Millenials are easily influenced

This week's topics were interesting. I noticed being on social media ALL of the time, that opinions are now easily swayed since everyone is looking at what others think. Content is being watched way more than it is being created. Influencers or opinion leaders are shaping the planet and honestly have no scientific reasoning or any formal training to support their wild beliefs or observations. For this particular blog I skimmed down my Twitter timeline to find a few post from opinion leaders. I personally think in order to be an opinion leader you should have a following of at least 10,000 people on  Twitter or at least 5,000 Facebook friends. I think its quite comical that the people many millenials are very opinionated, share sexualized content and are attractive. If you have Twitter feel free to look at a few of the tweets I looked at as well. The first Twitter account that I observed was a young lady @lipstickthvg, lipstickthvg has gained lots of social media exposure from having a cute face and voluptuous body. Lipstickthvg has 40k Twitter followers. Most of her following is men. Many of her post show off her nice figure and are simply funny Memes. A while back lipstickthvg had a thread about homosexuality that received alot of backlash and upset a few of her followers.  Because most of her following are heterosexual men, her followers were not offended enough to defriend her.  Another follower I observed is a close friend of mine, @iamsmokeybear Smokey is a rapper, who enjoys indulging in cannabis. His fan base are stoner teens across the US. Smokey has 10k followers. On his Twitter he promotes his music and talks about marijuana. Both lipstickthvg and iamsmokeybear have used their strengths to become social media success. Gaining their following may have been strategic or they may have simply gained fans over an a period of time. Since lipstickthvg and smokeybear have fans across the world their opinions reach people at recording breaking time. For instance if I share one of iamsmokeybears post my cousins in Detroit will be able to hear his music although he's a Georgia rapper. I believe most of the time we are being influenced by people and things with out consciously knowing it. I have also noticed that being able to identify with a person on one subject makes me more susceptible to their other beliefs and in return I press the retweet button, simply because I "like" them. I read some interesting facts on The Impact of the Internet. MIT conducted a study that suggests evidence shows that the Internet neither isolates people nor reduces their sociability; it actually increases sociability, civic engagement, and the intensity of family and friendship relationships, in all cultures.
MIT also stated: Globally, time spent on social networking sites surpassed time spent on e-mail in November 2007, and the number of social networking users surpassed the number of e-mail users in July 2009. Today, social networking sites are the preferred platforms for all kinds of activities, both business and personal, and sociability has dramatically increased — but it is a different kind of sociability. Most Facebook users visit the site daily, and they connect on multiple dimensions, but only on the dimensions they choose. I personally know that their research is true. I would much rather communicate on social networks with my friends about topics they have posted on their social media than via text. The internet is a one stop shop for everything entertainment. At night it's so easy to spend countless hours being influenced rather than actually going to sleep. Last week I noticed I had stop thinking solely on my own and decided to take a week long hiatus from social media. During my time away I found myself sneaking to check on some people via their social media sites, rather than  just calling them or meeting face to face. If you've ever found yourself spying or posting a picture in hopes of getting someones attention, you're easily influenced by social media.

Diffusion of Innovations

Hello my name is Kanise Wiggins. I am currently enrolled in my fourth term at Troy University. I attended the University of Alabama during my undergraduate years. At the University of Alabama I began as a broadcast journalism student and finished my degree in Communications studies and minored in African American studies. While at Alabama I discovered I was very interested in journalism and began working on my entertainment website vinkankel.com. I call myself a cultural tastemaker or cultural curator. I am always on the up and up on the latest entertainment news and what millennials enjoy. As a cultural tastemaker and millennial influencer I analyzed how I generated traffic to my own online business Vinkankel.com. Vinkankel.com initially averaged 1,000 views for the first three years it was ran. Vinkankel’s peak months were October through December. The fourth year Vinkankel averaged 200,000 views by examining the behavior of today’s millennials. Vinkankel.com reports entertainment news, particularly music. Vinkankel.com quality circle start studying the hour’s millennials were most active on social media to drive traffic to the site. My organization consists of 4 people who devise solutions for improvement. Vinkankel receives its most traffic between the hours of 4pm – 6pm. Vinkankel’s most popular videos feature artist Drake’s Apple Music commercial and Lil Yachty Sprite campaign. Drake’s Apple Music commercial increased Drake’s sales by 431% (Forbes). Drake is endorsed by T-Mobile, Apple Music and Nike. By posting entertainer Drake and his collaboration with big brands, my website and social media platforms received traffic and a greater following. My website post featuring Hennessey’s latest brand ambassador Nas, received over a thousand views as well. The internal communication used for Vinkankel is similar to the internal communication used within other businesses. Business partnering is imperative. I conduct freelance work with BET and VH1 because they have a larger audience and have dominated public communication. I also research analytic trends and incorporate what I have learned from websites such as Complex magazine and Buzzfeed.

My blog will focus on the diffusion of innovations and how millennials are apart of the theory. The diffusion of innovation explains how, why and at what rate new ideas and technology are spreading. By using analytics and my own research I personally know that the rate technology is being used is very difficult to calculate. New technology trends are being created rapidly.

Millenials are moving pass baby boomers as the largest age group. Millenials are changing the way things are being sold, due to internet sales skyrocketing. There are more 23 year olds than any other age on the planet, 4.7 million, according to a census report taken in June. Entertainment has influenced millennials more than their parent’s values. Businesses look for consumer’s satisfaction. Millennials don’t believe in doing things in a timely matter and believe more in social media and reality television than they believe in real life. The social hierarchy has been diminished because people are able to access what people everywhere are doing by simply engaging in social media online. The social network Linkedln, target audience is millennial business professionals. The informal communication approach connects qualified and creative professionals with some of the biggest brands in the world.

Our reading for this week, the Diffusion of innovations by Roger Everett shed light on some interesting topics and key facts. Roger stated that four main elements influence the spread of a new idea. The innovation itself, communication channels, time and social systems influence ideas. Entertainment is constantly being influenced. Since I’ll be talking about my favorite artist and what drove millennials to become consumers of their products, music and actions Ive included a few points from Everett Rogers theory below:

The Key Elements in diffusion research are:

Innovation Innovations are a broad category, relative to the current knowledge of the analyzed unit. Any idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption could be considered an innovation available for study.[14]

Adopters Adopters are the minimal unit of analysis. In most studies, adopters are individuals, but can also be organizations (businesses, schools, hospitals, etc.), clusters within social networks, or countries.[15]

Communication channels Diffusion, by definition, takes place among people or organizations. Communication channels allow the transfer of information from one unit to the other.[16] Communication patterns or capabilities must be established between parties as a minimum for diffusion to occur.[17]

Time The passage of time is necessary for innovations to be adopted; they are rarely adopted instantaneously. In fact, in the Ryan and Gross (1943) study on hybrid corn adoption, adoption occurred over more than ten years, and most farmers only dedicated a fraction on their fields to the new corn in the first years after adoption.[6][18]

Social system The social system is the combination of external influences (mass media, organizational or governmental mandates) and internal influences (strong and weak social relationships, distance from opinion leaders).[19] There are many roles in a social system, and their combination represents the total influences on a potential adopter.[20]

Five stages of the adoption process

Knowledge The individual is first exposed to an innovation, but lacks information about the innovation. During this stage the individual has not yet been inspired to find out more information about the innovation.

Persuasion The individual is interested in the innovation and actively seeks related information/details.

Decision The individual takes the concept of the change and weighs the advantages/disadvantages of using the innovation and decides whether to adopt or reject the innovation. Due to the individualistic nature of this stage, Rogers notes that it is the most difficult stage on which to acquire empirical evidence.[11]

Implementation The individual employs the innovation to a varying degree depending on the situation. During this stage the individual also determines the usefulness of the innovation and may search for further information about it.

Confirmation The individual finalizes his/her decision to continue using the innovation. This stage is both intrapersonal (may cause cognitive dissonance) and interpersonal, confirmation the group has made the right decision.

Theres no limits in Future Technology

The World Wide Web as we know it is only 5000 days old. That's roughly 15 years. I was born in 1991. The World Wide Web as we know it, is only about 10 years younger than me. I recall beepers and flip phones being quite popular when I was a child. Ya know the huge flip phones that were nearly the size of a brick and the beepers with a blurry LED light. Yep thats the era I grew up in. Kids today could not possibly manage living in such archaic times.

The Motorola Razr was ground breaking in 2005. I was around 13 years old, in the 7th grade and everyone I knew either had a Razr, Nokia  or Kyocera. Cellphones added convenience to my life. After practice I would call to make sure my ride was on the way. When I got home I would finish my homework then talk on the phone the entire night. The great thing about flip phones and small phones in the early 2000's was I did not have to charge my phone often, I could literally go 3 days without charging my phone and the battery would still be pretty full.

Then things began to change. I received my first smartphone in 2009. My smartphone allowed me to see my friends on an app called Tango and I also began using social media. Social media allowed me to communicate with more of my friends simultaneously instead of only being able to communicate with one person at a time. In 2009 Myspace was pretty popular. By 2012 not only did I have Myspace but also a Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram account.

Lets fast forward to 2017. Apps that make our lives convenient are at an all time high. I no longer have to call and make sure my ride is coming, luckily I now drive but if I didnt I can request an Uber ride, or track my parents location on my iPhone. I can Facetime whoever I please, without using an additional application like Skype or Tango. If Im hungry and I dont want the usual takeout or pizza, I can now use apps such as Uber Eats or Postmates. Oh and my phone uses my finger print to unlock it. At this point technology is moving so fast I am no longer surprised by its capabilities. I expect alot more virtual capabilities in the future. I suspect sooner or later our phones will be able to create whatever we ask, maybe my phone or tablet will be able to whip up an entire dish.

Tech babies: Kids are using technology more than ever before

Kids always want to use my phone. I once found it annoying, but now that all of my friends have children now, I just hand over my phone before they ask. Children are very inquisitive. They what to know how things work and why they work. This week’s topics on children and technology was very interesting to me. My best friend has a three year old daughter and her daughter loves technology. She has an iPad that she knows how to operate and she also knows how to find Youtube videos on the toys that she enjoys watching. She picked up on learning how to use a iPhone and iPad very quickly. I remember the first time seeing her operate the device. I was so blown away that she could fully function devices, I asked her mom if she was a child prodigy. Her mom explained that a lot of children her age have iPads and are very advance. I became so interested in her behavior, I headed over to Youtube to watch other children make toy tutorials, chat about their favorite games and television shows. Just like we love to watch DIY tutorials, they do too. They literally get a kick out of kids making things out of playdoh and legos.

According to theguardian.com

YouTube, in particular, has emerged as an alternative to traditional children’s TV – although it’s probably more accurate to say that the two are merging: plenty of popular children’s TV shows are now on YouTube in some form, while to young viewers – many on tablets – it’s all just “video”.

With the launch of its YouTube Kids app in the UK and Ireland, the company is hoping to capitalise, but this being YouTube – owned by Google – it’s also kicking up a debate about its motivations, as well as familiar arguments about children and screen time.

The 20 top children’s channels had more than 5.2bn views in October alone, from Little Baby Bum’s 428.5m to Toys and Funny Kids Surprise Eggs’ 164.7m

Youtube kids in the UK and Ireland also censors ads that are not kid friendly.

While searching for kids and technology. I found an article that said Steve Jobs did not want his children using the iPad and it was not allowed in his home.

 “Your kids must love the iPad?” He said “Actually we don’t allow the iPad in the home. We think it’s too dangerous for them in effect.” The reason why he said that was because he recognized just how addictive the iPad was as a vehicle for delivering things to people. That once you had the iPad in front of you, or when you took it away from the home with you, you’d always have access to these platforms that were very addictive. That were hard to resist.

So where his kids were very well adapted, well adjusted, may not have been prime targets for say substance abuse, they like everyone else, are susceptible to the charms of something like an iPad and what it delivers.

Which makes me wonder if children should be on the iPad as often as they are now. I think that all internet activity should be monitored by parents. I found some alarming facts about the internet and children. Of course parents want to censor their kids from the obvious harms of the internet such as violence and sex, but being on an electronic device too long can also encourage obesity, bad social skills and distract children from having an imagination.

Livestrong.com says that 1/3 of children are obese. An increase in exposure to technology goes hand in hand with a decrease in physical activity. As children spend more time sitting in front of the TV or computer, they spend less time outside running around and burning off calories -- and energy. Over time, combined with an increase in snacking, this can lead to significant weight gain. 9/10 food advertisements are shown during Saturday morning cartoons. Technology also increases snacking and mindless eating amongst children. A researcher found that children who spend time in front of a computer eat more snacks than children who use technology less frequently. Obsessive use of technology also interferes with sleep. A lack of sleep causes an increase in ghrelin, the hormone that signals you’re hungry, and a decrease in leptin, the hormone that tells you you’re full.

Kids do not know how to interact with other children. I have been in public places and seen everyone on their phone even if they are sitting with one another. I also notice people tell their feelings to a social network instead of actually calling or meeting up with a person they have an issue with. Young people under the age of 18 use text messaging as their primary way of communicating. According to a survey given to the study's participants, the kids spent an average of four-and-a-half hours texting, watching television and playing video games during a single typical school day. According to Uhls, this is on the low end--many children and teenagers spend more than seven-and-a-half-hours a day interacting with a screen of some sort. And when interacting with a screen, they aren't interacting with a human."You can’t learn non-verbal emotional cues from a screen in the way you can learn it from face-to-face communication," Uhls said.

Lastly children are attention is impossible, imagination is unnecessary, and memory is inhibited.. It is very difficult for some children to focus. Kids are now even having withdrawls from their cellphones. Some schools allow children to have a brief intermission throughout the day to check their phones. Kids are bombarded with updates from apps and online newsources. Now it seems as if it is impossible, to keep up with the latest trends if you are not connected at school during the day. By constantly watching the activity of others, it is difficult to think on your own. Although I am not a child I can agree, I feel detached when Im not on my phone.