Predicted Top Media Trends for 2016

Since it is almost the end of 2015 lets see what social media trends are predicted to dominate 2016. First, real time social media feed such as live video and live notifications which are common now at the end of 2015 but will become increasingly more popular in 2016. Second, the increase of mobile and e commerce via social media platforms will continue to grow. More and more sites are including a "Buy" button on social media platforms and this feature will continue to expand over the upcoming year. Third, Facebook will alter its product offering a more content based platform which allows content to be posted, such as news stories, that Facebook users can read without leaving the facebook site. Fourth, is the increase in data privacy issues because of the scandals for leaked personal information which is now going to hold social media sites accountable about sharing users personal information. And fifth, is that fewer social media platforms will emerge. There will be less opportunities for independently owned social media channels to exist. These are just some predicted trends for the upcoming year and I am interested to see if any of them hold true.

http://www.rokkmedia.co.uk/blog/5-social-media-trend-predictions-for-2016

Kardashians in our Everyday Lives

The Kardashians have one of the largest social media presences in the world. They all have a large following from their tv show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and they also each have their own followers on all their forms of social media and also from their recent app releases that i mentioned in a previous blog. See the more popular this family gets, the more that they are wanted for endorsements which is why we see their faces on so many products that we want for ourselves. This is how they work their influence into our lives and set trends that we the public are inclined to follow.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/seamuskirst/2015/12/17/the-kardashians-social-media-influence/

How Social Media Can Hurt Your Career

Once you post something on the internet it is hard to delete it because once you delete it it could still be out there. Social media is a great way to express yourself and to build relationships but what you post in your personal life can affect your professional life. Looking at a persons social media can show what kind of personality that they have and what their opinions are and if you aren't careful with what you share you could come off as a bad candidate for the job. Future employers can look at your collection of information on social media and they can judge you for it so just be careful about what you post.

http://www.seattletimes.com/nwshowcase/careers/3-ways-social-media-can-hurt-your-career/

Technical Communications

     Google defines Technical Communications as: Technical communication is a broad field and includes any form of communication that exhibits one or more of the following characteristics: Communicating about technical or specialized topics, such as computer applications, medical procedures, or environmental regulations. 
     Taking technical communications this year I learned a lot about media and the type of audiences that view different types of content. I also learned to evaluate content and to find ways to improve current media content as to increase the amount of users and to make the experiences on the site easier and more enjoyable. Learning about these things made me learn what kind of content is most important and effective.

Tweet Activity

Twitter now has come up with a new way to see how people interact with your tweets. It is really cool to see how many people have seen and interacted with your tweet. It is interesting to see just how many screens your tweet crosses and it makes you realize how fast things travel on the internet.

Along with likes and retweets you can see how many impressions, media views, and total engagements that your tweet has. Amazing to see how much of an impact your content has on the internet.

Twitter Polls Takeover

The newest thing on Twitter the the ability to vote and post polls. This is a brand new way for people to express their views is just another reason why Twitter is one of the site for people to share. It is a great way to engage with your Twitter audience. You are now able to post your questions and see how many people respond and the percentage of the winning option in the poll after 24 hours. Its a great way to share opinions and to get answers to whatever questions you can think of.

https://blog.twitter.com/2015/introducing-twitter-polls

Social Marketing Steps

In this day and age marketing strategies are very important especially those online. Social marketing is one of the biggest areas of marketing today. There are several steps to acquiring an audience and creating a community online. First thing that companies want to to do is acquire fans on their social sites. The next step is to engage with their users on social media such as responding to tweets or reposting some of their content. The next step is to amplify this content. Then the next step is to build a community of that is loyal to the company and that shares positive content about that company. The last step is to build brand strength by doing the previous steps and all of this will then increase in sales.

Companies with a Sense of Humor

What happens when companies start interacting with their users? Well recently it has become a popular and effective business strategy for companies to start interacting with consumers tweets or media content. Responding to tweets mostly has become kind of a playful back and forth between consumers and companies even between companies and celebrities. Responding to tweets is just one of the ways that companies get involved with their consumers and how they build their fan community. Some tweets like this one below are just examples of how these companies are stepping up their game with a sense of humor.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/06/10-actually-funny-companies-on-twitter.html

The Force is Taking Over the Internet

With the coming out of the newest Star Wars movie social media is blowing up and these big social sites are using the Star Wars theme. Spotify has a feature that allows you to use its online matching tool that determines who your "Star Wars Soulmate" is based on your taste in music.

Facebook has made it so that you can now add a light saber to your profile picture to get in character. They also added new Star Wars stickers to show your true dark side in a truly adorable fashion in your Facebook messages.

Google has also a little Star Wars flare to its products. You can now add a Star Wars theme to Google Maps, Gmail, Youtube, Waze, and other Google services. You can also get free Google virtual reality cardboard glasses with a Star Wars theme to them.

Last but not least, Twitter has started its own hashtag chains such as #StarWarsEmojis along with other hashtags of characters from the movies.

All these features on this site are give the new Star Wars movie great publicity and also allow for the social media users to personalize their accounts and really interact with the sites and with other users.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/17/give-your-social-media-feed-a-star-wars-makeover.html 

Recently I did a content audit of LVC's social media presence to see what kind of views and media attention they get in the span of three weeks. I also analyzed what kind of content was posted and how followers reacted to that content. Analyzing the social media platforms of LVC which are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, was very interesting. The amount of content posted in the allotted time period was good and it gives LVC a very prominent social media presence.

1.    Audit of social media presence:

Lebanon Valley College has three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Facebook:

Followers: 9,313

Visits: 27,946

Page Likes: 9,324

Likes on statues (11/1/15—11/14/15): 669

Comments (11/1/15—11/14/15): 21

Shares: 15

% Of comments replied to (11/1/15—11/14/15): 24%

Twitter:

Followers: 3,559

Total Tweets: 13.3K

Total Likes: 1,622

Likes (11/1/15—11/14/15): 131

Retweets:( 11/1/15—11/14/15): 103

Instagram:

Followers: 2,174

Total Posts: 1,065

Posts (11/1/15—11/14/15): 29

Likes (11/1/15—11/14/15): 2,208

Comments (11/1/15—11/14/15): 26

Social Media, a Big Player in the Rink

The NHL has now come up with a new system that gives rewards to fans just for using their social media. NHL teams have realized the power of social media presence. See the more good content is out on Twitter or other forms of social media, the better for the image of the NHL team. If fans post good or funny comments the social media management teams for the NHL respond, repost, or just share these posts on their official social media accounts. Now NHL management teams have added incentives to posting positive posts about their NHL teams. Not only would they get reposted by the individual teams but they also could win free tickets, apparel, and other prizes for being great social media fans! Some stadiums even have a "Social Media Suite" where loyal fans get to watch games. This tactic being used by a lot of NHL teams now gives "the little guy" (the fans) a chance to get their 15 seconds of fame and it also allows for great content to be published online about the individual teams which is a win for the NHL and a win for the fans.

http://www.si.com/nhl/2015/12/17/nhl-fans-social-media-content

Snapchat = happienss

          Recent studies by the University of Michigan show that Snapchat makes users more happy than when they use other social media applications such as Facebook or Twitter. Users of Snapchat underwent a test and a survey that involved 154 college students. The students went through ""experience sampling" — which measures how people think, feel and behave moment-to-moment in their daily lives". The participants were then sent snapchats various times throughout the next two weeks and along with each snapchat came a question such as:

How negative or positive do you feel right now?

How did your most recent interaction occur?

How pleasant or unpleasant was your most recent interaction?

Within that interaction, how supportive or unsupportive was that person to you?

How close are you to that person?

          The results were that Snapchat gave more positive results than those of Facebook or Twitter. Researchers believe this is because using Snapchat was more like having a face to face conversation. Users liked it better than other social media because they saw it as less formal, easier, and better for documenting small moments in everyday life; unlike Facebook where you usually document big events such as birthdays or graduations, etc. 

http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2015/10/snapchat_makes_users_happier_t.html

Faith has a Twitter Handle

          A couple weeks ago Pope Francis came and visited the united states, and over the past couple of weeks selfies and other posts about the Pope have been taking over the internet. These posts draw attention to the Pope's twitter, @Pontifex, and have us looking more closely at his social media influence. As CNBC stated in an article "his powerful statements over his Twitter feed continue to spur a movement that allows us to turn the proverbial mirror on ourselves and see the reality unfolding before us. More than just moral platitudes, the pope's tweets serve as a wake-up call to the people of the world". The Pope's attempt to unite the world through his tweets have allowed younger generations to now become part of this movement. They are able to follow the Pope's twitter just like they would a celebrity and this reaches a whole new type of audience. I think that this is a great way for people to hear the voice of faith in their everyday life. Personally I am not very religious but I do follow the Pope on twitter and some of his posts on twitter do give me something to think about and to consider. I think it is a great idea for the Pope to be involved in the developing technologies that have such a huge influence on society. 

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/24/twitter-selfies-pope-francis-rocks-the-internet-commentary.html

Social Influencers

          Social media influencers are becoming a common thing on all forms of social media. These influencers or social "stars" have huge followings and are "famous" on social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, and Vine. Vine is a new and upcoming social media site, it consists of 6 second videos. Vine works kind of like twitter where followers can like, follow, or re-vine these videos. Now a new thing is that these social stars are getting picked up by talent agencies and are making money from their posts. They are getting paid for using sponsored products in their posts or just simply advertising a company or product.
          Social media strategists believe that the reason these stars are so popular is because they come off as real people to followers. In their videos they are not photoshopped or airbrushed and their posts can range from stupid and random to serious and emotional. Just like the rest of us they share their feelings on social media for all of their millions of followers to see.
          This is why using these stars to advertise products is becoming very effective. Because their follows see them as real people and they relate to them, they are more likely to trust a product that the star is promoting in their posts. These stars have a powerful influence on social media and are taking advertising to a whole new level. People can now see how these stars use and/ or advertise these products in a create way. Personally I think it is a very smart tactic of companies such as T-mobile, Coca-Cola, and others to use these stars in order to relate to their younger consumers.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/14/influencers-social-media-advertising-apps-instagram

Snapchat's Creepin People Out

          Snapchat has once again come out with a new update that has users a little weirded out. One of the features it includes is that there are new emojis that appear next to your friends names. The two newest emojis are a gold star and a baby and users were left with no explanation of what they meant. The baby emoji next to someones name means that they are a new friend and if there is a gold star next to someones name it means one of their snapchats has recently been replayed by someone.
         Another new feature Snapchat has is the ability for people to replay snapchats for 24 hours after first viewing it. They now also offer the ability for users to purchase replays which is a smart way to generate revenue because, who wouldn't want to see their friend look stupid more than once?
          Just another way snapchat is differentiating itself from other social media apps is now snapchat offers "lenses" that allow users lenses created by the snapchat company to make their face look funnier (and sometimes more terrifying) than usual. It uses facial recognition to correctly a lense or kind of like a mask that will alter your appearance. Some lenses like the rainbow throw up (below) are harmless and good fun but some of the snapchats like the bug eyes are quite scary and has some snapchat users a little frightened.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/sep/16/snapchat-update-in-app-purchases-terrifying-new-lenses
www.idigitaltimes.com/snapchat-emoji-meanings-what-does-gold-star-and-baby-next-to-names-mean-477962

"Project Lightning"

          Twitter has come out with a new update called "Project Lightning". This new update, along with new emojis, features a button called "moments" on twitter. This "moments" button features live stories that can be viewed reguardless of the people you follow. Users are then able to share or like these stories, or just continue to look through more stories that are available. The stories are created from employees at the twitter company but also from some of their partners, who include: Bleacher Report, Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Fox News, Getty Images, Mashable, MLB, NASA, New York Times, Vogue and the Washington Post. Twitter follows Snapchat's lead in using the "moments" feature as a new revenue model from its contributors.This idea for live news stories is very similar to the snapchat live stories. Both stories even come from most of the same media partners. Twitter and Snapchat are using the live and interactive features in their apps to push their apps to be more mainstream and create more revenue.

http://www.ibtimes.com/twitter-inc-twtr-releases-moments-snapchat-app-update-live-events-2128808

Digital Communications: the melting pot of departments

Digital Communications: the melting pot of departments

            The digital communications major at Lebanon Valley College is one that not only is a major in itself but includes aspects from other majors as well. This unique combination of curriculum make the Digital Communications major one of a kind. The major has six concentrations overall: communications, user experience, videography, programming, design, and business technology. Not only do students have the opportunity to study specifically what they need to find the career they hope for but they will also learn other necessary skills that will set them higher than other majors. The unique combination of different departments as well as new ideas and curriculum make the digital communications department stand out against other schools.

            In the digital communications major students learn about business and marketing, things you could also learn as a business major but is incorporated into the curriculum to help students in the future. Students also learn about design, how to make webpages, how to make business plans and more. This not only prepares them for the future but also allows them to understand and work with other colleagues in their future place of employment. Having that sense of understanding the many parts that go into a project at work is very important to succeeding in the future.

            The major is built around three ideas that run through all aspects of digital communications: innovation, problem-solving, and human-centered design. These three ideas encompass all of the lessons learned in the major. Students are able to then apply these ideas in their future work and professions. Having an understanding of these ideas and the application of these ideas in the real world put digital communications majors above all others. Digital communications is in high demand everywhere and these students have no problem finding jobs with the skills taught in the major.

#PrivacyProbs

         There is a growing issue among social media sites such as instagram and twitter or any social media site that post pictures. Popular brands such as American Eagle or one particular, Crocs, have started to use other users pictures as part of their marketing strategies. They call this "consumer engagement" and they pull users photos that my have a hashtag for example #crocs or anything pertaining to the brand. Now usually permission is needed for a company to use someone else's picture in an ad.

          In a particular case Shereen Way posted a picture of her daughter with the hashtag #crocs. Crocs then proceeded to use this picture in an add without Mrs. Way's permission. This led to some controversy of wether it was okay to do this. Crocs came back saying it usually comments on someones picture asking for permission before they use it in an add, which in this case they did not. Users then can reply to that comment with a #CrocsOk and this is taken as consent. American Eagle had input on this saying that some users like the attention or extra likes they get from being reposted by their brand. Some people who do #AEOstyle or #ariereal hashtags do want to be reposted by the brand and American requests permission and does post the pictures because it is seen as some form of customer loyalty.

          In Mrs. Way's case she did not grant Crocs permission to post that picture even after they requested to post it at a later date. Instagram stated that they are just responsible for how a brand reuses a picture and in this case by allowing Crocs to post the picture, still did not violate the user agreement. This whole situation just makes us think are some of our pictures being used without our permission? And how private are our profiles really?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/media/retailers-use-of-their-fans-photos-draws-scrutiny.html

Kardashian's take over the world

          The Kardashian's have come up with yet another way to capture the attention of the internet world. They all recently teamed up with Apple where they each developed their own apps. Not only do they all have huge followings on other forms of social media such as instagram and snapchat, they have found another method to embed themselves in our social atmosphere. These apps will include "Q&As, livestreams and possible e-commerce platforms". Not only do fans have access to their personal lives through their popular TV show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" now we will be able to get up close and personal with style tips and other interesting tid-bits about the Kardashians.

          The most interesting part about this article was which Kardashian had the most downloads on their app? The answer is Kylie Jenner. Kylie is very sucessful for an 18 year old. While the world is focused on her plastic surgery, her famous boyfriend, or what color her hair is, Kylie is overtaking the fashion world with her and Kendall's clothing line and she has become quite successful in business as just a teenager. Now Kylie has created an app that will focus on beauty tips and it has become No.1 on iTunes' free application list. Kylie out ranked all of her sisters in downloads this week and her app continues to grow. This shows how much of an impact social media has on the public because without Kylie's huge fan base her app would not have become as popular as it has this past week.

http://mashable.com/2015/09/16/kylie-jenner-app-popular/#WLP8MHhFbSkk

Snapchat's Going Pro

          As of last week snapchat has announced that they will be teaming up with the NFL so that Snapchat users and football fans will now have access to highlights and behind the scenes footage available in the app's "live stories". Fans still will not be able to watch full length games but fans at home will be able to experience what it like behind the scenes in the locker rooms or the view from the nose bleed sections.
          The cool thing about this partnership is that Snapchat posts new stories weekly that correspond with the football games of that week. This continues throughout the season all the way until Superbowl 50. Fans worldwide will be able to follow their teams and reap the benefits that these live stories have to offer.
          Even though these live stories are free to users, Snapchat makes most of their money from their discover channel which features live stories from National Geographic, CNN, Food Network, ESPN, and other networks. The live story feature has generated around $16 billion and with new partners like the NFL they are predicted to make so much more.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/17/the-nfl-and-snapchat-partner-on-weekly-live-story-videos/