Wrapping it up

As I wrap up the class that looked at children’s use of technology for school, reputation management, social media and politics, citizen journalism, the blurring of our online and in-person lives, the use of cell phones that have connected us to nearly any information at any time I go back to early on in the course and ask again, when will we reach information overload. 

I was watching a few videos of the congressional hearings with the journalist that published the Twitter Files. I wondered how our elected officials don’t understand the First Amendment and why these government officials think that journalist have fewer rights than the CEOs or government leaders that go in front of a committee and answer questions with nothingness. 

Misinformation and disinformation is big business because those that control the narrative control everything. We only have to look back in the history books about 90 years ago to see how this played out for Germany. 

Social media is big business. TikTok is looking at bans from countries around the word. Belgium recently banned it from government phones. Belgium's ban was based on warnings from the state security service and its cybersecurity center, which said the app could harvest user data and tweak algorithms to manipulate its news feed and content. 

TikTok is attempting to engage countries that are looking to ban it. TikTok said it is “disappointed at this suspension, which is based on basic misinformation about our company.” The company said it’s “readily available to meet with officials to address any concerns and set the record straight on misconceptions.” 

If TikTok was owned by a U.S. company would the same issues arise. While we hear about issues with Facebook and Twitter they don’t last very long in the news cycle. 

Regardless if today’s social media platforms continue their reign or new platforms are developed they will all continue to thrive on information and the ability to monetize it.

Technology, Education and the Future

Technology is great to a certain degree. If I look back nearly 25 years ago when I joined the Air Force the most tech thing I had saw were the F-15s on the flightline. A few years later I saw the first UAVs and the F-22. I had a house phone, a tower computer, carried a beeper for alert and as a photographer I shot and processed film. When I took college courses I went to a classroom and took tests and wrote essays with paper and pencil. 

Most of us think of tech today as the newest phone that shoots better photos than my first camera, has more computing power than my tower computer, and allows me to listen to music, check email, access apps and do a whole lot more. This makes life easier when it comes to certain things. Some think of it as the Ring doorbell security system. Others think of controlling their house via Alexa. Regardless of how you view technology most people see the advantages and some see how the increase in technology through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can present a challenge for humanity. 

My son is 17 and a high school senior. He has grown up with technology. From the trips to the store when he played on a tablet to the DVDs he could watch every time we drove anywhere he was constantly being stimulated. As he has grown, computers and phones have been a big part of his life. When COVID-19 began his high school shut down and then he had more time to play games on Nintendo Switch or the computer. He was able to stay in touch with friends through games or texting. 

The shift to home schooling with limited teacher interaction put the teaching on the parents and reduced the responsibility of the student. The ability to fulfill class requirements through a virtual connection was beneficial to keeping students active and moving along in class but each home is different. In the classroom every student has the same desk and same teacher. At home internet may be slow and other distractions may keep students from doing as well as they could. Additionally, putting more responsibility on students to figure out things by watching YouTube videos or other resources isn’t adequate teaching. 

According to an article by Nissim-Matheis (2021), “ Even if your child wasn’t struggling with attention, initiation, or follow through prior to the pandemic, your child may be struggling now. Virtual learning, half-day in-person schedules, and social distancing have created a COVID-fueled attention problem that is pervasive and real.” 

“Many of my students are struggling to get started on their assignments even if they are motivated. If they are able to get started, they struggle to maintain their focus to work through their assignment and complete it. If they complete it, they may forget to actually hand it in. The number of potholes that are faced by our teens is immense and students who were once “on top of it” are also struggling.” 

Once in-person school stopped, stores closed, any many people were relegated to telework or even worse let go from their jobs children spent nearly every minute with their parents. Many parents used technology to fill the gaps when they were partially present or fully present. Letting a child be online for hours on end playing video games or watching videos didn’t do much for learning. 

The study of technology in schools has highlighted both the positives and negatives but doesn’t do much to look at the long-term effects. 

In adolescence and young adulthood, the presence of technology in learning environments has also been associated with (but has not been shown to be the cause of) negative variables such as attention deficits or hyperactivity, feeling lonely, and lower grades. Multitasking is not something our brains can do while learning, and technology often represents not just one more “task” to have to attend to in a learning environment, but multiple additional tasks due to the variety of apps and programs installed on and producing notifications through a single device (Mohammed, 2019). 

When students go from one screen to another to another and don’t have a break from technology their brains are continuously stimulated which impacts their learning and development. 

We are living in a confusing age. On one hand, parents would like to educate their children using the latest tech inventions. On the other hand, parents also fear that their introduction could foster addictive behavior or expose children to inappropriate content (Chen, 2018). 

A survey conducted in 2020 by C.S. Mott Children's Hospital highlighted that 86 percent parents believe that their adolescent children are spending excessive amount of time playing video games. 

The health survey from Mott revealed some results from the parent survey. Some of these were that twice as many teenager boys are spending more time gaming compared to teenage girls. On an average according to the parent survey, adolescent boys are spending around three hours a day playing video games. Around 9 in 10 parents surveyed said that the children were spending too much time gaming so much so that their daily and family interactions are affected. 

The survey shows that gaming is interfering with sleep in 44 percent cases, with social interactions in 44 percent cases, with friendships with peers who are not gaming with them by 33 percent, with homework in 34 percent and with extracurricular activities in 31 percent cases. For this poll the team looked at 963 parents of at least one teenager kid aged between 13 and 18 years (Mandal, 2020). 

When children disconnect from video games and go to sleep the cycle starts all over the next morning by logging into a computer and conducting their school work. Students today are considerably more tech savvy than two or three generations behind them but each generation has their own knowledge, skills and abilities. 

Gen Z have been named the “first global generation,” growing up in a society where global content and information are generally more freely available, and where one-click shopping for goods from anywhere in the world is taken for granted. This may set them on the path to pioneer nomadic careers and develop new ways to make money online. 

With the option of jobs being done remotely and online the disconnect from the computer will be more difficult for those that do nearly everything virtually. 

As online learning becomes more prevalent students may ask why the in-person option is worth it. Technology is great for many things but we shouldn’t throw out the old ways of doing things because they are harder or less convenient. 

Resources: 

Chen, Q. (2018). The hidden costs of letting your children be raised by screens and smart devices. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/22/the-hidden-costs-of-letting-your-children-be-raised-by-screens-and-smart-devices.html 

Mandal, A, (2020). Kids spending too much time gaming. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200120/Kids-spending-too-much-time-gaming.aspx 

Mohammed, S. (2019). Is technology good or bad for learning? https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/05/08/is-technology-good-or-bad-for-learning/ 

Nissim-Matheis, L. (2021). Understanding Teens' Invisible Struggles During COVID-19. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/special-matters/202104/understanding-teens-invisible-struggles-during-covid-19

Reputation management in a connected world

Your reputation, personal or organizational, is ever evolving. One day you are on top of the world and can do no wrong and the next a crisis hits. 

In business, it’s usually wise to protect your assets before calamity strikes. And brand image is one of your most valuable assets. Reputation protection looks at the entire search landscape for your brand name, industry, CEO, and your competitors. This offensive approach offers a detailed picture of where you stand compared to others (Sickler, 2022). 

Actors cultivate their personal and professional brands in a variety of ways. If we look at Johnny Depp and his recent court battles with his ex-wife Amber Heard you can see how reputations are impacted. 

Depp sued Heard for $50 million while she countersued for $100 million. One of his former agents that testified said this, “Christian Carino, another former talent agent of Depp's, to give an impression of Depp's reputation in Hollywood circles. Carino, who once represented both Depp and Heard, testified that he believes Depp's reputation remains intact as "one of the finest actors of his generation" but that Heard's accusations directly resulted in him losing professional opportunities. 

"My opinion is that Amber's accusations would have had the most dramatic impact on his off-screen reputation," he told the court, noting that he's "not talking about any one specific accusation." He went on to allege that Depp was not invited to return for Pirates 6 due to Heard's accusations, saying he came to this conclusion after numerous conversations with colleagues and studio execs, including Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer behind the Pirates franchise (Miller, 2022). 

Johnny Depp won the court case but his reputation and his personal life was exposed to the world. During this time his team was working to counter negative press while attempting to repair his reputation. 

While Johnny Depp’s personal reputation has taken a hit it is no different than a company who is charged with a variety of accusations such as hostile work environment, sexual harassment, poor training, lackluster products, or other things that diminish the current company reputation. 

Looking at the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise you can have the best actors and the best script but if the company that owns the franchise is having reputation issues that can turn off movie goers which greatly impacts the overall how successful the movie is. 

In 2022 and continuing into 2023 The Walt Disney Company’s reputation continues to plummet for a variety of reasons but many point to the company of being “woke”. The Walt Disney Company fell 28 spots on the Axios Harris Poll 100 this year, according to The Washington Times. The poll ranks the “most visible brands in America” by using a survey with questions about trust, ethics, growth, products/service citizenship, vision, and culture (Owens, 2022). 

Between Disney’s stance on Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill and their former Disney CEO, Bob Chapek’s fight with Florida’s elected officials put Disney on everyone’s radar. 

Moving forward, Chapek shared that Disney will immediately be “increasing our support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation in other states.” 

This is in alignment with his statements during Disney’s 2022 Annual Meeting of Shareholders just a few days ago where he pledged a $5 million donation to the Human Rights Campaign and other LGBTQ+ organizations. Though, the Human Rights Campaign has since issued a response refusing the money calling for “meaningful action” from the company (Saxton, 2022). 

These decisions ultimately led to Florida to dissolves Disney’s self-governance that go into effect in June 1, 2023. The Reedy Creek Improvement District has been in place since 1967 and has served Disney well. 

While Reedy Creek really only applies to those in Florida Disney is a global company that continues to provide entertainment that continues to draw controversy. 

A reboot of the Disney show "The Proud Family" is receiving backlash over a rap in a recent episode of the cartoon featuring kids debating about slavery and reparations, arguing that America "owes" Black Americans because America "still has not atoned for" its systemic prejudice, racism and White supremacy (Tietz, 2023). 

During its Q1 2023 earnings report, Disney confirmed that Disney Plus lost subscribers for the first time in its history. Between October and December 2022, the streaming platform's global user base shrunk by 2.4 million (Power, 2023). 

All of these issues are contributing to Disney failing to do what businesses do and that is to make money.

The Walt Disney Co. paid a heavy price for their foray into woke politics as they lost $123 billion of their market value as stocks dropped 44.58% from the beginning to the end of 2022. 

The company opened the year at $156.76 per share. After a year of battling Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, pushing woke content in their blockbuster movies, and replacing their controversial CEO with his predecessor, Disney closed the year at $86.88 (Moye, 2023). 

An article written by a former employee in 2021 seems like a different Disney than what is portrayed in today’s news. According to Devan Leos, “During my time with Disney, I was able to see the inner workings and truly awe-inspiring levels of serious care put into all the divisions of Disney. The brand does not play games. Disney's team constantly monitors the media, social media, online forums and any source of information regarding their brand (emails, comments, letters.) They figure out what issues people might have before people even have them. Disney's employees (including talent) are thoroughly screened and monitored. Talent is given strict instructions regarding their online presence, as well as other employees. 

Disney will weather the storm of the controversies due to its nearly 100 years of entertainment. While entertainment is different now than it was in 1923 Disney cared about all of its customers. When you wade into politics and push agendas you will always lose customers. 

Resources: 

Leos, D. (2021). 4 Powerful Brand Secrets I Learned Working With Disney. https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/4-powerful-brand-secrets-i-learned-working-with-disney/370275 

Miller, M. (2022). Johnny Depp's former agents clash on whether his Hollywood downfall predates Amber Heard. https://ew.com/movies/johnny-depps-former-agents-clash-hollywood-downfall-amber-heard/

Moye, L. (2023). Walt Disney lost $123 billion while pushing woke politics. https://fism.tv/walt-disney-lost-123-billion-while-pushing-woke-politics-in-2022/ 2022 

Owens, M. (2022). Disney’s Reputation Seems to Have Taken a Big Hit, According to New Poll. https://allears.net/2022/05/25/disneys-reputation-seems-to-have-taken-a-big-hit-according-to-new-poll/

Power, T. (2023). Disney Plus loses its magic touch as millions cancel their subscriptions. https://www.techradar.com/news/disney-plus-loses-its-magic-touch-as-millions-cancel-their-subscriptions 

Saxton, J. (2022). NEWS: Disney CEO Bob Chapek Apologizes for Response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill. https://allears.net/2022/03/11/news-disney-ceo-bob-chapek-apologizes-for-response-to-floridas-dont-say-gay-bill/ 

Sickler, J. (2022). Reputation Protection: How to Protect Your Reputation Online. https://www.reputationmanagement.com/blog/reputation-protection/ 

Tietz, K. (2023). Disney slammed for 'anti-White propaganda' in new 'The Proud Family' reboot. https://www.foxnews.com/media/disney-slammed-anti-white-propaganda-proud-family-reboot

Social Media and Politics

As of 2022, the United States has the third-largest social media audience worldwide, after China and India. It is home to over 302 million social media users at a social networking penetration rate of 90 percent (Statista, 2022). 

The 2020 presidential election had the highest voter turnout of the 21st century, with 66.8% of citizens 18 years and older voting in the election, according to new voting and registration tables released today by the U.S. Census Bureau (Census.gov, 2021). 

U.S. citizens are casting their votes for candidates that speak to the causes they are interested in and how they communicate to them.

If you look at the current President and Vice President of the United States many would say they are not great orators or communicators. That’s the beauty of social media. Carefully crafted messages are able to reach millions without speaking a word. Strategic communication teams filled with writers, influencers, social media experts and political masterminds develop polished products that shield from mistakes. 

They were both recently in front of the media to talk about unidentified flying objects to include a Chinese spy balloon. 

After delivering his first public remarks on the flying objects shot down by the U.S. military in recent weeks, President Joe Biden refused to answer any questions, saying reporters "can come to my office and ask that question when we have more polite people." "Give me a break man," Biden on Thursday told reporters who were yelling questions after the president concluded his comments (Wilson, 2023). 

Vice President Kamala Harris had a one on one interview with MSNBC. Twitter users mocked Vice President Kamala Harris for another meandering, wordy answer that ended with her claiming that the Chinese spy balloon that the U.S. shot down in its airspace was "not helpful" for U.S.-China relations (Hays, 2023). 

Those that don’t agree with the President and his way of leading American grab onto these engagements and highlight them on social media as a way to inform or disrespect depending on the narratives and political leanings. 

Some of these people amplifying this information have financial motivations more than anything. Political advertising spending in the United States is expected to amount to over 9.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 (Statista, 2023). 

Social media giants along with traditional media see politics and political advertising as a never ending money generator. But when they pick and choose what money to take and what to allow on their platforms it can get a bit tricky and amp up the talks of changes to Section 230. 

Politicians as a whole are generally not trusted by the public. 

When Trump ran for president in 2016 it wasn’t the first time he ran for president as he also ran for president in 2000 but people were tired of the revolving door of politicians saying the same thing and getting the same results. Trump was an outsider to the political circles but he still had to work within the political system that was created in a way that one person cannot be the be all end all. He was soon seen as the face of the Republican party. 

There have been multiple lawsuits against Facebook and Twitter but they have been protected as they state they only host information and do not publish. The banning of elected government officials based off social media posts may show that they censor at the source. By banning or shadow banning accounts the account owners cannot communicate with their audience or followers. 

When President Trump was kicked off of multiple social media sites along with others of his staff a large portion of the American public that are Republicans or Trump supporters lost access to information he had posted over the years. 

The Twitter files have exposed that social media companies are working with different government agencies to publicize certain information, ban other information and monitoring Americans social media accounts. 

According to Fujiwara, Muller, & Schwartz, “We document that political content on Twitter has a pro-Democratic slant. We classify the slant of tweets based on two complementary approaches: one based on the network users follow and one using the text of tweets in a machine learning approach in the spirit of Gentzkow and Shapiro (2010). 

We apply these methods to the over 460 million tweets mentioning the presidential candidates in the 2012, 2016, and 2020 elections. We find that the number and attention (proxied by “likes”) of tweets mentioning Trump was substantially larger than that of those mentioning Clinton and Joe Biden. 

Moreover, tweets about Trump in 2016 and 2020 70% more likely to have Democratic rather than Republican slant. Overall, our results are consistent with Twitter and its relatively pro-Democratic content persuading voters with moderate views to not vote for Trump without inducing a more general negative effect on Republicans. 

As politicians play dirty the increase in misinformation and fake news continues to permeate social media fees. 

Fake news and misinformation has undeniably been on the rise in recent years. But our susceptibility to it is, in part, actually a symptom of a lack of critical thinking skills suitable for the digital age, argues Helen Lee Bouygues, who launched her organization, Reboot Foundation, to tackle that exact problem (Sonnemaker, 2020). 

I remember during the weeks ramping up to election day I would get texts, emails and see many ads on my social media accounts attempting to inform and sway me towards certain politicians. I would do my research on new candidates and incumbents. Those that had slick websites and social media presence made it easy to see where they stood on issues. But it takes some thinking on the voters part to dig past the top layer of information and see what else may be hidden or something that contradicts what they are portraying. 

Social media is easy to front-load information to millions of users. With political advertising it can be a challenge to engage with those that are just turned off to politics. But those turned off to politics may still want to vote for someone that aligns to their values even if when they are elected they don’t follow through or even change priorities based on politics. 

References 

https://www.statista.com/topics/3196/social-media-usage-in-the-united-states/

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/2020-presidential-election-voting-and-registration-tables-now-available.html 

https://www.foxnews.com/media/harris-mocked-new-word-salad-saying-spy-balloon-not-helpful-u-s-china-relations-master-words 

https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-shuts-down-questions-on-spy-balloon-scolds-journalists-to-be-more-polite/ 

https://www.statista.com/topics/4942/political-advertising-in-the-us/#topicOverview

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-internet-social-media-fuel-polarization-america-facebook-twitter-youtube-2020-12 https://www.princeton.edu/~fujiwara/papers/SocialMediaAndElections.pdf

Storytelling regardless of education, training or platform

Citizen journalism has grown as inexpensive technology and social media has allowed nearly anyone to capture or tell a story to the world. 

Every day you can read local, national and international news produced by professional journalists employed by professional news agencies. 

I can read the local daily news clips and get a good sense of what is happening but is that all that is happening. 

I find stories on social media or YouTube that I may see a few days later in the higher level news or it may never make it at all. It may be a story that the pros don’t feel is important enough to the readers or it is purposely underreported. Additionally, it may be that the story is never published by traditional media due to censorship. 

An article by Walker (2020) highlights the importance of citizens in capturing news but also documenting daily life interactions that sometimes are deadly. The (traditional) journalists were split amongst their thoughts about citizen journalists. One journalist called citizen journalists “an asset” that help to keep “everybody on their A-game.” Another said, “I think it is incredibly helpful to have citizen journalists. I really do. I think the more cameras, the better.” 

Those that document government officials in the course of their duties may face a variety of issues. I have seen many videos where police officers have arrested citizen journalists for a variety of charges that sometimes are validated by courts. 

In Arizona, the state passed a law in 2022 that makes it a crime, punishable by up to a month in jail, for people to record videos within eight feet of police activity. Specifically, it prohibits people from recording police if they are within eight feet of an area where the person “knows or should reasonably know” law enforcement activity is happening. (Tewari, 2022). 

This controversial law was challenged and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction. 

While the law looked like it was aimed at the public recording police interactions it affects all citizens, citizen journalists and professional journalists. 

Reporters and photographers said this law will make it nearly impossible to do their job, especially at massive events like protests. The outlets that sued include Phoenix Newspapers Inc., parent of The Arizona Republic; Gray Television; Scripps Media; KPNX-TV; Fox Television Stations; NBCUniversal Media (NBC News’ parent company); the Arizona Broadcasters Association; States Newsroom; Arizona Newspapers Association; and the National Press Photographers Association. (NBCnews.com, 2022). 

Attempting to institute laws that stifle free press at the source goes directly against the First Amendment of the Constitution. 

Social media in America has certain protections under 47 U.S.C. § 230. "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." (47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(1)). 

Section 230 embodies that principle that we should all be responsible for our own actions and statements online, but generally not those of others. The law prevents most civil suits against users or services that are based on what others say. (Mullin, McSherry & Mackey, n.d.). 

Currently, congressional hearings are taking place with former Twitter executives about Twitter account banning, banning stories, and the overall targeting of certain users. 

Twitter as a whole claims they are removing misinformation but others see the need to have varying viewpoints presented to the users who get information from social media. Those reading these stories can make up their own mind on what they want to believe. 

From the Twitter help center: In the face of misleading information, we aim to create a better informed world so people can engage in healthy public conversation. We work to mitigate detected threats and also empower customers with credible context on important issues. 

To help enable free expression and conversations, we only intervene if content breaks our rules, which you can learn about below. Otherwise, we lean on providing you with additional context. 

If social media is the digital town square then everyone should be able to talk. While many of us have our own political leanings and ideas of how government should run we should all agree that everyone is afforded the same rights guaranteed by the Constitution. 

The hearing held by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability detailed how Twitter worked closely with the federal government to actively monitor and censor Americans online. Under the leadership of former Twitter employees Vijaya Gadde, James Baker, and Yoel Roth, Twitter coordinated extensively with the FBI to disproportionately target Republican leaders, conservative activists, and certain media outlets. In October 2020, Twitter censored the New York Post’s story about the Biden family’s business schemes based on the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, despite the article not violating any Twitter policies. (Oversight.house.gov, 2023. 

Social media, instant feedback, 24/7 news cycle, citizen journalism, cameras everywhere. 

Traditional news has a core tenet to tell stories but now news has shifted to the audience being in control of what they consume. 

Americans' confidence in the media has been anemic for nearly two decades, and Gallup's latest findings further document that distrust. The current level of public trust in the media's full, fair and accurate reporting of the news is the second lowest on record. (Brenan, 2022). 

The lack of trust in the media has been key to alternative media sprouting up. One alternative to legacy media has been The Daily Wire that boast more than 1 million subscribers. 

References: 

Brenan, M. (2022, November 17). Americans' Trust in media remains near record low. Gallup.com. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://news.gallup.com/poll/403166/americans-trust-media-remains-near-record-low.aspx 

Mullin, J., McSherry, C., & Mackey, A. (n.d.). Section 230. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://www.eff.org/issues/cda230 

NBCUniversal News Group. (2022, September 10). Federal judge blocks Arizona law limiting filming of police. NBCNews.com. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judge-blocks-arizona-law-limiting-filming-police-rcna47148 

Tewari, S. (2022, November 18). Arizona's new law banning people from recording police violates Our First Amendment Rights: News & Commentary. American Civil Liberties Union. Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/arizonas-new-law-banning-people-from-recording-police-violates-our-first-amendment-rights 

The cover up: Big tech, the Swamp, and mainstream media coordinated to censor Americans' free speech . United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. (2023, February 9). Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://oversight.house.gov/release/the-cover-up-big-tech-the-swamp-and-mainstream-media-coordinated-to-censor-americans-free-speech-%EF%BF%BC/ 

Walker, D. (2020) How citizen journalists, cell phones and technology shape coverage of police shootings - College of Information and Communications | University of South Carolina. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2023, from https://www.sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/cic/journalism_and_mass_communications/news/2020/citizen_journalists_cell_phones_shape_coverage.php#.Y-kII-zMIUo

Social Media: Blurred Lines of Reality

Today I post about social media and today the news highlights that today Mark Zuckerberg launches “The Facebook”. Zuckerberg’s path to Facebook started in 2003 with an online program called Facemash, of which he was primary developer. The concept revolved around the notion that students could judge the attractiveness of fellow college students who were using the program, according to Britannica (Kasko, 2023). 

The site was considered initially successful — with 450 students joining right off the bat. Today, 20 years later, Facebook has 2.93 billion monthly active users. 

I have used social media for a long time. Some social media platforms were niche similar to how Facebook started out. HOTorNOT was a social media platform that allowed users to upload images and let others rate them. While many people may not even know of this site, it is a critical part of how social media platforms are developed today. 

That type of “gamified” digital conversation, grounded in reward point systems and scores, remains a foundation for most social online interaction. We still express our opinions by giving each other’s pictures and thoughts a collective numerical value, whether through likes on Instagram (released a full decade after HOTorNOT) or retweets on Twitter (which was initially hosted for free on HOTorNOT’s server in its earliest iterations from 2006 to 2007) (Joho, 2020). 

HOTorNOT allowed people to connect similar to online dating without the fees but that soon changed as social media saw the value of engaging with their users on the various platforms. 

2003 was an important year for all of us if we knew it or not. The Facebook was launched and the king of social media from 2005 to 2008 was allowing anyone signing up to have an instant friendship with Tom. MySpace Tom is the co-founder Tom Anderson. Like MySpace many people don’t think of Tom but he greatly benefited from social media like many of the tech CEOs that sit on the list of billionaires. MySpace was sold for a measly $580 million in 2005. That is a lot of money but nothing compared to the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk. 

So why do I mention two platforms that many people never used or even heard of? Social media platforms today don’t look like the platforms we used even a decade ago. We are more interconnected if we want to be or not. Your online activity is known by nearly anyone that does a little digging. 

Today, when someone applies for a job, a school or runs for a government position the internet sleuths start digging into social media. If you watch congressional nomination hearings you can hear panel members grilling nominees on social media posts. Many times it’s the tweets that come back to haunt people. 

In 2017, Shedrick “Shed” McCall had a YouTube channel where he posted about his life experiences with some instances of foul language. One video where he talked about trespassing led to his future school, Old Dominion University revoked his scholarship to play on their football team where he was committed for six months. 

McCall wants to educate young athletes about the powerful effect of social media.“For my young kids out there just please… just please understand, just watch what you put on social media, just watch what you post,” he said. McCall won’t be defined by this mistake. After losing his scholarship to ODU, he received an opportunity to play for Norfolk State, where he represents one of the most talented recruits the school has had in recent years (Toler, 2017). 

McCall’s mistake was a life lesson for him and hopefully he continues to use that lesson today. 

Athletes in all sports are under a microscope and those that know how to use social media well (or have a good social media team) can make millions off of current sponsors and connect with future sponsorship opportunities. 

How many ads have you seen with Shaquille O’Neal talking about pizza, cruises, car insurance or printer ink. While Shaq retired from basketball years ago his persona still draws big bucks from huge companies. 

I use social media very infrequent and it is usually Facebook and YouTube. I rarely post anything and only direct message a few friends. I use Facebook to join car groups to look for car parts, wheels or whole cars. I keep up with the Air Force and the Army but most of the stuff I see posted is informational yet lacks substance. I would rather go to news sites and see what is going on locally and nationally. 

Am I worried about a future employer looking me up online and checking on me. Not at all. I use social media responsibly. I don’t put my life story online and I don’t make TikTok videos that can come back to haunt me. Additionally, I value privacy and lock my accounts down as much as possible. I’m friends with people I know in real life. I know companies and social media organizations have tons of information about me. I also know that I don’t use social media at work as effectively as those that are on 24/7. I like to disconnect from work when the day is over. Personal time and personal activities that I enjoy are more precious to me than looking at the positive or negative posts/news that runs the 24/7 social media cycle. 

This week’s readings looked at social media with some broad focus areas. Twitter was one piece of the reading and the articles provided some interesting data points. Twitter had 450 million daily users at the end of 2022. Those that vowed to leave the platform due to the purchase by Elon Musk seemed to be blowing a lot of hot air. The advertisers that left may have not come back but the social media giant is too important to advertisers and its daily users. One change to Twitter is the reversal on the ban of political ads. While Twitter and other social media platforms have taken heat for the amount of misinformation or disinformation that is posted to the sites. According to Twitter, "We believe that cause-based advertising can facilitate public conversation around important topics," the social media company tweeted. Cause-based ads that will be allowed on Twitter include ads that educate or raise awareness of issues such as voter registration, climate change or government programs like the Census, said Ella Irwin, Twitter's head of trust and safety, in an email (Dang, 2023). 

References: 

Dang, S. (2023, January 4). Elon Musk’s Twitter lifts ban on political ads. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/twitter-expand-permitted-political-advertising-2023-01-03/ 

Joho, J. (2020, September 27). HOTorNOT: The forgotten website that shaped the internet. Mashable. https://mashable.com/feature/hotornot-history-20-year-anniversary 

Kasko, B. (2023, February 4). On this day in history, Feb. 4, 2004, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg launches “The Facebook.” Fox News. https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/this-day-history-feb-4-2004-harvard-student-mark-zuckerberg-launches-the-facebook 

Toler, A. (2017). Social media cost this star athlete his Division I scholarship—now he’s trying to educate others. https://blogs.usafootball.com/blog/3962/social-media-cost-this-star-athlete-his-division-i-scholarship-now-he-s-trying-to-educate-others

Cell phones increase productivity but at what cost

 

This week’s reading is interesting as a 2015 Pew Report discusses the reliance on smartphones by the less affluent. Today smartphones range from less than $50 to more than $1000. While I still use a camera and computer to take photos and edit them for publishing on social media or work websites I am generally surprised how well some people know the ins and outs of hundreds of apps that are on their phones that increase productivity while still keeping connected to the world. 

This reliance on smartphones also means that the less affluent are more likely to use them for tasks traditionally reserved for larger screens. For example, smartphone owners with lower incomes were especially likely to use their mobile device when seeking out and applying for jobs, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center report (Vogels, 2021).

The report was published eight years ago but I can’t imagine not being able to do nearly everything from a phone. Also a shift from eight years ago is the abundance of free wi-fi in nearly any type of business you enter. 

COVID-19 crippled the global workforce nearly three years. Organizations implemented new ways and used new communication programs to connect their employees. I had to learn Microsoft Teams as a way to communicate in meetings and the use of email drastically changed as Teams allows phone calls, chat, file sharing and collaboration in a way that wasn’t familiar to me or many of our employees that ranged from 20 to 70 years old. Now accessing Teams meetings via phone allows us to stay more connected but it does have its issues. When you were away from the desk in a meeting or away doing other tasks you may get an email or a phone call that you would get to at a later time. Now with work cell phones or your personal phone number on a roster people will text or call you at any time. That has been an issue for many professionals that don’t disconnect from work.

Cell phones have changed work and personal life in significant ways, and as with any tool, they can be used for good or bad. Companies see this firsthand as their employees can be both more distracted and more productive thanks to these devices. Here are some stats on cell phones at work (Kolmar, 2022). 

93% of U.S. employees who own a smartphone and spend at least a third of their time away from a desk use their cell phones for work every day. 

55% of employees would rather use their own cell phone for work than a desk phone. There are a variety of reasons this could be true. For example, employees are already familiar with their cell phones and may not want to figure out a new device, or they like to more easily save and call contacts as they drive or conduct other out-of-office business. 

Whatever the reason for it, though, this much professional cell phone use also comes with a downside: Over 30% also said that they’d lost business or a client due to poor cellular service. 

84% of companies have a BYOD (bring your own device) policy. This means 84% of companies allow or expect their employees to use their own cell phones for work. 

51% of employees use company-mandated apps to do work on their cell phones. This includes apps for tasks such as company-wide communication and data storage systems that IT departments manage. Many employees also use additional apps to do their jobs that IT doesn’t mandate or even know about. 

Cell phones and the apps developed to make our work lives more productive but when does the work day end. 

According to Mark Cropley, “Work has a nasty habit of creeping up on some people. Before realising it they find themselves working in the evenings, either finishing projects or checking emails to make life easier for the next day” (Khomami, 2015). 

As Cropley stated, “With smartphones, it’s easier to check emails at home, and the current economic situation means people are more worried about losing their jobs and want to be seen to be working hard. But though working in the evenings might be OK in the short term, in the long term it can create serious health issues. 

“People who can’t switch off … have sleeping problems, concentration problems, and other issues. These are a result of both physiological and behavioural mechanisms,” he said.

A couple of weeks I saw the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence put out a memo that highlighted the email and text messaging of Soldiers while off-duty. 

A key part of the message highlighted how good leadership respects individuals personal time. The predictability helps ensure uninterrupted personal time outside duty hours. He also encouraged leaders to engage in direct, timely and effective communication. He also focused on communication should be an emergency circumstance when Soldiers are on leave.

The military is a 24/7 business but most of that business is conducted during duty hours. While those hours may vary it the respect of personal time that can change the morale of a unit. While this memo is a few weeks old it would be interesting how well people are complying with this and for those that can’t disconnect from work and push it onto others when they are off they are setting a bad example for their subordinates. 

I will answer a call from my boss after hours but it would be out of the ordinary and I would expect it to be significant information that I would need. I’m not connected to my phone as much as others and sometimes I just leave my phone on my desk when I am out and about in the building. I figure if it is important someone will find me and let me know. If it’s not too important I will see a missed call.

25 Trending Cell Phones In The Workplace Statistics [2023]: Cell Phone Use In The Workplace – Zippia. (2023, January 16). https://www.zippia.com/advice/cell-phones-at-work-statistics/ 

Khomami, N. (2018, February 14). Technology “stopping people switching off from work.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jun/30/technology-switch-off-from-work-productivity-health

Vogels, E. A. (2021, September 10). Digital divide persists even as Americans with lower incomes make gains in tech adoption. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/06/22/digital-divide-persists-even-as-americans-with-lower-incomes-make-gains-in-tech-adoption/