Creating a Successful Online Community

First, you still need to create an account (be very meticulous over what your username should be).  The initial plan is to then slowly dip your feet into the water by beginning to comment on content created by the sites editors and by community members (in the "Fanposts" section).  Plan to generate around 10-15 comments on existing posts so you can build my value in the community.  Hope to have images in some of your comments that are relevant to the topic of the initial post.  These images could be screenshots of different play designs the 76ers have been running (for example), or pictures from games that serve to highlight your point.  Once you have done this, I would then like you to finally start your own discussion threads.  The reason why you do not want to start creating posts right after registering is because you want to earn the respect of the longtime community members.  If they see that you have 14 posts but zero comments, then it might deter them from lending their viewpoint to you.  I have seen this kind of thought process on various online communities in the past.  In one instance that I can semi-recall, a long-time community member gently scolded a new member because they did not participate enough in terms of commenting on other people's content. Just plan carefully, and you will be an active community member in no time!

-Tyler Greener

Snapchat

I think that Snapchat is one of the most well-equipped social media platforms for 2017.  It just seems as though Snapchat keeps finding new ways to stay innovative and fresh in thought.  With the release of the highly anticipated "Snapchat Spectacles" in November of this year, Snapchat most certainly has a lot to look forward to.  This may even sound silly, but even the face filters that Snapchat uses keeps things very fun in my opinion.  The basic premise of Snapchat, however, is what set up the social media app for long-term success.  Taking a picture and sending it to friends or family sounds redundant, yet Snapchat keeps proving how fun this actually is. The user keeps coming back for more of this rather simple experience.  I wanted to simply dedicate a blog post to my favorite social media app, that of which is Snapchat. While over time my use of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter has dwindled - my use of Snapchat has remained the same, as I continue to Snapchat my friends and family on a daily basis.

-Tyler Greener

Uber for Philadelphia-Area Colleges

When Uber first got started their communication strategy involved a big portion of word-of-mouth advertising as well as offering free trials to new customers. Uber also used referrals which allowed for those who had the app to encourage their friends to use it and in turn the friends received a free ride. We similarly offer this benefit but implement it in a different way by using a rewards program. This program will offer for every 10 rides the consumer will receive the next ride free. Uber also greatly uses social media to promote their product. We will also be very active in social media and will constantly be relying on customer feedback in order to determine what we can improve. What both Uber and Lyft are not effectively leveraging over our service is the fact that we are targeted at a specific market. We are able to relate to a definitive consumer base and therefore can direct our service towards them. Our market segmentation strategy will be focused on college students at three Philadelphia Universities. These three universities will be Saint Joseph's University, La Salle University, and Philadelphia University. The reasoning we have focused on these three universities is due to their close proximity to Manayunk and the fact that many students from these universities live there.

-Tyler Greener

200 Students Forced to Stay Home After Mumps Outbreak

Nearly a week ago, one school district in Auburn, Alabama had seen an outbreak with the mumps virus. Within the school district, there are about 200 students that have not been vaccinated for the virus, and the county's Public Health has now forced those students to stay home. For an event such as this, those students are required to stay home for 25 days after the last confirmed case, and then they would be allowed to return to school. This wouldn't be such a large problem, however more and more cases become confirmed as time goes on, so by the time all of this is resolved, those 200 students would be home for much longer than the normal 25 days. The parents are outraged by this, but within the vaccination exclusion forms, which has been confirmed by the head of the district, it clearly states that they would have to stay home in the event of an outbreak.
Get your children vaccinated, people!

-Domenic Manzi

Should Marijuana be Allowed for Pro Athletes? Steve Kerr Believes So

At the age of 51, Steve Kerr, the head coach of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, had stated earlier this week that he had tried using marijuana to relieve his chronic back pain over the past two years. He mentioned that after trying it, he didn't like using it and that the drug did not agree with his body, but he concluded that painkillers and other medicine did not have the same effect, and, in most cases, were worse than the results he received from marijuana. Kerr urged the NBA, and other professional leagues, to reduce their stance on marijuana and embrace the possibilities that it can open up.

"If you're an NFL player, in particular, and you got a lot of pain, I don't think there's any question that pot is better for your body than Vicodin," Kerr said. "And yet, athletes everywhere are prescribed Vicodin like it's Vitamin C, like it's no big deal." He believes that if leagues were to allow marijuana to be used by its players, there would be a negative perception, such that the NFL would be "worried that their fans are going to go, 'All the players are potheads.'" And they have every reason to make that claim, however, once officials announce that they accept the benefits of using the drug can bring, fans all around would consider the act admirable and more likely a step in a positive direction.

-Domenic Manzi

Google to Run Solely on Renewable Energy by End of 2017

Much like many other large companies, the tech giant Google consumes an incredible amount of energy to run its businesses. So much so that, throughout the past year, the company used just as much, if not more energy than the entire city of San Francisco. They said, by the end of next year, all of the energy that the company consumes will come from entirely renewable resources, such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric dams. While they do use most of these sources now, they are still using fossil fuels to pick up where these leave off, however, that is changing, as they are a year away to run only on green energy. It's hard to say if the company would become the largest to use only green energy, but they would, without a doubt, be one of the largest in that group. Even still, to make a move such as this, it may push other large companies to follow in their footsteps and join the renewable energy revolution.

-Domenic Manzi

Home Depot Employee has Massive Impact on Venezuelan Economy

Venezuela's currency is practically worthless, to put it lightly.  Their economy is struggling in a way that even Greece can't contend with.  Both countries do have something in common however, and that is their government is extremely corrupt, which is the root of their economic woes.  The Venezuelan government is claiming that the bolivar, their national currency, is valued at ten bolivars to the dollar, however that is not even close to the truth.  The real street value of the bolivar, according to a website run by a Home Depot employee, is over four thousand bolivars to the dollar.  This man's website, DolarToday, has a profound effect on the Venezuelan economy in a way that you might not expect.  His website serves the purpose of helping the citizens of Venezuela correctly calculate the real value of their currency in order to complete transactions effectively.  Without this website the true value of the bolivar might not be common knowledge to most Venezuelans, which would make the situation even worse.  Gustavo Diaz's website also serves the purpose of publishing economic news which the Venezuelan government would most likely censor.  Diaz says the purpose of his site is to protest the dictatorship in Venezuela as well as assist its citizens at the same time.  This man's small website is single handedly keeping Venezuela's economy from imploding more than it already has.

-Joey Arzeno

Hacking in Video Games is now Illegal in Korea

South Korean parliament has just passed a bill that makes creating or using hacks for online video games a crime.  They define hacks as pretty much anything a player uses or does that is against the terms of service of the game.  This may sound mundane or not that big of a deal, but the punishment for being caught using hacks is quite severe.  The unfortunate cheaters who are found to be using hacks or scripts can be punished with up to five years in jail or $43,000 in fines.  This doesn't only affect South Korea, seeing as quite a few hacking programs are developed in Korea and spread elsewhere.  Now that developing said programs is illegal the distribution of them in other countries should be greatly reduced.  Hacking in a video game may not seem like a big deal, but not only does it ruin the experience for 99% of the player base who spent over $60 on the game, but it also violates the terms of service that the company has put in place for obvious reasons.  Of course there will never be a time where hacking is completely nonexistent, but this ban in Korea will almost definitely have a huge impact on the games of today and hopefully far into the future.

-Joey Arzeno

Selena Gomez Breaks Her Silence

One of the biggest celebrity on our time right now is 24 year old, Selena Gomez.  This past year she was diagnosed with lupus.  Shortly after, Selena stated to have a hard time and struggled with depression.  Mid-October Gomez checked herself into rehab seeking for help.  This led to the star being absent from social for 14 weeks.  Just a few days ago, Gomez made a return to instagram to thank her fans for all of their love and support this year.  She posted this just a few days after her first public appearance since taking care of her physical and mental health.  Selena Gomez got almost half a million likes and counting.  Her message touched thousands of Americans and tons are supporting her through this time in her life.

-Josie Clark

Where is Kim K?!

As everyone knows, Kim Kardashian has a traumatic experience as she was robbed while in Paris.  Her use of social media is most likely what is to blame.  Kim made it easy to figure out where she was at all times by her constant Instagram and twitter updates.  After all of this went down, Kim decided to start scaling back from her social media usage.  Some people have been referring to it as "Blackout Period".  It is more like Kim Kardashian got a reality check and realized she has a lot at stake.  Kim is one to flaunt her wealth and where she is.  Kim admitted this makes her an easy target.  For the time being she has been laying low.  The latest news with her and social media is she was seen following 3 old friends of her.  People wonder if she will ever come back social media or if this "Blackout Period" is for good.

Josie Clark

Social Media and the Election

This year's election was like no other for various of different reasons.  However, one thing in particular changed this election.  This one thing being social media.  Social media took the election and made it into an entire different thing than it was.  It was a modern election.  Let's start by looking at facebook.  One could hardly scroll through their feed without seeing either a sponsored post about the election, or a friend/family member weighing in on their view towards a candidate.  This started some feuds among people.  Someone who you thought was your friend, you could no longer stand due to their views and constant need to share them.  Many people commenting things such as, "Unfriend me now" or "If you support *insert candiates name* we can no longer be friends."  It is safe to say social media created this new tension between the people.  Now moving onto twitter.  People constantly sharing articles about their favored candidate and then getting backlash and having a friend "subtweet them".  This leads to tweets such as "@ me next time!!"  Not to mention, twitter was a way for the presidential candidates to speak to the people directly.  However, this was not always in Donald Trump's favor.  Being the loose cannon he is, he was known to tweet things out spur of the moment.  Lastly, there is some false advertising with social media.  While scrolling through your feed on whatever is your social media app of choice, often times you come upon articles that appear to be legit.  However, there are many articles out there that are full inaccurate statements.  This leads people to believe the wrongs ideas.  In conclusion, elections as we knew it will forever be changed due to the use of social media.

Josie Clark

Did Media Bias Contribute to Trump's Astonishing Victory?

The results of last Tuesday's election were obviously not anticipated.  A huge factor in the entire nation's surprise was the overwhelming media coverage suggesting that Mr. Trump had virtually no chance of winning.  Some news sources gave Trump a measly 5% chance of winning, while the most generous of sources gave him no more than 35%.  This information begs the question, did the media's extreme amount of bias contribute to Hillary's loss?  The answer is almost definitely yes.  The fact that almost every news source besides Fox News was projecting a landslide victory by Hillary may have lessened some people's urgency to vote.  When you wake up every morning and all you hear is "Hillary is going to win, Hillary is going to win" you may not understand the importance of your own vote.  It is very possible that a number of citizens figured the rest of the country would handle it, after all, Hillary was going to win, right?  If the media portrayed a closer race than they did, perhaps more voters would have turned out to ensure Hillary's victory.  Alas, it was not so.  So the entire nation has learned two valuable lessons from this election.  Firstly, your vote matters, regardless of how one sided the race seems, you need to cast your vote anyways.  Secondly, do not always believe everything you see online and in the media, because your information bubble could quite possibly be your downfall.

Joey Arzeno

Social Media Backlash

Recently, celebrities have been indoctrinating themselves into the world of us regulars. They can be seen all over Snapchat, for instance. This makes it seem like they are one us, a regular person who does "normal" things bedside star on television or a movie. However, this is having significant repercussions. A few days ago, Rob Kardashian took to Twitter to discuss a recent feud with his wife, Blac Chyna, and his family. He was using the recent motive of celebrities exposing their personal lives to the public, except he was doing it to garner support for his family ignoring him and Blac Chyna. Perhaps this is a good move on his part to gain support for he and his wife against his family from fans on Twitter, but it also kind of throws them under the bus. I think that we will continue to see more personal problems of celebrities being shared publicly in the future. To me, Snapchat is the biggest indicator of what is to come in the future. I do not follow any celebrities, but most of them are on there and they are very public about their lives because it appeals to the fan who normally does not know what their favorite celebrity is up to. I predict that we will see more disputes go public like the one between Rob Kardashian with the rest of his family. This will be attempt on their part to gain fans on their side.

-Tyler Greener

Evolution of Politics

The way of politics has been changing over the years.  This election in particular has had a great influence through social media.  Social media has changed politics drastically.  Campaigns are going viral on all forms of media.  Donal Trump used twitter in particular.  He said, "I like it because I can get also my point of view out there, and my point of view is very important to a lot of people that are looking at me."  The candidates have direct access to voters.  While this may seem like a good thing, it also has its down sides.  Candidates are now hiring PR to manage what they say.  When candidates are able to send out unfiltered messages online it can land them in some sticky situations. (Cough cough, Trump.)  The best benefit that social media has had on politics is reaching the youth.  "Older" Americans are who typically make up the largest majority of who goes out and votes.  This is something that is changing due to the influence of social media.  Twitter and Facebook have intrigued the young people to go out and register to vote.  Barack Obama is the most known the have started with social media and be successful with it during two different occasions.  Social media has allowed to be to come together and learn, engage, and share their opinion about politics.  For good or worse social media has changed politics.

-Josie Clark

Snap Streaks

Snapchat is arguably the most used social media of today's day and age. Yes, Twitter and Instagram are extremely popular as well, but neither have the immediate gratification that makes Snapchat so alluring. Ever since the update that added snap streaks went live it seems as though people cannot stop snapping. We discussed the reason behind this phenomena last year in Comm 202. The underlying psychology behind snap streaks is pretty easy to understand, when someone sees an increasing number with the threat of dropping down to zero if you break the streak they are naturally going to want to continue the snapping. This urge to keep the number going leads to meaningless snaps being sent back and forth in order to check the box and not drop the streak. I have seen people who have multiple snap streaks over 500 days long, which is well over a year. I also have a friend who has been trying to start a snap streak with me, but instead of starting a conversation with substance she'll send me a picture of her ceiling in the hopes that I'll send one back and the streak will continue. Every 4 days or so I will purposefully not snap her back, just to mess with her. Snapchat even has a feature where if your streak is about to end an hour glass will appear next to the number just to let you know "HEY, you better snap this person or your large number will disappear!" There is nothing wrong with wanting to snap the same person repeatedly, but you have to acknowledge the fact that the masterminds behind snap streaks are preying on your innate desire to "keep the streak going."

-Joey Arzeno

Keeping Up with Who Cares?

As I go through my social media, most of what I see are articles pertaining to Kanye West, one of the Kardashian sisters, or some other well-known celebrity and what they are wearing or what they are doing or where they were and who they were with. It gets to the point where I will browse through four or fives of these "news" articles in the row, and I reach this peak where I'd rather see my friends having better lives than me :l. How these things are news is way beyond me, and the fact that we see these figures as nearly gods is unnerving and scary.