Category Archives: SocialMedia

Welcome to the Picture Book Generation, Where a Picture is Worth 400 Million Words

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Although traditionally a picture is worth a thousand words, photo editing and sharing application, Instagram, has proven that a photo is actually worth 400 million words, or “followers,” as the site calls them.

Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that now has over 400 million users worldwide.

Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that now has over 400 million users worldwide.

This September, Instagram hit 400 million users, surpassing Twitter by a whopping 80 million. Although it has been around since 2010, Instagram’s numbers really skyrocketed over the last nine months, which is when over 100 million new members joined the platform. “So, not only is Instagram growing, it’s growing really, really quickly.” 

The same cannot be said for Twitter, though, whose number of monthly active users worldwide has barely increased over the last year. The online social networking service enticed the world in 2006 with their mission, “to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.” Instagram has not only fulfilled this mission, but also done so without barriers, or words. The application brings to users all that Twitter does, including news, recipes, and Kim Kardashian’s latest selfie, however without the clutter of 140 required characters. As the numbers show, this straightforward, pictures-only approach has triumphed in the social media world.

The way that our world accesses information has dwindled down from picking up a physical newspaper, to turning on a television and having the headlines read to you, to opening your laptop or iPhone to scan skimmed versions of various news outlets’ stories, to condensing breaking news into 140 characters, to simply looking at pictures. Is our generation proving that a picture truly is worth a thousand words, or is it that our multi-tasking, short attention-spanned generation simply prefers a picture over 140 characters?

Waze: GPS Meets Personal Assistant

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If you don’t know about Waze yet, your time behind the wheel is about to get a whole lot easier.waze-11

Waze is a social media and GPS app for your smartphone; I know this sounds complicated, but it’s actually very simple and an amazing tool. Waze offers more than the traditional GPS device, and acts as a personal assistant on the go, so you are free to focus on the road.

One of its most useful features are its traffic updates. Any user can warn those around them about congestion or any accidents. Users can also report other abnormalities on the road such as hazards on the road, cameras, gas prices, and even police on the road. These heads up give drivers ample time to prepare for these occurrences.

In addition, you can use Waze to coordinate meeting with friends and family. For example, you can easily share your drive with any contact you’re planning to meet, so they can see your ETA and watch your movements on a live map. This is particularly helpful when you want multiple people to meet at a location; you can simply send it to them and track their movement toward you. This app is wildly popular for its convenience and user-friendly interface, so don’t hesitate to download and see what all the hype is about.

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Snapchat Introduces 99 Cent Replays

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Ah, the elusive Snapchat, able to be seen for a mere three to ten seconds and then gone for eternity. Or so we thought…

Earlier last week, Snapchat announced on its company blog that it’s going to allow users to pay for extra replays. For two years now, users have been able to replay a snap once, but now Snapchat will let users pay 99 cents for up to three additional replays. Until this point, Snapchat has been making revenue off of advertisements seen on the “live story” function of the app, but now, the company is bringing users’ own dollars into the equation.

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Twitter Campaigning: Social Media in the 2016 Presidential Election

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Presidential campaigns spend millions of dollars each year on radio and television ads, but for the 2016 election this money is a waste. Presidential Candidates must look to social media for rankings, free advertisement, analyticVoter pin with the words"every tweet counts".s, fundraising, public feedback and opinion, engage with young voters, and immediate response to controversy.

More voters are receiving their news from social media and the 2016 presidential candidates are taking advantage of this medium. Social media is a tool for campaigns to reach out to Millennials and gain momentum in the polls and recognition in the news. Twitter has become imperative for candidates to use to gain the public eye and attention of potential voters.

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Combative Communications 101 – Presidential Debate Style

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The candidates of the Republican Presidential Debate stand together after a combative, confrontational 3 hour dialogue.

The candidates of the Republican Presidential Debate stand together after a combative, confrontational 3 hour dialogue.

Although titled the Republican Primary Debate, CNN’s lengthy Wednesday evening production was much more of a “he said, she said,” Real-Housewives catfight-esque, combative communications performance than a Presidential deliberation.

Taking place at California’s Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, CNN hosted a whopping 16 Republican candidates for what resulted in more of a confrontational therapy session between the “cool kids” rather than an evenly distributed discussion amongst all of the candidates. And yet, the prime time debate averaged 23.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched program in CNN’s history. Is this statistic telling of the type of communication that attracts a majority of our nation’s population?

CNN’s combative questioning technique was designed to spark conversation, typically controversial, between two candidates in regards to comments that one has said about the other and vise versa. As the inquiries and accusations were being responded to, the network would publish the responses via Twitter, which only elongated the “he said, she said” conversation via social media. On the contrary, professor and CNN Political Analyst during elections Dr. Rita Kirk, noted that although combative, the debate technique forced candidates to be confrontational in a public forum. By forcing candidates to face the criticism that was made both by them and against them, it acted as a “check” on held them and a catalyst for accountability, which may have been the appeal to the American public.

 

 

Facebook’s New ‘Dislike’ Button: To Like or Dislike?

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How many times have we seen that yappy girl from high school posting 20 pictures of her dog on Facebook? Or even the oh-too-often political rant statuses that claim to solve the world’s problems? Sometimes we feel inclined to comment our annoyance, but many times, we simply just roll our eyes and show the post to our friend sitting next to us. But on September 15, 2015, Facebook announced that they are developing a function to fulfill our cynical hopes and dreams– the ‘dislike’ button.

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Keep it on Lock: Tips on Passwords in the Digital Age

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In the Digital Age, passwords are an integral component of personal security, and for good reason. We use apps and websites to store everything from our bank information and hospital records to personal photos. According to Entrepreneur, in the past year alone 1 in 5 people had an account hacked, had personal information compromised, or a password stolen.

Macro computer screen shot with binary code and password tex, great concept for computer, technology and online security.

The culprit? Well, along with more advanced hackers, it might be because our passwords stink! The most popular passwords in 2014 were: 123456, password, 12345, 12345678, and qwerty. No wonder 1/5 of people are being hacked! Additionally, people use the same passwords for multiple accounts, making it absurdly easy for hackers to gain access to several outlets by cracking one password. The key to a great password is something that is personal, a mix of numbers and letters, and varied from site to site. This might sound complicated

Luckily, there are a few easy tricks you can adopt to make your passwords more secure.

 

1) If you’re committed to one password, incorporate the site’s name into your favorite password.

For example:

Original: Iluvdogs7

Facebook: Iluvdogs7fabo

Twitter: Iluvdogs7twit

 

2) Combine a number and word by alternating between the two to create a unique, un-guessable password.

For example, a zipcode and pet name: 75206 + Spot = 7S5p2o0t6

 

4) Simply double the password without using a space. This makes it even more difficult for hackers to break, and is still just as easy to remember!

 

3) Utilize an app like One Password, which assigns each of your accounts a different random, complicated password. All you need to do is log into the app using “one password”, and find the others through that.

 

Hopefully, with these tips, you create an unbreakable password that will secure your sensitive information.

How to be Safe Anytime, Anywhere: Find your Companion Today!

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The Companion app “promises no one will ever walk home alone again.”

Ever felt uneasy or scared walking along in the dark? Back home from the library late at night? Even during the daylight in a sketchy area? Well, there is an app that can now help everyone feel safer wherever they are. The new app Companion, created and designed by five University of Michigan students, provides a simple way for people to feel safe in uncomfortable or potentially dangerous situations.

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Migrant Crisis: Social Media Used as a Network for Survival

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Migrant women showing her daughter her smart phone use of social media.The migration of refugees fleeing from Syria and the Middle East has been recorded as the largest flow of migrants in Europe since WWII. You may be asking yourself how such a large flux of refugees are finding their way through foreign land’s boarder patrols like Greece and Hungary with increased tension in Europe and tightening rules and regulations. The answer is simple. It is the same way we find out if there are flight delays after a storm or road block near campus, SOCIAL MEDIA.

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Everything Digital = Everything to Lose? How the Tech Generation May be Getting Set Up to Fail

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When discussing with a peer his ambition to run for a position on his local School Board, the issue on the forefront of his campaign was to cut the funding for and requirement of purchasing iPads for all middle and high tech generation students. Plot twist- this perspective comes not from a technologically challenged, micro-managing parent, but rather from a tech-savvy, avid device user, sophomore at Southern Methodist University.

Unfortunately, a Pew Research Center study has confirmed our grandparent’s rants about the negative implications of staring at a screen all day. A whopping 87% of teachers in the study, joined by the College Board and the National Writing Project, reported that technology is creating an “easily distracted generation with short attention spans.” 64% of both middle and high school professors stated that today’s digital technologies “do more to distract students than to help them academically.” 

Students of the tech generation can't help but get distracted by the hundreds of non-educational purposes, such as Photo Booth, that the iPad initiative invites into the classroom.

Students getting distracted by their iPads in a Los Angeles classroom.

Director of the Pew Internet Project Lee Rainie hit the nail on the head when remarking that the tremendously overpowering influence of modern day technology may be attributed to the inability of students to understand how to master time management at such young ages.  “Multi-tasking” has become a casual phrase referring to how our brains should function in this day and age, with the expectation that humans are able to comprehend and retain information while receiving and sending text messages with various people, listening to lyric-stuffed music, with various online shopping windows up, and while regularly glancing at overflowing Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat feeds, etc. Why, and how, is it that the biggest culprit of distraction has become the turned to tool for educating the youth?

Loosely titled the “iPad Initiative,” the break up between school districts and textbooks has become an epidemic as tablet computers are being utilized as a tool to help implement the new Common Core state standards for math and reading. The separation has had its positives, though, such as financial savings, lighter backpacks, and providing students with technology and internet awareness. The iPad Initiative provides instant information at students’ fingertips, which is both a blessing and a curse. There is a difference between information and knowledge:

Information – facts provided or learned about something or someone.

Knowledge – facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.

Although these nouns are used universally and interchangeably, it is pivotal that the tech generation is enlightened on the true difference between the two. The iPad initiative teaches only how to access information, without pushing students to both absorb and comprehend that information and make it knowledge.

Am I As Happy as They Look?

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Click. Click. Click. Stare. Click. Click. Yes, you just stalked another person’s intense trip to the Bahamas that you are envious of. You then found yourself scrolling through your ex-boyfriends perfect new life with his new girlfriend. Why are they smiling in every photo? Jeeze, are they that happy? Am I as happy?

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College Students Rock Pope Francis’s Twitter Account

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What do the Pope, Kim Kardashian, and Taylor Swift all have in common? Over 20 million Twitter followers, of course! But what Kim K and T Swift don’t have is a host of tech savvy college students working behind the scenes. After speaking with a few Villanova University students who were an integral part in starting Pope Francis’s Twitter account in 2012, NPR‘s Jennifer Lynn reports on how these students rocked the Vatican’s profile, showing just how influential social media and the millennial generation remain today.

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Instagram Debuts 30-Second Video Ads

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Advertisers given extra seconds to please their customers. Instagram debuts 30-second video ads for marketers.

Facebook’s Instagram is one of the most popular social networking apps around, and it offers a great way for marketers to show another side of their brands by producing short, humorous videos. Prior to November 2014, brands needed customers to follow them on Instagram to see their videos, but that has changed.  Instagram debuts 30-second video ads for marker’s on a wide scale, with Fox television network being one of the first to jump on this new advertising opportunity this week.

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Neiman Marcus Shopping App is Changing the Game

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Neiman Marcus introduces Snap. Find. Shop.

When you find a fashion style you adore, do not let that product slip away. The new Snap. Find. Shop. feature of the Neiman Marcus app changes the game in retail shopping. Simply, snap a picture of the item desired and the app will search for an exact match or nearly identical idem, available for purchase, instantly.

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