Facebook’s Spin on the Behaviour of Organisations

In 2004, a cunning, 19 year-old Harvard student launched a website that would change the world. Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook has made many significant changes within our society. Personally, I find its impact on the way in which businesses interact with the public particularly interesting.

In the past, organisations have heavily relied on traditional communication channels, such as radio and television, to maintain a relationship with consumers and market their products and services to the public. After the launch of social sites such as Facebook, company behaviours have drastically changed (Stack, 2015). Organisations are now heavily focusing on their online presence, often times, more so than other media platforms.

Facebook is a social media site that has especially forced organisations to rethink how they deal with customers (Wagner, 2014). If a customer makes a public complaint on this site, a customer service representative generally responds as quickly as possible. Content on Facebook can travel extremely fast, causing strife for an organisation if a bad experience or product is shared around, hence the need to control this with an online presence. Despite the risk of bad publicity across Facebook, this change for organisations can be very positive if handled correctly. With a tool as interactive and personal as Facebook, businesses can actively establish a closer relationship with consumers and produce a great repour with the public (Meadows, 2015).

Facebook has given organisations the ability to generate a host of effective marketing and public relations tactics and strategies. It allows companies to:

• Get to know their audience.
• Utilize geo targeting, which allows business to reach out to consumers living in specific locations.
• Monitor competitors and their interactions with consumers.
• Share content to consumers instantly.
• Create Brand Awareness.
• Establish user generated content.
• Launch interactive competitions.
• Organise events.

There is no denying that Facebook has completely changed many aspects of our lives, including our relationship with organisations, and the way in which they interact with us. Facebook, among other social media networks have given businesses a brilliant communication tool. These networks, have also given consumers much more power to influence the actions of businesses. Depending on the actions of organisations this change can pose as either extremely beneficial or tremendously detrimental for them.

References:

Dabrowski, D & Schivinski, B. 2015, “The impact of brand communication on brand equity through Facebook”, Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 9 Issue: 1, pp.31-53

Wagner, K. 2014, ‘8 Ways Facebook Changed the World’, Viewed August 23 2018, <https://mashable.com/2014/02/04/facebook-changed-the-world/#UwF_P0G3paqY

Traditional Radio vs Spotify

The influence and relevance of traditional radio is becoming less and less prominent within society (Miller, 2018). As digital outlets become increasingly popular and convenient, traditional radio falls behind, failing to engage modern society. According to a 2018 study conducted by the University of New York, a whopping 75% of new cars are expected to have connectivity to digital services such as Bluetooth, which allow drivers to listen to their own music via outlets such as Spotify rather than traditional radio. Even in older cars without built in Bluetooth devices, separate gadgets are available to simply plug into a vehicles interior to serve the same purpose, meaning any car can leave radio behind.

Curious about this topic, I created a survey to see whether people preferred to use radio or Spotify, which you can participate in here. The results truly highlighted the popularity Spotify is seizing from radio. When asked what was preferred out of the two platforms, 60% of respondents selected Spotify, while a mere 20% chose traditional radio. Another 20% of respondents acknowledged that they actively use both platforms, but prefer Spotify, meaning that overall, Spotify was much more popular. A massive 90% of respondents also stated that they are happy to pay for music each month, meaning one of Spotify’s main weaknesses isn’t much of an issue for most people.

Overall, one can see that as new music themed technology becomes increasingly convenient, engaging and pioneering, radio is simply falling behind. This does not however, mean that radio is doomed.  If the radio industry incorporates innovation and takes control of its unique relationship with advertisers, audiences and other stakeholders, the industry can maintain its relevance and keep up with competition (Miller, 2018).

References:

Sundararajan, A. 2016, ‘The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and The Rise of Crowd Based Capitalism’, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Shaw, L. 2018, ‘Spotify’s Playlists Are More Powerful Than Radio’, viewed August 9 2018, <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-23/spotify-s-playlists-are-more-powerful-than-radio

Milestones of the Internet Throughout the Decades

One of the most influential platforms of our time has been around for almost 50 years and was made accessible to the public just 27 years ago. The internet, while relatively new, has already made history on several occasions, and continues to do so as time goes on. Throughout the decades, the internet has reached many milestones. I have created a timeline highlighting significant achievements and milestones of the internet that I believe have been particularly important. You can view this timeline here.

References:

Fawcett, K. 2016, ‘A Brief History of Internet Milestones that Changed Technology’, Viewed 3 August 2018, <http://mentalfloss.com/article/79462/brief-history-internet-milestones-changed-technology

AntiSocial Media

If you examine your settings in almost any “social” environment, you will most likely notice that close to everyone around you is engaging in social media, rather than each other. Isn’t it ironic that social media takes the ‘social’ aspect away from most outings?

In this day and age, we tend to see a restaurant full of people more fixated on a bright, glowing screen of pixels than the other human being sitting in front of them. Children are watching videos on their devices, parents are uploading the ‘perfect’ photo of their family night out and even the waiters are looking for a break to check their phones. With a staggering 79% of the population having a presence on social media, it comes to no surprise that we are losing touch with the real world (Sensis, 2018). Of course, there are many benefits of social media, but it is simply impossible to deny that social media is generating an antisocial society (Buchanan, 2016).

For most of us, social media has become our primary tool to communicate. In most instances, this is because of the convenience that comes with it. It’s far easier to look at someone’s Facebook account than to physically see or call them. We don’t even need to catch up with an old friend to see how their life has been going; it’s already online, every moment and every story seems to be captured and posted for all to see.

Unfortunately, it is quite easy to get lost in social media and lose touch to the things and people around us. Many social networking sites are designed to be addictive, for the purpose of keeping us ‘online’ for longer than we usually intend (Osman, 2017). Aside from generating antisocial behaviour, this rather destructive feature is also making us less productive. Australian research company, Sensis, found that 35% of people find themselves using social media while at work, interrupting their job performance. Many Australians also admit to having social media interrupt time dedicated to doing tasks at home.

Ultimately, it is clear that we are becoming more and more dependent on our social media addiction. This stems into many problems including a disconnection from the world around us and a decrease in productivity. This does not however mean that we are destined to become digital zombies, nor does it mean that social media needs to be a bad thing. It’s all about moderation. As long as we can exhibit self-control over social media and only use it occasionally, it can be a reliable communication tool and a nice source of entertainment every now and then. At the end of the day, we must remember that we hold control of social media. Like most things in life, it is all about the choices we make. Social media is no exception, stay in reality.

References:

2018, ‘2018 Yellow Social Media Report’, viewed 2 August, 2018, <https://www.sensis.com.au/about/our-reports/sensis-social-media-report

Clarke-Pearson, K & Schurgin, G. 2011, ‘Clinical Report: The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families’, American Academy of Paediatrics, Illinois

Remembering Aaron Swartz

“Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves.” – Aaron Swartz.

We are fortunate enough to have free access to a wealth of creativity, media and information across the internet. We are also able to share and borrow art (in all of its forms) to express, recreate and develop our own creative works. A major component of the privileges and freedoms we enjoy across the web today can be credited to a remarkable man by the name of Aaron Swartz (Lessig, 2013).

Swartz was a young activist that combined his intelligence and knack for technology with his passion for freedom of information and creativity to revolutionise the web into what it is today. Swartz co-designed many tools across the web, including RSS, Markdown and even services like Reddit. The young innovator also designed the vast majority of the coding behind Creative Commons, a brilliant resource that allows anyone to specify how their content can be used by others.

As Swartz got older, he began to find himself more aware of the injustices posed by ruthless publishing companies charging outrageous sums of money to access academic journals. On many occasions, the young activist made many different sources of information accessible to the public, using his technological intelligence to liberate many academic papers from ridiculous fees. This included taxpayer funded scientific research (Clarke, 2015).

Unfortunately, Swartz experienced great hardship when he turned his attention to JSTOR, an online library of academic papers only accessible to the wealthy. Swartz downloaded large sums of articles from the site to make public, using a computer hidden in a closet at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Swartz was arrested in January 2011, with a range of charges laid against him potentially leading him to serve 35 years in jail. Absolutely shattered from the accusations, Swartz hung himself in 2013, at just 27. Although he is no longer with us today, the efforts, accomplishments and true integrity of Aaron Swartz will never ever be forgotten. His legacy will stand strong as one of the greatest technological activists of our time.

References:

Lessig, L. 2013, ‘Remembering Aaron Swartz’ – Creative Commons, viewed 26 July, 2018, https://creativecommons.org/2013/01/12/remembering-aaron-swartz/

Skaggs, P. 2013, ‘Aaron Swartz Remembered as Internet Activist who Changed the World’ viewed 2 August, 2018, https://patch.com/illinois/evanston/aaron-swartz-remembered-as-internet-activist-who-chanf229b36e26

Sims, N. 2011, ‘Library Licensing and Criminal Law: The Arron Swartz Case’, Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association

The devise that changed the world

On January 9, 2007, one of the greatest technological innovations of our time was unveiled to the world: the iPhone. This device was the very first of its kind; “An iPod. A phone. And an internet communicator.” (Jobs, 2007). This remarkable devise introduced us to the concept of immediate and convenient access to apps and social media, and created an entirely new phenomenon of sharing our experiences, big and small, with the world. Suddenly, we were able to instantly capture our moments and upload it to our followers, without the annoyance of trying to do so with a desktop. As this communicating tool was taking the world by storm, society as we knew it was changing rapidly.

As smartphones have advanced, our ability to connect to Friends, family, colleagues, celebrities, athletes (and anyone else you can think of) requires nothing more than a few taps on a glass screen. Amazingly, the ability to reach out to anyone, in mere seconds, no matter how far the distance may be, is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a plethora of benefits we reap from smartphones every single day. We have a wealth of information, a reliable GPS system and applications for just about anything in our pockets. Access to the world’s entertainment, music, retail and gaming also rests at our finger tips. The iPhone and all of the smart devices it has inspired since its debut in 2007 has transformed from a simple communication device to a necessity in our modern, digital world (Waters, 2016).

Just over a decade ago, cell phones were predominantly used as a means to call and text, nothing more. Our music, pictures, games, emails, entertainment and information was only accessible through computers, televisions and other media outlets. We can now fit all of this, and so much more, into a single device that fits in our pocket. What was impossible just eleven years ago, is now a way of life for us all thanks to the debut of the iPhone, a device that has well and truly changed the world (Harrison, 2017).

References:

Sarwar, M, Soomro, T. 2013, ‘Impact of Smartphone’s on Society’ viewed 19 July, 2018, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2c28/0b6a690442a97a571e09b2404e2d21720db4.pdf

F.   Betz. 1993, ‘Strategic Technology Management’, McGraw-Hill , New York

Schroter, J. 2011, ‘Steve Jobs introduces iPhone in 2007’, video recording, YouTube, Viewed 19 July, 2018,  https://youtu.be/MnrJzXM7a6o

‘The Calm design’ offers a break from the excessive digital world

Did you know that 50 billion devices will be online by 2020? According to renowned networking and Hardware Company, Cisco, the number of devices with connection to the Internet will exceed 50 billion within just two years. Whilst many argue that this is a positive and progressive step forward, we must ask ourselves, is it really? Amber Case, a popular public speaker and cyborg anthropologist, argues that this technological advancement may not be as beneficial to society as many may think it to be. Case argues that the higher number of connected devises will result in a interrupted reality. She also frequently testifies that we as humans are evolving for technology (rather than allowing technology to evolve for us) and that it is becoming something that fixates our attention a little too much. Essentially, she is claiming that our lives are becoming consumed by technology and I couldn’t agree with her more.

We see it all too often; an excessive amount of our attention is placed on technology rather than reality. A recent study conducted by Huawei found that the average Australian spends around 2.5 hours on their phone per day. This may not sound like much, but it equates to a massive 38 days per year. This does not include other devises such as laptops, which are another common medium that many of us are using more than we need to. So is technology at fault or are we?

Amber Case made an interesting analysis about this in a seminar which you can view here. Essentially, she argues that while we are the ones choosing to focus all of our attention onto these devices, technology can actually be designed in a way that focuses on our periphery senses rather than our attention. This is known as Calm Technology. The Calm design sends through information and alerts it’s user only when necessary, but otherwise, stays in a calm and dormant state where it can pose as a helpful tool but not invasive. Ultimately, the purpose of this design is to inform us without demanding our focus or attention (Brown, 1995).

Personally, I think this is an absolutely brilliant design and would like to see more devices take (or keep) this approach. Not only does it prevent interrupted reality from occurring, but it also allows us to escape the pull of over-demanding devices and to simply be human, which alone creates an abundant amount of benefits (Case, 2016). Instead of getting lost in the digital world, we are able to immerse ourselves in the real world, all with the ability to access the benefits and conveniences of modern technology simultaneously.

If you care about this topic, I strongly recommend reading ‘Designing Calm Technology’ to see for yourself where this concept originated from. It really does make you wonder if you are in control of technology, or if it’s taken control over you.

References:

Case, A 2016, A History and Future of AR and VR | Amber Case | AR in Action, video recording, YouTube, viewed 12 July, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTiakRbUF3g

Seely, B & Weiser M, 1995, ‘Designing Calm Technology’ Xerox PARC, viewed 12 July, 2018, http://people.csail.mit.edu/rudolph/Teaching/weiser.pdf

Brown, J.S. & Duguid, P. “Keeping It Simple: Investigating Resources in the Periphery, ” in Solving the Software Puzzle, ed. T. Winograd, Stanford University.