Social media is all around us and is intertwined in our everyday lives. Business, schools, government, and non-profits are all relying on social media more and more everyday. I personal love some social media platforms and dislike others. This week I took a look at three different social media platforms and test drove them for myself. iTunes podcasts, Picasa, and QR codes.

I took a moment to watch a TED Talk on iTunes. This particular TED Talk was Julian Treasure: How to speak so that people want to listen. Treasure's talk was a little over nine minutes and was engaging right from the start. I am sure the transcripts to this talk are published somewhere but the text transcript would not have caught the intentional pauses in his speech, or the video clips from the audience during an interactive portion of his speech. Podcasts bring content to life. Businesses can and do use podcasts to make their brand or product approachable. It lets consumers feel like they are getting an inside look and the hot-off-the-press scoop when watching. Podcasts are a very successful and cost efficient way to reach consumers or ones target audience.

After watching the TED Talk podcast, I moved onto Picasa - a photo sharing site. It required me to download the program onto my computer and then pulled ALL of my photos out of my iPhoto Library to be used within the program. Once everything was set, I was excited to edit a few photos and see what master pieces I could come up with. However, I was sadly disappointed. With every photo I tried to edit I had to make another copy and than there would be something wrong with that version and I still couldn't edit. Out of frustration, I gave up on Picasa and opened my Instagram app. So much easier! Here is my Instagram creation:

Before

After

Instagram, Picasa, and other photo sharing apps are very effective in reaching the masses. Whether it is a business trying to strengthen their brand by encouraging consumers to post pics via Instagram with a specific #hashtag or a non-profit raising awareness for a cause, it can all be done visually through photo sharing.

QR or "quick response" codes were all the rage when they first appeared. I was working in a real estate office at the time and the realtor were scrambling to get their personal QR code onto their business cards. I took a moment to create a QR code that, would benefit the Marines, Sailors, and families that I work with, in one quick click they would be directed to our commands eMarine website - a secure website that is used for official communication. My thought behind this code was to put it on the back of my business card and when checking in a new person to the command they could just scan the code instead of trying to remember the URL. So far it has proven effective and efficient.

eMarine

QR codes are perfect on the back of products at the store, it allows companies an opportunity to give consumers more detailed information (or my favorite, recipes for their product when it is a food item) regarding their product and ways to use their product. QR codes are fun, but a little impractical as well. If a person doesn't have the scanner, they have to download the scanner to use it. The codes also prove dangerous when advertisers place them on billboards along the highway - Do advertisers really hope that drivers will scan their QR code while driving 60mph down the highway? I hope not.

Social media is fun and trying out all the new social media trends can be exciting. It is something that is always changing and expanding. I look forward to the day when the next big trend of social media is released. I also find myself wondering what the next big social media trend will be or asking myself what is after social media. Social media is forcing everyone to stay on their toes both personally and professionally.

Credibility of Sources

The New York Times article written by Laura M. Holson, " Social Media's Vampires: They Text by Night, Vamping Teenagers Are Up All Night Texting" brings to light the raising concern of teenagers use of social media. Their constant need to be online in order to be "one of the cool kids" using #vamping or #notsleepingatall. Within the article there are four sources: 1. A poll on Sleep in the Modern Family by the National Sleep Foundation, that surveyed care givers with a child aged 6-17 years living in their household to ask about sleep practices and beliefs in the modern family.  This is a source from a credible organization and moderated by a number of researches from Duke University, University of Chicago, and George Washington University. 2. The article written by Temitayo Fagbenle, a rookie reporter for WNYC is written using Firsthand Accounts. This article is published on an organizations website operated by a non-profit that accepts donations on its homepage. 3. Donah Boyd, a scholar and senior researcher @ Microsoft Research is the author of "It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens". She is the Expert Source and Analyst offering two reasons for the phenomenon, teenagers desire to connect and this is the way teenagers are reacting to overbooked schedules. 4. Another firsthand witness is Owen, a 15 year-old that admits he uses social media as an outlet at night to become lost in his hobbies. 

After reading the article and looking through the sources, I find the article to be credible as a result of the research and researchers that contributed to the story. If this article would have came up as unreliable it could have had the potential to be reckless news spread through mass media such as Facebook , Twitter, and Blogs, especially if the topic was related to national security for instance. Each author must take on the responsibility of what they right and fully vet their sources to be reliable and the facts accurate. 

Holson, L. M. (2014). Social Media's Vampires: They Text by Night, Vamping Teenagers are Up All Night Texting. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/fashion/vamping-teenagers-are-up-all-night-texting.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=LargeMediaHeadlineSum&module=photo-spot-region&region=photo-spot&WT.nav=photo-spot&_r=0

Montecino, V. (1998). "Criteria to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources." http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin/web-eval-sites.htm