Final

I read a study once that questioned why animal posts are the most likely to go viral. This study claimed that it actually isn't about the animals at all, instead, these posts show human compassion and empathy at its best. Perhaps in a digital world full of hate and shame, animal videos may be our only semblance of human empathy and compassion. 

Let me preface my rant by explaining until recent years, information was exchanged through mass media, not necessarily in a two-way exchange. There were senders and receivers with the receivers giving little to no feedback to the senders. Since the dawn of the internet age (next blockbuster title?) receivers could start giving feedback. Now, content creators such as "news" organizations, blogs, and various entertainment site are creating things purely for the sake of clicks, comments, and shares. Whether positive or negative, those clicks comments and shares equal advertising dollars. 

We are becoming more desensitized through a world of information. One where we are able to shamelessly read or watch other people's embarrassment without feeling accountable. We even have the ability to attack and comment without seeing the damage we are causing, all while we are the targets of advertising. Since people often view their world through a screen they don't feel their words have any consequences, they don't realize they are talking to/about a real person. We buy into a paradigm of negativity in order to feel better about ourselves for a mere second before buying something. Online shaming is ever growing and uncontained, and the sad fact is we are unconsciously supporting this shame with every click.

I believe over time compassion can displace shame. Monica talks about when culture values shift behaviors shift as well. I'm reminded of being a child and having no clue what recycling was, now its a part of my nature, something I value so much that I don't even have to give it a second thought. This is a result of a shift in my values. Once we value kindness and goodness over shame and humiliation the embarrassment will end and be replaced with positivity. We need to remind ourselves of our humanity. We need to realize that everyone makes mistakes and it's not our place to view, judge or be unkind.

What am I prepared to do? First and foremost, I choose to vote with my clicks. Shame based content creators can never receive any of my advertising dollars if I choose not to participate. Second,  I always strive to promote positivity, I'm not really a social media share-er in the sense that I don't like posting third party content, maybe it's time to start if those stories value positivity and kindness. Third, I need to start commenting more. Monica said even one person showing compassion made a difference. I need to not only give individuals a thumbs up or a little heart but let them know they are loved and they have worth. The little things we choose to do will become habitual and have the capability of causing a cultural shift, even if its a small shit just among our friends. I truly believe kindness breeds more kindness and we all have the capability to combat the negativity online.  

Facebook Campaign Analysis

This campaign was conceived at the beginning of this semester in a meeting with Phil Tuckett and some fellow film students. It began with the question: What do you do? Many of us had agreed a lot of our friends and family see our production related posts on social media but don't really know what we do. We wanted a place where we could see BTS photos and videos and share them with our friend. Likewise, Phil desired social media in order to really highlight the program and up our enrollments as well as target future paying clients. So I began managing DSU Films social media by creating this campaign on multiple platforms.

     Click HERE for the Facebook Page.

     Click HERE for my communication objectives and market personas.

     Click HERE for original plan and tactics.
 
      Click HERE for Facebook Ad.

Likes: Overall, the likes came in two main waves. The first wave was in the beginning of the campaign when I sent out a request to all film friends to like this page. Some accepted but the majority didn't. For the next few weeks, I only had 20-something likes. The second wave, I believe, happened when I began tagging people in photos posted by DSU Films. For the longest time, I thought I wouldn't be able to tag people because it wouldn't let me directly from the page. Once I signed in under myself I realized I could tag people I'm friends with on Facebook. Once I began tagging the likes jumped again. I only wish I would have realized this earlier. (Please click on the images to improve resolution.) 

Reach: Although my reach could have done a lot better, I found it encouraging that all of my reach to date has been organic, and not through paid advertising. The biggest peak in reach happened around the end of March. This increase was around the time I discovered the wonderful world of tagging. Most of my post around these dates involved tagging students and Alumni, this probably lead to the post showing up on more feeds. Had I realized I could tag earlier I probably would have been able to receive more page likes. Most of the tags were on post-dated photos that probably wouldn't have turned up in the feeds as much as timely photos. This assumption is based on my very basic knowledge of Facebook's algorithms.  (Click images to improve resolution.)

Page Views (Visitors): This portion of the metrics is the most fascinating to me because the data isn't present until March 21st, nearly 2 months after I started the page. I'm not sure if facebook didn't count page views until it reached the magic number of likes, or if people mysteriously liked the page without ever visiting it. All in all the numbers aren't great. The page only generated between 1 and 7 views in the given time intervals. (Click images to improve resolution.)

Posts: There were many variables in the types of posts I choose to post, so it's hard to say which types were the best right now. Surprisingly, the videos got the least reach and engagement which is funny because the videos are our medium as film students. It seems like the posts that did well either had someone tagged in them in a timely manner, or had multiple photos, an album that users had to click through. Although I only shared one post that was from an outside source, it seems like that got the least engagement. I'm assuming this is because users would have to click to an external site to view the video. I really tried to create posts at different times of the day to enable the most user engagement, also to test the waters of the best time to post. (Click images to improve resolution.)

People: I was probably least surprised by the people metrics. 78% of fans were men and 22% were women. This is a pretty accurate representation of not only our program but our industry, which is predominantly male. The top 3 countries were the United States, Hong Kong (which is apparently a country according to facebook.) and Australia. All of these locations make sense because one of our more popular students is from Hong Kong, and my family is from Australia. (Click images to improve resolution.)

Self-Evaluation: I believe this campaign has the potential to do more, much more. I think my biggest hindrance was not posting enough compelling content and not inviting enough engagement in posts. Moving forward I really want to get all of the film students to like this page, I'd also encourage them to invite their friends to like this page. I am proud of the amount of original content produced. Everything, with the exception of one post, was created by DSU Films. When I was planning posts I would always try to think of pages that I enjoy following. These pages tend to be ones with original content, not just curated shares from across the web. I really tried to make my focus original content. This is why I went through the old drives to find BTS photos and video that could be presented. I also tried to group content. For instance, I made a series called "Camera Operator Faces." These camera operator pictures wouldn't have been interesting by themselves, but when they are juxtaposed they are pretty funny. Moving forward, I'd like to post content that encourages people to comment and share. Maybe this means tagging more students, maybe this means sharing facts and opinions about filmmaking, maybe this means asking questions. I know the best way to achieve reach is through genuine audience engagement, not just paid likes.



Post Examples as always, click to view them in the correct resolution.

Facebook Ad

For this Ad, I really wanted to gear it towards a realistic demographic. I figured the majority of young males and females (18-25) in the St. George area are either college students, previous college students or future college students. I believe this narrow bracket of individuals would be the most likely to check out the page and click the like button. It is also the key demographic we are searching for since we are hoping to up the enrollment in the film program.

Facebook identified my potential reach as 4,600, a pretty small number in comparison to some of my classmates. I'm not sure if this number truly represents the number of 18-25-year-olds in the area, or if my limited budget capped the amount facebook will reach. Either way, I am in search of genuine likes and genuine leads for future students, I think narrowing that scope will actually help us more than sending it out to a general audience.

Automatic Attitudinal Response

Today, I'd like to talk about cultural conditioning, particularly mine. A few weeks ago I really did some self-evaluation of my passing judgement on others. It was triggered by such a trivial thing, I was in Australia at McDonalds with my husband. We were sitting outside enjoying our frozen Cokes and a nice humid breeze. We were getting ready to leave when a young man asked if he could clear anything away from us, I looked up and found myself looking at a young man who looked very much like my husband (white, clean cut and very kind.) Then I directed my attention to the inside of the restaurant and there was a pretty blonde girl changing the garbage bags. I felt sad, really sad, as in talking-my-husbands-ear-off-wanting-to-cry-for-them sad. After a few minutes of me being oversensitive, he and I came to the conclusion that I have become SO conditioned to seeing immigrants working these entry-level grunt-work jobs, that I no longer feel sorry for them. That being said, I feel bad because I understand how hard they work for such little pay, yet I always turn around and think "Hey, at least they have a job?"  Seeing these individuals working not only made me realize how much I turn a blind eye to people here at home but also, how easily that could be me in that situation.

I have taken some time to read through my previous posts. Throughout every post there is a common theme that I seem to preach: through media engagement or disengagement we are reinforcing our own ideas or our own ethnocentrism. We have a great access to information and new ideas, however, our automatic attitudinal response is our biggest barrier. We are constantly using the media as only a mirror to compare our own culture and ideals to others, only to look but not necessarily to change.

I am now working to practice what I preach, if you look back to my post for Racism 2.0 my stance was "integration integration integration!" because inherently I didn't think that racism still existed. However, scroll up to the top paragraph of this post and you will see not only does it exist within my culture, but I am an active participant. My only hope is that I will have more opportunities to be aware of my hidden presumption. It is through truly recognizing them, not just comparing them, that I can change.

On the media: What's Really going on between Apple and the FBI.

This week I listened to the segment Apple vs. The FBI. A very timely post seeing as we recently spoke about security in class. To me, this is not a question of security, nor is it about abiding to a court order. This issue is about the government setting a precedent, and thanks to an open letter from Apple, a public who isn't really buying it. 

According to the FBI they are wanting to unlock Farook's phone so they can see his contacts to prevent further acts of terrorism. On the surface that sounds like a just cause and initially most of us agree that Apple should comply. As of right now, users set their passwords and when they die their passwords die with them. However, there is something left behind, metadata. Loads and loads of metadata. The FBI has already seen it, it appears there is no contact with anyone overseas. Still, the FBI demands Apple to write a code that doesn't exist. This code would allow the government to shoot an infinite amount of password guesses until the phone unlocks itself. Even though this is a special request this new code could be used on any iPhone once it's written. 

 Here are the problems if Apple chooses to comply:

1. Apple is writing a code that doesn't exist, an unnecessary code. The FBI has already accessed the metadata from this particular phone. The NSA has access to petabytes of transmitted data, so much data we can't begin to comprehend. Yet the FBI still presses this code being written even through the information is already accessible. 

2. If Apple were to write this code it would be applicable to all iPhones, not just terrorists. It runs the risk of being leaked and soon anyone who understands basic coding could have information to anyone's information. The nation runs the risk of facing a huge privacy breech of its citizens

3. Apple itself believes that this request is a slippery slope. This is a privacy breech that could lead to access to health records, financial records, microphones etc. without the users knowledge. 

4. Anyone who understand basic law knows this case will be cited, this court order to will be cited. If Apple chooses to write this code it will then be used as a precedent for future cases. This is a problem because it can affect future cases on a much larger scale. 

I clearly believe Apple needs to hold their grounds on this issue. Their behavior and willingness or unwillingness to comply will set an example for years to come. 

Well Informed: Democracy 2.0

Social media has the great power to inform or misinform. Is it changing our democracy? Perhaps. For the better? Not exactly.

I remember attending my Digital Revolution class during the Arab Spring, I remember us discussing with such excitement how social media was changing democracy. At last we could broadcast the thoughts of the common man to the masses. It was a really exciting time to feel like a revolution was being organized through social media. Yet, here we are a few years later and we still haven't seen much REAL change. If anything through social media engagement or disengagement we are only reinforcing our own political ideals without much discourse or deliberation.  This isn't real change.

Let me explain, I think in times past people were more engaged, they listened to the debates, they sat and debated themselves in real time and came to their own conclusions and opinions. You couldn't ignore someone sitting across the table from you. You didn't have the choice to not respond or stoop to emotional arguments. You certainly couldn't sit and correct grammar to add "validity" to your own argument.  Now, with the growth of social media people rarely want to discuss politics with people whose opinions differ from their own. Most people either avoid these conversations or disengaged when they meet an idea different from their own.  It also seems we are much less likely to post political views when they think their viewers opinions will be much different than theirs. For instance, I don't speak out about police brutality because I'm friends with many wives of officers. I wouldn't want to offend them or get into a heated argument over the matter so I hold my opinions silently.

With an ever shifting context away from face-to-face interaction, we also begin to lack common courtesy. Since social media is pretty much done solitary I think we have lost a lot of our civility. Its no wonder people don't want to discuss politics when arguments can quickly become personal attacks and full of fallacious arguments. I know I'm often guilty of choosing silence over disagreement. I understand this behavior is dangerous, but I'm not quite sure how to change it.

On the Media II: Zika Virus

This week, It seems we really only had one choice of topics and that was the Zika virus. I listened to a few of the excerpts highlighting some of the different viewpoints of the Zika Virus. Apparently, this virus has made huge waves in the media and is reminiscent of the panic surrounding the Ebola virus in late 2014 and early 2015. My remaining question: is this virus worthy of panic or is the media sensationalizing it to get higher ratings? After some listening and further research, I think the latter is true.

Apparently the Zika virus, isn't even new. It was first discovered 70 or so years ago. It is only now getting attention now that there is a "treat "on American soil. So far there has been one confirmed case in Boston, and in the winter in a cold climate like Boston the likelihood of it spreading is so slim. Why is the media up in arms about it? Because it now fits into our context. Now that there is a threat of it spreading here, people suddenly care. The exact same thing happened with the Ebola virus, West Africa got no media coverage and no attention was given until the virus hit home. Once there was a single confirmed case in Atlanta the media swarmed, going as far as to live-stream the ambulance ride from a news helicopter. Once things become relatable, the media jumps and the public suddenly cares.

OTM began this week's podcast with a series of actual news reports about the Zika virus. As an uninformed observer, you would think the world is on the verge of an absolute meltdown just from listening to these sound bites. The first guest was Jonathan Katz, who wrote an article depicting his contraction of the disease while in Hati titled "Reporting Zika When You Have Zika." I found his perspective really interesting because he expressed similar feelings on the sensationalizing of diseases (as well natural disasters.) He had the interesting perspective of listening to these types of news reports while actually suffering from Zika. He made it clear that the news made it sound much worse than it was. And should maybe start diverting its attention to much more severe mosquito-carried diseases.

On one hand I do believe it's a vital part of our human nature to prepare things that are are seemingly out of control. However, while everyone prepares only a few are really ever affected and those who prepared are left feeling embarrassed, feeling a little boy-who-cried-wolf. Maybe that is why I haven't seen much about this on my social media feeds, maybe my peers are growing weary of this over sensationalizing. I know I felt the panic with the Ebloa virus. I traveled internationally during the outbreaks and had to fill out extensive paperwork to be allowed to exit the plane. I remember when my flight landed our plane had to be quarantined while men in face masks filled our plane with what I would describe as a bug bomb. It was really unsettling, yet shortly after we never heard anything else about the virus. I will not be likely to send myself through this psychological turmoil over the Zika virus, no thank you.

All in all, I  believe the media is over sensationalizing a disease that probably won't affect many of us. Yet, I am still grateful that other nations are getting some much-needed attention. I wish Americans could care BEFORE the outbreak or before they felt personally affected. It is hard to ask people to understand something that is out of their context and doesn't resonate with them.