This whole facebook page assignment showed me a lot about the capabilities facebook has on affecting business.  The thing I took away the most is the fact that nothing grabs more attention than posts that include some kind of giveaway or discount.  The views and were more than 4x that if the post involved some kind of discount or something associated with it.  

If i were to go back and change one thing, I would have started off the campaign with some kind of promotion to really grab the attention of the followers and also gain more "likers" of the page.  I would make the promotion somewhat engaging so that the people feel as if they are being rewarded for coming to the page.  That is what I found going to other competitive pages is that they use rewards and engaging posts rather than just informative posts.  I would for sure mix these kind of posts with informative so that people know what is going on with the business but also keep them coming back through the use of these kinds of posts.

Since this campaign started, we have gotten a surprisingly high amount of facebook reviews and visits.  This is because of the influx of posts to keep the company in the back of peoples minds.  If you can just remind them that the company is there, they are often times much more likely to return just because its really easy to forget about the company with everything else going on in their lives.  I think that we can use this information to capitalize on the upcoming Christmas holiday.  We will do this by creating a facebook post for some kind of christmas discount assosciated with likes and shares so that we can get exposure to more people than we already are.

Overall, I am happy with the campaign.  The ratings and reviews have gone up by about .6 points and the reviews have flooded in.  Along with that, there has been increased flow to the page than there previously was.  I learned a lot from this that I am going to tweak to make the posts that much more engaging.

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Recognizing Default Responses

Regarding any idea that we hear, we have an automatic default response.  There are certain words or triggers that we may hear that make our minds automatically react in a certain way.  This is not a positive nor a negative thing, but it is something that is very important to keep in mind.  Say, for instance, that you are having a conversation about the current presidential election.  Politics is one aspect of the world that people previously have and always will have a very strong default response.  Especially this election in particular.  We already have a default response to presidential elections based off of  factors such as party affiliation, past actions, gender, and as much as we hate to admit it, race.  When we hear people call Hillary a crook or Trump a racist, there are certain responses that we all automatically go to.  Lots of times we will go to these default responses not because of our deep knowledge of the subject, but because of past happenings that have shaped our thinking.  This is impossible to avoid, but it is something we must keep it in mind moving forward.

We usually have our mind made up before we even know it.  When an idea is introduced to us, there are certain key words that will trigger a certain response from each of us.  Each of our responses will be just a little bit different based off of what has happened to us.  I am personally pro-choice and this affects the way that I respond to a lot of different situations.  As I stated earlier, it decides where I side with the election.  It also shapes how I respond to anyone when they bring up the pro-life vs. pro-choice debate.  One thing I think that we all make these responses towards hundreds of times per day is clothing.  When people are wearing a shirt and tie, I automatically assume they have a very nice job, often times from 9-5.  In contrast, when I see people wearing a pair of Nike shorts, a t-shirt and tennis shoes, I automatically assume that they are an athletically inclined and that we would have lots in common.

These responses are actually somewhat cool when you step back to think about.  There are certain key words or actions that automatically make us react a certain way to almost everything.  It is somewhat mind-boggling that our decisions can often times be made by little experiences or beliefs that we have come to follow.  We have learned through previous experiences what we like and what we dislike and we have learned to automatically associate these likes and dislikes with certain keys which are very easy to pull out.  These shape the way that we think and the way that we view many aspects of our life.  We need to make an effort in our day-to-day lives to recognize when we have these default responses.  Once we are able to recognize this, we are able to open our mind to other ideas because we are not as close-minded as we were before.  We then know when there is something that we are reacting to based off of these responses and are able to step back and actually evaluate the situation and what other evidence is being presented to us rather than what we automatically think of the certain situation.

OTM-Race, Class, And The United States Of Anxiety

The on the media post that I listened to was titled "Race, Class, And The United States of Anxiety. "  The title of this podcast is what drew me to listen to this. The basis of this podcast was being white, male and in the working class and how this is effecting the 2016 presidential election. In the show, they talk about how these males are feeling emasculated by what is going on with economics and politics and how that is driving these people to be such strong supporters of trump. 

I can see how these feelings are coming about. People now-a-days have a lot less power than they once did because our society has recently been moving towards a more socialistic society. As our society becomes more socialistic, certain people suddenly have a lot less power than they previously did because of the power being spread out amongst the people. As the power of money is being spread out, this means that the physical power of the people is also being spread out. Money gives people power through status and also physically because people will do almost anything when they are in need of cash. 

Also, historically, the power has been with the white males in the upper and middle classes. As the power is slowly being taken away, there is a sudden fear being thrown upon them because of the sudden change. We as humans do not like change in the slightest no matter what it is about. This fact is especially true when we feel as if the power is being taken away from us. I believe this is why Trump supporters are so serious about getting him in office, is because his theories are an attempt to return the United States to how it used to be, which was with the power in the hands of the white male upper and middle class. 

While some of the things that Trump says may be very disturbing, many people can look past it because of the thought of the return to power. Power can drive people to do things which they normally wouldn't and I believe that this is a perfect example. As the economy is being promise to rise back to power through "making America great again" it gives people a thought of how America used to be and a lot of people would enjoy nothing more than a return to that power. 

Well Informed-Radicalization and Religion

Within the past couple of years, I have noticed radicalization in a much larger population that ever before.  Within the United States, there have been multiple threats made to us which has escalated this even more than I believe would have occurred naturally.  These days, we as a people tend to react to situations much quicker and much harsher than usual.  We are so worried about protecting ourselves and our lands that we believe we should do the most that is possible to ensure our safety.  We believe so strongly in our views that we will go to any extent to protect what we view as important to us.

This is shown greatly through religion.  Religion has always played a large role in history.  Not only in the United States, which was founded for religious freedom, but throughout the world.  Many of the world's conflicts and wars have been because of religious disputes.  It is something that will always be harshly criticized because of the strong feelings that most people have towards their beliefs and their desire for people to see things in the same light which they see it.

A major problem can arise when radicalization and religion become one in the same.  People will always have their strong feelings towards certain subjects, but since it is often split up between populations, it usually keeps us clear of any major conflicts which may arise.  But, as of lately, radicalization and religion have been merging themselves into one.  People are feeling stronger than ever about their religion and wanting to force their beliefs on other.  This is a major problem because as humans, we do not like to be told what to think or believe.  As people become more radical about religion there becomes much more tension throughout the world about beliefs which is where these conflicts come from.  The stronger these feelings become, the more likely it is that people will go to the extreme to preach what they believe is right which often times, causes much more harm than good.

OTM-After 9/11, Nothing Was Funny

The attack on 9/11 is something that has always somewhat drawn my interest.  Not just because of the tragedy that it was for our country, but because of the astounding effect it had throughout the entire nation.  These attacks, without a doubt, brought our country closer together as a whole like we had not seen in quite some time.  But, it also brought some separation within the country and I think that this OTM illustrates that perfectly through the example of comedy.  There was a dark gloom in everyone's attitude during the days following the attack.  We really had to be careful about every word spoken and action taken because everything was being judged so harshly because of this tragedy.

It creates a hard situation for the nation because you are fighting with yourself about how long to mourn the attack.  You know that there must be time given to grieve for the attack and life cannot return to normal until this period of time is over.  But the problem comes in figuring out how long that time is going to be and how it will be handled.  Everyone handles these tragedies a lot different, and it affects them mentally a lot different as well.  How do you draw the line of when enough time is enough?  You may try to force people to come to terms with it right away but that is running a huge risk of being seen as very insensitive.  If you do not get back to how your life was before the attacks, then it becomes much harder to recover because no one is moving on emotionally and nothing is being repaired.

This is what was illustrated through the OTM interview with Will Ferrell.  He was not quite sure how to attack his comedy bits following the attack because what people usually viewed as funny, was not seen as that anymore.  You had to be careful about everything you said because you did not want to offend anyone in their already vulnerable state.  His dilemma was figuring out when his comedy could move back to what he had been doing prior to the attack.  Marc Maron had a completely different view on this situation than Will Ferrell.  Maron took very little time after the attack to change his comedy.  He gave it a very brief breathing period but then returned to his normal routines.  He even ran the risk of humor that dealt with pain applicable to the 9/11 attacks.  He did this because he noticed at his shows that people were longing for something to take their mind off of what they were going through.

I think that a combination of these two tactics worked perfectly.  It allowed people to mourn the tragedy but it also provided some comic relief to those who were seeking.  In a broader sense, this worked as well because people that were living their day to day life were able to live their lives how they normally would but they were acknowledging that a horrific event had occurred.  We are all different and how these events such as 9/11 are handled perfectly illustrate this fact.