with multiple merchants.

6.           Native advertising

Native advertising aim is to blend in with its surrounding. Native advertising was developed in reaction to the cynicism of today's consumers toward ads. Knowing the developer of the ad pays to run it, many customers will end the ad.

A native advertise gets this bias by providing information or entertainment before it goes to anything promotional, downplaying the "advertise" aspect. It’s important to always label your native ads clearly. When your customers know exactly what they're getting, they'll feel better about your content and your brand.

7.           Marketing automation

Marketing automation use the software to power digital marketing events increasing the efficiency and relevance of advertising.

Marketing automation allows companies to keep the expectation of customization. It permits brands to:

•            Collect and analyze the consumer data.

•            Design targeted marketing campaigns and events.

•            Post marketing messages at the right time required.

8.           Email marketing

The concept of email marketing is easy, you send a promotional message and hope that your prospect clicks on the ad or post. Here the execution is more complex. First you have to check that your emails are wanted. This means having a list that does the following:

•            Individualizes the content in the body and in the subject line.

•            States the kind of emails the subscriber will get.

•            An signature email that gives a clear unsubscribe option

•            Integrates the transactional and promotional emails

Email marketing is effective technique surveyed professionals called it as their best effective lead generator.

The benefits of digital marketing

Digital marketing has become very important largely because it reaches a wide range of audience and offers a number of benefits such as follows;

A big geographic reach

When you post an ad online, people can see where they are provided you haven’t limited your ad geographically. This makes it easy to grow your business's market widely.

Quantitative results

In digital marketing, output monitoring is simple. Digital marketing software and platforms automatically track the number of desired results that we get, whether that means email open rates, visits to our home page, or direct purchases.

Low cost

Digital marketing not only reaches a big audience but also carries a low cost. For traditional marketing methods like newspaper ads, television spots are high. They also give you less knowledge about whether your target audiences will see those messages in the first place.

In digital marketing we can create just one content piece that draws visitors to our blog as long as it's active. We can create an email marketing campaign that delivers messages to targeted customer lists on a schedule, and it's easy to change that schedule or the content as required. Digital marketing gives us more flexibility and customer contacts.

Easy customization

Digital marketing allows you to gather customer data in a various ways. Data collected is much more in detail and specific. With digital marketing, all the required information is at your fingertips.

More network connection with customers

Digital marketing allows you to communicate with your customers in reality. Most important is they communicate approach to you.

Think about your social media plan. It”s really amazing when your required target audience check your current post, but it's even good when they comment on the post.

Interactivity benefits your customers as well. This level of engagement increases and become active participants. This way of ownership can build a strong sense of loyalty.

Easy and convenient conversions

Digital marketing allows our customers take action immediately after viewing your ad or content. With digital marketing, they can click a link or save a post and move into the sales funnel right away. They may not make a purchase immediately, but they are still connected with us and give a chance to interact.

Digital marketing increases growth

Digital marketing should be one of the main focus of almost any business’s overall marketing strategy. Never before has there been a way to stay in such consistent contact with your customers, and nothing else offers the level of customization that digital data could provide. As more possibilities of using digital marketing approaches the more you'll be able to increase your company's growth.

Takeaway:

Working with Optimized InfoTech means providing your business with great saving and our team leaves no stone unturned to ensure good returns from every penny invested As a Best Digital Marketing Company in Pune, Optimized Infotech is a melting pot of vibrant ideas blasting off together to produce superb customer experiences. Having faith in us, our clients allow our team to experiment with their online environment for possible results.

#Digital Marketing Company In Pune #Digital Marketing Agency In Pune