Technology and Social Media

Automatic

In movies we often depict the future as a time when cars can drive themselves, while people sit back and relax.  Through the new technology Automatic, we are getting one step close to this being a reality.  Today most of our cars are run by computers and becoming more and programmed. 

This new device Automatic Link is an auto accessory that is plugged into the diagnosis port of the car and relays information to the car operator’s smart phone.  The Link connects with car’s computer, directly logging what is going on with the car for each trip, where you are driving, how much gas is used and what is exactly happening with the engine.  A user must download the application for the information to go through to their cell phone.  The information it gives will help you saving money with gas, tell you the best place to park, and best places to get gas.  After assessing the information many people will practice better driving behavior.    

An important feature for the application is the ability it has to show you what is exactly happening with the engine when the check engine light turns on.  When the issue is too complicated for one to fix on their own, the application will show you a list of nearby mechanics and give you their contact information.  This application is only available to Android and IPhone at this point and will only work with cars that were made in 1996 at the earliest. 

An important safety feature that Automatic is known for is the emergency response.  It will call 911 automatically if it detects an accident or emergency.  This is really helpful when in the stress of an accident, or if you are unconscious or unable to call yourself and need help. 

I often cannot find my car when I park it in a lot.  Automatic has a great feature that will use your phone’s GPS to find your car in a lot using the application.  It also gives you the option to share a car location with someone else, if you are trying to meet someone or going to pick someone up.   

Because it is an app based technology, it gives easy access to other forms of social media to keep in touch.  The website made it very easy to connect through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even LinkedIn.  These keep you updated in what the company is working on and the apps new features.  They also make it very easy and user friendly to contact the company when you have questions, concerns or issues.  It makes it easy to connect with other Automatic users and share stories, or concerns. 

Automatic may not be the ability to drive our cars with our eyes closed, but is shrinking the gap between us and this futuristic idea.  The link and application will make our understanding of the car we drive and what is actually occurring grow.  Through this app and technology social media will become more involved in our transportation, our choices in auto shops, and connecting with other drivers on the road.  I believe that Automatic has a lot of potential now and a lot of room for improvement.        

technologyreview.com

cnn.com

automatic.com

Applebee's

A waitress was fired at an Applebee’s location after posting an image of a note written on a receipt on social media.  The note said something to the extent that they only pay 10% to God, so why does the waitress think she deserves 18%.  The note was written by an alleged preacher, after an 18% tip was automatically added to the bill for the party of 10 or so people.  It is a company policy that the tip is accrued automatically with parties 8 and larger, so it was not in the waitress’ control.  What was in the waitress control, was posting the not on social media.  The reactions of people to this note on social media were brutal to the preacher.  Was it ethical firing the waitress for posting to her own social media?

I believe that firing the waitress was the right thing for the company to do.  A good company will stay true to their customer confidentiality policy.  Recipes do not only have the price of the food, but if run with a card can have the customer’s name and signature.  If the company has established rules about keeping the customers information private then sharing it on social media is completely in appropriate. 

In my opinion the policy should not be changed and the punishment was justified.  I have worked at places where you are not allowed to post about your job on social media.  When you agree to a work contract you may be signing away your right to talk about what you are doing at that job.  This makes it not a matter of freedom of speech anymore.  It is very important that you are aware of the social media and disclosure about the happenings of a work place before you get yourself in a rough place or even get fired.

So maybe it is completely in appropriate what she did, but why did she do it?  In this situation the waitress was not meaning to get the woman in trouble, or shame her.  The waitress said “I originally posted the note as a lighthearted joke,”  “I thought the note was insulting, but it was also comical. I posted it to Reddit because I thought other users would find it entertaining.”(webpronews)  

How many times a day do you take pictures of things in your daily life that are funny and, interesting or strange that you would like to share with your friends or others on a social media platform or website.  I can honestly say I post a picture at least once a day.  This is something I should be more concerned about now that I have looked at this case.  You could easily get in a lot of trouble, so be cautious about your rights about posting.    

Something that makes me wonder about this case, is how clearly the policy was stated to the employee.  Was she told that she was not allowed to do that, or was it hidden in the fine print of the employment paperwork?  It is wrong to expose the customer like that, but it is also wrong to not educate the employees about their rights concerning communicating about their job.  Would there have been a different outcome for the waitress if her leak to social media had been a description of the situation and note, instead of a picture?

One shocking thing about the actual note, is that this was not the first note of this kind written to an Applebee’s employee.  They have reported receiving a note refusing to tip because the person is a single mom, saying “single mom sorry”.  There was another tip refusing saying “stop eating bitch” written to the waitress.  It quite saddens me to hear stories of people being so inappropriate to these servers who are just trying to make ends meet themselves.(huffingtonpost) 

Hopefully all of you take the time to review what your rights are at whatever job you do, so you can abide by company policy.  I also hope that you are kind and curious to the next person who helps you in a customer service setting, because it is not ethically right to treat people you are entitled to their service.  I still stand with my opinion that Applebee’s did the right thing, even if they did not want to let the waitress go. 

webpronews

huffingtonpost

APPS

What are Apps?
This is a question I am sure almost all of us have had at one point in our lives. For me this was a little over three years ago. I started to hear the word apps come up in a lot of conversations about the new tablet IPad and smart phones, which at the time were just becoming popular. I had a basic understanding what they were as just quick access to websites, games, and accounts, just like a link but not needing a search engine.

*Important information: The term app is an abbreviation for the word application.

Why use apps?

• Apps give you quick access to the information you want

• Easy to download, and you don’t have a link or remember how to get to the site for future use Apps are so effective.

Almost everyone who has money to buy things has a smart phone and/or other technologies to use apps with. With my Samsung galaxy tab I will download apps from the Google Play Store, but with my IPhone I will download from the App Store. Both stores offer different apps, but usually the most popular apps will be available through both. There are a lot of free apps out there. For most businesses and social media platforms there is a free app you can download. Usually the paid apps are for games that have become very popular. These may only cost a dollar or two which can often be well worth it.

Most popular apps in the United States are: Facebook at number one, you can also find Pandora, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Play.

You can find an app about almost anything. As you all know by now I really like Beyoncé. While looking at apps I was able to find some very interesting apps Specifically for Beyoncé fans.

There is a dress up Beyoncé app 

A Beyoncé song request app, for fans to request Beyoncé songs on the radio using it 

Beyoncé Game app 

Beyoncé’s booth, I am not sure what this app does, but I am very curious 

  And a Beyoncé face tap app game 

As I have been researching Apps, I found a blog page called the Twelve Weirdest Apps Ever Made. This page is awesome to say the least. If you have time I would highly recommend you check them out for a good laugh!

uky.edu
chaseadvancement.com
mashable.com

Viral Videos

To start this post I wanted to share my favorite viral video at the moment: Iggy Azalea- Fancy, so awesome if you have not seen it!





How can I have a video go viral? I can explain this in two words. 

 BE BEYONCÉ 

 Obviously everyone cannot be Beyoncé. You should probably just give up now because chances are you will never become a viral video star. If you are not discouraged yet here are some options you can do to try to become a YouTube star, but do not get your hopes up.

First post your video to YouTube, then share it to Twitter, Facebook, and sites like Reddit. Making sure it is something that is blogged about is how you get it a ton of attention. Keep in mind that the easier it is for people to share the more people will share it.

Releasing it early in the week is the best bet to go because people are usually on their computers at school or work and will occasionally browse the web.

Writing a good title that is catchy is important as well, one that people will remember. For me this brings up the video Kitty Corliss "Grinding the Crack". How can you forget a title like that? Very different, funny, and strange especially after you watch it. This video is also only about 30 seconds long. You do NOT want to make your video longer than two minutes! People are not going to take the time to watch a thirty minute video unless you are Lana Del Rey and it is Tropico.

 

  *Something else to keep in mind is that higher quality videos tend to get more attention* 

Your video must be good in order to get any attention so in order for this post to be applicable you might want to spend a majority of your time working on your master piece. The remainder of this post I have dedicated to Beyoncé and some of my favorite viral videos she has made. You may look at these and note reasons they went so viral, well other than the fact that they were made by freaking Beyoncé! Enjoy!

 
medium.com
talentzoo.com

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization

Today I am going to talk a wee bit about Search Engine Optimization.  If you have absolutely no idea what search engine optimization is, join the club.  We can kind of guess that SEO (search engine optimization) has something to with effectively searching the web.  In this post I am going to take a closer look at Google to get a better understanding of SEO and how you can use it.

SEO is “the process of optimizing a website in order to make it easy to find via search engines like Google” (wordstream.com).  By making websites search engine friendly, the traffic on your website can increase by a lot, and increase your success.  Through looking at a few different web sites on SEO I have found a few ways that you may improve your SEO and ranking on Google search engine in particular. 

·         The first one I would like to mention is writing a search engine friendly title for your website.  The title is often what group’s websites in a search engine so having an appropriate solid title is very important. 

·         Not only titles, but adding key words can really help the search engine to categorize and find your website as well.

·         Social sharing can also help your website with SEO.  Sharing on Facebook and Twitter can make the search engine more aware of your website by popularity, and frequency of views.

·         Site mapping is also very effective to increasing awareness of your website, by dropping hints to the search engine about your website. 

I still am not an expert on SEO but if I needed to use it for a website, there are a lot of websites online that I could use to guide me.  These websites help you make your website very accessible, easy to find and become a higher ranking result on Google. 

 moz.com

wordstream.com