Viral Links Assignment

Video: 

How many of us grew up watching television? I assume most of us did. We would know which show would be on at what time, and we would all follow a specific television show. According to Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician and a researcher on how television affects children, we are all digital natives and have grown up in this so called "digital" era with technology. Therefore I made a video about how children today watch television and how they have evolved with this technology. At the end of the video I provide a link for parents to find tips on limiting the amount of screen time that their children are allowed to watch everyday.

For the overall message of this video to be heard we were required to use certain social media sites to effectively distribute and get people to be aware of our videos and messages. Here are a few examples of how I used these mediums:

Twitter: 

This was one of the memes that I decided to post on twitter. I did not write much while posting the tweet and only used hashtags because I wanted the meme to speak for itself. Although everything that I had posted was presented in a serious light, this was intended to pose a kind of humor to lure audiences to look more into the subject at hand. This was intended to attract younger audiences who are more aware of the uses of memes and their humor. One of the hashtags that I used for this tweet was a trending hashtag, and my intention in doing that was to get the attention of a wide range of people. This tactic however was not very effective.

I tweeted my video to get the circulation going and for people to watch my video. I utilized hashtags in order to gain the attention of people who were dealing with my subject. Since my topic was such a broad topic I could not really find specific hashtags to utilize. 

This was another meme that I utilized for my cause. I thought the humor could add  more followers and also stand out amongst a number of tweets. I tagged the university where I had gathered the statistic from, in hopes of getting more followers or favorites that way, that also was not really helpful or the time I posted it might have been the cause because it was on a weekend. From this post however I got one follower: @ TV_Agant.

Although I posted many tweets, this one got more attention because of the hashtag technology. I also tagged Chritakis Dimitri in this twitter post but I realized that his last tweet was made in 2013, so he was unfortunately not an active twitter user. Technology news and technology stories, twitter websites were interested in this tweet. Such cases such as people favoriting my tweets and then undoing their favorites the next day, happened and I do not know the reason why. I had two followers one day and the next day the same people who had followed me unfollowed. Later I thought this could be because I did not follow them back.

I thought a visual representation of children watching TV could also be a good way for people to be interested in this topic. This tweet included me asking questions to engage the audience and also putting hashtags about the issue. Since I did not have the freedom of writing a long post like you would in twitter this was the most condensed version of this tweet. I wanted to attract the attention of mothers that were on twitter looking at tweets, therefore I directed the tweet to a specific audience. The use of exclamation marks and question marks added to the engaging tone. I had one favorite for this tweet that that was from C&MDomesticAppliances.

Facebook:

Facebook was a medium in which I really did not know how to utilize. I had deactivated my Facebook in 2010 and had not used it since then, so I opened a new Facebook account with only a few Facebook friends. With this in mind I wanted to first share my video to really show what my message was about. From the people I added I knew there were new mom's amongst them and so some of my Facebook posts were concentrated on parenting tips and questions to engage them. 

This was my first infographic that I had posted on Facebook, I posted two on there. The first infographic was about the effects TV had on children that was the condensed version of some of the statistics that I had placed in my video. After I had posted that I put this infographic on Facebook. That is the reason why I wrote "If you were really blown away from the statistics... earlier" because I wanted them to visit my Facebook page in order to see that infographic also. This infographic was a condensed version of the link I shared at the bottom of my video on youtube of providing tips for parents. This post got attention from parents.

This was my third meme that I decided to post on Facebook instead of twitter, the reason for that was because I also wanted to add more humor to my Facebook posts. Also the group of friends that I have added on Facebook are a group of parents that can sympathize with this notion of not watching too much TV and playing outside more. Therefore I though the message could more strongly be circulated in this medium, and I had posted two memes on twitter already and I thought it would be too many memes back to back as tweets, and it would thus decrease the seriousness of my message.

Vine: 

I made three vines from a character I created named Jo. I thought that this could be humorous and that Jo could represent the average kid addicted to watching television. His videos consist of me asking him questions and he is answering to each of them with something related to watching TV. I thought that once my audience gets used to watching videos about Jo they might want to follow to see more videos about him. I also used the technique of stop motion to shoot this vines.

This was a vine about the dilemma we have of either going outside to socialize or to stay inside and watch a movie. I shared this vine to relate to a lot of people who experience this mind boggling question. This vine includes a shot of the mac/TV and a window which sticky notes that are supposed to symbolize my thought process. 

This video includes portions of my video. The reason I wanted to add portions of my video was to in a way promote my video and it's cause. Also I added the portion of looney tunes so more people and a broader audience could reach out and watch my vine, because of the hashtags that I utilized. This surprisingly got a like because of that hashtag. 

Becoming a Social Media Maniac

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Blogger: all of these names are quite familiar to you, I presume. You might even have a couple of accounts from each as you share your life away, everyday or just scroll through the posts mindlessly. The fact that you are on a blogger account, reading this blog says a lot about you already. You might characterize yourself as an active social media user or simply a “scroller” of content, but whatever you are, you are reading this to become a “au naturel” a “pro” at what you do everyday.

Initially, the fact that you own one of these social media accounts is quite irrelevant, congrats you are doing the same thing as 1.73 billion others, but what you do with this account is what would make you 1 in a billion… As entrepreneur John Rampton puts it, “If you’re not generating conversations or new subscribers, or making any money, then whatever you’re doing has failed.”(2014) Therefore here is a couple of advice that can be helpful for your cause:

1.     Know your target audience: It is crystal clear that you have a message you want to portray and therefore how you depict it is crucial. You need to be aware of your audience’s wants and needs, and in order to capture their notice provide your content in such a way to attract their utmost attention. For example, the Offbeat Brides wedding site, is known to have an amazing Pinterest account where they not only pin items present on their own website but also provides wedding information for soon-to-be exclusive brides. The company is fully aware of its own audience and knows what these brides are craving, to be unique and fabulous on their own wedding day.

2.     Keep your consistency in check: Should you post every minute, every hour, every other day…? This is a question that has no correct answer, unfortunately. It is important to understand what your audience wants. As Rampton puts it, you could send 14 posts throughout the day, but they should be spread out because you never know who’s reading what at what time, therefore you need to keep in mind your global audience.

3.     Know which medium to use: For the Offbeat Brides website the best way to portray their information was through Pinterest, where people go to discover knew and creative ideas. But a company or a law firm might not get very many fans on that social media platform. Therefore it is crucial to know your audience and where they are more likely to linger, and which medium they want to see your posts depicted. If you are humorous maybe perhaps you might want to use twitter to get followers to laugh once in a while among the array of tweets they see everyday, and so on.

4.     Allow opinions to flow: Do not just throw out information to your audience; allow them to contribute to what you have to say. Be engaging, ask questions, ask them to favorite or re-tweet a post, and get their attention get more than just passive attendance.

5.     Be on top of the game: Know what is popular, what is trending, what is most wanted, be updated literally all the time… Because social media does not like playing old school be up to date on the most recent information. It is vital to comment about possibly any news that might be interesting, for example like last week’s Vernal Equinox, incorporating recent news with your message.

No one told you this was an easy task, but once you’re in the game it is hard to get out. It is important to know that no game is lost or won, without getting in and playing it. So do not be discouraged with the information provided. Just get your head in the game, know and strongly believe in what you have to say, know who you want to say it to, and decide how you want to say it… it’s as easy as this. As Jay Baer the hype-free social media and content strategist & speaker puts it, “Use technology to be yourself, and don’t overthink it”.

Screen Story Rhetorical Rationale

My screen story video is about how childhood has been changed with the advent of television. The totality of the video gives information about how television has negatively affected children. Although informative and serious there are parts in the video that convey a rather hopeful and cheerful essence because the ending elucidates that ultimately there can be a solution to excessive TV watching with more cautious parents.

The video begins with the famous Looney Tunes theme song, the familiarity that everyone has with the Looney Tunes cartoons is the main reason I wanted to employ it in my video, because everyone has had experience watching it as a child. Also since this is a video about television I wanted this beginning to serve as a symbol representing television and the majority of the audience has most likely watched these cartoons before.

After this delightful video ends a solemn background music comes with the chattering of kids in the background as well, and on a black screen with white and red writing comes the title of my video: “How Television Changed Childhood.” The reason I wanted to start off with a cartoon and rather a cheery cartoon and then go into a serious state was to elucidate that although we are all in love with watching these cartoons and essentially TV, there is a dark side to the aspect of watching TV as a young child.






A rather serene music comes on in the background as there is a
video about a little girl waking up and going downstairs and just watching television. I took this video in hopes of depicting the nature of kids not caring about playing and going outside, and the first thing they aim to do when they wake up in the morning is watch television. I believe this posed a good start for my video instead of listing statistics back to back after it started.

A different background music comes on, I can characterize this music to be very stern and grave, as I incorporate different statistics about children viewing television, the reason I only put a black background for the first four statistics is to show the real impact of the information and to set a rather serious tone. Also I did not want my viewers to divide their attention to anything else on the screen to make the information more effective.

Afterwards, not to make the audience bored of reading only the statistics, I utilized videos to help the audience visualize the statistics and the impacts of television viewing in children. The reason to why I did not speak in the background was because I wanted the statistics to be read and understood by the audience so it could be open to their interpretations, instead of me telling them the information.

To give a break to the back-to-back statistics I incorporated a video I took during spring break of my sister’s 5^th grade classroom and the survey we did in her classroom. This part of the video, I believe is the best part because it shows the statistics of an average classroom and how their TV viewing varies from the rest of the nation. The statistics I show for how the students compare to the average

child of their age comes after the clips of the 5^th grade classroom. The music I utilized for this part of my video is cheerful and merry because the results of the classroom illuminated that they were different from the average and their TV viewing were minimal compared to the other children of their age group.

The national statistics begins with a tranquil music playing in the background of an acoustic guitar. The reason I employed such music is because although I began the video quite sternly and with an elegiac tone I am getting closer to the end of the video and I do not want my audience to feel depressed as the video closes off. Also melancholy music could also result in the audience closing my video not wanting to see the end. Therefore the hopeful background music leads up to the conclusion where I provided a link for parents to find valuable tips about parenting and managing screen time for their children.

For the ending I utilized tips from videos that I was searching to get ideas from in order have an effective ending for my video. This was very important because just like the beginning which needs a catching hook to gather the attention of the audience, there needs to be a effectual ending in order to leave a mark on the viewer and so the viewer can see the extent to which I was trying to depict the message of excessive TV watching. The title of my video was "How Television Changed Childhood" and I end my video with a quote saying "It's a changing world". I wanted to tie the beginning to the end, so my audience can remember the beginning of the video and acknowledge it's entirety. At the very end the last scene that is exposed to the audience is a list of sources of where I gathered my information as to show that I have credited a few sources and that they information that was within the video was based on research.