Assignment #3

Stephanie Karlsson

Subway Facebook page

      Subway is an international fast-food sandwich restaurant, known for their “subs” and positioning themselves as a healthier alternative to other fast food.

       The Subway Facebook page has over 25,000 likes, which makes it a fairly big fan page. This large number may also explain why there are no current premiums for their fans over the last 30 days. Meaning that the social media team at Subway might be content with their current number of likers. I do think that right now is a good time of the year to push promotions and premiums due to the many holidays of the season, so in a way they might be missing a good opportunity to reach new fans. Currently the page is updated once daily, something that I would rate as a minimum for such a big page. Their updates mostly involve pictures of food and encouraging their fans to share, like and answer questions like: “how do you like your sub”. I do think that there is a lack of promotions and premiums to keep the interest of their fans. Even though every post does get a few comments. Most of the comments have a negative tone; requesting more meat on the subs or commenting on how they real life product looks nothing like the posted photo etc. Moreover, the social media team is not meeting the negative comments. This kills the possibility of making their Facebook page an interpersonal communication platform with the company, which is a shame. If they team at subway lacks the resources to answer the comments of their fans they might want to reconsider giving the fans the opportunity to comment on content and simply keep it a 100% mass media channel.  They main type of participation is by encouraging the fans to share their experience with hashtags like #GetYourOwn and #ImAboutToEatThis. Clicking on the hashtags over 90% of the content is provided by Subway, which could mean that a hashtag is not enough of an incentive to keep the fans active. There was one sweepstake on 23 October with the chance of winning a Illustrated Movie Companion Books from the Hunger Games, which was fairly popular with the fans with over 2000 likes. 

       In summary, I think that there is a lot more that could be done with the Subway Facebook page. As I mentioned earlier Subway is not taking full advantage of the opportunity to communicate with their fans. Joining in on the many other companies who find it confusing on how to take advantage of the mix of interpersonal and mass communications that social media provide. This is a great season for encouraging participation, especially for a food company, considering the many foods and crafts of this season, which would really fit Subways profile. They are good at keeping a steady flow of content and some of their images are creative which means that there is hope of improvement for this page.

https://www.facebook.com/subway

Sarah Zou

      Chipotle Mexican Grill is a fast food chain that focuses on “food with integrity”. They emphasize using sustainably and naturally raised ingredients that respect the animals, land, and farmers.  Their Facebook page is doing an effective job of social media marketing because it understands the interactive nature of social media.

     Their most recent post and cover photo are both advertisements for their upcoming Halloween promotion: #boorito. On Halloween, consumers are now aware that anyone can come in and buy a meal for half the price and that all proceeds will be donated. Not only does Chipotle understand the trends of Facebook (the hashtag), but also premiums that reward participation similar to this are consistent throughout the page.

     They have a consistent content flow (about 1.5 times a week) of broadcasting new products, events they will be attending, information about their ingredients’ sources, and Chipotle games and volunteering opportunities. Not only are they using Facebook as a means of publicity and impression management, but also to include the community in partaking in activities and aligning with their mission statement. While they generally lack in user-generated content, they still have many images of real customers at sponsored events.

       Moreover, all posts on the Facebook are signed off by “Joe” or “Myra.” This makes posts seem more personable, thereby giving the company’s site a human attribute and making this marketing strategy more interpersonal. Also, its Facebook page/wall acts as its customer service “portal.” Chipotle does a great job at creating a dialogue with the customer by answering appropriately and promptly. Generally people have positive things to say, but when someone has criticism, “Joe” or “Myra” takes a very apologetic and helpful stance.

       Overall, Chipotle does a good job of advertising promotions, creating participatory events, and sharing relative current events at regular intervals.

https://www.facebook.com/chipotle

Nikola Radnovic

          For this assignment I chose Burger King and their website bk.com. Overall,

the site looks appealing to the eye and the main colors that are used are those for

the Burger King logo: orange, red, blue and white. At this moment, they are

advertising their newest item on the menu: the Satisfries and they are emphasizing

how many less calories and fat it has than French fries from their main competitor,

McDonald’s. The website is doing its purpose and effectively marketing a new

product, while also offering the option of checking out the menu and pictures and

nutrition information about every item on it.

         The website also has a “Fresh offers” tab, which shows the users certain

discounts and attracts them to go and visit the closest Burger King to check it all out.

Furthermore, if the user clicks on Satisfries banner, it will take them to the page

where User generated content is shown from Instagram. Everyone who used

hashtag #Satisfires got their picture shown there, and this is another way Burger

King works on promoting their brand on social media. The content flow of the

website is really good, since it is very well designed and provides new content on a

regular basis. Also, a dialogue environment that they offer is on the front page

where users can type in the reason why they came to the website. Burger King is a

well-known brand name and a highly profitable company so it is no wonder that

their website is organized in a high manner and provides all the necessary

information for their users.

          For this assignment I chose Burger King and their website bk.com. Overall,

the site looks appealing to the eye and the main colors that are used are those for

the Burger King logo: orange, red, blue and white. At this moment, they are

advertising their newest item on the menu: the Satisfries and they are emphasizing

how many less calories and fat it has than French fries from their main competitor,

McDonald’s. The website is doing its purpose and effectively marketing a new

product, while also offering the option of checking out the menu and pictures and

nutrition information about every item on it.

         The website also has a “Fresh offers” tab, which shows the users certain

discounts and attracts them to go and visit the closest Burger King to check it all out.

Furthermore, if the user clicks on Satisfries banner, it will take them to the page

where User generated content is shown from Instagram. Everyone who used

hashtag #Satisfires got their picture shown there, and this is another way Burger

King works on promoting their brand on social media. The content flow of the

website is really good, since it is very well designed and provides new content on a

regular basis. Also, a dialogue environment that they offer is on the front page

where users can type in the reason why they came to the website. Burger King is a

well-known brand name and a highly profitable company so it is no wonder that

their website is organized in a high manner and provides all the necessary

information for their users.

Crystal Chan

TOBI’s Facebook page is doing quite an effective job at social media marketing for their clothing for the following reasons: Firstly, in order to get the initial 50% off discount for your first purchase, you need to like their Facebook page. In doing so, they increase the popularity of the Facebook page which shows up on mutual friends newsfeeds, as well as gain access to posting advertisements on your newsfeed. Secondly, to get another chance to get 50% off a purchase, you can invite five friends on Facebook to join TOBI. Thirdly, their physical Facebook page advertises premiums of 30% off on all new merchandise. TOBI also promotes these posts, so they show up on newsfeeds of people who have liked their page. Fourthly, TOBI’s page is a customer service portal since they reply to their audience’s questions about their merchandise. For example, a customer asked what the name of a skirt was and a TOBI representative posted an answer back. Fifthly, TOBI allows for participation by posing questions for their audience to answer along with posts promoting their clothing. And lastly, TOBI has strong content flow since there is a new post every few hours, which keeps their page current on their audience’s newsfeed as well as interesting to look at.

      The only thing that TOBI’s Facebook page lacks is user-generated content. For example they could ask for people to post pictures with their merchandise in order to increase their audience participation. While it is not necessary for TOBI to have user-generated content to promote their merchandise, user-generated content may be useful in getting their audience to care more about their company and products. Overall, TOBI does an effective job of social media marketing through their Facebook page since they promote themselves through getting their audience to like them and share their page, as well as promote their posts to be on their audience’s newsfeed. Additionally, TOBI’s Facebook page engages their audience with constant new posts and engaging conversation on their posts.


Emily Idell

https://www.facebook.com/OldSpice

Old Spice uses its Facebook page to successfully market their products to their target demographic by posting images, videos, and statuses that would appeal to young men. Old Spice is known for their humorous commercials and advertising strategies, which is a brand image that they maintain on their online platforms. Their Facebook page contains photos, videos, and a downloads section.  The Old Spice Facebook page is an effective social media marketing tactic because they have successfully maintained their brand image online while creating direct connections with their customers and providing users with more than just brand specific content.

Old Spice posts new content on their Facebook page once a day, whether it be a photo directly related to their product or not, new advertisements, videos, or even statuses that don’t seem to have any direct link to their product. Along with these posts, they create a dialogue with their consumers by not only creating an open forum where they can comment of new advertisements or products, but also commenting back and responding directly to consumers’ commentary, thus creating a conversation with their consumers and social media users furthering brand loyalty. They also allow for users to post their own photos and posts on their Facebook Page. 

Fred Scarf

I decided to evaluate the Facebook page of Facebook. I think they do an effective job of social media marketing because they post content that shows the importance of Facebook.
Facebook does not give away premiums on the Facebook page; however, they do make fans aware of Facebook Live events, which are free. They showcase user generated narratives and anecdotes that shows how Facebook has effected people’s lives. For example, here is one of their posts: “Don't miss this powerful essay about a blind man and his running guide, brought together by Facebook. Today, they run the Boston Marathon side by side" (Facebook.com).
Facebook has created a dialogue with its fans and tried to show the growth of Facebook and how it effects people’s lives. Another example is how Facebook haseffected the LGBT movement. Here is an example of this dialogue: “Approximately 70% of people on Facebook in the U.S. are connected to a friend who has expressly identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual on their timeline. #PrideConnectsUs” (Facebook.com).
Facebook’s fan page creates a dialogue with its fans. It doesn’t give show the relevance of Facebook, but spotlights stories of those whose lives have benefited from Facebook.


Jennifer Lee

Kate Spade New York is a fashion designer brand that provides females with clothes, purses, accessories, shoes, and so on.  Their Facebook website has over 912,000 likes with over 15,000 users who have talked about it. The initial image of this Facebook page is very girly with pink as the themed color for both its cover photo and profile picture. Compared to many Facebook pages I have visited, Kate Spade is very interactive with constant updates with fashion tips, sales, popular links, stylish photos, and featured goods. The liveliness of the website contributes to Kate Spade New York’s motto to be glittery, active, and energized.

            They clearly care about customer service as their contact information as well as email address is one of the first things that many would see as it addressed at the top of the page. This care is consistent throughout the site as there is constant feedback between both Kate Spade and customers. This is very good for business as they are assisting and developing relationship between the brand and consumers, creating brand loyalty.

            Furthermore, in each photo that is posted on the page is not just a typical, boring, and casual picture. Instead, each picture is filled with bright colors, glitters, bold, and fashionable font. Each photo is “artistic,” as it plays with color and is very appealing to the eye. This is to dazzle the customers into their products and it seems very effective, as Kate Spade is highly popular.

            Overall, Kate Spade New York Facebook photo is well publicized through its creative font, photos, and colors that appeal successfully to its costumers. The consistent communication with its customer is also very effective in bringing customers in. The premiums, sales, and featured goods are also a good reminder every day of what the store offers. Thus, this company is very effective in using the Internet to promote their businesses.


Mimi Oloye

      I chose to to evaluate Sally Hansens’ Facebook page and I believe that they are doing a rather good job of marketing through social media because they get consumers of their products participate on the page.
    Their content flow is constant; they post everyday. If a new or current product is not presented, they will post a picture of their products being used or tutorials on how to use the various products in their line. They sell a lot of nail polish, so most of the content is nail art based. They do not offer premiums directly, like if a someone where to like the page they would not receive anything. However, they do have use user participation to offer premiums. As I looked on their page I noticed that they have contests, which result in a prize for the winner. The contests hosted on the page bring free marketing because Facebook users post an image of the product they used to their timelines and other social media websites. Users also post pictures and tutorials of their nail art as well. Although there is not a gallery showcasing user’s nail art, it is easily visible on the timeline. Sally Hansens’ does offer a little customer service with their users but it is rare. Mostly Facebook users are the ones reaching out to them  and on some instances they do provide some dialogue between them and consumers if a question is asked but the response is usually a suggestion to try a product. I also scrolled back to toSeptember 30th and only saw five negative review, I also saw two mixed reviews and people asking for coupons.    Although Sally Hansen’s marketing strategy is not perfect, they are doing a pretty well. They let users know what is new, how to use their products, have examples and also get users to post their own example a tutorials. On top of that, they get they also get users to market for them through contests, which is the best marketing scheme. 

Assignment #2

Fred Scarf

Carolina Picchio commited suicide on January 5, 2013 after being cyberbullied on Facebook by her ex-boyfriend and his friends.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/31/world/europe/italy-facebook-suicide/index.html

One of the causes of this suicide would be dissociative anonymity. Carolina’s ex-boyfriend and his friends tried to hurt her online, as opposed to in person. They used the Internet to act in a way they wouldn’t be in person. They posted a video and assaulted her on the internet, which then affected her life online. 

Sarah Zou

Bitcoins can be stolen, just like any other currency. However, it can be much more difficult to recover. The anonymous nature of the bitcoin world paired with little to no legal enforcement to track thieves and the nonreversible transactions make bit coin users more vulnerable.  IP addresses can lead to the hacker, but a skilled hacker would make the IP address untraceable. Since bitcoins can be exchanged to hold value in the real economy, stealing bitcoins is an illegal crime. This is an ongoing epidemic that has recently been on the rise because of the increased popularity and exchange rate of bitcoins.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101036995

Arguments from John Suler’s The Online Disinhibition Effect can be seen in this crime, namely anonymity. As a skilled hacker, the thief untraceable. Being anonymous means it is almost impossible for them to get caught for their actions. His or her online life as the thief doesn’t have to be reflected in his or her offline life. As stated by Suler, ”in a process of dissociation, they don’t have to own their behavior by acknowledging it within the full context of an integrated online/offline identity” (Suler 322) There is only monetary benefit and no disapproval or penalization from society. Similarly, the invisibility provided by the Internet “gives people the courage to go places and do things that they otherwise wouldn’t” –steal large sums of money (Suler 322). Instead of putting themselves in physical danger to rob a bank, for example, a hacker can work from the comfort and privacy of their own home, under an invisibility cloak. 



Crystal Chan

John Anthony Borell, III who is linked to the hacker group Anonymous has been charged with two counts of computer intrusion by the federal court of Salt Lake City, Utah. Borell hacked into the Salt Lake City police department’s website server and website which contained confidential information on police cases. Borell faces the possibility of serving 10 years in jail and paying a fine of $10,000 for each count that is against him. The rest of the article describes the hacker group Anonymous and their recent hacking projects on federal agencies, including the FBI.

The most likely motivation for Borell to commit these crimes is due to dissociative anonymity, which is the sense of anonymity that a person has between his/her online behaviors versus behaviors outside of the internet. Borell was associated with Anonymous and must have felt that he was a faceless hacker among a larger crowd of hackers. He did not think that the government would be able to track him through the computer system since he felt like he did not have an identity and was hidden in the masses of Anonymous. However, he was wrong because there is a link between online and offline behaviors, and thus he must face the consequences of hacking in Utah’s police database.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/national_world&id=8622643



Emily Idell


http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/12/bullied-12-year-oldusgirlcommitssuicide.html 
Summary: 12-year-old Floridian girl, Rebecca Ann Sedwick, committed suicide after being cyber-bullied by more than a dozen girls. Sedwick jumped to her death after being “absolutely terrorized on social media,” with messages saying “go kill yourself” and “why are you still alive?” Before her death, Sedwick searched for many suicide related questions online. She told a boy she had met online from North Carolina of her plan hours before her death. Sedwick had been active on a social media site based outside of the US in which you can ask people questions anonymously.

These over a dozen girls who terrorized Rebecca online were motivated by the disinhibition concept of invisibility. These girls terrorized Rebecca online, in a forum in which they were able to remain anonymous. They were not being seen by Rebecca or even heard out loud. It was a text base terrorization that caused real-world consequences in this case. Rebecca could no longer take it and committed suicide because of these girls. 

YoungKI Jang

 a man in Manchester who was arrested for sending abusive tweets to a female activist campaigning to get a woman to replace Charles Darwin on British banknotes. The man sent a twitter message threatening to kill and rape Caroline Criado-Perez (Rannals).

<http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112909839/rape-tweets-result-in-arrest-uk-073013/>

     The most likely cause of disinhibition for this crime is invisibility. In this kind of disinhibition, individuals take advantage of the fact that they cannot be seen. in th process of dissociation, they believe that they cannot be caught for their actions. They therefore have the courage to do or say things no matter how bad the consequences may be. Even if the identity of the person may be known, the fact that they cannot be physically seen enhances the disinhibition feeling (Suler 322). The criminal in this case was using this invisibility to make threats to the woman. The fact that he could not be seen physically gave the man courage to scare the woman because this ensured some kind of protection for him. Anonymity also makes the criminal to believe that they will get away with a crime and so they end up using threatening and abusive language on social networks.
      The victim may also have become the victim due to the fact that she was also disinhibited. The woman is a journalist who was running campaigns against one of the most important issues in Britain, which is the image on banknotes. Using the internet for her campaigns produced the minimization of status or authority disinhibition effect (Suler 324). While online, individuals are considered equal and have the courage to say what they really think even in front of an authority figure. Online communication makes individuals feel like they are communicating with peers with minimized authority. By speaking out on one of the main debates in the country, the woman became a target for those who were opposing this issue.


Rannals, Lee . "Manchester Man Arrested For Sending Abusive Tweets." 30 July 2013. 4 October 2013 .
Suler, John. "The Online Disinhibition Effect." Cyber Psychology and Behavior 7.3 (2004): 321-326.

Nikola Radnovic

Ross Ulbricht was arrested in San Francisco on Tuesday because of illegal activity related to a website he created - “The Silk Road”. This website, being around for about two and a half years, was a marketplace for narcotics and other illicit goods, that ensured that the users browsing it stay anonymous and outside the reach of Internet traffic monitoring. FBI approximates that the website had about $1.2 billion in sales, however, it has been shutdown yesterday.

           

            Ulbricht was most likely motivated by his libertarian ideas and wanted to make an online marketplace like no other, where people can freely browse and buy specific illegal goods. His motivation was deeper, he wanted to get people to stand up for their rights and fight for them. He wanted to be a leader of these changes and take the fame and power that came with it. 

Mimisioluwa Oloye

About a week ago, the news reported that the newly crowned Miss Teen USA was a victim of the online internet crime of invasion of privacy. Her computer was hacked and the criminal got into her webcam. He would then take pictures of her changing or coming out of her bathroom after she has taken a shower, some pictures dated back to when she was in high school. She was surprised to discover that her perpetrator is someone she went to school with in the past. Though she is not his only victim, he said he’s done this about 150 times and more than 30 of the people he has done it to are his slaves. He was arrested on August 26^th 2013 for “allegedly taking nude images of the women using their own webcams, and then blackmailing them to send more explicit material”.

Article: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/27/us/miss-teen-usa-sextortion/index.html

The most likely cause for this event is the fact that the criminal couldn’t be seen or identified by his victims. Believing that all of his victims are not computer experts, otherwise he would have been exposed prior to this incident, the criminal was able to conceal his identity and demand that they listen to him or he would upload their pictures on the internet . This could identify under invisibility or dissociative anonymity because he was invisible while taking the pictures, but he contacted the victims, which made him anonymous. The victim in this article was not a victim of disinhibition because she was not actively online when the pictures were taken.

Britt Vonk

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/08/30/internet-dating-scam-mother-and-daughter-crime-duo-jailed/

Internet dating scam – mother and daughter crime duo jailed

Karen and Tracy Vasseur, from Colorado, US, were sentenced for 27 years total after fooling victims into thinking that they were members of the US military and that they needed money. They have collected a total of 1.1 million dollars from 374 people. Their idea was to find vulnerable people on dating sites or social networks and create a relationship with them. They would tell them they were part of the US military, serving in Afghanistan. After establishing this relationship, they would tell their victims that they were in need of money for travelling back to the U.S, retrieving property and other expenses. 

The main cause of the criminal’s disinhibition was likely motivated by dissociative anonymity. Both scammers and the victims communicated only through not-in-person devices and therefore the scammers were able to create an identity that would attract the victim. The scammers constructed a character by telling the victims stories about their life was in Afghanistan, and after gaining the victim’s trust, they would start asking to send money. Because the scammer has not been questioned, there is no evidence of revealing the truths. However, whether true or not, the scammers identified themselves as being part of US military, in Afghanistan, and kept their real world, in-person identity hidden. If the scammers did not get tracked down and arrested, they would not have any real-world consequences. 

Jennifer Lee

 

In the article “Wisconsin man indicted in Anonymous attack of Koch Industries,” Matt Perce tells the story of a man who may face time in Federal prison for hacking a Koch website during a pro-union protest. This anonymous hacker targeted the website so that it responded slowly or unavailable to users of the website. This man is now charged with one count conspiracy to damage a protected computer and one count of damaging a protected computer. The maximum prison sentence is five years and a $250,000 fine. There is a clear disinhibition effect that the Wisconsin man must have felt by breaking the law and hacking Koch Industries, in specific dissociative anonymity. Dissociative anonymity is when online users feel that other people do not know who they are so they are free from social standards. People feel separate and unaccountable for their actions online and they also feel less vulnerable. This explains why the man may have had the idea to even hack because there is no face to his name. He probably thought that he would not be caught or face any responsibility because of the anonymity behind the computer. 

STEPHANIE MADLENE KARLSSON


In June 2013 two Swedish girls, at the age of 15 and 16, were sentenced to community service and fined $85,000 after using the image sharing app Instagram to spread offensive information and rumors about other teenagers. The Instagram account used by the two girls posted pictures of young men and women (mostly women) calling them sluts and accusing them of a sexually promiscuous lifestyle, while encouraging their followers to give them tips about who to post about. Promising that the tips would be completely anonymous. The account quickly got thousands of followers before it was shut down.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2348959/Teenage-girls-setup-slut-shaming-Instagram-account-sparked-Gothenburg-riots-jailed-fined-55-000.html
Online behavior can in many ways wary from how we interact and behave in daily, face-to-face, life. In his article The Online Disinhibition Effect  John Suler (2004) list six reasons to why peoples online behavior changes and becomes disinhibited.  The internet allows us to hide some aspects of our selves while exposing others. In the case of the Instagram riots in Sweden I firmly believe that the actions of the two young girls can be explained using three aspects of the online Disinhibition Effect.

Suler (2004) lists Dissociative Anonymity as one of the main reasons of the Disinhibition effect. People have a tendency of separating their online actions with their real-life actions and identity, and therefore are more likely to act out.  Anonymity was key for the girls while using publishing as a means for oversharing to hurt the people whom they were posting about. The anonymity provided by the internet made it possible for the girls to “speak out” and act in a way that would not be socially acceptable in the real world. By the use of a username that had no connection to their real names and an extra cellphone, the girls managed to mask their real identities from other users and their victims. Because of the many reports filed against the account, Instagram decided to help the Swedish police by releasing the IP number of the phone used and thereby eliminating their anonymity. By ruining their anonymity their actions soon got real-life consequences.

An online persona can easily become an isolated character that has no real-life consequences; the internet becomes a “make-believe dimension”. This is described by Suler (2004) as Dissociative Imagination. Even though this is often associated with online gaming, I still feel that it explains some of the behaviors of the two young girls. They created an online person/account that they believed would not have any consequences in their real lives. The girls stated that they had no idea on how popular the account would become and how they quickly lost control over their initial idea. Still, they kept it going as it (initially) did not reflect on their real lives. I believe that the girls got so caught up in what that were doing, and fueled by the attention that they received, that they at some point lost track with what this would mean in the real world. This account did not necessarily reflect how they were like, or how they were perceived offline.

Lastly, I strongly believe that Minimization of Status and Authority in explaining the two girls online behavior. For young teenagers authority figures are present everywhere; at school, at home etc. Being a young adult can be frustrating for a lot of teenagers as you get categorized somewhere in-between a child and an adult. Expected to show respect for authority but never be the (legitimate) authority, or get the same type of respectful treatment from the authority figures. The constant presence of authority in teenagers life’s reinforces behaviors that are socially acceptable e.g. no bulling in schools. On the internet, and social media in particular, the players from your real life are often the same but the power authority has been unleashed which enables people to act out without fear for real life consequences.