New Technology

   In the words of Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants, "FUUUUTURE."


    We're all worried about it. Grades, graduation, babies, relationships, work, lack of work, car, payments bills. This is most definitely a non-exhausted list and even with this abbreviated list of possible future events we can feel overwhelmed and intimidated. Obviously there are a lot of things to have hope about and look forward to in the future but sometimes it can be scary. However, amid all of those major life events and decision we will move into the future with some pretty awesome technological advances working their way into our lives and hopefully will make those large decision easier, smoother, or more realistic just because of technologies addition to the equation.


   One very specific technology that I want to mention is bendable screens! What!? A screen that bends? Yes. LG has released recently their innovation of screens that bend.

These screens can bend up, down, left, right and basically act like a piece of paper with a little more limited flexibility. The image on the screen are intense and very much high quality and bend with the screen almost flawlessly.
   One comparison used in an article by Lisa Eadicicco is that of a newspaper-like ability to bend. But I don't think this is its real potential. And it sounds expensive for newspaper route boys to toss a bunch of bendable screen around their neighborhood every morning. Of course, Lisa isn't implying they will take the place of newspapers but I don't think they will either.

   My prediction is they will be used on your forearm to use as a personal computer and/or cell phone. They will attach like a bracelet only bigger. They will connect to wi-fi and network data to allow you the ability to walk and use your arm as your personal little social media home. You could potentially get multiple that would connect to each other and you track heart rate, blood pressure, all sorts of medical readings constantly throughout the day and it wouldn't even bother you because since it will just be flat and attached to you. They would look like those shooting sleeves that basketball players wear sometimes but no one knows what they are used for. The difference is they will have a purpose and there will be plenty of purposes.

   As far as social media goes it would be fun to see you scroll through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram right on your arm. Then you could change between all of those right on the spot. Work out updates and workout apps would work much smoother than having to carry a cell phone around in your pocket or get a case specific for holding the phone. The problem with even the phone holding cases is that you can't use them while you run. In the future you will be able to tweet the heck out of your run because we all know everyone is super interested in where and how you are running.

Mobile Apps Vs Browser Apps

   Growing up in my house we really didn't have internet at home and the computer was a rarely used thing. That isn't to say we were one of those families that reads books all the time, we spent our fair share of time on the TV. But it wasn't until I got to college that I started consistently using a computer with applications for various different purposes. I did have a phone before a lot of my peers but the smartphone didn't happen for me until I was in my early 20's and got to experience a hold new world of technology that had already begun developing around me years earlier.


   From that perspective I give my thoughts on the differences between a desktop and browser applications verses a mobile phone applications. I transitioned straight into the mobile phone apps without even thinking about it. I would download the app, play around with it and would decide whether or not to keep it after roughly one day. The desktop application were very different. It would take strong coercion and force just to get me to download an application and even then I would only use it when absolutely necessary. So you could say that I lean more toward generally liking mobile apps more.

   What is interesting to me after seeing my own personal experience with the transition from nothing to applications was that a very similar occurrence took place but on a much larger scale. According to PCWORLD.com when Apple launched the app store everyone freaked out, got their apps and it happened so fast that we can't even remember living in a world without mobile apps. Slowly but sure the mac store got going and windows is still getting to their app store. Wow. It seems like a total parallel. I jumped on the apps bandwagon and then eventually joined the browser app scene and the world followed that same pattern. I guess I should really say that I followed the world's pattern.

   It would seem that mobile apps are then superior and/or cooler than our desktop friends. However, in an article by Sondra Hart while she is making a list of keep differences between the two options she does make several great points. One point she makes is that, obviously, mobile apps are on smaller screens. Now I don't to use that every single phone screen is smaller than any given laptop screen but for the sake of the argument we can all acknowledge that the majority of the time we see a much smaller application option for our mobile buddies. Another important note, which also could vary between computer types and phone types is the speed of the applications. When using a computer you will generally have a faster processor and it makes the actual transitions much smoother and gives you more of the experience you are hoping for during your surfing of the online web.

   One thing I can definitely attribute to desktop and browser apps is that my typing has great improved since I've started using them because if this were 10 years ago I would still be part way through the first paragraph I bet!

Viral Videos

    Is there anything sweeter or anything more bitter on the internet than a viral video? Think about it. While the cat falling, man dancing, or thing happening is getting traction and it is the first time you've seen it then it is fantastic, hilarious and almost life changing. We can agree the whole Harlem Shake phenomenon was, at the very least, entertaining the first time we saw it. Then we got to enjoy the fox song video... ok, maybe not every viral video is awesome the first time you hear it.


   An article about what makes these videos go viral by the New York Times explains that their ability to catch on and turn into the viral videos we come to love or hate is based off of well... love and hate. In their words happy and sad emotions are the key factor. But not just normal happy and sad, we are talking about the extremes of both emotions. It would be safe to assume that happy would encompass the funny and hilarious videos out there. Obviously there are hundreds of opinions as to why the video are as successful as they are in whatever setting the come.

   The setting itself should play a role as well. There are many different media or sources that feed into the viral video world. Some examples include large companies, small companies, viral video makers, random person, random camera timing, etc... And on top of all of those the video could've been intentional, accidental, or intended for one purpose and took off for another. As for the company and commercial videos Thales S. Teixeira says the key is to help the sender as much as it does the advertiser. Whatever that means...

   Now to the real question, what the heck is a viral video? Think about it, we use the phrase, "it went viral" all the time but is there really a moment when that happens? If we are talking about a city then a couple thousand videos could be considered viral. In a state it could be several million. Getting up to a country it could be hundreds of millions and with the world it could potentially be over 1 billion.

   But does that even imply the volume of its reach will get to everyone it could have? For example, while I was on my mission the KONY 2012 video came out and I still have no idea what it is or really what it is about. The same thing ended up happening with the fox song video. I eventually watched the video but only for about three seconds before I got bored and moved on with my life. And are TV shows viral video?.. Food for thought.

Tagging

   Isn't the idea of tagging just awesome? Think of it, if you knew multiple languages and knew lots of individuals from all around the world then the variety of opinions, thoughts and insights on any given topic, basically anywhere in the world, could be right at your finger tips at any given time. With just a few typed words or a couple clicks you could get yourself into a whole mess of wonderful discussion and topics that you might've not have even imagined before jumping on your virtual surfboard and riding the world wide web of information and sometimes too strong of opinion.

   Now these crazy opinions from all over the world aren't just available to our bilingual and trilingual friends, but even in your own language the connections can be seemingly infinite and constantly growing. Just imagine you heard the news about our buddy Lebron James taking his talents back to Cleveland, Ohio and all the information you got in that first snippet of news was your buddy texting you with a bunch of exclamation points and some vague attempt at telling you Bron Bron was making his way back home.

   This situation while made up could've been very real in the lives of many teen and twixters around the country. And it was a reality when Jabari Parker committed to Duke. In an article by James Harper he talks about how critical and important hashtags were during that moment. Lots of people found out very quickly what Jabari had decided based off of all the hashtags that had been created about him or Duke or Michigan State (who came up a little short in the sweepstakes).

   But back to our Lebron example. You hear something about him headed to Cleveland and what is the first thing you are going to do? Well, in an article by Constant Contact they talk about why these hashtags are so important but then talk about tagging through hyperlink. And that is just what you are going to do. You get on your most reliable search engine, type in a few key word from the story and go in "search" (pun intended) of your desired information. Several clicks through a few pages and you find yourself deeper and deeper into a list of page-back options and you've clicked one tag after another and then another. Might I add that one of the great things about tagging is that you can use tags that are location based and will allow you to be able to see what other people are saying around you whether you are in Ohio, Miami, Utah or France.

   Tagging to connect and create has been one of the many reasons the internet becomes more and more powerful everyday. And jumping on the power of tagging is social media itself. We'll see how much more complicated and great a tag will become in the future.

Management Platforms and Tools

   So in preparation for this blog post about management platforms in social media I have been looking into specific aggregators for all of my different social media accounts which is really just Facebook but all of my little secondary accounts have helped me to know more about the website Hootsuite.


   From what I can tell it basically just takes all of your social media accounts and stuffs them into one super account that you can use to see everything that is going on in your social media life. So I made a Hootsuite account and threw Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn onto my "stream" and watched to see what happens. And the answer? Nothing, they just show up like their regular selves with a wall or page of some sort with all of the new information you need to see.

   With all of this information now at my finger tips I felt a new level of power, like I could take over the world or even save the world! Depending on if I go the Anakin or Luke route in my personal adventures. Now, because of the lack of sarcasm that comes through the written word I would like to take this time to say my whole first line of this paragraph was sarcasm. Why? Because I already had all of those things at my fingers tips and so it really doesn't do much for me and the present time. Also, the fact that I do have all of those things really doesn't give me power to take over the world in case you didn't pick up on that.

 Even all of the reasons listed on the Social Media Today website don't really give me enough incentive to convert my whole social media life to my Hootsuite account. The big problem I have is that I basically have a social media aggregator right now... it's called a smartphone. Isn't that exactly what I already do with my social media apps? I put them all on my phone, swipe through them in under a second and connect and receive notifications for as many or as few as I want. I'm sure that there are individuals out there that can find some use for these types of programs, or even productive uses for these programs, but my current lifestyle and needs do not require something like this idea or set up.

    While I might not have found any personal use you productive uses for an individual that does not mean this couldn't be effective for a product, brand, company, or organization. In an article from Entrepreneur.com they do lay out some of the possible websites or programs that could be effective for your company to use. This would only make sense if you had a bunch of different marketing tools in your social media platforms and needed to monitor activity and happening of a lot of different conversations at the same time.

   Well, as always, the the choice is yours as to whether or not you would like to use an aggregator program, and if you do chose to do so please leave a comment explaining why you think it is a good idea and what some of the pros are in having one. Maybe you'll just convince me!


 

Organizational Uses

     With the seemingly infinite number of organizations in this world it would be considered difficult, and for small businesses impossible, to establish a strong online identity without having large sums of money and huge amount of resources to pour into online advertising and marketing. It is clear that while not all marketing an organization is done or should be done online there is still a very large chunk of their efforts being poured into the world wide web as a source to get their message out as quickly as possible and to as many different individuals, groups or other organizations as possible.


   All of these potential readers and seers of online advertising, marketing or just online presence pose a problem. How do we reach all of them without a great deal of power to back up these internet campaigns? Well, thanks to a relatively new and well know medium we can see a glimmer of hope and maybe a possible solution to that problem. Let's take a look at a small business perspective and how social media might play into an established online presence. There is a business in Honeyville Utah that focuses on selling homemade honey to as many locals and nearby customers as possible. Their information can be found at their Honey Jar website and it seems like great local business with some fun potential.


    But now let's look at a problem they might face. Let's say they only have about a dozen employees, most of them are focused completely on taking care of the bees and honey, and the rest are so consumed by other responsibilities in the business that they can't run all of the online marketing on top of their already demanding workload. They could hire someone to be in charge of the digital marketing process but really the profit margins haven't been booming off the charts at a high enough rate that they could afford to hire someone for such a task. What then could be done? (This is where social media applies and a great article from Kelsey Humphreys highlights exactly how this could be accomplished if you're interested in looking into how social media can be effective in a busines). Social media can take its role in this company because only a small amount of time as effort can be used to start up the process and if it were to grow then it would be assumed resources would now be available to really drive it home.

    All that someone would need to do would be to start a few social media profiles and begin reaching out to friends and encouraging them to reach out to others. Especially those who have purchased your honey and have a great opinion of your product. Then just make sure to through a couple interesting picture, videos, deals and incentives on your websites and monitor the progress of each social media profile until something takes off. Of course, this whole idea is a gamble, but the time and money (no money because it is free) is definitely worth the reward of finally developing some online power outside of just a website.

Reflection 2 on Shaq and Officer White

   A little over a month ago there was an awesome video going around of a police officer showing up to go see about a call that had been made reporting children being loud and disruptive in the neighborhood. Those kids were playing basketball. Upon arriving that police officer started asking the kids some question and then began playing basketball with them. He ended up playing with them for a long time and it seemed to be a pretty fun experience for everyone involved.

   The whole video was recording on the officer's dashboard camera and it ended up being posted on social media a short time later and became the subject of conversation for many online newspapers and media outlets. Such as CBS who highlighted the great fact that these were outside playing and enjoying themselves instead of inside playing video games all day. The general public deems long amounts of video games instead to be a terrible thing (which is a conversation for another time) and so CBS made to highlight that aspect of the case. By highlighting that it showed they were very much on the police officer's side.

   But with all these media outlets on the side of this cop, who is pretty clearly awesome, what about that person who had originally called the cop into the situation? What was their opinion of that cop after the incident? Police officers have been taking a lot of heat lately in the media and it makes you wonder how that individual, who had called Officer White, felt once they saw how he took care of the situation. We don't know what they were dealing with at that time or the reason for calling in all of the noise. What if they were taking care of a baby or someone struggling with a bad illness? Or what if they work night shifts to take care of their family and they hadn't been able to sleep because of it? Did the boys have another options of where they could have played and had it been a reoccurring up to this point?

   Of course I don't know the answer to these questions but it reminds us of how incidents like these can escalate quickly and throw someone or some people onto "the losing team." They can go from someone who was really trying to get help or to help the neighborhood (in their eyes) to a person that is basically a joke and a laughing stalk who now wouldn't have much traction if they were to try and argue against the officer's side because the media would immediately turn on that person.

    But wait, there's more. On top of everything the media had already done for this situation there became another key factor to the story.

   Everyone's favorite 7 ft TV basketball analyst and TV star in general Mr. Big Cactus himself, Shaquille O'neal decides to join the officer in a rematch. This huge (pun intended) rematch took place after Shaq surprised the officer and arranged for them to be teammates in this street ball game to take place.

   How big did the Shaq (and Officer White) basketball game become? Well according to journalists in Venezuela it was a big enough story that they would right about it down there! Imagine all of the publicity this story is getting around the world and some of the reactions that look to America as a huge source of their news. The people in Venezuela now might assume that all American police officers are cool and fun and that Shaq is totally legit. Both of which might be true but now this could be the only story a little Venezuelan boy sees, hears, or reads about related to Shaq, policer officers and how our law enforcement runs in this country and might be slightly disappointed to find out this isn't how it always work in every situation.

   A great example of this would be an American hearing one or two stories of a police officer in Mexico being corrupt or making a bad decision all of a sudden there is a stereotype placed on these Latin police officers and that American might not really have much ground to stand on. Basically one of the big points I want to make about this story is while the story is awesome, funny and great it is there is a lot of power in the media being able to shape how large groups of people are viewed and perceived just because of a viral video or two that makes its way through outlet after outlet. That being said, Shaq and Officer White are pretty sweet!