Week 7: Marketing in a Digital Age

            This week we had presentations from groups in class about different social media platforms and what they could do for us. My group and I presented on Pinterest, the mage website. I personally use basically only Facebook seriously, so I could care less about these other platforms of communication and entertainment. However, the fact that all of these different social media platforms could be used for marketing of products and business really interested me. I am a psychology major with a great interest in consumer behavior. So, it is natural that the discussions regarding social media advertising struck a positive chord with me. The future of advertising really is within the digital world. Who knows, maybe the digital world will become the primary form of advertising and marketing in the future. It is great to use because it is cheap and effective and it is easy to reach out to a very large audience in a very short amount of time. I think the only downside is that sometimes people get sick of advertisements on websites, so these ads sort of blend into the perceptual background of the individual. That’s what I do sometimes. And that mostly happens because most website present their advertisements in the same format almost every time, so it gets boring and uninteresting really quick. But, that can be resolved with just a little bit of creativity. So, be creative!

Week 6: Future Generations

            Well, another week has gone by in the Psychology of Social Media class. I really do like this class, but I ended up missing quite a bit this week. Something we did talk about was how to help our children and other future generations from getting sucked into all of the negative things of the Internet, such as false information, crude comments and trolling, manipulation, and pornography. Obviously all of these things can and will happen, but as parents and adults that will help shape the lives of the young, we must instill in these children an awareness of these evils and help them learn to say no to them when they are presented. The worst thing to do is to wait until the child is exposed. The best thing to do is address the issue before as a way to prepare the child. And don’t beat around the bush about it. Let the child know that these things are wrong, but also explain why these things are wrong and harmful. The “why” is the most important part. If the child fully understands the reason for avoiding things such as pornography, their behavior will change in such a way that they will have a personal set of standards that are much higher and much harder to bring down. Then, when the time comes, they can stand on their own and make the right decisions. This is so important to their well being and future. We must be open and direct and loving about this with all of our children in our lives so that they are better prepared than most of us were.