SUSTAINABLE NETWORKING ACTIVITY - UBER PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

For this project, our group decided to brainstorm and create an attempted solution to prevent drunk driving. We decided that using Uber would be the most creative idea. Our idea was that Uber would send push notifications to a user's phone when they were 10-15 feet away from their car, Fri - Sun between 10pm-3am. Also, your phone would detect when you were performing irregular movements between these times as well. It would send you a push notification to your phone, enabling an Uber request.

I participated by initially bringing Uber into the discussion and also helping develop the powerpoint with one of my team mates assisted me with. I also helped present our idea alongside with the rest of my group.

Social Media Campaign

The reason I made this page was to draw attention to my at home jewelry business called Kara’s Crystals. I created the page in late November, but paid more attention to the insights once joining this class. Here’s some insight into my posts, reaches and thoughts looking back on my journey.

4. Your campaign plan posted on your blog shows an execution of your tactics, screenshots of status updates, media, polls, Facebook ad, anything you've done according to plan to encourage Likes and Shares

I decided to make a couple of "boomerang" videos. These are really popular with today's social media as far as pictures and videos go. Basically, they act as a GIF. A short video that's able to show off the sparkle in my crystals. Not a long video (about 5 seconds), but enough to give viewers a glimpse of what the pieces looks like. These were far more popular on Instagram than they were Facebook. I noticed pictures did a lot better opposed to videos. 

 

In comparing these two ads, the one on the bottom did significantly better. Of course, because it was about a sale. I didn't post anything about a sale on the first one, but with the 25% off, I noticed a lot more traffic on my website following. 

5. Your posted Facebook Insights data are analyzed in terms of Likes, Reach, Visits, Posts and People. Your analysis shows what worked, what didn't and why

Okay, first off, the biggest thing I learned: the more money you spend, the larger audience you will reach. Here's a few posts of my most recent Facebook posts. Can you tell the difference? I experimented with the $2, $10, and paying no money at all. Obviously the $10 post hit the most viewers by a landslide. I can't imagine what paying $20-$50 will do. When I start gaining more popularity, I do anticipate spending more money on ads. I came into this assignment with the mindset that online marketing is free... but no, it's not free, and if you want it to be free, you won't be as successful marketing wise. Unless of course, you have some major secret important people on your side. In my case, I don't, and spending money on ads is the most efficient and prodcutive way to go. 

6. A posted summary is written regarding the campaign plan and how it increased traffic on your FB page and other channels used in cross-promotion, indicating trends in goals set for the campaign

I cross posted mainly between Instagram and Facebook. It's easier for me to navigate Instagram, and I feel like a have a large platform on my personal Instagram which helped my business Instagram (when I would promote it on  my personal one in the beginning). I got less likes when I posted on Insta and shared it on FB. My inclusive posts specifically to Facebook got more likes opposed to the Instagram shared posts. When I did a promotion on Instagram to LIKE my Facebook post for a giveaway, I definitely saw more traffic. I'm going to be doing that more. 

7. Your post includes a self-evaluation of the execution of your campaign, what worked to increase impressions and what you would do differently

To increase traffic, I definitely would have posted a lot more. That was probably my biggest flaw that I noticed. With 15 credits and 50 hour work weeks, I can now see how easy it is to veer away from online marketing unless you’re completely dedicated to it. Also, I can see how online marketing can have such a huge impact on your business. After looking at my sales, they were decreased dramatically once I slowed down on posting via social media. Although word of mouth is strong, visuals online is stronger (in today’s marketing age at least). Also, if I could go back (and what I will continue to do in the future) is to take more pictures. I took a ton of pictures in the beginning and used them throughout the past couple of months, but I feel like people want to see fresh and new material. What worked the best was the few giveaways I did. When I did giveaways, a noticeably large amount of people were drawn to my page. That’s when I got the most likes and impressions. I’m grateful for this assignment because now I know how to better my business marketing skills online better. I look forward to applying them in the future.

OTM 3 - How the Press Gets Seduced By War

A couple weeks ago, President Donald Trump ordered a large amount (59) of missile attacks on a Syrian airbase for revenge on a chemical attack on their own people. They killed dozens of people including children. Being an heavily talked about debate whether this was good or bad, this has been all over the news. Stephen Kinzier, Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public affairs and Brown University, accompanied alongside with a columnist from the Boston Globe, argue that "The public is being presented with a deceptively simple version of reality because the media aren't asking the right questions."

First off, I think your viewpoint on this really settles on if you think war is necessary or not. I, for one, believe military weapon use is necessary, but only at a last resort. Whether or not this was demonstrated as a last resort, I'm not sure. The reporter in the audio clip mentioned that the missiles were meant to send a message to Asad (and the world) that there's a "new sheriff in town," that we are going to take a tougher line and will be taken seriously as a military. I for one would have to agree with this in the idea that, well, I don't feel like Obama did this. And if he did, he definitely didn't publicize it (or gain a lot of media attention).

As far as the news "romanticizing" these events, I do agree that yes, the news should be strictly informative and objective. This is true. But, really, can we expect anything less? That's how news are these days. Everything is tied with subjectiveness and opinions. I would love to live in a world where I can turn on the news and it's strictly FACTS, but that's not how it is anymore. In fact, most of our news outlets are so incredibly biased, it's hard to know what's true (which is sad, considering the news is the one source where we are supposed to go to with information).


http://www.wnyc.org/story/press-seduced-war

Automatic Attitudinal Response

Reading back on my first OTM and WI's, I do have similar feelings now about Trump as I did back then. I still don't agree with some of his decisions and way of going about things. Although, one thing I will say I noticed while reading back, is that I have failed to do research on both sides of my argument. I notice a lot of the things that I've said, in ALL my blog posts, are very one-sided research. I've spent countless hours trying to finds things against Trump, but can't say I've read or went out of my way to read anything thats for Trump.

I absolutely find a fault in this. I think it's a biased way of thinking. Not just about politics (although politics is a huge one) but rather any thing in life that we must decide on. I truly think the only way to know that if something is right and in a good decision, that you must know both sides of the argument before coming to a conclusion. You can't make a genuinely knowledgable decision if you have only seen one half, no matter how obvious something might seem.This is something that I have failed to do, but hope to do in the future with my other posts/arguments in life in general.

From this point forward, before writing about something or getting into a debate with someone, I'm going to attempt to do my proper research on both sides. I think this will be difficult, considering the amount of biased material on the internet, but not impossible.

OTM 2: WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS


I chose to talk about this because, well, I just got back from Paris. If you haven't been, I recommend it 10/10.


This OTM starts out with a quote from Trump saying "We're going to cancel the Paris Climate Agreement and stop all payments of the US tax dollars to UN global warming programs." Well, he can't necessarily cancel it, but what he CAN do is sign an executive order that basically eliminates President Obama's "climate legacy" by not meeting it's carbon emission goals set in Paris. And he did that. This week. He claims he did this in order to lift the restrictions on American energy so that America can do whatever America wants with Americas energy (also an act of reversing "government intrusion").


What is the Paris agreement, anyways? Technically, it's never been into effect. It's been held up in court for over a year. Obama declared this a "turning point for the world." It's an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020, so the agreement is a sketch of a fuller deal that would take place later (in 2020). It's basically a way to limit the amount of greenhouse gases being produced into the air, otherwise quoted as a "binding process in which countries individually pledge to change course from business as usual on carbon dioxide and other gases and also deforestation." Essentially, 187 countries would cut their emissions to help global warming.


If anything, it's there as a goal. It's something to strive to achieve. But let's be real, we are NOWHERE near the advances to completely "decarbonize," right? But we need to start somewhere. I personally think the fact the Trump does not want America to play a part of this as ridiculous. People. WE CAN NOT DENY CLIMATE CHANGE. IT IS REAL. IT IS PRESENT. AND IT IS FACTUAL. And the fact that we have a current standing president who continues to deny this is truly and honestly disheartening. We HAVE to take these steps towards eliminating these emissions if we want to save the planet that we live on. I don't understand the logic/inconsequential nature that stands behind this. So, that's where I stand. We need this treaty, we need to participate in it, and we need to strive towards these goals.

WELL INFORMED - RACISM 2.0

Let's not play dumb - we all know that racism is still alive. It always has been, it is right now, and I hope and pray that eventually it will end. Will it ever? I'm not sure. I can't speak on behalf of experience, because I've never felt victimized due to my skin color. I've never felt at a disadvantage for a career or felt uncomfortable with any type of law enforcement - ever. But I do know one thing... we are all human beings who deserve to be treated as such. Although I can't relate to it, that doesn't mean I don't fully support anti-racism.


Did you know that it wasn't until 1967 that congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1695, which outlawed poll taxes, literacy tests, and other things that disallowed black people from voting? Did you know that it wasn't until 1989 that the US government issued $20,000 and a formal apology to each of the 60,000 WWII internees of all the camps within the US? Did you know that in 2001, congress passed the controversial USA Patriot Act that gave the federal government the power to detain suspected "terrorists" for no given amount of time? Without access to legal representation/a lawyer? Do you realize that these events have only happened within the span of 50 years? People, that is NOT that long ago.


Racism is an unfortunate and longtime existing form of judgement. Can we all truly say we have never had a racist thought, or made a racist joke, or even applied subtle racist judgement without realizing it? The truth is, I can guarantee that almost every single one of the people who are reading can't say that they haven't. It's everywhere. It's on TV. It's all over social media. It's in the movies. Racism has become a subtle norm, has it not? I know I've heard Jimmy Fallon made a "how are you Asian if you're not good at math?" joke before. It's things like this that we don't think about.


Honestly, I don't know if this will ever go away completely. After hundreds and thousands of years of a certain mindset that being different is viewed in a negative light, it will take a lot of reform. Although, I might say that this is the generation that will put forth the greatest effort to do so. I have seen more anti-racism slogans, phrases, and campaigns in the past couple of years than I have ever seen before. I think if everyone changed their mindset just a little bit, perhaps one day we could all let go of this judgement.

OTM - WHEN THE PRESS SUES OVER FAKE NEWS

OTM 1 - WHEN THE PRESS SUES OVER FAKE NEWS

It’s evident there is a lot of controversy in the news in regards to our government-every single day. “Fake news,” has turned into something that Donald Trump has used to label or attack on story in the mainstream that essentially didn’t agree with him or went against him in any way. CNN’s Don Lemon said it best to one of his guests on the show, “please stop it with that stupid talking point that is a fake news story. If you don’t want to participate in the news story on this network, then don’t participate, but don’t call them fake because you don’t agree with them.” The term fake news has really taken a new meaning in the last year or so.

The speaker states that in the age of Trump, the press should consider the option to sue. If you are a news organization falsely accused of fabrication, at the expense of your reputation for liable. Jay Seaton, Colorado’s state senator, accused The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (a small newspaper in Colorado) of reporting fake news. It started with the newspapers writing about the state needing to open up state records. There is a bill that should allow citizens to have access to documents requested in their original form, and this bill has come to a halt for unclear reasons. Something that we haven’t really seen, this newspaper company has decided to do something about that and retaliate -- with a lawsuit.

Personally, I think the fake news accusations are utterly ridiculous. The entire purpose of a free press is to allow people to voice opinions from different perspectives. If we didn’t have a free press, like some country, we would be confined without freedom under one or two opinions (that perhaps only the government could approve). When I think of “fake news,” I think of the news articles that have pictures of aliens on them with poorly photoshopped images… not news that our President of The United States doesn’t like. Journalism is a beautiful thing. It allows different ideas, opinions, perspectives, etc. to be heard. When someone with such great power takes that beauty and freedom away, how can we stand for this? It’s truly one of the most shameful things I’ve seen thus far.

I think sueing in the name of your reputation is a good idea. As cliche as it sounds, we can’t allow bullies with higher power to step all over the media whenever they feel. It’s ridiculous, and it’s happened way to frequently. If I were a news organization, I would absolutely sue over this. It’s time to take a stand for what’s right, and not what’s mainstream.

Well Informed - Education

I believe the future of learning and education has amazing and outstanding potential. In America, we now have the most impeccable access to information that anyone has ever seen. The technological advances that we possess are unlike anything else, accompanied with more dedicated research and informational value for us to feed off of and grow with. I think it would be silly to say that education is headed in a downward direction considering we possess the greatest tools of all time.

The general gist I feel today is that people view technology as a negative source for viable situation. I beg to differ. I think technology is single-handedly the best thing to ever happen to education… when used in the right ways. A TED talk presented by Sugata Mitra, called “Build a School in the Cloud,” demonstrates the ways that technology can be used in education. He talks about how children can get educated and learn from each other by tapping into “the cloud.” The cloud provides mentors and access to other students alike, providing a single foundation for access to learning and education. Essentially, it conceptualizes the idea of self organized learning - something that is very new and different… but also extremely successful for those who properly utilize it.

Another example of how our education is being driven in the right direction are the overwhelmingly dedicated researchers out there spending countless hours on how to individualize the learning experience. In another TED talk presented by Ken Robinson, titled “Bring on the Learning Revolution!”, he emphasizes how we need to and must shift the focus from standardized learning to individualized learning. I agree with this. We do not all learn and absorb information in the same ways, so how can we all demonstrate our knowledge in the same ways? Our current education system bases knowledge off of test scores; an inaccurate representation of intelligence. But with people like Ken Robinson, he talks about different ways that we can shift these learning styles into something that would drastically work for everyone.

I do not think our education system is where it needs to be. However, I do think it has an immense amount of potential. We posses the right tools and technologies to make this happen, as well as the right people who have put an incredible amount of time and research into how to make it happen. After this, there is only one step left… to put someone into power who can recognize the changes that need to be made and put these changes into effect.

MY *(LIVE)* THOUGHTS ON THE INAUGURATION

MY *(LIVE)* THOUGHTS ON THE INAUGURATION

Fortunately, although I was at work, I had the opportunity to watch the inauguration. The following comments are live as I write them so that my thoughts and feelings are raw and genuine alongside with the present moment. My recorded times are in Mountain Standard Time (MST).

9:32am—whoever is speaking right now is overly poetic and I quite frankly don’t understand what he is saying. Something about lanterns? I don’t know.

9:37am—why isn’t Donald smiling? I’d imagine this is probably one of the most nerve racking moments of his life. But why aren’t him and his wife like holding hands or something? But really, Donald hasn’t smiled once yet.

9:43am—is this the mo-tab singing? If so, they are very good. I wish I could sing that high….

9:49am—Sen. Charles Schumer just mentioned freedom of speech. For some reason this bothers me considering how often Trump threatens people who tweet things that aren’t in his favor… does he really want a free country?

9:52am—I like Sen. Charles Schumer’s speaking voice. He is a very good public speaker.

9:53am—they’re now swearing in Pence… chills… I actually don’t mind Pence. I think he’s a good dude.

9:55am—as I watch Obama shake Pence’s hand, I admire how gentlemen like and professional he remains. I respect him for that reason.                               

9:56am—it is confirmed, it is the mo-tab.

10:00am—now swearing in Trump. Just saw the first smile. I wish the camera angle would let me see Obama’s face and expressions. Maybe they did that on purpose. I would.

10:01am—our president is now Donald J Trump.

10:02am—I hope he really does follow through with all these promises he’s making right now.

10:03am—I love that he’s speaking highly of Obama. He called them magnificent.

10:04am- “we are not only transferring power from one administration to another, we are now giving the power to the people.”

10:05AM—I do like the idea of the people having more power. Too bad that’s not what’s going to happen. Let’s get real.

10:07am—I wonder when we will see less drugs in our country.

10:10AM— AMERICA FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10:14am—“when we open out heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.”

10:15am—“it’s time to rid of politicians that are all talk but no action,” “do not let anyone tell you that anything cannot be done.” I question how much power and influence politicians REALLY have over decision making… or are they puppets? There are a lot of things we don’t know. But then again, Trump became the freaking POTUS, who’s to say what he can’t do.

10:18am—that was quite the finisher. Very powerful. Me gusto.

10:20am—how do the Rabbi’s keep their Kippas on their heads? I can’t even get my beanie to stay on. This is a serious question.

10:25am—starting to tune out and think of all the homework I have due tonight…

10:27am—Jackie is a great singer. What a wonderful opportunity it would be to sing in the face of so many powerful and influential people.

10:29am—honestly, we all know the Rockefellers and Rothschilds' run this whole damn country. If you don’t know those two last names, do some research. You might be surprised what you find.

10:31am—I bet that helicopter is easily a $5 million helicopter… do you think they provide wine?

10:32am—by the way, I work in the airline industry. I really do love any machine that flies. It fascinates me.

10:33am—one of SkyWest’s main bases is in Palm Springs.

10:34am—Donald AND Obama walking together? SMILING? WHAT

10:35am—where do you think all these guys purchase their long coats? Do you think they all go through the same person? They all look the same.

10:35am—I really want to visit DC. I think I’m going to go there within the next month. Will post about it on my blog, stay in tune for updates.

10:37am—am I the only one who noticed that while Trump has escorting Obama down the stairs, there were only two men with black guns instead of white? Unplanned? Planned???

10:42a—no joke I just bought jeans like 3 days ago the same color as that helicopter.

10:42am—I think I actually really want to go on a helicopter ride now. Stay tuned for updates.

10:44am—I feel like those windshield wipers are relatively small for that helicopter.

10:47am—I remember what it was like to leave my favorite job at IHC in South Jordan to move to St. George. I held such an emotional attachment to that job and the people that I worked with. I do wonder what the Obama’s are feeling right now… leaving office after 8 years of the first black president. After hundreds of years of torture against our black brothers and sisters, to have a black commander in chief, what an incredible thing to note; what an accomplishment.

So… what next?

Kara's Crystals (KarasCrystals.com)

Kara's Crystals

Hello readers! Recently, about 2 months ago or so, I created my own online jewelry business called Kara's Crystals. I provide quality crafted chakra jewelry for both males and females! I've had a passion for stones and crystals since I was a young girl and recently decided to turn it into a business. I'm excited to learn how to better grow and market my business through social media. Here is my Facebook page and a little info about it as well - all feedback is always appreciated! Thanks for reading!

Here's my header and profile picture for my page. I took these photos myself with my Nikon D3200 ad 50mm 1.4 lens. These earrings are a product I sell on my site, and I love the way the bright blue contrasts with the dark purple Amethyst stone in the background. 

I've made my own attempt and catching people's attention through sales. Here's an example of a sale I promoted a few weeks ago that got some pretty decent feedback.

This was the most successful marketing tactic sales wise so far. The majority of my sales have actually come from this sale. Of course, I did raise my prices so that the buy one get one free was still reasonably profitable for me. 

 This is my about page. I couldn't find the area where it talked about my mission statement, but it did provide easy access for the "story" section on the page. 

I'm excited to learn more about how to better utilize Facebook's marketing tactic's to increase my sales. 

Oh hey guys

Hello readers! My name's Kara and I'm a senior expected to graduate this fall with my Human Communications degree. I work for SkyWest Airlines and am an avid lover of travel and adventure. I own a jewelry business, KarasCrystals.com (go check it out, I dare you), and am anticipating the development of my social media skills to grow my business and to further understand the application of the social media world that I participate in daily. Thanks for following along!