A Blog About Blogging

One of the things that enjoy reading the most on the internet is academic witty banter. I hesitate to use the word academic, but I will explain that in just a moment. I think that short witty banter is currently in high demand as memes, gifs, and other clever quips go viral by the second. Part of the reason why this could be is because they are easy to connect with, they are about an interesting topic, and of course they are comical. Just as I think some memes are more worthy or true than others, I feel the same about blogs. I love blogs that make me think and mostly that make me laugh. I am a person that loves to rant and loves to form open opinions about many topics. One of the best places to find this common interest without having to leave my couch, is reading blogs. Here is my disclaimer though: I feel like "good" blogs are hard to find, and I feel like I have to have an academic background knowledge before I believe blogs.

I think that blogs are a perfect tool to use to further a thought process, idea, explanation, hypothesis, or something that you noticed in the academic arena. While there are many blogs that are not about these things, like a food blog, book blog, or a play-by-play of a persons life blog, I am not really discussing these ones. But as a quick side note I think that it is amazing that people can find a blog for just about anything they are interested. This is one of the main reasons that bloggers become successful in blogging what they are passionate about as seen in an interview of famous blogger Jaime Derringer. Blogs written by critics, activists, and forward thinkers are what I am addressing. A video that I watched awhile ago sums up how blogs are a place that we can talk about and question things in blogging that we can't in any other place. As said in the video (around 3:15) blogging is a space that claims can be made and discussed before they become an actual fact on paper. This is why I love blogs. I think that it is extremely important for people to realize that is a claim until proven otherwise. I think that blogs can be helpful to start questioning things, get a creative thought process going that can then be thought about. So much idea for thought and action can come from blogs. I also like that typically the language that is used in blogs is usually easier to understand and just more fun to read than academics journals to be honest (again academia should confirm what is said before it becomes "fact"). This makes blogs sometimes feel more accessible and useful.

In return to bloggers, people can comment on others blogs and become a part of the thinking process. If there is a blog that is asking a question, (like the video brought up, is the Pope gay?) it is now open for public discussion and discourse can happen on the topic. This discourse and criticism is something that can happen maybe more openly on blogging sites that it may not be able to in others. 

I realize that this discussion has focused on a very specific type of blog, but to be honest that is mostly what I read. From political blogs to feminist blogs, I mostly like readings other peoples rants and forward thinking thoughts. I think that it is a useful place to go for new insights that I can take further and more academic if I want. I think that is is an interesting place to have and read discussion that is I find valuable and other people do too. I feel like I have also explained my hesitations when it comes to reading blogs and what "good" blog looks like to me. 

Change in Social Media

When social media started the actual use of it was in the simply conceptualized by the word "social." It was created to socialize and connect with other people over the internet. I don't think that I am really saying anything new when I say that it has completely changed how we (a human population) now interacts, but new impacts of social media are realized everyday. Now not only can we chat with friends, peers, or business partners around the world, the options of how we interact are becoming more and more varied. There are now studies that are being completed that show how interactions that happen through a medium either than face-to-face defer from one another, revealing the positives and negatives to these changes. Moreover businesses are now seeing many ways to use social media to promote business in ways that weren't even thought of a few years ago. Communications can happen quickly and more efficiently than in the past, which naturally spurs more innovation and competition (whether that be socially or professionally). I think that discussions about social media are always accompanied with the question at what cost? With anything that is new or non-traditional, as social media consistently proves to be, more questions are made about is it useful? What are the consequences, good or bad, of the changes of communication patterns through new media? These are questions that have to constantly be asked and researched as the new inventions are made in the social media realm all the time.

Social Media Case Reflection #1

In light of the Kilroy's Bar & Grill customer reaction to being (arguably) mistreated as she was trying to pay her $700+ bill while someone was dying from a heart attack, this blogpost will focus on three different concepts that stood out to me while reading articles about the viral facebook feed.

1: Let's first talk about the customer's reaction. Where it is now common for people to use their various social media profiles to rant, this particular customer even thought that is was appropriate to rant about the poor service she felt she received on the facebook page of the actual business. I thought this was interesting because I want to know what her goal was in doing this. Was she looking for a response from management, possibly hoping to get a discount on another meal? Was she wanting to warn other customers (even after she establishes that this place had long been a part of her New Years tradition) about the horrible service? As a frequent customer I would think she would want to talk to management specifically about the one waitress that "ruined" her experience because clearly it had not been that way in the past. Moreover, the language that she used was so offensive and clearly privileged. Even if the person that, at the time, was thought to be dead was a "junkie" she still shouldn't have blamed the staff nor the establishment for "allowing them in." The reason why this post probably went so viral was because people recognized that this customer (I like the reasons why  IndyStar didn't include her name so I will do the same, see article here) clearly had no regarrd or respect for a human life at all. If she did she would have understood that the staff and everyone else in the bar would have been very sad, or heartbroken for whoever was being wheeled out. It was a traumatic scene for everyone to witness but just because her waitress didn't respond to her quickly and kindly this ill person was an "inconvenience" to her night. It was her right and freedom to post, however it was in a public space and she should have recognized the risk of putting such an insensitive post on facebook.

2: Now let's look at the response from a gentlemen in management of the bar. Just as the customer had a right to post in the public sphere, this manager did as well. However, instead of his own personal reputation to risk, he was also risking the reputation of Kilroy's. Luckily his post ended up gaining support and boosting support for his business. It was risky. I think that the passive aggressive response while 100% justified was not the most professional response. The response did show that the company had it best interests for itself and its customers at heart. It cleared up what could have been taken other ways by people reading the post. According to a Forbes article, ideal social media presence has been changing for businesses versus what businesses have been using social media for in the past. The manager in his response showed exactly what the article lists, showing the brand culture, responding quickly, respecting the audience, and many more things could be assumed about the management and the establishment. All in my opinion were really good things. I think that his reponse also empowered many other business owners to consider situations and maybe question the common phrase "the customer is always right" because in this case the customer wasn't and the business gained benefits by not bowing down and agreeing with the customer as most people would.

3: Lastly I think it is important to talk about the response of people who saw the viral post. The cruel responses and near vigilante justice that some people were trying to serve was almost ironic. The customer with the response faced death threats, harassment, and even potentially lost her job because people saw her name and hunted her down. This is phenomenon of people cruelly responding and "putting people in their place" is something fairly new due to social media. Often talked about as something that occurs because of the lack of face to face interaction there could be a disconnect that allow people to say more offensive and cruel things. However sadly, this women's reputation was completly ruined along with any poor person who shared her same name in the area (see Huffington Post article). While the post was awful and ridiculous it does not justify the actions that were taken against her and others with the same name. One rant on facebook should not ruin the quality of life that someone can live after expressing their thoughts and feelings through freedom of speech. I think that is should have just stayed within the realm of the facebook page and that others should not have became involved in telling this women off in just as cruel rants about her as she wrote about the dying person.

Overall, I think that this case could start a lot of important discussions and questions about the social media and business and what proper responses to situations like these should look like.