When I first thought about doing a sports post, the easy choice was the #TakeAKnee movement but I wanted to go with something closer to home and a little different. Oakland California has seen its share of sports ups and downs and despite the recent successes of the Golden State Warriors I contend are in the midst of their biggest down of all time. Two out of their current three professional sports franchises have called the moving trucks and are moving out of town. Read more
Month: October 2017
#Follow 5 People you don’t #agree with
The ability that social media has provided virtually everyone to have a platform to voice their opinion is something unique and will shape the future of many things. Pull open Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram and you now have a stream of updates from your second cousin you never see to your favorite celebrities feelings on the news of the day. Read more
#MeToo takes over social media
Unless you have been living in a cave for the past 24 hours or only have male Facebook friends, and even then it may still be hard not to have had your newsfeeds flooded with two words: Me too. This was born out of a tweet by Alyssa Milano calling for all women who had been sexually harassed to simply update their status or post: Me too. Read more
The lighter side: #Food #Foodie #FoodPorn
The majority of the post have been about social media’s use of the # to call for advocacy but in my, about me page, I promised to add some lighter topics. This is the first of those post, it’s something we all take part in food!
- #Foodie
- #FoodPorn
- #NomNom
- #Food
- #Chef
The #Local Movement
Social media often calls on us for action, sometimes it’s for prayers, sometimes it’s to boycott, and other times its to support a cause. When I analyzed the #PrayFor movements, I concluded that raising awareness is great, but does little to further a cause when we stop after solely hitting the retweet button and move on.
In a little over a month from now just after our great annual tradition of stuffing our faces with turkey, we will be asked to shop small for #SmallBusinessSaturday. Ironically this “shopping holiday” is an idea created by multibillion-dollar credit card issuer American Express, but I believe in the root cause and without their support and advertising budget, the true small business may not have been able to create, organize, and implement something of this nature. Read more
About that whole #BoycottUnited movement
I find the #BoycottUnited movement to be one of the most interesting in the social media space. It created a lasting policy change for one of the countries largest airlines, which could be considered a big win, but in reality, it was a giant Twitter storm with very little to no effect. Let’s examine the case of David Dao, United Airlines, and a bloody lip.
On a few fateful days in back in early April, United Airlines took part in what could be considered one of the worst public relations disasters to ever occur on a plane. Four passengers were randomly chosen by a computer to be deplaned in order to accommodate United staff that needed to be shifted to a work site, three complied and left the aircraft. Read more
Digital Prayers
Quite frequently we have a new hashtag springing up encouraging us to pray on behalf of someone, something, or someplace. It generally looks like this: #PrayFor_______.
Some of the most recent popular prayer tags are listed here:
- #PrayForSantaRosa
- #PrayForVegas
- #PrayForHouston
- #PrayForPuertoRico
- #PrayForManchester
A modern take on social advocacy
When the first box of tea was tossed into the Boston Harbor over 240 years ago individuals have been rallying together to support each other against injustices and causes they opposed. On that fateful night Samuel Adams and his compatriots set in motion a series of events that led to war, and three years later the United States of America was founded.
Since 1776 America has been the home to many protest and social reforms. Peoples ability to join together to take on oppression, injustices, or discrimination has led to lasting changes and shaped our modern day existence. As the causes have evolved so too has the format in which these efforts of social advocacy occur. Historically these efforts existed as a large-scale protest or march in a city. One of the largest occurred in 1995 in Washington D.C. it was organized and billed as the “Million Man March.” Read more