Online Reputation

I was assigned Reece Sullivan to do the online reputation assignment on. I first began by looking at Reece's Facebook page, some basic information that I uncovered was: his birthday is March 8, 1993, making him almost 23 years old. His hometown is in Los Angeles, California but he graduated from Box Elder High School in 2011. He lived in Brigham for some time before going to college at USU in Logan where he currently lives with his wife. He is studying Communication and Media Studies at Utah State (Linked-In). He proposed to his wife on March 15, 2015, and they were married on July 6, 2015.

The first trend I identified was mainly due to Reece's Facebook page, it suggested that Reece is a member of the LDS church. I came to this consensus due to the many pictures he had on his wedding day, with his wife, in front of an LDS temple, one of his previous profile pictures of the "I am a Mormon" photo stock, multiple pictures of Reece on his mission, and under his "About" tab, he self-identified as a Latter Day Saint. Also, according to his Linked-In profile, he is currently teaching LDS Seminary and has been since 2012.

A second trend is Reece's mission, all of this information was gathered from Reece's Missionsite.net account. Reece was assigned to labor the Mexico, Culiacan, Spanish-speaking mission. He entered the Provo Missionary Training Center on June 13, 2012. He was released from his mission approximately two years, three weeks and three days on July 9th, 2014. Due to the frequent number of Spanish comments he receives on his Facebook posts and his Linked-In profile language section, Reece still speaks Spanish fluently. I also gathered from this site that Reece's home address is in Brigham City, Utah. His missionsite.net was run by Bentley Sullivan while he was on his mission, after doing some Facebook stalking I have come to the conclusion that this is most likely his mother.

Another trend I identified from Facebook posts was that Reece seems to enjoy the outdoors with his friends and wife. There are many pictures (1, 2, 3, 4) of him and his friends hiking, riding horses, four wheeling, snowmobiling and enjoying themselves outside.

The final trend identified was that for approximately 61 days, Reece was employed by a summer sales agency. I found this on one of his wife's Instagram posts that had been linked to Facebook. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to find out the company Reece worked for or where he was when selling during the summer. Which in my opinion, is totally okay because I felt like a complete stalker while doing this whole assignment. (Send your wife my apologies for attempting to befriend her on Instagram! I don't let strangers follow me either - it was a long shot to being with!)

Props to Reece for staying off most social media sites - you are a hard man to find; and I think that in today's society where everything seems to be online, that is something to be proud of.

"It's a Free* Country" *subject to terms and conditions*

In my Government and Politics class, we have been discussing The First Amendment over the past three days. It's been quite an interesting time, especially due to how the First Amendment is interpreted by the people versus how it’s original intention. I'm sure we have all heard, if not said ourselves, something along the lines of, "It's a free country, I can do and say what I want." And to a certain extent, that's true. The First Amendment does give you the freedom of speech and press and religion.

The First Amendment reads: 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Sounds pretty straightforward, right? However, when it was written, the two most common ways of expressing yourself was either going to a park and making a speech or writing a pamphlet and submitting it to the local press to be printed. I, for one, have never given or heard a speech in the park and certainly haven't written a pamphlet to express my feelings about government or politics. The Constitutional Framers clearly could not comprehend the existence of the Internet and social media's prevalence in today's world.

Thankfully, due to the Supreme Court's power to have judicial review, there have been new laws that interpret the vague language of the Constitution to match the changing times of today. In 1996, in the landmark case Reno v. ACLU, a unanimous Supreme Court specifically extended the First Amendment to written, visual and spoken expression posted on the Internet. *Angels singing the background.*

So that's that, right? Because of this and the First Amendment, we can say literally anything we want on any of our social media sites and face no legal repercussions whatsoever!! WAHOO!

Well, actually that's not true. According to what I've been learning in Government and Politics, your freedom of speech and press can be limited if it "compels state (government in general) interest." So what does that mean, 'compels state interest?' Let me explain. First of all, the freedom of speech and press does not apply to the private sector, meaning that anything that is privately owned (not under the direct control of the national government) can restrict your freedom speech. For example, if I worked at a gun store and I showed up to work with a "Bernie 2016" shirt on, I could potentially be forced to change my outfit, suspended or fired from my job by my superiors. Because my place of work is a part of the private sector, this would be perfectly legal. The private sector is also allowed to censor anything you post to social media during work hours or any subject that relates specifically to your place of work.

The phrase "Congress shall make no law..." doesn't literally mean: no law. The Supreme Court has created exceptions. If what you express (via Social Media or otherwise) has 1) excessive interference with others, 2) lying with malicious intent, 3) could potentially harm (mentally, physically, emotionally, etc.) children, 4) threaten public order or national security, or 5) threaten public morals, your expression is subject to legal actions against you.     

Here is a fascinating article about how student athletes, as well as professional athletes, have been subject to legal repercussions for posting on their social media during games, at socials, and on their own time. It has gotten to a point a point where it has become such a problem that the NBA prohibits athletes from posting anything on social media during game or practice times.

So, yes we do live in a country that grants us inalienable rights to freedom of speech and press, however that does not mean we have free reign on whatever we want to express at any time, especially on our social media accounts. We have to learn to take extra caution when we post things in today's world. As we are quickly becoming a generation that uses Facebook to rant about our complaints about things as small as getting the wrong order at Starbucks all the way up to serious issues such as making "jokes" about rape, we have to be constantly vigilant of what we post online.

Why I Hate Skype

I really, really hate Skype. I hate Skype almost as equally as much as I hate Christopher Columbus - if you know me personally you know how big of deal this is. Christopher Columbus (the “CC word,” as I refer to him) is the scum of the Earth, and if I had three wishes I would go back in time and use my three wishes to sink every single one of his ships, The Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Mariahhhhhhhhhhhhh (that is the sound that Columbus would make as he sank into the cold ocean and DIED).

Anyways...

I didn’t realize how much I hated Skype until I met the love of my life: Google Hangouts. I believe that Google Hangouts are one of the most underused - yet best distance communication platforms. I’ve already mentioned this once in one my other blog posts, but I thought that Google Hangouts deserved a proper post to itself.

There is no doubt that Skype is the most popular way to video chat, I mean the word ‘skype’ has become its own verb: “are we skyping tonight?” and “I’ll skype you later.” But Google Hangouts, if more people knew about it, I believe, would easily surpass Skype. It has so many more features than Skype that are FREE to use. Using these two articles, (1 and 2) as well as my own experiences, I have compiled a list of reasons why Google Hangouts is better than Skype.

Google Hangouts, (which I may refer to as ‘GH’ throughout this blog) allows up to ten people at once to be in a video conference, and while Skype allows up to 25 people, you have to pay in order to get that feature. I’ve used a Hangout before with five other people when we were all studying for a big test we had the next day. It was so much easier than having to find a place to collaborate and waste gas driving all around to get there. I’ve also used a Hangout when I tutor kids down in Salt Lake, GH has this great feature that allows you write on the screen that Skype doesn’t offer. So when I’m up here at college and one of the kids I tutor needs help, I can just open a hangout and draw out the equations on the screen so that they can see my work when solving the problem.

Whenever I have used Skype in the past or observed someone using it, I always had connectivity problems. The screen would freeze, people get cut off, the audio stops working or isn’t clear, you name it and I most likely dealt with it. The great thing about GH is that it rarely has any bandwidth problems. I disagree with the first article mentioned above, I think GH quality exceeds that of Skype. The number of times that I have had to end a Skype call because of bad connection is much higher than that of GH. With Hangouts, you can also call landline and cell phone participants for free as long as they are in the US or Canada. Skype charges a per minute fee for this.

Another awesome feature of GH is that besides being able to write on the screen, there are other ‘apps’ that you can use too. It provides a suite of productivity apps that let users share what’s on their screen, collaborate in Google Docs, and view presentations and diagram. There’s also these really fun emojis that you can use on the screen, sound bits that you can play, and you can change the background of where you’re at - so it looks like you’re on a beach or on the Megatron in Times Square.

Above all, my favorite part of GH is that there are FILTERS. Yes, you better believe it. Everyone loves a good filter, that’s why Snapchat and Instagram are so popular! On Skype I always looked really gross in the video - I looked pasty white and I couldn’t find a decent angle to be at. On GH, you can alter the lighting and make it look much more like yourself than usual. It’s pretty great. There are some effects you can add to in Skype as well, but the variety is much better in GH.

Overall, my experience with GH has been one billion times better than Skype and I encourage you all to use it next time you make a videocall.

Battle of the Platforms: Google Review vs. Yelp

As someone who has only a little experience on Yelp and literally no experience on Google Reviews, I thought it would be useful to do more research into the two of them and figure out which one is the better of the location-based platforms.

With the help of this article, along with my own opinions, and complaints and praises I have heard, I was able to compile a pros and cons list for both Google Reviews and Yelp.

Yelp was founded in 2004 to help people find local businesses like dentists, hair stylists, mechanics, and restaurants. It had a monthly average of 86 million unique visitors who visited Yelp via their mobile device in 2015. Yelpers have written more than 95 million reviews expressing their opinions and giving ratings out of 5 Stars to service places they visit. In addition to reviews, you can use Yelp to find events, lists and to talk with other Yelpers. Every business owners can set up a free account to post photos and message their customers.

Pros of Yelp:

- It is easier to use (compared to Google Reviews)

- Currently, it is the #1 site for local reviews and recommendations - leading to lots of traffic, which is great for those businesses

- Unlike Google Reviews, you do not need an account to search for reviews/recommendations (you do need an account to post a review, however.)

Cons of Yelp:

-Can filter out legitimate business reviews through the Yelp Review Filter

- More ads, less local business

Google Reviews:

(Sometimes referred to as Google+Local Reviews) Essentially, it works very similarly to Yelp, one difference being that you have to have a Google+ account to use it. However, the chances are that you already have a Google+ account whether you're aware of it or not.

Pros:

-Google is the most powerful search engine in the world - if your business is under Google reviews, anytime someone searches something related to your business name there's a higher possibility that your business will get noticed intentionally and unintentionally. In short, Google reviews are attached to how google organizes its search results. That's not something you'll get on Yelp.

-The more activity you have on any of the Google platforms = more attention for your business in search engine results

-Even though Yelp will show up on Google search, it's likely to be 2 or 3 down the line after Google reviews.

-Minimizes spam and sorting out false reviews much better than Yelp

-Ability to manage your location, reviews and listing all in one, easily accessible place

-Greater SEO power than Yelp

-YouTube integration - as well as all other Google applications

Cons:

-Exclusively designed for people in your Circles, those who are not in your Circles have a little bit of a harder time finding all of your information

-Google+, despite all it's worth, still has a very small active user base

-Harder to navigate compared to Yelp

While there are many people who claim, with strong evidence, that Google Reviews will surpass Yelp soon. And while it definitely seems that Google Reviews are the place to go whether you are interested in advertising your local business or if you are trying to find the best place for food, services, and other recommendations. However, I personally will continue to use Yelp over Google Reviews simply out of habit. That may be the one thing that will continue to drive Yelp over the top, humans are creatures of habit, we do not like to stray from the comfort of our own platforms.

Most Used Platforms: Are Haters Gonna Hate? Let's Talk About Google+

After reading the topic for this week’s discussion, Most Used Platforms, I began my search by looking for what the number one platform is. I found a website that had this fantastic graph:

As you can tell, Facebook is the clear winner with little brother YouTube jogging to attempt to keep up. This made sense to me, as it seems that everybody and their dog has a FB (I mean that quite literally, I follow four accounts for people’s dogs. If you’re not following Doug the Pug, are you even really living?) As I continued to scan down the graph I found myself chuckling about how Yahoo! Answers - the bargain brand, Western Family of search engines - had outranked Google+ by a small, but significant amount. This got me thinking, why does Google+ get such a bad rap? For a platform that has 300 million users, (Google+ beats out Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, and Twitter in the number of users!) you’d think that it would be more popular among the social media platforms. This peaked my interest even more, so I started to search for answers as to why people seem to dislike Google+ as much as they do.

After reading for a while I started noticing recurring complaints about why people seem to hate Google+:

1. “It’s a lame version of Facebook - I don’t understand the circles thing”
2. “There is a forced sign in”
3. “It’s just another platform”
4. “Google+ is a failed project”
5. “Google+ ruined YouTube”

After reading all these articles, (1, 2, 3 - the third one is actually a google forum complaining about Google+...on google...while using their Google+ accounts to complain, which makes me chuckle) I began to wonder if there was actual truth behind these complaints, or if it was more of a bandwagon effect. I started to investigate their claims and see if there was actual validity behind them, with help/more information from this website I was able to help develop my own rebuttals to many of the complaints.

“Google is just a lame version of Facebook - I don’t understand the circles - It’s a copycat”

            Rebuttal: Isn’t Facebook a lame version of Twitter??? - I’ll save that argument for another time. But in all seriousness, Google+ actually functions much better than Facebook ever could. “Facebook conversions are falling, Google+ conversions are rising. Google+ search, tools, SEO and community segmentation is better, so is their privacy. As time wears on, Google+ continues to grow, improve and excel” (SocialMediaImpact.com). As for the circles - it’s actually quite simple. You organize people into groups and then can choose what groups you want to see the things you post, that’s it! Nothing too complicated about that. Facebook has actually developed a new tool that does this exact same thing, only they call it groups. Who’s the copycat now?

“Google+ is just another platform - has failed YouTube - failed project”

            Rebuttal: Google runs the world, and “Google+ is single handily changing the world of SEO. If for no other reason, you need an account to feed your SEO efforts. Plus no other platforms aside from LinkedIn give you direct access to influencers for marketing purposes” (SocialMediaImpact.com).  If you have a business and you’re not utilizing Google+, you seriously need to rethink your marketing strategy. And no, Google+ didn’t fail YouTube, it SAVED YouTube. YouTube is in the safest hands possible with Google in charge. So what, you can no longer post your mean comments on videos anonymously? What a travesty.

            So, overall I think that Google+ is getting more hate than it deserves. I get that there are some functions that are irritating and it takes some time to get used to but isn’t that how it is with all new platforms you join? Besides there is one part of Google+ that I personally enjoy the most and use it over any other platform that performs the same function: Google Hangouts. Google Hangouts are probably the coolest thing about Google+. I don’t know about you, but I ALWAYS have terrible connectivity problems when I use Skype, FaceTime or any other video chat platform. Google Hangouts has great video quality and I rarely experience any troubles with it. It also comes with these fun special effects so you can draw on the screen, play sounds, screen share, change your background, and so many other possibilities.