Topic: Management Platforms and Tools

Pro’s and Cons of Using Aggregators

So much to post, so little time to post it all, so why not use an aggregator? An aggregator is a website or program that collects related items of content and displays them or links to them. (Do we truly live in a world with so much social media capabilities that we need to invent managing sites to help us manage our social media use?)  A company runs the risk of truly be “invisible” if it is not up and available on social media platforms. Because many business owners grew up before the age of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, they can tend to feel overwhelmed when it comes to taking their business to the web of Social Media. So programmers and webpage designers are trying to make it easier for these business owners to have a social media presence, using aggregators. Aggregators are a tool for these individuals to be trained on how to use and to be able to use it to greatly benefit their company.

As I started researching it was very obvious that there are very many opinions on aggregators – and how beneficial or destructive they can be. Clearly it all dependent on it’s use. I just wanted to cover some opinions discussed on other posts on my blog today.

This BLOG discussed different pros and cons to the use of aggregators, one comment made by Myles Kleeger really caught my attention.

"Google Now promises to help brands get their content in front of more people through aggregation and a personalized, relevant experience. When using an aggregator, one could argue that brands will be less likely to focus on building direct relationships with consumers through their own apps because people will increasingly access the content/functionality they want/need through intelligent app based aggregation tools as opposed to visiting the brand's app directly. With these services gaining traction and offering better experiences to consumers, brands have to determine how they will divide their efforts between optimizing content functionality for aggregators and engaging customers with their own native apps. For some apps and brands, this path may make great sense," said Myles Kleeger, CRO, Appboy.

It is very evident that there are two sides to aggregators and we have to be aware of both sides so that we do not blindly get ourselves in trouble but that we can use these tools to our benefit. This POST talks about the two sides of using an aggregator:

"We must be “have to be willing to take the good with the bad, because “social media can be a cruel mistress. Bad publicity reaches your audience just as quickly as the good stuff, and once it’s out there it hangs around,” he said. Not even the largest corporations or the best spin doctors on the planet can control it. Cyberspace is littered with hundreds of these examples.”

 Now that we’ve covered some of the pros and cons, there is still the debate of if we are going to use an aggregator, then which one will we use? There are many to choose from and the number is continually growing. I found many different articles loving on specific aggregators and hating on others. When it comes down to it, I think it depends on what you are specifically looking for your aggregator to do and how much you are willing to pay for it to do it. This article specifically discusses 7 reasons to not specifically use “Sprout Social” for your aggregator needs. He discusses very valid reasons why this site is just not working for him. 

I also happened across a great post which debated which was better, Hootsuite or Sprout Social. This site had mulitple ratings for varying service the sites offered. This article and many others that I read about made me realize that if you do decide to use an aggregator then you need to do your research. You need to find one that will fit your needs and then you need to know how to properly use it to make it an effective tool for your business.

Organizational Uses

Organization Uses

It seems like more and more organizations are using social media in many different facets. When used properly, Social Media can be so beneficial within these organizations because man people can see and be aware about what is going on within organizations. As more platforms are being created, it just creates more avenues for organizations to use and benefit from.

Today I want to focus on two main kinds of organizations, Politics and Religion. These two are very applicable to me because I regularly am involved with these kind of organization’s social media platforms and find them very important.

Specifically with politics, I want to talk about something that I am currently heavily involved with. I am an intern for Senator Mike Lee, it is an exciting time of year to be involved with politics. As most of you are probably aware, yesterday was Neighborhood Caucus, a very important night for politics not only nationally but also local here within Utah.

I have been working on Senator Lee’s campaign team for seven months now and it has been exciting and very much immersed within social media and it has proved to be very beneficial within our campaign. We do so much on social media. We use it to spread awareness of Senator Lee’s platforms and the things he stands for. We use it a lot to spread awareness and invite others to come to events hosted by Senator Lee. Just this last weekend, we had a political rally in which Ted Cruz, Glen Beck and Carly Fiorina. We had this rally planned weeks in advance, but just shortly before we learned that we would have these guests there in support of Senator Lee. With a very short amount of time we did all we could to let this news spread, and it did like wildfire. People were very excited to have these individuals here in Utah and were excited for the opportunity to hear them speak. The event continued to build momentum as we posted it all over the web, mainly focusing on our Facebook event. Our event got shared so much, that we had so many people say they were “attending”, that we had to change the location of our venue so that we could have more room.  

Senator Mike Lee Campaign Kick Off Facebook Event 

It seems this election campaign, that more and more candidates are using social media to build awareness and to support their campaigns. It seems like I can’t even log onto Facebook without being overwhelmed with all the sponsored adds from different candidates. Those adds plus all of my friends political posts has been a little overwhelming, to say the least. Mike Lee is very active on his official Facebook page as well as his Instagram account, he uses as a great tool to reach out to his supporters and build awareness. It is very evident that Social Media has and will continue to play a large role in this years policical race. 

This blog talked a lot about that.

I also wanted to stake time to focus on Religious organizations:

I love how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses social media to raise awareness and to share their beliefs in a non-threatening way. I think it is so cool how the church is adapting and using this tool to get themselves out there. For instance, I love the holiday videos that the church has been producing; they seem to spread like wild fire across my social media platforms. It is great to see something so uplifting on my news feed when I am often surrounded with negative political views or terrorist attacks. It allows us to spread goodness instead of negativity and hate. 

Hallelujah video 

Class Cloud

The Class Cloud activity was very fun to be involved in. I have had a twitter account for many years but took a little hiatus from it while I served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a year and a half. After I got home I feel like I lost my desire to use Twitter and couldn’t seem to find what the hype about this app was anymore. It wasn’t until this day in class and our time “On The Cloud” that I realized just how fast information can spread and the asset this app can be in my social media use.

#SocMedDisscuss was what connected all our tweets. Some of the class stayed on topic in regards to tweeting about Social Media, while others went a little off-base discussing cats vs. dogs. Regardless of the topics being discussed, we could all see each other’s tweets and the threads they created. It was really cool to see how one simple text could result in so many retweets, and replies and that it could spread so far!

It was crazy how fast our discussion spread and how wide the spectrum of discussion covered. Just after a couple minutes, there was so many tweets repping the class hastag #SocMedDiscuss. Each time I would refresh the page I was shocked at how many new tweets and replies there were. My notifications kept going off as someone would “like”, “retweet” or “reply” to something I had said.

It was also cool to see other individuals join in on our activity. Unfortunately we never got Kanye involved in our discussion. I thought it was pretty cool that the person I decided to tweet to was Al Fox Carraway, a famous Mormon blogger and YouTuber. I asked her, “What inspired you to share your beliefs online?” Amazingly enough, she tweeted back to me and even got a little involved in our discussion. She quickly replied that she went to social media because that is where everyone is and that is where she knew most people would see. She loves her faith so much she wants everyone to see it and Social Media was the avenue she could accomplish that.  That is the first time I have ever had someone even remotely famous tweet back to me, and it was all because of #SocMedDiscuss. A lot of other classmates tweeted back to her in hopes to keep her in the discussion longer, but sadly we never got any more responses from her, just a few “likes”.

Truth of the matter is, information can and does spread very quickly, especially when you are engaged with other users who are anxiously engaged and very conscious of what is currently being shared. It was very cool to spend this time “On the Cloud” and to be so engaged in what my peers were sharing.

Social Media Case Reflection

 Wow! What refreshing viral story to read and research about! With all the depressing and sad news we too often find on the Internet; it was wonderful to read something so light-hearted and positive! It is obvious and apparent to me how fast a story can spread via the Internet and social media. Among the other 17 million viewers, Shaquille O’Neil watched Officer Bobbie play ball with some neighborhood “rowdy” boys. Shaq liked what Officer Bobbie did so much, he wanted in on the next game. It is crazy that a little Florida police force’s Facebook page can get so much publicity that someone as famous as Shaquille O’Neil would see it. News travels fast, and often it is sad stories of shootings, diseases and natural disasters. You can imagine how great it was to read something so upbeat and uplifting. Way to go Officer Bobbie and Shaq, you lightened up my week with your actions and this story!

I really like the fact that the Gainesville Police made the decision to post this dash cam video, not knowing how others would respond. They were passionate about the event though and their stance of "We're going to let kids be kids. We are going to focus on the ones that commit crimes.  "#HoopsNotCrime" I love that they shared goodness through social media and used it as a way to share their beliefs in a very beneficial way. Social Media can be such a great tool to share positive and uplifting messages; you never know how far the message can go and the eyes that will see it.

How great for these boys to meet someone that I assume is a great idol of theirs, additionally for them to have such a positive experience with the law enforcement. This event is quite timely, considering how often I see #blacklivesmatter or #whitelivesmattertoo come across my news feed. I feel like more and more segregation between ethnicity is broadcasted on the Internet, and it is beautiful within this story to see friendship and equality among races.

As I was looking through comments and feedback from viewers, it was overwhelmingly supportive, which I think is great to see! Of course, there was the occasionally negative comment here or there, but generally people were supportive.  It is interesting to me how involved outside parties can get so drawn into events that do not particularly have anything to do with us. I found myself feeling involved even though I had nothing to do with the event. Openness on the Internet has a way of making us feel involved when we really aren’t.

This has got to be great for the Gainsville Police PR and publicity. I think more often than not, law enforcement gets more publicity for negative actions than for positive ones so I assume it was refreshing for the community as a whole to focus on something so happy. This has undoubtedly has given Shaq’s public relation great feedback from the general audience! It is wonderful to see someone so big and famous out and about connecting with regular people and encouraging them to do good and to follow their dreams! It was a little reminder for many readers, myself included that rich or poor, famous or not, people are people and people like to play basketball!

What about the neighbor? To me the complaint was silly; obviously others agreed as well. But apparently the person who complained was passionate about it or else they wouldn’t have complained. I wonder what the neighbor first thought when they saw this video go viral; I assume they felt pretty silly. I wonder if they were offended by the way the cop took their complaint and did the opposite of what I assume they wanted. He supported their loud ball playing and even joined in. One article I read said, “Saturday’s pickup game, surrounded by dozens of awestruck residents and police officers, had to be louder than the shenanigans that sparked this whole thing in the first place. But we’re guessing that cranky neighbor, presumably viewing the display from somewhere, didn’t issue any complaints this time.” Nobody likes to feel like a fool, especially to 17 million viewers. I wonder if the complainer filed any other negative complaints again. Overall, I am happy with this story and the viewing success it has. I think our communities could each benefit a little more by treating situations like this as Cop Bobbie did.

Online Reputation

Rachael Fresh

Rachael Fresh aka Frosty Fresh, fresh_collective, and rach_is_fresh

Rachael is an avid social media user, using multiple platforms to share her passions and interests with family, friends, and associates. She uses a wide variety of platforms but mostly Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. She was pretty easy to find online, once I filtered through all the Rachel Ray stuff. ;)

It was pretty easy to dig up stuff on Rachael. I won’t say it was easy to dig up “dirt” on her because really I couldn’t find anything negative about her. Rachael is always about posting positive and upbeat things on her social media platforms. She has a story to tell and it’s a great one at that! It was very easy to find out stuff about her online, I was even able to find her phone number on Facebook, which was a little surprising to me. (It made me wonder if my phone number was listed on my Facebook.)

Rachael is a Utah State University student majoring in Communications. She is from Syracuse, Utah and graduated from Clearfield High School in 2013. She is very passionate about Utah State University, her family, friends, and religion among many other things. She currently works at University Inn & Conference Center as a Youth Programs Assistant Coordinator. Her birthday is coming up in just a couple weeks, March 24^th.. so make sure to wish her the happiest of birthdays then!

I noticed about Rachael’s social media use is that she uses her platforms as avenues by which she can share her passions and raise awareness for different interests in her life. She uses her networks and connections to talk about the things she loves, which I think is great because you can feel her enthusiasm for these topics as you go through her social medias. 

It is very apparent from Rachael's posts that her family is very important to her! She posts a lot about experiences with them and the gratitude she has for them. She has a lot of love for her family and considers those relationships of the utmost importance. 

One major pattern I noticed that Rachael uses multiple platforms to share and post about her religious beliefs. She is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and uses social media to share her beliefs in a non-threatening and refreshing way. It was nice to see something so positive on social media, when often we can be overwhelmed with negative posts. It was uplifting to see someone post so positively about something that they treasure so much! She is evident in her posts and the feedback that she gets from her followers that she is strong in her faith and an example to many.

Rachael also uses social media to post about social events and happenings at Utah State University. It is very apparent that she is very involved here on Utah State Campus. Rachael was recently elected as Utah State University Association Alumni VP. Social Media played a huge role in Rachael's election campaign as she used it to share her platform, to raise awareness and to build support. It was a great use of resources and seemed to be very beneficial on behalf of her election. Her election was widely spread through social media with her great hastag “#GetFresh”. She used her social media platforms in a very beneficial way during her campaign.

Rachael also uses her social medias to connect with friends/family and to share memories. Social Media can be a great outlet for documenting events with friends and family and Rachael does this quite often. It was fun to see her life and story unfold through her posts, statuses and pictures. Her posts cover a wide variety of emotion from joy, surprise, love and even moments of sadness, this it easier for her followers to connect and relate with her.

I think that Rachael uses her social media platforms very effectively and professionally. She uses them to connect with loved ones, share her experiences and to benefit the organizations she is involved with! I think she should be named the Queen of Social Media.

#GetFresh
p.s Rachael, thanks for making it so fun to creep on you for the last week or so <3