Samantha Krotzer

Archive for March, 2011

Out of curiosity, I checked out Apple. Does a company with such a following even need a strong social media presence? I assumed that most of their social media presence would be created by Apple users rather than an official presence. We all know what they say about people who assume things — but this time it looks like I was right!

Just like everyone knows what the moon is, everyone knows what Apple is. Even ET.

Digging around on Apple’s Web site I didn’t find any kind of connection to Facebook or Twitter. No liking things, no sharing products with friends. Apple has such a following and their Web site shows that they don’t depend on social media to get the word out there about Apple products. To see what kind of pages have been created for Apple on Facebook, I did a general search for “Apple” under pages and there are multiple results:

134,189 people like “apple ”

65,027 people like “Apple”

23,154 people like “The Apple Trap”

277,054 people like “Apple Products”

All of these pages have been created by a random Facebook user, no Apple authority, and act as an open forum for people to post why the love or hate Apple.

On Twitter, Apple doesn’t have much of a presense besides people talking about apple. Tweets are abundant with “#apple” or any hashtag discussing Apple products. But, there is no verified Twitter account for Apple in general. I found an article claiming that the Senior Vice President of iPhone software, Scott Forstall, has a Twitter and was verified as being from Apple. The article, which can be accessed here, was the only way I was able to find any official Twitter connection to Apple. When you search for Apple on Twitter the only results you get are the verified accounts for iTunes TV. Funny thing is, Forstall has never tweeted.

Maybe we can attribute that Apple got “cool” around the same time that Facebook started to catch on. Furthermore, Apple was definitely at an established level of “coolness” before Twitter was in the now. Therefore, such a mega company with a cult-like following ( I am not judging, I love me some Apple) I can easily understand why they don’t think an official presence on these social media networks in necessary. Consumers and the media are doing all of the talking for them — for free.

In comparison, I want to look at something that is big in Philly, but next to apple an ant: the Reading Terminal Market. They’ve recently gotten into social media as a form of marketing and advertising.

Are the Pennsylvania Dutch allowed to tweet? To have a Facebook? Let's @reply the market and ask!

On the market’s Web site the first announcement is encouraging visitors to follow the market on Twitter and be involved on the Facebook page. The respective “f” and “t” are there — actually that is all that is there. At this point there is no need to write out the full names, all you need is that little logo and everyone knows what to do.

In my opinion, the market is doing a nice job at keeping up with their social media voice. They are keeping the postings unique to either Facebook or Twitter and have a good variety of information. They often use pictures, too. Currently the market at 6,626 fans on Facebook and 2,398 followers on Twitter. I would measure the success of the market’s social media efforts not by likes, but my the dialogue that has been created. But, to mention the likes and followers, to see that many fans, likes and followers in a short amount of time is impressive considering that a large number of the patrons are older and more likely to opt out on the social media craze. Back to the dialogue, there are conversations happening on the Facebook wall, which I think speaks in volumes about the success of the network. People are “liking” what they see and returning and engaging in conversations that revolve around the market.

I will admit, I used to be very against foursquare. I was also very public with my hate of foursquare. Who cares where anyone is? Not me! Well, I guess I care now because I am totally into foursquare. Perhaps I didn’t fully understand what foursquare was during my hating days. Let me break it down just incase we have some haters on the fence.

foursquare has changed a little bit...

Foursquare is a relatively simple social networking Web site. You create a username — it seems as if most people choose to use their full names. Once you have set up your account with your username and your location you can start “checking in” to difference places that you go. I’ve found that there is where most of the “who cares!?!?!” stem from. Why check in? A lot of establishments are starting to have specials if you check in. Let’s say you are at a bar and you check in — there could be a discounted price on beer if you show your server that you checked in at that establishment on foursquare. Also, people who check in there can write tips for other users: order this, don’t you dare oder that, this place is the most fun on Thursday nights. As a user, if you are not sure where to go or what to get you can consult foursquare users. It serves as a great business tool as well because you can see in very much real time what people are saying about your establishment.

Besides check-ins and surfing through the tips that other users post you can have friends on foursquare and then you can see where they check in at. And what’s the purpose of that? It is just fun to see what they are doing.

To get started just visit www.foursquare.com and set up your account and then you can download the appropriate mobile app so that you can actually use your foursquare while you are out. I think that you can even set up your account on your cell phone, but I just prefer getting it started on a computer because it is faster to key in the requested information.

Want to be my friend on foursquare? My username is just my name: Samantha Krotzer.

photo credit: Google images

Ever want to put a PDF on Facebook but you didn’t know how do it??? issuu.com is your answer!

It is super easy — all you have to do is make an account (free!) and then you can upload PDFs onto your issuu library. From the library it creates a link and then you can share it on multiple media platforms, not just Facebook.

I uploaded the first issue of Fourteenth Street magazine onto my issuu account so that when the issue is released I will be able to post the entire magazine on the magazine’s Facebook wall.

I will show you just how easy it is to do today during my presentation!

I’m the editor-in-chief of Temple’s student run magazine, Fourteenth Street. I can confidently say that our organization is mostly a decentralized organization.

As I am essentially in charge I do have a co-editor, but we don’t really bark orders so to speak. When we make decisions it is very much a group process and I prefer if we can all work out a solution together rather than just me deciding how we are going to do things whether they like it or not.

Why we are decentralized is mostly because we all have equal power in a sense — we all need each other in order to put out the magazine. The section editors need to produce content and the photographers need content in order to know what to take photos of and then the designers need all of the content in order to create the magazine. And, therefore, the designers need the section editors and the photographers in order to have anything to design. Here is where a sense of centralization comes in. While the section editors have freedom to find their own content for their section, I have the power to step in if their ideas aren’t the strongest and change them. More importantly, my job is to make sure that everyone is moving along and meeting deadlines. To summarized, they figure out what they are doing (with my approval) and then I tell them when to get it done by. If everyone puts in real effort then essentially they have a lot of creative freedom and all I have to do it to tell them when it is due and help them along the way with anything that they need.

Of course, it never runs that smoothly, but that is the outline of how it would work if everyone worked hard at their jobs.

P.S. the magazine’s first issue of 2011 comes out Tuesday (March 29) grab a copy! It will be distributed as an insert to the Temple News.

Maybe not 12, but I can think of four. Four can easily turn into 12 in a few months, right?

When Christine Cavalier talks about the “fellow believers” I definitely think that there is a connection to the ideology in the decentralized organizations. The ideology describes a sense of belonging and a feeling of purpose. This closely links with the idea of having “believers.” Creating an environment where one is surrounded by others that accept you and make you feel as if you are part of their group, or community, is the same thing as saying being surrounded by people who believe in you and your cause. I think Cavalier just describes it a bit more blunt.

In Cavalier’s post, what made the most sense was the last “S,” support. I feel as if meeting people and initially getting them to “believe” in you is the easy part. Where a lot of people slip up is when they don’t support each other and don’t maintain the relationships that they create. The more often that a person creates these networks with people and then doesn’t bother to work on keeping the relationships current and positive quickly gets a bad reputation. Having that said, if people think that you are selfish and only want to benefit from others without helping anyone then initially getting anyone to “believe” in you is going to be a difficult task.

In regards to the post overall, I agree with her definition of “community” in this context. However, I can’t say that I was in love with her delivery of said information. That’s the thing with blogging, the blogger can have really unique things to say, but if they toss in little unnecessary quips it makes the reader, me, want to stop reading even if I will find out something new if I trudge through. Thus, if I didn’t need to read all of this she would have lost me before she even got to the S3 approach. Ignoring my personal qualms, her content hit the nail on the head. If who is part of the community is confused with non-community members the significance and purpose of the community is almost void.

(images: Google images)