What Makes Popularity

Through all platforms of social media there is some form of popularity. Followers, friends, and connections are all forms of the same thing. People in your audience. Reaching an audience is a gone of social media. The question is what is the major measure of popularity in social media.

Reaching out and getting large numbers of friends or followers has become quite easy in today's society. Most people will accept requests because they are adding to their audience as well. Is it really a connection or an audience member however if they never react to your posts.

On Facebook a more connective social media platform users average around 400 friends. The same study found that the actual number of people you will interact with no matter how many "friends" you add will stay the same.

Instagram users have been researched and 70% of users have fewer than 1,000 followers. 16% have between 1,000 and 10,000 followers. 6% have between 10,000- 50,000 . While the numbers may say certain things. The key behind these numbers is interactions. Studies have shown that 70% of posts to instagram are not seen by main audiences.

Thus creating the question is popularity more about the quality or quantity of the audience. Interactions become more important than the pure numbers of seen.

Monitoring and Listening to Social Media

Research into social media has become a major tool in marketing and advertising to be able to identify audiences. There are two main ways to do this. Monitoring and listening. Each have their own benefits and each are a bit different.

When monitoring analytics become a key factor in the research. Tools have been created to make a systematic and sustainable program to range your success. Listening is finding feedback from the audiences. Comments, questions, concerns all tie into listening to an audience.

Here are the top five benefits to monitoring and listening to your audience:
-Finding what key words, hashtags, phrases, accounts, and user help to reach and impact the audience.
-Identifying which accounts, websites, blogs, and other external links strengthen word-of-mouth traffic.
-Following trends.
-Identifying the growth of your brand through various platforms and outreach.
-Finding overall following data when audiences are active when they respond and when they want to be contacted.

Being able to read an audience and use it to your advantage in the business world of marketing and advertising has become a key to success. Using these benefits of monitoring gives businesses a needed edge in finding the right ways to reach their audiences.

Winter Days Make us SAD?

Everyone has their favorite season. For some it may be the sunny days of summer. Others could enjoy the blooming of spring. Many love the leaves of fall. I have even heard that some love the snow of winter. Personally I will always be a summer person as I feel there is no replacement for the feeling of the sun on your skin and heat in the air.

As I have attempted to adjust to the midwest and its seasonal changes. I looked into the impact that the seasons actually have on people's health. I was surprised to learn that each season actually has an impact on the human body.
Summer is actually known to have effects on people's decision making and thought process. Extreme lasting heat can cause mental well-being to deteriorate. Warm weather also has the ability to decrease air quality making it more difficult breath. Heat waves throughout the summer are actually the deadliest extreme weather known to man causing more death than hurricanes, lightning, tornados, earthquakes, and floods.

Fall  tends to have positive effects on people's minds and health. Memory is known to improve in the autumn months. Sleep becomes more prevalent. The leaves changing is not all positive though. People have documented an increase in anxiety in the months of October and November. Illnesses are also expected to begin to sprout up during the fall months.

Spring  an increase in temperature has a positive effect on people's attitudes. The body gets more vitamin D as the sun is in the sky longer. Energy is at a high as "spring fever" hits with people doing more and being outside more.

Winter makes people SAD seasonal affective disorder is most visible in the winter months. SAD comes with increased appetite, loss of interest, sense of hopelessness, social withdrawal. Winter also dries out the air in turn drying out eyes and skin. The cold months can trigger migraines. December, January, and February are also known to increase people's appetites as people are drawn to "comfort foods".

No matter your season. Each have their own effects on your health. Next time you think about the weather you enjoy dive deeper. Why?

Top 5 Keys to a Personal Brand

A personal brand is a key tool to expanding business. Freberg dives into a key of personal brand as being real to yourself and authentic. She stresses that being able to have a consistent and clear message on your platforms adds to the reputability of your brand. She list six keys to success.

1. Don't be fake
There may be temptations to try and stretch from yourself stay true to your personality and brand. Be unique and memorable in how you post and market to your audience. The idea of being an influencer may have a strong appeal but being true to you gives you a stronger impact on your true audience.

2. Don't buy followers or use bots
The appearance of looking famous or influential can have its draws. The drawbacks however far outweigh the few benefits. People are not dumb and if the interactions with your outreach does not resemble your following force you risk your reputation in social media.

3.Stand by your opinions
Believe in yourself and your own judgement. Don't tell your audience to support something for you to disappear in the near future. Be a resource and generous in informing your audience of your opinions and what you believe.

4. Focus on quality of engagement not quantity
Focus on the connection. The ability for your audience to feel a personal connection to you is the goal. Value each member of your connection and each feedback you get back.

5. Understand the connection of virtual to offline brand
Your media brand is only as good as your offline brand. Be true to yourself in what you promote in all platforms but more importantly in the real world.

In building and maintaining a personal brand in both the virtual and offline world be true to who you are. Build in in your own way with you own opinions and hard work. This is the only way to become the influencer you can be.

Live Tweeting is a Lot of Work

Tweeting throughout the game becomes quite consuming and difficult. Basketball runs at a quick pace. Following the action and being able to quickly upload the action without missing something is near impossible. A sporting event adds to the difficulty having to know players and the numbers of who is making the action. The aspect of live tweeting completely changed the experience of going to a sporting event. 

For all of the people in the world who work in social media and whose job it is to live tweet events kudos to you. The next class assignment we were given was to attend and event around campus and live tweet from beginning to end of it. I chose the Ohio Northern Men's Basketball game. This also happened to be senior day for the team.

If you'd like to see the tweets the transpired feel free to look at my Twitter; TrevorMcC_11 or use the hashtag SMspring 19.  

The Heartbreak of My Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day, or St. Valentine’s Day is a holiday when lovers express their affection with gifts and attention. The holiday began in the Roman festival of Lupercalia, beginnizng in mid-February. The festival which originally celebrated the coming of spring. Included the pairing off of women with men by lottery. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with St. Valentine’s Day. It came to be celebrated as a day of romance. 

Everyone celebrates Valentine's Day in their own ways. In my case the closest I have ever been to having a valen tine was in elementary school when everyone made special boxes and brought little candies in for the entire class. This year however I suffered my first real heartbreak on Valentine's Day. 

My one true love left me. Did I treat her poorly? Yes I took her for granted and now I must pay the price. Will I get her back? Yes. That however is not the point. I have been with her for over 3 years she is my first true love. Her name, Aspen. Aspen is a 2016 Blacked out Chevy Colorado.

My first car! My grandmother made it a priority of hers that her youngest grandchild would get the first car they wanted. She put away money starting at my 10th birthday. Her along with myself were able to make that dream a reality. I was able to put money in the stock market and make the money needed to make the monthly payments on the car of my dreams.

Aspen has now had to face the brutality of the Ada winters. I let her down. I left her low on gas and outside as brutal temperatures hit the Village of Ada. She suffered a cracked valve due to ice buildup. This Valentine's Day I had to give her up and send her into the shop.

Aspen and I have been through good days and bad. She has carried district trophies and tears. She has held dance parties in her tailgate. She has slid off roads in ice. No matter the circumstances. The hula girl that sits on her dash and Mickey Mouse lining that covers her wheel and the feeling of driving my first car will always be my escape and will always have my heart. 

Social Media Strategy

As the semester continues we have transitioned to a new book. Social Media for Strategic Communication written by Karen Freberg. Published in this year Freberg expands on the development of social media and how it can be used for communication and marketing throughout the business and personal world.

Throughout the early stages of her book she tries to impress upon her readers that the balance can be struck to make social media a valuable asset. Social media she explains is an extension of your community. The ability to balance the need to create new entertaining and informative content while also being personal enough to feel a connection. Freberg stresses that every user is different. With different motivations and uses for social media. The key however is still to find the balance between those motivations and uses along with personal connection. 

Her first major tip is that social media is keen on first impressions. Whether it's through profile pictures or bios there is a need to stand out and be remembered. 

Tip two you don't have to be on every form of social media. Users need to realize the audiences they hope to reach and work to narrow down which platform gives them the most effective reach. Identify the relationships you have already created and the goals of moving forward with those. 

Tip three create content that works towards the goals you have set forward. Innovation is a key for creating traffic to pages. Finding ways to be new and creative in what profiles consist of helps with standing out and being remembered.

Social medias balance has become a new tool in business that organizations are working to perfect. The ability to connect while also getting important messages across when optimized correctly can help bring major benefits to a company. Expanding the reach of the company along with touching new members of the audience.

Social Media and Politics

Politics have always been a complicated field. Watching as I grew up I remember how as election season came along everyone would make the same old comment as ads came on "oh it's election season again." Now politics, and the political season has taken a complete shift as politicians have access to a year round billboard.

No matter what platform you look at every form of social media has become part of the political battle ground. From releasing ads to every day tweets on popular issues and topics politicians are working to use social media as a year-round broadcast of their political message.

President Donald Trump has 58.1 million followers on Twitter and over 40 thousand as a total number of tweets. He used Twitter to rally his fan base and has used his 280 characters to share his opinions and policies throughout his presidency.

In just the past few weeks headlines have been made over social media. As both Senator Cory Booker out of New Jersey and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts used twitter to announce their intentions to run for President in 2020.

As the new age of politics continues to grow certain political figures are seeing their number of followers rise at astronomical rates. At the forefront of this is Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez she has seen her following number rise upwards of 300 thousand in the past two weeks as she has gone viral twice since taking office.

Worldwide Politicians/World Leaders with the Largest Social Media Following:

1. Barack Obama

2. Donald J. Trump

3. Narenda Modi (Prime Minister of India)

4. Hillary Clinton

5. Dalai Lama

6. Pope Francis

The landscape of politics will continue to change. Politicians will continue to look for new ways to use this tool to spread their message. This new form of advertisement continues it will be up to the followers they gain to the knowledge they need to be able to support the politicians they view as the best for this country and the world.

3,039 #1

"It's small." Everything about it is small. Ohio Northern University is located in the small village of Ada, Ohio. Where the local population is a staggering 5,605. The question may simply be who would want to spend the "best four years of their life" in the middle of nowhere Ohio? After being here for exactly seven months I now see a quote that my dad use to use almost every week during my college search. "College is a match to be made, not a prize to be won." Now after hearing that time and time again I started to zone it out. I visited campus after campus only to realize my match seemed to be unfound. Until I stepped on campus at Ohio Northern University.
It takes a special kind of person to want to come to the middle of nowhere to spend their college years. Looking back on it I don't think I would have ever picked myself to be that kind of special. When I look around however I realize that I am where I need to be. Is it where I always wanted to be no. Am I where I need to be? Yes. A campus where you can walk from end to end in about 25 minutes. Where the idea of seeing brand new faces tends to fade away after one semester. Where you can become a Polar Bear in the matter of minutes.

Ada, Ohio most prominently known for its pride in Wilson Football and being the home factory of the NFL, and most of the NCAA. Driving in once you pass the bustling cities of either Lima, Ohio or Findley, Ohio you see cornfield after cornfield. If you are lucky maybe a cow. You remove yourself at least 25 minutes from any populated cities and about an hour or more from major cities like Columbus or Dayton.

Secluding yourself from so much of what is stereotypically considered the college experience is a risk. There are different motivations for every person that chooses the "it's small" school. The Community that is formed around a small school however is something that cannot be replicated. The ability to know the people on campus the people who you are going to remember as those who impacted your college years. That is what should be remembered about going to a school of 3,000 in a town of 5,000.

Social Media an Ever Developing Platform

Social media has become a continuously developing tool. Taking shape over the past decade platforms have become tools for business, communication, and marketing. Self proclaimed gurus shower the globe but in reality as social media continues to develop it changes everyday. Specialist work to stay on top of what is new but most would admit it changes all too frequently to be an expert. In the final chapter Guy Kawasaki gives a few brief tips in a final chapter of his book.

His top tips for the most used platforms:

For Facebook the biggest thing he looks to inform readers on is that not all viewers see everything you post. The "news feed" does not show everything posted in a day. Facebooks argument is that it does not want users to be overwhelmed with posts. Your job is to make your posts worth Facebook's "news feed" worthy this is caused by interaction. Use your posts to grab peoples attention. Give people reasons to interact with your posts and profile.

For Instagram while it is a somewhat restricted form of social media it can still be extremely powerful. Keep it short and interesting attention grabbing and informative. Make sure to add hashtags and other easy ways to look back and identify your post and business.

For Twitter be bold and grab attention. Add graphics to stand out. Make sure you understand who can see which tweets and how they are affected by addressing. Understand the keys to twitter and how you can interact with others using mentions and tags along with retweets and replies.

Social media is a new age tool. It's ability to effect society is immeasurable. How it can be used is still developing as more and more functions are added each day. These few tips from In every form we are all still learning as it is still evolving.

Polar Bears Freeze Over

The little Village of Ada felt the brutal force of the Polar Vortex freezing across the country over the past few days. Temperatures remained in the negatives with windchills keeping feels like temperatures in the range of negative 10 to 40. Ohio Northern's 342 acre campus surrounded by farm land and plains served as a wind tunnel for the brutal winter air. 

Much of the Midwest and Northeast felt the effects of the enormous Polar Vortex, Schools and Universities closed for much of the week. Ohio Northern included multiple faculty and staff members told me that they hadn't remember ONU closing due to weather in over a decade. Students across the region and at ONU were urged to stay in doors and if they needed to go out to cover all skin as analyst explained that exposed skin could get frostbite in under 10 minutes.

Some Quick Facts about this week's Polar Vortex:

1.  84 million people were living in temperatures under zero degrees.

2. Chicago became so cold that train tracks were lit on fire to keep in usable condition.

3. Windchills seen were the coldest recorded since the 1980s.

4. The coldest city recorded was Cotton, Minn where it reached negative 56.

5. Around 20 major cities in the U.S. set major records for reported low temperatures. 

Thousands of flights were delayed, cancelled, and rerouted due to temperatures and winds throughout the week. Popular airport destinations faced a steady freezing along with winds that made transportation rough to navigate. Popular Midwest and Northeast destinations such down and were inaccessible. The effect a little cold air and some wind can have on the entire country cannot be underestimated as the polar vortex gave the U.S. all the winter it could handle.