Did Beyonce write a new business model?

The other day a post came from my uncle saying that he was quitting his job after so many days and he had found a way to make hundreds of dollars a day. I'm sure you've seen these kind of comments before, "I found a way to make $700/day and you can too. Check out my website." Strangely enough, I've never met anyone that makes $700 a day but I have seen a bunch of these comments from "normal" looking people.

Sometimes the hardest part of being on social networking is wading through all the fake people. I am guilty of taking for granted that just because a profile has a "real" picture, doesn't mean that a real person is behind it. Fakes on Social Media are more common than you might think. Earlier this year, the Army was caught creating and running mass propaganda accounts. These accounts were created to seem as though "grassroot" campaigns were being created. However, these accounts were mere puppet accounts, run by one person with the ability to post to multiple accounts.

One thing that is not fake is Beyonce Knowles Instagram account. Much to her fan's surprise, late last week the superstar singer/actress dropped her new album via iTunes. What made this release different then every other release in history, was the fact that it was a "surprise" album. There was no promotion. None. Beyonce simply wrote "Surprise" to her eight million Instagram followers. What followed was sales records being shattered by an album that nobody knew was coming. According to iTunes, Beyonce Knowles managed to sell nearly a million albums over a weekend.

Forget the old model,  where the album comes out on a Tuesday (akward!), but not before you've heard the "big" single 1 million times on the radio, the pop star has performed it on every talk show, and a Pepsi commercial has been shot. That day is seemingly dead. What happened to it? Social Media has killed it. I, for one, am kind of excited that the industry has decided to adapt to the times. What would happen if the music industry had kept ignoring Social Media? I can speculate that it would get a whole lot worse that where it is presently, believe it or not. But there is no number's to back up where the industry might be going, only numbers on where the industry is now. And in today's music landscape, social media is the biggest promotion you can have. Just ask Beyonce.

And what happened with my Uncles new job? He didn't get a new job but I'll tell you what he did get.. He got a couple of my friends posting the same comment on Facebook a few hours later. Thanks, Uncle Mark.

Digital Divide

In a world of globalization, doesn't it seem a little strange that in our own country their is a divide between who is able to access resources like cell phones and the internet? Or is all the talk of the great "digital divide" apart of a global agenda to make everyone the same, or as I like to think of it, to put a Mcdonald's everywhere.

Nevermind, the fact that we aren't even number one in Internet access area, because we are actually number 14. The country that was once so proud to be number one, especially in business, has slowly declined to "meh" status. We are divided in every sense of the word. Unfortunately, it seems to be affecting our world status. Most of our goods comes from China, to which we owe alot of money.We're not even number one in the internet area, which we invented!

So, will the divide get bigger? As long as the financial divide in America continues to get bigger, the digital divide will remain stagnant. If your looking for the best in internet access, like most other things, you may want to look into other countries. Boy times have changed!

Social Media and Learning

The advantages of the internet are almost immeasurable. The internet has changed many things. From the way we get movies and music, to how we learn. With the popularity of social media, has come a new platform for teachers to reach students. And rightfully so, people are taking advantage of this new venue.

Of course, noone is suggesting that social media is a better place to learn. It has simply given students a new way of getting the information that was previously only availabe in a person-to-person setting. One survey suggested that 80% of universities use social media in some form, and half of them using social media as part of their teaching.

I believe Social Media is a helpful method for students studying. I think social media is a great way to reinforce ideas, as opposed to being distracted from ideas. For instance, Facebook is a great way for students to get ahold of each other via 'groups' and Twitter hashtags are great place to find information.

In the end, I think Social Media can be a great tool in education. And as long as student's privacy is respected and no inappropriate communication happens, then we will achieve our goal

Business and Social Media

I love the internet. I'm a huge internet nerd. The internet has helped me make important decisions in my life much, such as business. Nowadays, when I make a big purchase the first thing I look at is the reviews for the item. If the item is overpriced and has bad reviews then I won't buy it. If the item is reasonably priced and has good reviews then the chances are then I will buy it.

The internet has become an automatic stop before I make most purchases. A place where I can get past the social marketing and get the truth from real people who have used the product. Social Media accounts are really annoying. I do not like getting discounts from corporate social media accounts. If anything the social media accounts are a turn off because the discount doesn't make up for the spam I have to receive on a daily basis.

The comments are nice to look at but I can view those comments on Amazon or Ebay. However, I would still avoid businesses without social media because feedback is not available to the user. And the most important thing to a customer purchasing an item is feedback.

Social media and Politics: A perfect match?

It wasn't long ago that when you wrote to your local representative you had to get a stamp and go to your mailbox, then you had to wait a few weeks to get a response, if any. With the leaps in technology, today you don't have to mail anything besides a ballot. Maybe the reason the Post Office was considering closing on Saturday's was in-part for this reason.

What's clear is that the landscape of politics has changed dramatically. Social Media sites have turned candidates like Barack Obama, who quite possibly wouldn't have won the 2008 election otherwise, into donation machines. Because that is what it's all about. In politics, the candidates who raise the most money will likely win the election.

But also, the candidate who has the biggest social media budget will likely win the election. While Replublicans have called President Barack Obama the "food stamp" president, in 2008 the LA Times labeled Obama the first "Social Media" President because of his use of social networks in his campaign. In 2012, Obama's social media budget was 10 times that of Mitt Romney.

The social media hype is real and the candidate with the most active social media users is a serious contender for the presidency. In todays "social media" world, the candidate with the most active social media constituents, besides Obama, is arguably Ron Paul. Seriously, try explaining the rise of Ron Paul amongst young people. The former Texas congressman who ran for President in 1988, 2008, and 2012 is nearly 80 years old yet draws overflow crowds at places like Iowa State University.

Though Ron Paul won't be running for President in 2016, it's interesting to see if his son Rand Paul will be running 2016 and how much money he can raise against presumed challenger Democrat Hillary Clinton. Whichever the case,  it's clear that social media will have an impact on the 2016 elections, just as they did in 2008 & 2012.

Kickstarter: Technological Breakthrough or Nerdy Panhandling?

Chico band Armed for Apocalypse recently announced that they had started a kickstarter to help the band get to Europe for a slew of European tour dates. Though the band is signed to a record label,with which it has released two albums, they couldn't afford the $5,700 in plane tickets to get to their European destination. So they did what most people in media looking for financial backing do nowadays. They started a Kickstarter!

According to the kickstarter website, the company was founded in April 2009 as a way for creative projects to attain the funding needed for the project. Whether it's related to movies, music (or other creative projects) Kickstarter seems to be all the new rage when it comes to raising money. This sort of internet panhandling works too. Armed for Apocalypse's European tour with 36 Crazy Fists kicks off on November 1st. 

But it's not just local bands that are looking for donations. Former 'Scrubs' star Zach Braff was recently the subject of controversy after he raised $2 million dollars towards his kickstarter campaign to fund the sequel to "Garden State". And rightfully so. With all that money he made from 'Scrubs' and Garden State, is it necessary for the actor/writer/director to ask for his fans to fund the production of the movie? And then pay again to see the movie when it comes out?

Braff rebukes the critics saying the kickstarter campaign has given him the right to "final cut, casting choices, location choices, and cutting down your script". Not only has the kickstarter campaign given artists a new platform to raise money for their projects,  it has given artist's the freedom to create a project without the strings that may be attached to financial backing from sources not found on kickstarter.

Back in the Nineties, Kevin Smith made his debut masterpiece "Clerks" from $27,000 dollars, mostly on maxed-out credit cards. The majority of the film was shot at the convenience store where Smith worked in real-life. Back in the nineties would Smith have used Kickstarter? Probably then but not today. When asked about whether "crowd funding" would be used to fund "Clerks III", Smith asserted that he didn't want to take from the money pot that "could go to budding filmmakers without access to financing", instead opting to finance the film himself.

While kickstarter is a great way for beginning artists to gain money, you have to wonder whether rich actors, such as Zach Braff, are starting kickstarters to both gain funding for their projects and market their project, killing two birds with one proverbial stone. But as long as we have new ways to make money, people will be using those platforms. Either way, if you're an artist looking for funds, it's clear that kickstarter is the way to go.

Social Media Profiles. For Creepers!

You've probably heard it before, "Be careful what you post online", as if the N.S.A. is gonna get all Edward Snowden on you ,and come down tomorrow because you posted a drunk picture from the party last night. Does anyone else find it weird that jobs may look at your Facebook page? 

Technically, Facebook is a social network. But it's a large picture sharing site, also. I mean, it's kind of a personal page that is created for friends and family. So why is a possible employer searching for me on Facebook? It just seems kind of creepy. When I turn in a resume, I don't give my Facebook url to some person I don't know because it's none of their business. Does my profile pic prove that I will be a better worker? No, it doesn't. It's totally irrelevant. Looking into my personal pages online is an invasion of privacy. What's worse is that using my profile pic to possibly disqualify me from a job is unethical.Most Social Networks are not professional enough in atmosphere to be looked at with future employment in mind. 

Some people have realized this and created their profiles according. Privacy settings on Facebook and Google+ have been customized to let the user select "friends" and place them into "groups", allowing the user to decide who sees what on their profile. This may help to develop a "squeaky clean" profile, if wanted. I would suggest everyone with a public profile, switch to a private profile ASAP. Then create groups of friends to decide who sees what. John may be the biggest drunk on the planet but it's hard for people to know that if they don't see it. And apparently, that's what people want, is to not see your drunk pictures on the internet. 

It's the Wild Wild West. Without Will Smith!

The Internet is sort of like the Wild West. It's a symbol of how far we have come as people since the creation of the United States. I couldn't picture Ben Franklin predicting that we would all be talking to each on facebook or the founding fathers realizing then that the Internet has so much copyright infringement. Sure, there are music laws and piracy laws but there's not a whole lot companies can do to stop the individual from downloading music or other illegal content. I'm not saying that's a bad thing because we are talking about millionaires complaining that they are getting ripped off. You will be hard pressed to find someone who feels sorry for you.

What User Generated Content does is force people to think outside the box. I think it fosters creativity. The best kind of UGC is usually cutting edge and innovative. It's almost sad to see it get ripped, like ESPN's blatant steal of Ed Lover's "C'Mon Son". But like Lawrence Lessig's TED title says, Laws choke Creativity. So go ahead and say "C'mon Man" ESPN. I would much rather have that pathetic attempt to look creative and realize it to be what it is, than some law because laws kill creativity.

So when people post a bad review of a book before it hits the stands, for whatever reason, in an attempt to stop people from buying the book then that's okay. My advice would be to read the reviews and get a general feeling of them rather than reading one review and making an impulsive choice of whether to purchase the item or not. I mean, who can you really trust on the internet anyways? You don't even know those people. They could be from a rival company posting in an attempt to sabotage the product. Or some angry sales person. And we can't stop that. And that's fine. So while it may be the "Wild Wild West" on the internet, it's only because we have much bigger problems in the world to worry about.

Hello World

Hello, world. Welcome to "Manipulation and Social Media". In this blog, I'm going to be talking about...wait for it....Manipulation and Social Media. I've been on the internet for quite awhile, however, this is my first foray into the world of blogging. So please excuse my first few posts, they might less than the standard of quality that your use to. I apologize beforehand.

Some of you might be asking yourself, what is "Manipulation" and "Social Media"? Well, you know what social media is, obviously, and if you don't know what manipulation is, then check out an online dictionary. It's the internet, you can find out anything.

So, you ever notice how everyone and their mother has a facebook? I'm not just talking about people either. Type in 'Pizza Hut' and you get four different 'pages'. I'd bet my bottom dollar, that Pizza Hut isn't posting pictures of their crew either.

Seems to me like those pages are more of a nuisance. Just because I like 7-Eleven doesn't mean I need to go 'like' their facebook page. It's not like those free big-gulp deals ever actually pan out, anyways. So what's the point?

And for some reason noone has thought to say "Hey, let's get rid of the 7-Eleven facebook page. It really serves no purpose." This is essentially the theme for my blog. How are we being manipulated, if at all, via Social Networks.