IMC Hawks Blog

Tag: Twitter

  • The Importance of Social Media in the 2012 Election

    More and more are the variety of social media through which voters are able to use.  These are convenient and simple tools that are effective ways to express the opinions of voters and influence the course of the electoral campaign. The role that social media has been critical in drawing conclusions about the outcome of the 2012 election. According to various studies, websites like Facebook have caused an increase in voter registration. Ultimately, social media networks are the powerful influencers that are often capable of moving large quantities of votes. It is important to recognize that an electoral campaign that is closer and pays closer attention to real human dynamics has a completely different approach than the traditional campaign. Nowadays, an effective campaign should be based less on the money spent and more on the intelligent use of new technologies to create new bonds with the everyday voter.Ultimately, the roles of social networks, new media as well as the weight of the establishment are all factors that will have a crucial role in deciding the electoral dispute.

    As previously stated, social media has encouraged many young eligible voters to register and vote. For many of the past elections, the young demographic is not properly represented in voting. This year, there are record numbers for college aged students voting.  Much of this can be attributed to social media outlets.  Young people in general use social media more than any other demographic (to date). Also, social media websites such as twitter allow you to follow each candidate and get quick, short, and frequent updates on what they plan to make their policy be if they are to be elected. This is only the second election that we are able to follow Candidates directly on Twitter since it did not exist prior to 2006. Also, Twitter has gained a substantial amount of users since the 2008 election. On Twitter, there are trending topics, and subjects regarding the recent presidential election have been trending at record numbers. Social Media allows people to get quick and easy access to information about the election.

    Both presidential candidates devoted much time and effort to boost the collection of information and social media sharing amongst voters. In the current election, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have predominately utilized Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, which are the top powerhouse tools of social media today. As the election progresses, candidates have concentrated their efforts on “swing voters”. Swing voters are voters who have yet to make up their minds and plan to wait till the very last minute to make a decision about who to vote for. Social media can establish a medium for interchange between our presidential candidates and many of these swing voters, avoiding an influence on votes that have already been established.  This reveals the importance of social media and web video usage in terms of voting. Not only can social media institute this medium that allows a campaign to be specifically modified for particular voters, but it provides value for each candidate, resulting into fewer costs for ads. The cost of advertising through social media is much less than the cost of paying T.V. channels to run advertisements; not to mention the impact of online ads have been reported as just as good or perhaps even better than the ones shows on television. All political parties in the current election have greatly benefited from these recent online updates and social media enhancements.

    –Sasha De Vecchi, Lindsay Gallagher, Jay Reilly, Cary Welborn

  • Celebrity Branding Through Social Media

    Nowadays, there is a wide variety of ways to advertise and promote one’s image as well as many products through personal branding. Celebrities are among the first to take advantage of the new social media phenomenon to further promote themselves and products they have endorsed.  Social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc. have been in a state of constant growth, as they cater to both the average consumer as well as celebrities. Interconnectivity has played a crucial role in keeping celebrities globally connected to a wider public in order to further promote themselves and gain a higher level of exposure.

    When it comes to many things such as self-branding and the use of social media, one must elaborate a thought-out, cohesive strategy in order to achieve optimum results. First of all, it is important to keep in mind that not all celebrities wish to accomplish the same thing through their social media outlets.  There are many reasons for a celebrity to join a social media site, from simply connecting with fans to promoting a product or event.  Also, each social media medium serves a different purpose and targets a more specific audience. In a recent trend, celebrities have been representing themselves by “opening up” and increasing their level of self-disclosure through many forms of social media. This could be due to the fact that it is believed that social media can be used to build trust with fans as well as build and develop a more personal connection with them by allowing them to see the “real” superstar.  For example, it is difficult to feel a personal connection to President Obama.  By following Obama on Twitter or Facebook, one might feel that this personal relationship has greatly improved.  Not only is this beneficial for the average American, but it could indirectly help Obama.  For example, someone that does not currently have a stance on politics could follow Obama on Twitter, like what they see, and vote for him in the next election.  This is just one example that portrays that social media outlets are a powerful, mass communication tool.  That being said, it is important for one to remain very conscience about what they say.  It does not take much for a tweet by a celebrity or political figure to create a huge controversy, whether or not they intended it to.  We sometimes forget that celebrities are human beings that make mistakes, and one of these mistakes could be by putting too much personal information on the internet.  Voicing an opinion can easily offend many other people.  The celebrity could in theory remove the tweet, but that does not mean it will be deleted from the Internet.  With the millions of followers many celebrities have and the fact that celebrities tend to keep social media outlets as public as possible, almost anyone could snap a screenshot of the tweet immediately and continue to circulate it through the web.

    While there are disadvantages for celebrities putting their lives on the World Wide Web, outlets such as social media can also be used as a free type of advertising or promotion.  Almost all main-stream celebrities have utilized multiple forms of social media from blogs to Twitter.  Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian and Justin Bieber are all examples of celebrities that have endorsed various products and used social media (more specifically, Twitter) to promote them. This has shown to be an effective marketing technique at little or no cost to them.

    Not every celebrity endorses a certain product, but they do essentially brand themselves when they decide post on social media sites.  Whether they mean to or not, the content they post reflects their personality and in turn, allows followers to characterize them.  Mastering how to effectively brand one’s self on these sites has in essence became a modern day art.  In today’s day and age, a social media suicide could destruct the celebrity’s image as a whole.

    – Sasha De Vecchi, Lindsay Gallagher, Jay Reilly, Cary Welborn

  • Remember When… Social Media Was Not Overrun With Ads?

    Do you know how to transfer your buddy list? What is your Myspace song today? Why did you lower me in your Top 8? Where did you get your buddy icon? Remember when these were your biggest worries on social networking? Nowadays, a social networker must be fully aware of everything they post, every picture they are in, and even everything they click on.                            Image

    When social media first began, it is doubtful that anyone could have predicted where it is today. Employers search Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn before hiring new staff. School systems are implementing cyber bullying policies across the nation. Even our parents are sending us friend requests. It is hard to come by someone who doesn’t have a Facebook or Twitter. Due to the popularity of social media, it is no surprise advertisers want to tap into this huge online market.

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    What began with AOL Instant Messenger, evolved into the Myspace fad, and now Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Instagram have joined the scene. After Myspace died out, there was much debate about how long Facebook would last. With the help of advertisers, it seemed like it could potentially last forever. Unfortunately, with the rise of other social networking sites, Facebook has seen a less than desirable decline in popularity. Now Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, is having to persuade advertisers to continue investing. In an interview covered by ABC News, he “[promised] better results as Facebook’s mobile app is made friendlier to advertisers.”

    What does this mean for users?  More advertising headed your way! If you’ve seen Facebook’s login page lately, you might notice that it has officially been sold. It is hard not to notice as it takes up more than three-fourths of the screen. When Myspace sold their front page, it was the first sign they were not cutting it anymore. Does this mean Facebook’s “in” time is ending soon too? Not if Zuckerberg can help it.

    You might notice the sidebar ads following more closely to your internet searches. As Facebook tries to evolve to keep up with the market, Zuckerberg stated that he would like to make Facebook a search engine that could compete with Google. It is no coincidence that the items you were looking for on Amazon a couple of days ago are popping up in the ads you see on Facebook.  Long gone are the innocent days of simply “lol”ing with your buddies on AIM.  It seems now more than ever before the public will become a constant target for advertisers.

    Will this increase in advertising on Facebook lead to a shift in which social network is the most popular? Will Instagram and Twitter combined be able to wipe out Facebook? Would it even matter because Facebook owns Instagram? Or will the dark horse network, Google +, take the internet by storm?

    G2G. Mom needs the comp. TTYL 🙂 ❤

    –Alexandra Huss, Caroline Merrill, Alyssa Morrello, Lauren Van Trigt, Daniel Williams

  • A Speech Haunted by the Past

    How long does it take for people to forget about your past? Apparently, for some, it takes longer than 14 years. On Wednesday night, former president Bill Clinton spoke at the Democratic National Convention. He addressed the crowd with an honest, straightforward approach. However, many people found it difficult to believe him.

    On social media such as Twitter, people were arguing that they could not trust things coming out of Clinton’s mouth due to his dishonest past. Twitter users were using the hash tag #slickwilly to discuss his forty-nine minute speech. People on Twitter posted  “Bill Clinton, a.k.a #SlickWilly was disbarred for lying..Not a word he says can ever be trusted..” and “May I remind you that this is a man who was impeached by the House of Reps for perjury and obstruction of Justice? #Clinton #SlickWilly.”  These tweets were just a few of the negative words being spread across social media. There were, however, just as many positive remarks concerning Clinton’s speech as there were negative on twitter September 5th.

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    Clinton has been branded by a group of U.S. citizens as dishonest. For this reason, the many facts that were included in Clinton’s speech have been meticulously checked. Although none of them have been found as incorrect, he has been critiqued for exaggerating many facts. The facts Clinton presented that have been questioned were his statements about the health care reform, Medicare, and the American Recovery Act.

    Clinton’s speech is the only one that has been carefully examined for not providing the whole story to back his “honest” claims. None of the many speakers at the Republican National Convention were critiqued as much. Due to his scandalous past, Clinton is on a careful watch. If it were not for his impeachment, people would likely not question what he was saying.

    So do you believe Clinton gave an honest and real speech? Or do you think his speech left out details that were necessary?

  • “Tweeting” the Way (Back) Into the White House?

    This Labor Day weekend, as thousands of North Carolinians made a trek to the beach, others headed inland to Charlotte in anticipation of the Democratic National Convention and the preliminary festivities. On Monday, the excitement was palpable in Uptown as “CarolinaFest” served to get audiences pumped up for the opening day of the DNC. The streets were overflowing with vendors, street performers, temporary exhibits and thousands of chanting supporters, who all came together in celebration of North Carolina’s first-ever national convention.

    After experiencing the fervor first-hand, it was hard to imagine that (as right-leaning media suggested) the Democrats would have problems filling seats at either venue where the speeches were originally scheduled to be given. Convention officials were unfazed by this possibility and rightly so; enthusiasm at the event and via social media was at an all-time high for the first night of speeches. Signs were hung from various booths in the heart of the DNC activities to “keep calm and Tweet #DNC2012” and on the first night of speeches, viewers all over the country did just that.

    In the opening night of DNC speeches alone; the continuously trending  topics #DNC2012 and comparable terms received almost 3 million tweets…roughly 3/4ths of the final tweet count (taken over the entire three-day period) of the Republican National Convention. While all of the openers were well received (the numbers don’t lie!), the most prominent twitter conversations took place during the speeches of the Mayor Julian Castro (of San Antonio, TX.) and our First Lady, Michelle Obama.

    Mayor Castro’s speech peaked at 11,503 tweets per minute (TPM) which was higher than all of the GOP speakers excluding Mitt Romney himself. However, the “magic” really happened when Michelle Obama took the stage to officially open the convention. Peaking at 28,003 TPM, Mrs. Obama’s speech received twice the amount of “Twitter action” than Mitt Romney’s GOP acceptance speech, which saw 14,289 TPM at its peak. It is truly remarkable that one 25 minute speech could garner so much attention and foster a virtual discussion of mammoth proportions. While the content of the tweets in question undoubtedly varies, the important thing is that it got people talking.

    The use of twitter as a forum for political discussion and debate among average Americans and major media entities alike continues to grow and evolve as we near the 2012 election season. Will this explosion of Democratic enthusiasm continue all the way to the polls? Only time will tell. One thing is for certain: Democrats are using all of their available media to ensure that their voices are heard.

    (The twitter stats listed above were taken from the Twitter Blog (http://blog.twitter.com/) additional information regarding the DNC can be found at http://www.demconvention.com/ )

    –Lauren Habig , Gene Lee, Hannah Eure, Erin Kiffmeyer, Ally Walton

  • #Eastwooding

    Clint Eastwood is a man of many roles: he’s a movie star, American badass, producer, director, and even politician.  Most recently, he can also add empty chair talker to the list.  Eastwood attended the Republican National Convention this past Thursday, August 30th. He was attending the convention to give an endorsement speech prior to Republican candidate Mitt Romney taking the microphone, and things got a little wacky.  Eastwood began talking and asking rhetorical questions directed towards Barack Obama to an empty chair on stage.   Almost immediately after the speech aired on television, Clint’s stint at the convention became a huge buzz on social media networks, such as Twitter, where #invisibleobama was trending.  Not only were people talking about Eastwood’s strange chair conversation, but people also began posting pictures of themselves reprimanding empty seats as well, giving rise to the internet’s newest sensation, #Eastwooding.

    Romney may not have known what the outcome of bringing Eastwood to the convention would be, but it was certainly a strategic move on his part. It is safe to say that even if no one was expecting such a social media buzz about the speech, Romney was definitely looking to add star power to his campaign. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, have become celebrities in their own right over the last four years. Obama has even taken to trying to downplay his celebrity in this election. This article from the Washington Times discusses Obama’s relationship with George Clooney. Obama is quoted as saying, “Clooney keeps his distance so that [the President] won’t be criticized for hanging out with Hollywood celebrities.” So it makes sense for Romney to try to bring in some celebrity credit, since after all, he is competing with the President who hangs out with George Clooney and was nominated by Oprah Winfrey. Who could be better to compete with those two celebrities than Clint Eastwood? Both candidates are trying to walk the fine line of celebrity endorsement. Obama has a little too much, and Romney has a bit too little. Why does celebrity endorsement even matter though? Celebrities are able to make campaign’s multidimensional and bring in more funds.

    Mitt Romney knew what he was doing when he brought in Clint Eastwood. He knew that Eastwood is a celebrated and respected actor that everyone can easily recognize. What the Romney campaign did not realize was the unintentional social media phenomenon that #Eastwooding would become. This trending topic got people from all over the country posting pictures of themselves speaking to empty chairs. Not only did it spark a riot via social media outlets, it also turned a national holiday, Labor Day, into National Empty Chair Day where people were encouraged to continue to post more pictures of empty chairs. Coincidence? We will let you decide that one. As for the Republican Party, their intentions of bringing in Mr. ‘Dirty Harry’ himself were well thought out and calculated in hopes that he would be able to rally the voters who are currently undecided to choose their candidate. Instead, the Republican National Convention of 2012 will forever be known for Clint Eastwood yelling at an empty chair as opposed to what issues the party stands for in this election. These unintentional acts can make or break a campaign. Will #Eastwooding have a lasting impact on the campaign? Will the President soon become #invisibleobama? Only time will tell.

    –Alexandra Huss, Caroline Merrill, Alyssa Morrello, Lauren Van Trigt, Daniel Williams

  • Barefoot? Not with TOMS Shoes!


    Many of us are familiar with the shoe brand TOMS. The company, started by Blake Mycoskie, commits itself to donating one pair of shoes to a child living in poor conditions for every pair of shoes it sells. TOMS’s program of giving was the result of its owner traveling to South America and finding that many children were contracting diseases through their bare feet, as they were unable to afford or obtain shoes. Mycoskie decided to manufacture his company’s shoes in an eco-friendly and vegan manner. TOMS are made using supplies from an organization, Livity, specializing in “low environment impact materials” (information based on a 2008 interview between Mycoskie and San Diego Loves Green reporter Allie Bullock Kagamaster).

    Not only does TOMS market their product as a philanthropic exercise, but it also markets itself as an organization dedicated to environmentally sound products. The company is able to create establish integrity for its product among potential customers who are concerned with social and environmental issues. Partnering social and environmental values, allows TOMS products to stand out amongst competitors.

    TOMS has gone a step further than its usual shoe donation program; by implements its “One Day Without Shoes” campaign. This campaign is meant to raise awareness of the dangers faced by individuals who do not have shoes to walk in, in areas where environmental conditions, such as chemical contamination and littering of glass, syringes and debris, can cause multiple diseases. “One Day Without Shoes” also encourages individuals to buy shoes from the company so that TOMS can donate shoes to these individuals.

    The “One Day Without Shoes” campaign is designed in a way that the company’s customers and followers can actively participate in it. When going to the company’s website, a person can email the page to their friends and family, post it on Facebook, or follow the campaign on Twitter. This implementation of social media shows that TOMS Shoes is aware of the powerful impact individuals can have when marketing a message, just by sharing information with friends on social media they are already using, and that can be viewed by mass numbers of friends and peers.

    Also on the campaign’s website, TOMS Shoes encourages individuals to share videos and photos of themselves without shoes and an explanation of what the experience meant to them. Followers can find their own marketing devices to spread the word of the campaign on the website. Rally signs, street stencils, pocket info cards, stickers, profile pins and banners, DIY t-shirts, and displays can be downloaded from the campaign’s website for the event.

    “One Day Without Shoes” has also found many corporate partners to participate in its campaign. These partners are Aol., Discovery, essie, flickr, just wink by American Greetings, Kiehl’s, Kind Healthy Snacks, and SIMS. The “One Day Without Shoes” campaign shows the ways in which organizations rely on various societal values and corporate marketing techniques to draw attention to their brand or promotion.

    -Ashley Oliver,Hunter Wilson, Josh Vester, Molly Jacques