Social Media

The introduction of Herbert Marcuse’s book, “One-dimensional Man,” shows us the problem that a democratic society creates. Though this book was written back in 1964, many can agree that what he says is true in today’s society. Different scenarios are also brought up to show us how things will be affected due to the advancements of technology. Marcuse wants us to see what will happen and what has happened to society through a series of changes. Marcuse talked a lot about the necessities and luxuries of life. He called these the “true needs” and the “repressive needs. He makes it a point to show us that the changes in society cause us to think differently. Most people are beginning to mistaken the “true needs” with the “repressive needs. ” Instead of actually spending their money on things they need for themselves or their families, they splurge. Marcuse believes this to be due to the advancement of technology. Marcuse also believes that the media, in all its forms, influence what the individual believes to be “true needs. ” Through social media, we are convinced that we must have something, therefore we go out and get what we want.

All of the advertisements that you see are purposely developed so that you would want the product. With this the individual is blinded by what is truly needed and what is wanted. Marcuse compares this kind of behavior to a disease. He states that the individual indulges on these products so that they may satisfy their happiness within. But Marcuse says that this happiness is not a condition which has to be maintained (5). Instead, it is temporary and will go away once this person has satisfied their need. Then what is left is euphoria in unhappiness (5).

Marcuse believes that an individual indulges in these “repressive needs” because they want equality. Buying these products give them a sense of equality to others in society. Marcuse believes that they are blinded by these products so much that they don’t even care about “true needs” anymore. They would rather have a big screen TV like their boss has rather than having health insurance. Marcuse says “Mass production and mass distribution claim the entire individual, and industrial psychology has long since ceased to be confined to the factory” (10).

Anything that can be found within a household is mass produced. Most of which are machines that are used to help make everyday life easier. Society has become so accustom to having certain gadgets around that some people don’t even know how to perform simple tasks. Being able to mass produce an item is good in itself, but being able to distribute that product to an entire nation or even several nations is something else. This creates the potential of having the entire world depending on one company for a particular product. Technology has become just another part of everyone’s life.

Technology is constantly advancing and new products are always invented to help the daily routine of life, easier. Some examples of how certain inventions make life easier are the car, computer and internet. Being able to travel twice the distance in half the time makes the task of going to work and tending to your family much easier. Being able to send someone a document with a click of the mouse or even keeping in touch with family or friends that live far away. Since the workforce mainly consists of machines creating everything, people have begun to find things to do with their free time.

Having actual free time to do things with the family or friends or even oneself is starting to become common according to Marcuse. Marcuse clearly states that technology has taken over the entire work force. Marcuse states “The very structure of human existence would be altered; the individual would be liberated from the work world’s…. ” (2). By this he wants us to realize that humans will soon be replaced by technology. There would be no need for people to be around factories anymore because everything can be done much faster and much more efficient with machines.

This is the type of society that we are heading into. This is all due to the people that own these factories. The uses of machines have proven to be much more efficient and much more productive. Humans just can’t perform certain tasks that are needed to mass produce products. They just may be able to but the quality of the work wouldn’t compare to that of a machine’s work. “Today political power asserts itself through its power over machine process and over the technical organization…. ” (3). We can all agree that this statement still holds true today.

The executive decisions, which are made in today’s society, are all made by those who own major companies or corporations. They have the most power because they have the most money. Their factories are mainly machines that create their product. Though they still require some manpower to run their system, they mainly rely on their machines, These select few people utilize the full potential use of technical, scientific and mechanical productivity (3). Marcuse makes a good point in saying “… economic freedom would mean freedom from the economy…’ (4).

Those who have utilized the full potential of machines have already found their freedom from the economy. Everyone else is struggling to earn freedom from the economy, making just enough money to support their families. We know these people as the middle class or the working class. Their jobs give them a decent amount of money to live comfortable lives. In this passage, Marcuse talks about how liberty can become something that is used for controlling the masses. The ability to be able to elect ones leader doesn’t necessarily mean that the government isn’t in control.

The government is always going to have some type of influence on everything that is put on the media. For example, if the government isn’t influencing the media, why is there censorship? The truth is that the government controls most aspects of our life. Marcuse argues that the right of freedom of speech is good yet it also creates the right for censorship. Marcuse believes that the purpose of technology is to help us live easier lives. Assisting us with jobs that humans just don’t have the strength for should be the true intention of a machine. A machine is supposed to take the job of several humans.

It is there to perform tasks that a normal human does not have the strength or ability to do. Instead, the capitalist government is using machines to increase their power and wealth. Instead of using technology advances as something to help the people, they instead use it to oppress the people with weapons and propaganda. Being able to determine one’s leader may sound like an ideal but Marcuse may disagree. He states that this system is not perfect. The idea of having a free trade system allows the government to publish people with trade sanctions.

Going between countries would require one to meet all of these rules in order to proceed with the transaction. Sanctions for one country may be completely different from a neighboring country. These sanctions would not have existed before but must still be enforced. Even though this was written back in the mid 1960s, we can see that some of what Marcuse says is true in today’s society. Though the change process was gradual, there were still significant changes that we can see. The advancement in technology is one key factor in the gradual changes that we see.

Everything has technology integrated into it in one way or another. Because of this people began to lose sight of what was truly needed in life to survive and live. Instead, people have been blinded by things that they want and work until they have actually gotten what they wanted. They have fed their hunger for materialistic things for the time being but will soon realize that this hunger will eventually fade away. The government also influences the society through media. Censorship is a method in which the government influences the media.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to actually look at the use of social media (i. e Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp,) in RSUST and the academic performance of the students. In this research, a qualitative research method is used.

3 researched questions were asked

1. How common is the use of social media (i. e Facebook, BBM[BlackBerry Messenger], Whatsapp, Twitter) among RSUST students.
2. How often do these students spend using social media?
3. How has it affected the academic performance of those who use social media and those who don’t?

Introduction

There has been a debate about the use of social media (e. g. , Facebook, Twitter,) by high school and college students, and the possible effect of those tools on students’ academic performance. The main issue of this debate is whether the growing use of social media by high school and/or university students actually improves or worsens a student’s academic performance. The continued growth in the usage of social media by students as early as the elementary school level, In fact, the average time spent with screen media among 8- to 18-year-olds is more than twice the average amount of time spent in school each year. This issue has brought about concerns particularly for the areas of education (e. g. the identification and use of compatible teaching methods and the design of non-classroom educational assignments); communications (e. g. , the identification of appropriate channels on how to exchange educational information among individuals). Over the past 10 years, the media environment that children grow up in has changed dramatically, and the amount of time they spend consuming media has exploded. Students have been engulfed with—and possibly transformed by— reality TV, smartphones, iPods, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.

Title Examining the Use of Social Media and Its Impact on Corporate Commerce Assessment A, Part One – Evaluating the Pros and Cons of Different Social Media Sites Identify the pros and cons for each site. Blogger Con: Security – possible transmission of untrustworthy links Blogger Con: Too much information – public disclosure Blogger Con: Ability to post relevant, up-to-the-minute news and updates Blogger Pro: Ability to create a community Blogger Pro: Ability to incorporate elements of other social media sites

Blogger Pro: Mass customization – widespread use among target audience Blogger Pro: Ability to receive instant feedback from product demographics Digg Con: Not relevant to the niche audience Digg Con: Ability to receive instant feedback from product demographics Digg Con: Mass customization – widespread use among target audience Digg Con: Instant communication to large groups Digg Pro: Media convergence – showing text, screen shots, videos Facebook Con: Limited visual presentation of product

Facebook Con: Ability to filter comments via an approval mechanism Facebook Con: Security – possible transmission of untrustworthy links Facebook Pro: Ability to create a community Facebook Pro: Ability to incorporate elements of other social media sites Facebook Pro: Mass customization – widespread use among target audience Facebook Pro: Instant communication to large groups Facebook Pro: Ability to receive instant feedback from product demographics Facebook Pro: Mobility – viewing on a cell photo adds to the audience

Facebook Pro: Ability to post relevant, up-to-the-minute news and updates Facebook Pro: Media convergence – showing text, screen shots, videos Flickr Con: Limited access from target audience Flickr Con: Ability to receive instant feedback from product demographics Flickr Con: Mass customization – widespread use among target audience Flickr Pro: Not a good way to build buzz in the beginning Flickr Pro: Limited visual presentation of product Metacafe Con: Ability to receive instant feedback from product demographics

Metacafe Con: Instant communication to large groups Metacafe Con: Ability to receive instant feedback from product demographics Metacafe Pro: Media convergence – showing text, screen shots, videos Twitter Con: Ability to filter comments via an approval mechanism Twitter Con: Character Limits Twitter Con: Limited visual presentation of product Twitter Con: Security – possible transmission of untrustworthy links Twitter Con: Ability to receive instant feedback from product demographics Twitter Pro: Instant communication to large groups

Twitter Pro: Mobility – viewing on a cell photo adds to the audience Twitter Pro: Ability to post relevant, up-to-the-minute news and updates Twitter Pro: Ability to receive instant feedback from product demographics YouTube Con: Ability to filter comments via an approval mechanism YouTube Con: Security – possible transmission of untrustworthy links YouTube Pro: Ability to incorporate elements of other social media sites YouTube Pro: Mass customization – widespread use among target audience YouTube Pro: Media convergence – showing text, screen shots, videos

Assessment A, Part Two – Examining the Use of Social Media and its Impact on Corporate Commerce Recommend which social media site Master Dynasty should be launched on. Blog, Twitter, and Facebook. Assessment B – Examining the Use of Social Media and its Impact on Corporate Commerce How can social media sites help us build our brand? Centralizing social site, and create links to our other sites will build up our brand. How can we best reach our target audience? Gather our quality followers instead of quantity, we can choose our niche in our target audience based on profiles.

How can it help our corporate commerce to show our audience that we’re human beings? Show audience we are not just here to sell, but are gamers to. How does social media help give people a reason to buy from us? Targeting relevant customers and marketing our brand turns selling into participating online community. How can we use customer comments to improve our corporate commerce? By helping, us keep our customers happier by responding to their individual needs after receiving instant feedbacks of comments and posts. © 2011 Toolwire, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Plaid Door – Social Media strategy Goals : – Awareness – Generate new leads, which will in turn result in paying customers. So your social media strategy will be centered around targeting new prospects and drive them to your website and to the Plaid Door boutique. This would include some very targeted campaigns. – Customer service / Interaction. You want to use Social Media to be able to communicate with your customers much better and to be able to dynamically interact with them on a daily basis in order to really build those relationships.

Your strategy here then would be much more about manning your page, instant responses to questions & queries. Target audience : * Mostly women * Aged between 20 and 55 Social-Media sites : Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest Social Media Site #1: Facebook ?? Facebook was created in 2003, and since then it has grown into the largest site for peer-to-peer connection and communication. A Facebook page allows organizations to garner fans and post updates. It also allows for solid feedback, as fans can “like” certain posts or they can comment on them in opposition.

Organizations can even arrange to have to have their name as part of the Facebook page URL for easy access and recognition. Many nonprofit groups have seen success through hosting contests and posting special information on their pages. Recommendations : 1. Add Like Box on your website. Like Box is a social plug-in which you add on your website so your visitors are able to like your page directly from your website. They just need to be logged in. Your visitors most likely will like your fan page since they also can stay updated liking your fan page.

This is great way to promote your Facebook fan page. 2. Post/tweet about your new Facebook page. You should inform your readers or twitter followers about your new Facebook page. Make post or update about it and tell them why they should join. 3. Reward your fans or make a contest. You can reward your fans if they help you promote Facebook fan page. Also you can make a contest and reward those who referred your page to most people. As a reward you can offer some coupons or rebates on « private shopping night » You can run “fans only” contests, so more people tend to join and like your page. . Use Facebook ads. You can spend some money to advertise your page using Facebook advertising marketing tool. Create multiple adverts to help build an audience for your Page. Use the targeting options to show your adverts to only the people you want reach. See which versions of your adverts work best 5. Influence the friends of your fans. Encourage check-ins, participation in events or create an offer to encourage more activity on your Page. When people interact with the content on your Page, their friends are eligible to see the activity.

When people do things such as like, comment or check-in to your Page, you can promote those activities to their friends. 6. Connect Twitter and Facebook. You can connect those two social medias using Involver. com so whatever you post on Twitter should be posted on Facebook page and vice versa. 7. Hold a weekly event. Pick one day or one hour every week and pick one activity to do repeatedly every week, for example a tutorial on how to refashion clothes. Start promoting your event every week to your friends / fans, build up to it on the wall, create a facebook event about it and invite all your friends.

Just start slowly and gradually more and more people will hear about it and begin to attend your weekly event. 8. Hold a caption contest. For example on refashioned clothes. 9. Use Facebook’s Questions feature to poll your fans for their opinions. 10. Always respond to likes / comments / shares etc. Your appreciation will encourage engagement. 11. Post photos. Images are one of the biggest activities online. For example you can post photos of some new arrivals clothes, of the Plaid Door boutique, people working at the Plaid Door… 12. Ask your likers to “Suggest to Friends” on a monthly basis.

Post a Status Update and send an Update to fans asking them to suggest your page to their Facebook friends. Let them know that they can easily suggest your page by clicking the ‘Suggest to Friends’ link just under your Page’s image in the left column. Inspiring your Likers to help build your community is one of the easiest ways to quickly grow your supporter base. 13. Get your organization’s staff and volunteers involved. Ask those people closest to your nonprofit to support your Facebook page by posting comments and liking your posts. Encourage them to include the Plaid Door social information on their email signature. 4. Post about branded clothes you have. Make it special; encourage people to come check this out so they can get a good deal. 15. Set up a Google Alert for your organization’s name to keep track of what people are saying. Social Media Site #2: Twitter ?? Over the past few years, the popularity of Twitter has exploded. Twitter is essentially a forum to share messages, but these messages have a 140-character limit. Although this might restrict some of the creative opportunities for businesses, there are still ways to push out meaningful information. ?? Recommendations : 1. Use Hashtags Strategically.

Twitter does a great job of grouping topics together through the use of “hashtags. ” A hashtag is symbolized by the “#” character and it can be put before any word. This hyperlinks the word, and it is then clumped together with similar tweets. Now, there is some science to this. Twitter has a feature on the left-hand side on the screen that lists “trending topics” for the given geographical region. This is essentially a list of topics that people have hashtagged and are interested in at that time. If an organization can somehow find a way to tie in one of these trending topics to its tweet, it has a better chance of being seen.

This is difficult because the trending topics won’t always be totally relevant, but having a creative mind that can make the two messages connect will do wonders for an organization’s exposure. 2. Distribute Coupons and Discounts. Twitter is a great platform for distributing special offers and hosting contests. For example, you could tweet about a 30 percent off coupon, but make it applicable only to those who can show that they received the tweet on their computer or phone. Another example: you could host a contest, such as offering a prize to the person who re-tweets the organization the most or recruits the most followers.

This allows companies to form more personal relationships with their target demographics. Social Media Site #3: Pinterest ?? Pinterest, which launched in 2010, has grown to more than 10 million users. Every day, people use the website to “pin” images and videos to their personal pin boards so they can save and share the things they love. The site gets social when people follow each other and repin or comment on each other’s pins. Pinterest’s users tend to be women, and the majority of them are 25 to 54 years old, according to recently released demographic data.??

Although there are some exceptions, most content on Pinterest falls into stereotypically female niches, including home decor, recipes, crafts and apparel. This corresponds to your target audience. Recommendations : 1. ?? Add a “Pin It” Button to Your Organization’s Website. By adding a “Pin It” button to your organization’s website, visitors then have the option to pin any of the images from your site on one of their boards. 2. Get the Community Involved. Pinterest is a good way to facilitate community involvement.

This ensures that people are actually interacting with their community, and it allows the organization to get to know its customers and donors on a more intimate level. 3. Encourage Employees To Pin. Pinterest is far from static. Users are pinning every minute and it can quickly become a challenge for an organization to stay on top of its ball game. In order to make sure that your organization is in front of the competition, you can encourage all workers to open a Pinterest account and create boards. They can then pin images that are relevant to the organization’s values and overarching goals.

A somewhat lesser known fact is that Pinterest users can actually upload and pin videos as well as still photographs. 4. Create group pinboards and crowdsource?. Create group pinboards and invite other users to pin content to those boards. For example, ask customers to pin pictures of themselves using your products. You also could hold a contest to crowdsource pins. Ask customers to review your business or product on your website and pin a quote from their review to a special contest pinboard. You benefit from more reviews and a pinboard that’s filled with testimonials. 5. Don’t use pinterest for direct marketing?.

Pinterest states that the site should not be used for direct marketing, advertising or sales. Excessive and overt self-promotion is clearly unacceptable, so make sure you’re pinning diverse content, not just pictures of your products. You need to get creative and use Pinterest for indirect marketing. For example, fill pin boards with seasonal items, color coordinated images, gift ideas and so on. 6. Don’t pin anything and everything?. Stay focused, but don’t be afraid to pin interesting content that your target audience would enjoy and that’s at least loosely connected to your business.

Such content can help give your brand more personality. For example: You can create boards about hairstyle or home decor or craft, these subject are relevant to your target audience. 7. Give your followers a look at your non-profit from behind the scenes. Pin images that show staff and volunteers working with your organization, as well as those who benefit from that work. It’s a good idea to show supporters the human faces behind your logo. 8. “Photo of the Day”. You can create a board where you will pin everyday of photo of an new item in the Plaid Door Boutique. . Create a board with tutorials on how to refashion clothes. 10. Repin/Highlight Other Non-Profits. Like all forms of social media, Pinterest isn’t a place to over-promote. Avoid this is by mixing original pinning with repins of images from other non-profits within your sphere of influence. Users receive an email notification when their images are repinned and they are credited on your repin, which can increase their following. The non-profit you repin may return the favor, allowing Pinterest to become a channel for valuable, non-disruptive cross-promotion.