Category: Technology

Hack Harassment with Lady Gaga

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What do you think of when you hear Lady Gaga?

Me, I think a strange character, but bold and inspiring.

Screen Shot 2016-02-22 at 3.21.54 PMShe uses her fame to stands up for what she believes and isn’t afraid to be unique and different from others. She puts motivation in everything she does.  Now she is doing it for a group of people that you always hear about but never seem to get the help until it’s too late. These are the victims of cyber bully’s.

 

Lady Gaga’s foundation,“Born This Way,” is working with Intel, Vox, and Re/code to #hackharassment.  According to the Pew Research Center, about 40% of people experience cyberbullying or some type of harassment but only about 5% report it to the police. Online bullying doesn’t start and stop with a specific age group. It can happen across all age groups. However, the most impacted are between the ages of 18 to 29.  With those alarming percentages, Lady Gaga has brought these businesses together to work on providing a positive change in social media and other technologies.

 

They begin this journey by hosting a hack-a-thon. Programmers from around the world will come together to put a stop to the online abuse.  Their products will be shown at the Code Conference from May 31st through June 2nd, in California.

Online bullying has always been an issue and has been pushed under the rug for far too long.  According to Hack Harassment, about 29% of people that are harassed fear for their lives.  Why not report these things? Why live in fear?

Cyberbullying is no joke and can cause people to take drastic measures including giving up on life. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich issued a statement saying, “We need to remember that behind every device, game, sensor or network is a real person with real feelings and real needs for safety,” according to Billboard.

Just like the old saying “treat people the way you want to be treated.” Check out #hackharassment and start your own movement to stand up and end this issue.

Why Won’t You Consider Social Media?

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A lot of small businesses today don’t give social media the consideration and priority it needs. Social media has proven to be an effective marketing tool for “Big Business.” So why the lag in small business using this tool? Technology has become an essential tool for anything and everything. It is the heartbeat of our younger generations and our older generations need to stop rejecting it and accept that it is the future advertising your business.

Buffer Social and Pace both agree that having a social media account can really help a business, no matter what product they are selling. If you aren’t on social media, it may be harder for consumers to find your business. Just having a website isn’t enough to get your company’s message out to the consumer. A Twitter account is also necessary for businesses so people can follow what you’re doing and what’s trending in your business arena.

How will you know what’s in style if you aren’t searching for what people want? Twitter isn’t just about tweeting, you can do a live broadcast, search and get your next big idea.

Why wouldn’t you want to have a Twitter or social media account as a business?

When you have social media you are already one-step closer than other businesses that aren’t active. You can showcase your products and pull people in from around the world. You or your business can be the next trendsetter.

Pace likes to use social media but believes that live streaming will be the next move. In their article, Why 2016 Will Be the Year of Live Streaming, they say that video watching has increased 616% from 2012 to 2015. Since technology took off, people’s attention spans have decreased. No one wants to sit and read a novel when there are pictures, videos, or a story that will get right to the point. People want to know the details right away and then keep looking.

On the other hand, Buffer Social believes that an important tool to utilize is the social media calendar. It keeps you organized and helps your find what is trending faster.

An example of a successful website is BLDG 25. BLDG 25’s blog gives their readers the opportunity that Pace and Social Buffer offer. If you like their blog post or pictures, you can share it with your audience on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and hundreds of other social media outlets. These outlets are very active, and when someone shares their post, it spreads like wild fire.

This is important for businesses because these sites give you tips and tools to use to help your business get consumers attention everywhere. After reading some of their articles, I have looked up some of their tools and plan to get started using them. Not really sure about the whole live broadcasting tool, but the calendar and other websites will keep me up-to-date me on trends and keep me organized.

What tools would you use? Or what do you already use?

The World at Our Fingertips

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Apple I, Quick Take, IMac, IPod, and IPhone all have something in common. They are all part of the technology revolution started in the 1970’s assembled by Apple Inc.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, both college dropouts, started Apple in a garage. They knew technology was going to explode and they set out to create the personal computer. The mission was to create a computer system that would eventually be in homes around the world.

That being said, it’s crazy that today in corporate America your level of education has everything to do with your success in the corporate arena. Yet some of the most successful people in the world both past and present didn’t finish college.

Steve Jobs and the creation of Apple has clearly gone above and beyond in terms of success. Look around you, is there some type of Apple product near you? As we look around our homes and offices today, you will likely see an Apple product.

One thing that may anger a lot of people is always having to download the new updates or new software versions that come out. Sometimes their products don’t function correctly so they have you download an update to better the appliance, even if it is relatively new and all the kinks haven’t been thoroughly vetted. Then there’s the charger that constantly breaks and needs replacing.

According to USA Today they had a poll showing that students still want Apple but Android does seem to have better apps and features. So what draws us to keep buying Apple?

People still like to buy Apple because they feel like they have the world at their fingertips. Apple does a phenomenal job and making you feel this way. They want consumers to always feel up to date and trendsetting. They meet the demand of the hip new world.

But, Apple isn’t immune to negative publicity. Their devices seem to break easily, repairs don’t seem to fix the issues with software upgrades, and their costs are outrageous.

But will those issues ever change if people keep buying their products?

Probably not.