Social Media Campaigns: Happy Halloween Edition

Happy Halloween everyone!

Today’s post is a simple concept that took a haunted house website to the top. Nightmares Fear Factory (located in Niagara Falls) is open 365 days a year. The company claims that over 10,000 people have bailed out of the haunted house tour because they were too scared, giving it the name “The World’s Most Frightening Experience.” So how did this place up its website traffic and image in just a short few hours? Easy. The company began snapping photos of people at the scariest points in the haunted house and posting them to social media sites such as Flickr, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter which allows people to view the scared physical reactions of those who toured the house.  

The company began posting October 6, 2011 and within 24 hours traffic jumped from 600 visits per day to 60,000 on the company’s website. The photos have received press coverage as well by being covered by ABC News, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Tosh.O, and more.

All I can say is what a perfect example of how companies can successfully utilize social media to generate traffic to their main websites. People love seeing photos of themselves which makes it instantly shareable, which then creates attention and increases word of mouth about the company. I love love love this marketing campaign implemented by Nightmares Fear Factory and think others could easily follow this example to execute a successful campaign for their business.

You Can’t Hide If You Use Social Media

The Washington Post recently circulated an article about how police officers are using social media to track gangs. We all know that social media sites can allow others to see personal information (if people do not set their privacy settings to protect themselves) such as home address, location, phone number, photos, personal activities, etc. Even with the privacy settings, agents and officers are granted access to individual’s social media pages by obtaining permission from the court system.

Examples included agents using Myspace to track down a gang who was utilizing the site to threaten federal witnesses, using Facebook to identify gang members, and using Facebook to locate a wanted gang member. As one federal law enforcement official said, “Gangs are just following societal trends.”

This is a smart and unique tactic employed by law enforcement professionals to catch/track current as well as future gang members. Social media is being utilized by law enforcement to not only track and catch, but also to obtain information. Photographs can help identify people, location check-in points can tell police where they are at that exact moment, post made by friends can offer insight into their activities, etc. Police even read comments posted by teenagers, and visit homes of these teenagers to warn parents of the violent threats and comments made online.

This article is an interesting read. A majority of us are not criminals or gang members, but the article does demonstrate just how easy social media makes it for the world to know our every move as well as personal information. I am not saying this is a bad thing (trust me I love social media), just pointing out that ease of access is there and will continue to be there. Just remember, once you put something out there on a social media site, it remains there.

Digital Divide: Will The Gaps Ever Close?

Throughout my time as a Public Relations Masters student at Texas Tech University, a good chunk of the conversations in my classes each semester focus on knowledge gap in relation to the digital divide. The Internet is definitely one of the newer mass media channels but with the Internet came social media sites. Even though the Internet has been around for a long time and is in over 70% of U.S. households, it still amazes me how little people know about it.

Two very simple examples:

1.        I was teaching my Hip Hop dance class about a month ago and had two new international students. At the end of class, these young ladies asked me the title of the song and where to find it, which I of course replied “ITunes.” They then proceeded to fill me in on how they had no idea what ITunes was!

2.       I have spent time teaching members of my family the basics of Facebook (this seems to be an ongoing task). The biggest problem they have with this social media site is privacy. I am constantly logging into to all of their accounts just to update their privacy settings or sending an email with step by step details on how they can do it themselves (which they usually just end up having me do it).

Let’s look at the digital divide from another point of view. Numerous studies have proven that the elderly population is joining Facebook at a rapidly increasing rate, but does this mean that these people understand how to use the site to its full potential? My guess is no.  

The Internet and its various sites offer a large world of knowledge and information. Yet, as I look around I notice more and more that people do not feel the same way. The majority of the population is at the same level with their Internet skills and literacy, but what about that small percentage that is behind and not understanding? Do we leave them behind? What if there are not people around to teach others Internet literacy? And of course the ultimate, overall question: How do we close the digital divide gap?

YouTube Gets Political

YouTube is definitely moving in the right direction with some new changes. In order to become one of the leading sources for political news, the site will soon be launching a YouTube Politics Channel. This channel will air a mix of videos so people can follow speeches, interviews, etc of the 2012 campaign. The Internet is the main media source utilized by citizens seeking political information so this channel could take the site to a new level. According to Jennifer Martinez, a technology reporter for POLITICO Pro, features will include, “Charts that show a tally of which candidates are receiving the most video views, search queries within YouTube, subscribers and video shares. YouTube visitors can also keep track of which candidate videos are getting the most views each day, week or month on the site.”

Earlier this year, YouTube launched the Town Hall platform which showed videos of members of Congress battling over various issues. Barack Obama, as well as some Congress Members, have successfully created their own YouTube channels to push their political views and messages.

Although I am not big on talking about politics, I do think the YouTube Politics Channel is a unique way to reach citizens across the country. Because a YouTube membership is free, every citizen with access to the Internet will be able to use this channel to receive political information. I bet this will be a success and cannot wait to see how many viewers tune in!

Facebook: Change Is Not Always Best

One of the best quotes I heard the other day to describe the new changes on Facebook was, "Facebook is now a feed, within a feed, within a feed, within a feed." The new features of Facebook seem to be causing quite a stir among its users. People do not appear to be too happy with all of the new changes and updates. Personally, I think that Facebook now closely resembles Twitter. I don’t need to have two social media tools exactly alike, I like variety. I understand that social media sites are going to make adjustments and will be in constant motion, but it almost seems as if Facebook is trying to combine everything that other social media sites have into one. For example:

*Facebook now has constant per second status updates (Twitter)

*The new layouts coming soon look almost like a blog layout (BlogSpot)

*Users can make purchases on Facebook (websites in general)

*Apps and games can be played (smart phones)

*Videos (YouTube)

The list can go on and on. I have been learning the new updates and will not be doing anything drastic like delete my Facebook account. I still love Facebook,  I am just curious why Facebook feels it necessary to make drastic changes all the time. Facebook should be listening to its consumers and what they are saying, which right is mostly negative comments. Makes me wonder what changes will be coming next because the site pretty much is a mesh pot of all the other social media sites out there.