Gezellig Brands

For this post I am going to talk about 4 different gezellig brands that fill the categories of fast, smart, strong, and social. Gezellig, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, means a brand that is viewed as friendly, comfortable, socialable, etc. It is a brand you would like to associate with.

The first category is "fast". A brand that fits here is McDonalds. They are one of many fast food chains, and are very popular and widely known. McDonalds appeals to everyone because they have cheap fast food, and also have characters such as Ronald McDonald who are non-threatening (unless you have a fear of clowns) and promote positive feelings. They are the most well known of their competitors who are Wendy's and Burger King in the category of "fast".

 

The second category is "smart". The brand that exemplifies this is Apple. They are the makers of the first widely used smart phone which was a giant breakthrough in the world of cellular phones. They have gained a large fan base who love their interfaces, and products. Their largest competitor, Microsoft doesn't have a fan base as loyal. Apple is a friendly brand in that they aim for simplicity so anyone can use their products without dealing with a large learning curve.

 



 

 

The third category is "strong". The brand that fits this is Nike. They are quite dominant in the world of sports, and probably the most recognizable of their large list of competitors (in the US at least). They sell products and equiptment for nearly every sport, and their brand has become iconic. It is associated with being a top athlete and people are willing to pay for their products.

The fourth category is "social". Facebook is a prime example. It has been the most popular social media site for many years after it took that spot from MySpace. On Facebook you can connect with old and new friends, meet new people, and just be social. Facebook after all is a SOCIAL media site. It is simple for a person of an age to use, and is a great place to share what is happening in your life.

 





 

Facebook Studio Awards

After looking through the 2013 winners for he Facebook Studio Awards, I have to say my favorite winner was the Allstate Mayhem Campaign.

 

 



I really enjoy these commericals when I see them. The character Mayhem always causes accidents that you would need insurance to cover, leading you to look at Allstate for insurance. These ads never fail to make me smile, and are one of the few ads that I won't change the channel when it is on. The main competitors of this ad campaign are Flo from Progressive, and the Geico Gecko. Mayhem is disadvantaged being that it is newer, but I believe it is the best campaign of the 3. I find Flo to be just plain annoying, and while the Geico Gecko is still creative, it has been getting less creative lately.

If you would like to check out more on the Mayhem campaign, and some examples of the advertisments, they can be found here http://www.allstate.com/mayhem-is-everywhere.aspx.

CCSU Lockdown Experience

So as most people at CCSU, and apparently around the world (one of my friend's sisters who is in Paris actually saw it on TV) saw there was a lockdown at CCSU due to a student who wore a threatening looking halloween cosume on campus and caused a huge panic. I was in Memorial Hall (dining hall) during the lockdown and I stayed calm. My first thought was honestly thatsomeone was wearing a halloween costume and someone mistook it for a gunman. media completley changed how I viewed this situation.

                                          


While at the lunch table a girl and guy sat down next to me while a friend of hers texted her information on the situation that turned out to be completley false. She read exts saying things like shots had been fired, there was a hosage situation, there were 3 people involved, and the guy was taking out anger over a girl. She was very adamant that hes source was credible and it honestly got me worried. I then foolishly texted these rumors to a friend asking for information (he was off campus). The TVs were on in the cafe at the same time and the news people were perpetuating some of the same rumors. After I learned it was only a halloween costume I felt foolish.

                               
Social media in this situation worked similar to the game "telephone" that we played as children. Here someone starts a message and it gets passed along through a group. At the end the last person repeats the message and it is usually different than it was originally. The original message from the 911 caller was that there was a man with a gun, sword, camo, a bullet proof vest, and knee pads walking across campus. All the information was added and spread creating more problems. Social media made this situation worse.

Something Interesting I noticed on Social Media

Lots of people watch TV shows. I watched Breaking Bad and The Sopranos all the way through and liked them a lot. I started both of these shows late (Breaking Bad before season 5 part 2, and Sopranos many years after the finale). I made it through Breaking Bad without having any of it spoiled. I knew the Sopranos ending before watching since I started it over the summer. I currently watch The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, both of which are also great shows, and both of which I have had to activley avoid spoilers for. The Red Wedding episode of Game of Thrones "Red Wedding" was spoiled for me quite early which was disappointing because it was such a major event in the series.

One thing I always see, especially with The Walking Dead, is that people just love to post about it on social media. Many of these people give away spoilers too which I cannot stand. I really don't see why people do this. Are they just trying to fit in and tell other people that they watched the same thing others have watched? Since by posting spoilers from the show you are almost guarunteed to ruin it for someone,  I'd assume people would act like me and not spoil it. I guess I was wrong since people do it all the time.

Mentionmapp

Last week in class we learned about many tools on the web a person can use for research in social media. I found one more interesting than the others which is called Mentionmapp. Mentionmapp connects with Twitter to show a map of who connects with you and how. You can see the relation between yourself and other people through hashtags and mentions. The map is interactive and you can move it around and click on the links it provides. You can check out Mentionmapp for yourself here: http://mentionmapp.com/

Investing in stock. Twitter or Facebook?

 

If I were to invest in stock and had to choose between Facebook or Twitter stock, I would invest in
Facebook. Twitter is new to the market making it unpredictable. I recently watched a video from Fox Business about this very topic. Facebook and LinkedIn both sold stock. When Facebook began it flopped, but over time it has gotten better and is currently doing well. LinkedIn did very well from the get go, though they only sold 10% of their stock to the public. Twitter could go either way at this point. I'm not financially secure enough or bold enough to take a risk with Twitter so I'd go with Facebook stock.

                                                


 

Selective Exposure Theory

Of the 10 theories we discussed in class, I'd say the Selective Exposure Theory is the most relevant to social media. This theory says that people will choose to expose themselves to media that is in agreement with their own opinions. They will also block out those which are in opposition.

                                                              

I do this with my social media all the time. On Twitter I follow accounts of people I like and know, as well as famous people, joke accounts, and brands who go along with my views. I will unfollow or choose to ignore people and accounts that go against my views or make me unhappy. I don't want to deal with anything that makes me unhappy, so why would I expose myself to it if I have the choice not to? I wouldn't.

                                                              

How I got started with social media

My experience with social media began in elementary school with my first e-mail account. This was also when I started becoming familiarized with the internet  There came a period (mostly 8th-12th grade) where I barely used email. Since starting college though, I have begun using my email accounts quite frequently.


                       

The next big step in social media for me was the creation of my Facebook profile during my sophomore year of high school. I missed out on the MySpace craze that people were a part of during middle school, and to be honest I've never really looked into MySpace since then. I still use Facebook today, but in a much more limited fashion. I stopped posting statuses since creating my Twitter account though, which is the form of social media I am most involved with currently.

                                                    

I find as I pick up on new forms of social media I end up leaving older ones behind. Eventually I end up coming back to them for one reason or another though.

Do small businesses use social media effectively?

The question of the day is, do small businesses use social media effectively? My answer to this question is simply no, no they do not. Just think of how many small businesses surround us. There might be the many family owned business in your town, farms, your friends landscaping service, etc. Basically any business that is not a large chain with many other stores under the same name.

Are these businesses thriving in this day and age? The answer is no. There was a time when starting a business was safer and was something people looked to do much more frequently. Unfortunately with the economy we have today, creating and owning a small business presents a much larger risk than ever before. Sure, you could succeed and make a lot of money, but you could also fail and lose EVERYTHING.

                                     
People have become more reluctant to spend their money so businesses need to use every tool at their disposal to bring in customers. A crucial tool here is social media. One great thing about this tool; its completely FREE. That's right, free advertising. It seems like a no brainer, but the majority of small businesses choose not to use social media.

While most of us are used social media by now, and it has been relevant for 10+ years, compared to other methods of advertisement like newspaper and television which have each been on the scene for 50+ years, it is still quite new. Even so small businesses need to get past this and move into the present day where it is the BEST way to advertise your service and brand. There is Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and many more. The more a business joins and uses, the more people they can reach. The more people they can reach, the more money they can make. This is the point of business which is why small businesses need to use social media.

                                                   

Why the real villain in "The Social Network" is Mark Zuckerburg

After watching "The Social Network" I have decided the villain is none other than Mark Zuckerburg. All though the real life events portrayed in the film may be exaggerated, it appears here that he is the villain. One reason for this is him publicly humiliating his ex-girlfriend Erica Albright on the internet by making a long insulting blog post about her.  Another is him making The Facebook behind the Winklevoss twins backs after he agreed to help them as a programmer for their website called "The Harvard Connection" which was a dating website exclusively for Harvard students, and very similar to Mark's idea for "The Facebook". Mark also tricks Eduardo Saverin into signing away the majority of his share in the company by hiding in a contract he had him sign that wasn't explained completely basically exploiting Eduardo's trust . Zuckerburg comes across as emotionless and cold in the film which  makes it harder to empathize with him, and easier to place him in the role of the villain.

                                     

Social Media for the Emmy Award

I did not this year, nor do I usually tune in for the Emmy Awards. I make basically no effort to pay attention to it in fact. Even so I am still subjected to the mass of social media posting on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Everyone from professional critics and news sources to friends of mine were posting about it. I remember being happy to see Breaking Bad won best drama, and being disappointed to see Bryan Cranston lost for best actor. Other than that though nothing stuck for me.
                                           
                                              


Even though I may not have cared, a lot of people did, and if you did there was a great social media presence for the event. On a rating scale of 1-10 for how successful social media was  at covering the Emmy Awards I'd give it a 10 because of the fact that even if you had no access to a television  to watch you could still be filled in by social media and would not miss a thing.
                                                   

                                                  

Social Technological Ladder

On the Social Technological Ladder I would be a Conversationalist. I have a more than decent understanding of the majority of social media and technology outlets. I also have accounts for a lot of social media sites. I am moderatly active on all of my accounts and highly active on certain ones such as Twitter, the one I use the most. I am almost always connected to social tech through my iPhone which is always on me so I never fall behind. I am making attempts to change my position on the ladder to more of a Creator by posting more often on all of my accounts.

My Favorite Running Site

For me, the best media site for cross country and track is http://www.flotrack.org/. Their coverage of our sport is unmatched, and they continue to develope their level of coverage with the introduction of Flotrack Pro. When it comes to coverage and promotion on social media, Flotrack is awesome! I encourage everyone to go check out their Twitter page https://twitter.com/Flotrack. Here the provide you with live updates of the biggest track and cross country meets across the globe, recaps and previews of meets, interviews with the bigest athletes in the sport, and images and videos to go along  with it all.

Flotrack is also quite active on Instagram (https://instagram.com/flotrack_trackisback) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/#!/flotrack?hc_location=stream). They encourage followers to send them running related photos to post on their pages if they are deemed good enough which becomes very interactive. They have days of the week dedicated to certain activities such as "Trail Running Tuesday" which is dedicated to trail running, and "Workout Wednesday" for the harder workouts of the week. Their Facebook page is quite similar to their Twitter page in that they share links to articles, photos, interviews ,etc.

So for all you runners out there, competitive or recreational, I'd recomend you check out Flotrack for the latest and greatest information on the sports of cross country and track.