Fake News No More

We all know Fake News has become a huge issue ever since the most recent election, and Facebook is here to tell you that is a thing of the past. Their most recent plan of attack being a new tool on Facebook called "Trust Indicators". The tool was created in collaboration with The Trust project which is an international consortium of news and digital companies. The indicator itself is fairly simple, its basically just a small icon at the bottom of each post that attaches a credible site from which the post received its information. While this seems like a great step towards making news on Facebook more credible it is still faced with several problems. The first one being most people may just overlook the icon to begin with since it is such a small change, but the bigger problem comes from the fact that Facebook has only given 9 news outlets the ability to use this feature so far. The images shown, give a better idea of how the feature actually works. 

If Facebook can expand the number of outlets while continuing to perfect this structure I think this could have a huge impact on the issue at hand. So many of these "Fake News" articles simple comes from ignorant people failing to check their sources. This feature will not only force publishers to be much more aware and honest of the things they are posting, but will also cause consumers of the information to maybe think twice about where they are getting their information from before feeling so strongly about the topic. Information is everywhere these days and yet there are people out there that still refuse to educated themselves before speaking. People develop such strong issues on topics before even fully understanding what it is they are speaking on. The hate has gotten out of control and I think this is a great step towards closing the gap. A lot of the "Fake News" stories have really fueled the fire and getting them back in check could really help get American citizens back all on the same page. It's just like your mother always told you to think before you speak, but it's now more of a check your facts before you attack.

Strange Reality

The newest season of Stranger Things hit Netflix on November 3, and while most people have been blowing up social media about positive things associated with the show, some of the younger stars have recently been under attack due to the huge media surrounding the show. The cast has been doing a lot of publicity for the show recently and some fans are not happy about how the kids respond to their newly acquired fame. Most of this drama was sparked after one fan tweeted to Finn Wolfhard, calling him "heartless" amongst other nasty things after refusing to stop and say hi to a group of fans waiting for him outside his hotel. 

Where the story really gets interesting is how quickly fellow cast mate, Shannon Purser, who plays Barb in the series as well as other former child actor stars, such as Sophie Turner, from the hit series Game of Thones, came to Wolfhard's defense. Shannon Purser took to twitter to share her feeling about the issue at hand. Tweeting, "Ok no. No actor is under any obligation to stop for anyone. Finn is an incredible kind human. But he is human and needs a break too." Sophie also tweeted out saying, “Damn… seeing fully grown adults wait outside the ‘Stranger Things’ kids’ hotels etc , and then abuse them when they don’t stop for them…Is super weird,” she began. “A. What adult in their right mind waits for a CHILD outside their hotel and B is then is offended when the CHILD doesn’t stop.” She then goes on to explain that she had encountered similar situation growing up as a Game on Thrones star. Her main point being these are children and regardless of the industry you need to be respectful of how you treat them. 

At the end of the day these "stars" are real people and they don't owe their "fans" anything. These actors in our favorite shows have become so involved in our lives that we often forget they are more than just an actor on a screen. These are real people just trying to live their life and we need to be respectful of them. Especially if they are children still trying to get adjust to the lifestyle of being famous. Finn eventually took to twitter saying, "Hey everybody! I don't wanna ex-communicate anyone from this fandom, but if you are for real you will not harass my friends, or co-workers. Ya'll know who you are," he tweeted. "Why I even have to tweet that, I don't know. Anyone who calls themselves a "fan" and actively goes after someone for literally acting and doing their job is ridiculous. Think b4 ya type boiiii." At the end of the day the situation just really shows how much class the children have and how they are honestly more mature than a lot of full grown adults these days. 

The Importance of Being Social

It's clear social media is a huge part of day to day life and it not only impact you but everyone involved. Companies are hoping on to the social media train and really starting to dedicate some time and effort into their campaigns. We live in a day and age where if your social media channels aren't succeeding neither will your business. Some companies have taken this one step further by providing online social media classes where companies can learn the basic, as well as more platform specific techniques on how to improve their social media game. The social media rockstar bundle includes; the ultimate Youtube diva course: get paid to make videos, learn the secrets of Facebook marketing pros, you A-Z guide to making cash on social media, the complete Twitter and Instagram marketing bootcamp, how to use Snapchat for marketing, and the guide to Pinterest marketing. This is great for older companies who may not be as up to date on technology, and newer start up companies to make sure they are using their resources efficiently. It's extremely important to understand how the platforms differer and to be able to understand what content you should post on which channels. With these courses broken down by each platform it gives someone the opportunity to really grasp what each channel is all about.

This is a package that all companies my want to consider purchasing to help better their company. While most companies feel they can just hire someone who already focuses on this type of thing, it really is something everyone in marketing should have a core understand of at this point. By putting everyone back on the same page it will help the unity across different levels of the company and help create less confusion in the long run. Overall I just find it crazy that our world has come to the point where this stuff is so woven into pretty much all aspects of marketing. Social media is the new foundation for having a profitable company and I'm excited to see where this new generation of creative individuals continue to take it to new levels. It's also crazy that we have all this information just at our fingertips and all we really have to do if go out there and find it. Before if you wanted to learn something you often had to go to school and pay high prices to acquire someone else's knowledge, now if you want to learn how to do something it is pretty easy to be able to self teach yourself. More and more skills can be acquired at a much lower cost. The power is in your hands and it's up to you if you want to do something about it or not. 

Fighting Hunger with Fingers

On October 16th, World Food Day took place. While this event mostly took place on social media, to help spread awareness about global hunger and how to help end it, Google Play took it one step further. Google Play joined forces with the World Food Programme, the food assistance branch of the United Nations, to use their apps to help raise money for the program. They did this by releasing certain app's for which 100% of in app purchases would go to the funding of the World Food Program. This "charity collection" is set to run until Sunday, October 21st and currently includes 12 featured apps. Some of these apps include; Jurassic World: The Game, Dragon City, Cooking Fever, and WFP's own app, ShareTheMeal.

Now what makes this whole concept even more amazing is the fact that these in-app purchases are integrated in a way that they all have some relevance to fighting world hunger. Most of the purchases have to do with food, so not only is it donating money, but it is helping spread the word in a non-pushy type of platform. The head of the WFP's ShareTheMeal concept, Massimiliano Costa, said "Innovation is the heart of creating a world with zero hunger", when asked about the collaboration with Google Play. To me this is what really makes the story so cool. Donations and charity work from companies is nothing new, but getting consumers integrated into the story is what makes these apps such a fresh campaign.
Living in a first world, privileged country like the United States, its often easy to forget about those in much worse situations than ourself. Being that everyone here already has a smartphone in our pockets, using apps to connect with them is really such a smart choice. People may even be humbled by the concept and stop to think the next time they make a purchase, weather or not it is a truly necessary purchase. While hunger has been declining over the past several years, it's starting to make a return yet again. This is a perfect time to push the platform, in light of the several global disasters we have had over the past several months. What I also like about this campaign in particular is it helps being attention to the World Food Program in general, and their mission of zero hunger. Not only is this mission helping millions of people in need, but is also is making the world a better place as a whole. It is always refreshing, to see big companies or just people in general using technology for the bettering on the world. Not only is this in-app purchase donation a great marketing tools for future companies to take advantage of, but it also shows how technology is not done advancing. Their is always room to come up with the next cool, and immersive technique.

The Dark Side of Social Media

So as many people already know on the evening of October 1st, the biggest mass shooting of all time was unfortunately recorded. With an astounding 59 people being killed and nearly 500 more injured during the shooting. The shooting took place during the Route 91 Harvest Festival just outside of Las Vegas. While social media has been a great tool to get out information about those involved as well how to help the victims of this disaster, it sickness me to read some people took the event as an opportunity to spread false information and hoaxes about the tragedy. The advances in technology over the past few years have been tremendous. We have seen how they have really improved our lives and been able to truly make the world a better place. By being able to process the news also instantaneously when a big tragedy strikes, we can then send help to those in need and catch the person responsible a lot quicker. However, being that word can break almost seconds after it has happened it begins the beg the questions of is all the information that is getting out even correct, and even worse to think, are we making the problem worse?

It feels like just the other day, the then largest shooting took place down in Orlando at a popular night club called Pulse. From which 49 were killed and 58 were injured. Being that this attack only took place a few short moths ago it really makes you wonder if this sort of huge media coverage is what this shooters are really going after. By putting their names and faces into the media we are therefore giving them the attention they ultimately are seeking. The more and more media attention we give the larger and larger the shootings seem to become. There are so many things wrong with these shootings, beginning with how these people are even getting their hands on these assault riffles, but at the end of the day the people that should be recognized are the victims and families that have been attacked. Stop covering those who have wronged the world and focus your attention and relief efforts on the families who have had loved ones ripped from their lives. It is a sad world we live in when someone can go out and mass murder other humans and then receive attention for doing it. My heart goes out to the friends and families of the victims of this yet again senseless attack on man kind. Below is a list of the some of the victims so we can remember who was taken from us rather than the man who took them...

Victims of Las Vegas Shooting

There are several ways you can help these families of those fallen. Here are some of the suggested ways given by the staff over at People...

• Friends and family are asked to report missing people believed to be connected to the shooting using the hotline 1-800-536-9488.
• Anyone with photo or video evidence of the shooting is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
• The city of Las Vegas has established a Family Reunification Center to help connect relatives with the more than 500 people who were injured.
• In addition, city officials urged those locally who wish to donate blood to visit one of two donation centers operated by United Blood Services, either at 6930 W. Charleston in Las Vegas or at 601 Whitney Ranch Drive in Henderson, Nevada.
• A victims’ fund has been started on GoFundMe by Steve Sisolak the Clark County, Nevada, commission chair. Other groups providing relief include the local chapter of the American Red Cross and the National Compassion Fund.

The Future of TV

Season 13 of the Voice aired last night, and while the show itself gains a lot of social media attention what really caught my eye is the snapchat contest that goes along with the show. People all over the world can send in their voice auditions using the social media app, snapchat, and the coaches of the show get the view these top submissions. This time around the coaches have formed teams and each week one of the teams will pick two of the four submissions to add to their teams.
Not only is this such a creative way to add more buzz to an already extremely popular show, but I also think it's amazing they are giving people a chance to be recognized, when they otherwise may have been over looked. That feature alone is one of the coolest parts about social media in general. People are able to put out their content or ideas and able to receive instant gratification on it. This is something that did not exist 20 years ago. If you wanted to write a book or make an album, it took lots of connections, time, and money. Now if you are talented and have something to say or share with the world you can do so in a click of a button, which is pretty mind blowing.
I think what the Voice is doing with their current platform is genius. They have already been miles ahead or other reality shows as far as content and entertainment and now they are blowing the game even further out of the water with this new interactive feature. They have won countless Emmy awards for their show alone and even recently picked up an nomination for creative achievement in interactive media, for this specific snapchat feature. A category I didn't even know existed, which begs the question is this the new future for television? While this sort of interactive feature has always been rather incorporated with these vote in reality shows, I think things like this contest and live stories really elevate the whole interactive experience. The more involved a person can be with a particualr brand or show the stronger their feeling are going to be. It's like these people feel connected with the contestants because they can get to know them on a more personal and deeper level. I honestly do think this is the new way of the world and I'm excited to see what new fun and creative ways they are able to get people immersed into the shows.

The Awards Finally Get it Right

This Sunday the 69th annual Emmy Awards took place and proceeded to blow up social media, while many people dazzled in their expensive gowns it was the showcase of diversity that really had people talking. While people have always tuned into these big award shows, recently they have been getting attention about much bigger issues than just finding out who won. Political, social, and environmental issues have all been address by multiple award winners over the year, and while some people feel it's not their place to speak on these issues I on the other hand think it's great people are using these prestigious platforms to address such hot button topics. It is always good to see people using their fame for good and actually implementing change in the world rather than just blowing a bunch of money on unnecessary things.
While this is still an on going trend with award shows, what was really impressive about last night was the wide variety of diversity from which the awards were going too. Several individuals won in a lot of categories for which they don't typically excel in. For instance Lena Waithe became the first black female to win an Emmy for comedy writing, for her show "Master of None". This was even more groundbreaking because she recently came out on her show, of which she touched on in her speech which really resigned with the LGBQ community. Another ground breaking moment of the night was when Riz Ahmed took home the prestigious award of outstanding lead actor in a limited series for his work in "The Night Of" making him the first Muslim and South Asian man to take home an acting Emmy.
The big winner of the night was for sure Donald Glover who broke records before the night even started with his large amounts of nominations. He became the first African-American to win an Emmy for outstanding directing in a comedy series for his show "Atlanta". He also took home an award for lead actor in a comedy series for the same show. Overall last night was a huge leap forward for mankind, considering a lot of award shows have been rather infamous for white washing the winner's boards. While the world still has a long way to go it is very nice to see that people really are become more accepting of really seeing someone for who they are and what they are capable of rather than just how they appear on the outside. With all the tragic events going on lately in the world my faith in humanity has not been a very good one, but with positive events like other nights Emmy's it gives me a good feeling that there are good people still out there and we can hopefully get people back on the right track of moving forward in life in stead of backwards.  

The New Era of News

With the social media game at an all time high, consumer no longer have to go out and find whats happening, the news finds them instead. While some companies have struggled with making these adjustments, other companies, like snapchat for example have thrived. We live in a super fast pace world where things are always moving and changing. The age of technology has significantly increased this need for wanting to know everything and wanting to know it instantaneously. Being that snapchat has built its model around this fast pace culture they are really winning the game at delivering news quickly and efficiently.

Their news stories, in my opinion are one of their best features. I can click through a story and find out what is going on very quickly. Some times the information is solely for entertainment, but they also do a very good job with informative purposes as well. Marketers should really take notes if they want to stay in the game. If a company can't get there news out quick then it could become irrelevant before it even has a chance to hit the stands. While snapchat is still mostly targeted towards millennial, the way they market things really is ground breaking and should be applied on all types of platforms. By making things not only entertaining but also very interactive, it helps penetrated consumers natural advertising block. When done correctly it could even go as far as making consumers want to seek out this information for themselves again, which is exactly what marketers need to start doing again in order to stay in the game.

   

Social Media Saving Lives

While tragedy struck recently in Texas, many civilians found relief in very unusual ways. While Twitter and Facebook are usually pumping out the newest drama scandal, this past week has taken a more serious and social turn. Over the past several days hurricane harvey relief has been blowing up social media in the best way possible. Whether it's an informative add on how to donate to the cause, to a call for help on where people are located, these unusual social platforms have been doing some phenomenal things. We have seen people ban together though social media in the past when tragedy strikes, but never in such a high volume of which it is currently operating. People have been able to offer up where they need rescuing in real time and civilians have been able to respond by giving these desperate individuals a place to stay. Since officers were unable to respond to every 911 call in a timely manner, these volunteers that put forth their effort, time, and even homes were extremely helpful to the cause. While the awful amount of damage the hurricane has created is devastating, it is nice to see people using social media in a positive light for once.
Some social media users have even gone as far as creating a live harvey relief map. This map uses technology similar to google maps, in which people can share their location of where they need help and rescuing. Through these social platforms people have been able to get the help they need a lot quicker than they ever have before. Also those who want to help can do so in a much more efficient matter. Not only does social media help to get the word out but also when used correctly it can have a huge impact on those not even using it. 

From Social Butterfly to Stonecold Snake

Move over Beyonce, there is a new Queen Bee in town, and she is back with a whole new reputation. Taylor Swift took to social media recently to tease and taunt fans with the drop of her new album. After going completely dark on all forms of her social platforms on August 18th, the pop princess is officially back and hitting harder than ever. Taylor has slowly been teasing fans with strange photos of snakes ever since the complete deletion of all her accounts, sparking a mass media frenzy as well as may questions and concerns. The photo's lead up to a teaser of her video off her new album "Reputation" which is set to drop on November 10th. The dramatic plan of attack seems to be paying off for her pretty well. With the official drop of her new music video last night at the VMA's she seems to be all the internet can now talk about. While the feedback from the public seems to be more negative than positive, she definitely got everyone talking which seemed to be what she was going for. While the the drop itself generated a lot of buzz, the real drama lies within the video itself.

Over the past couple of years, Taylor Swift's reputation has really been under attack by several big celebrities in the media. While Swift is known for often responding to drama through her music, as well as on social media, this video took a much darker turn than anything she has ever done in the past. The video is filled with all sorts of little digs and references to drama she has occurred over the years as well as a few digs at herself as well. The main theme throughout the video is that the old Taylor Swift is no longer her and new Taylor is not messing around. She is clearly trying to rebrand herself and is being rather successful. Though the strategical release on her social platforms that coincide perfectly with the big drop of her new album she sure has been making some waves. It was a bold strategy but the payoff for the usually rather reserved start seems like it will hold huge payoff. Which brings the question is new Taylor really here to stay or is all of this just part of a big marketing plan to help boost sales on her new album?