Zahara Red

Inside Z’s world of social media frenzy

I’ve had social media for a very long time. I started out with MySpace. Unfortunately I do not recall my username or password so a screenshot or link would not be useful at this time.

My main social media platform would be Instagram . I use Instagram primarily for photos and to alert the world via hashtags (and those that are following can see as well ) of newly posted blogs. If you were to look at my Instagram today, you would see a lot of makeup photos such as the one below.

Another platform I use is Snapchat, when I want to do a quick review on products or just to show a little personality, I’ll do so on Snapchat.

Also Snapchat has the world stories which is new to Instagram. With this feature you’re able to reach a lot of people.

My Twitter is fairly new for me to use, originally I used so I could see the products being shipped in my Ipsy bag prior to receiving them. Now I’ve opened it up publicly. I’ll likely use it the same as I use my Instagram account.

Lastly and most important to me is my Blog. Which is one of the main reasons I took a journalism class. I like to have my own platform where I can voice my own opinions, promote my book and of course do product reviews. On my blog, I’ll have my personal poetry, reviews and affiliate discounts with links. After taking this class I’ll be redoing my whole blog to give it a more professional look rather than the I started in my garage vibe it has currently.

A curation example

On Bridgemi I was able to find an example of curation written by Chastity Pratt Dawsey and Mike Wilkinson. This particular article compared the various school stats in Michigan as opposed to other states. The two reporters highlighted an important fact; “Michigan is not getting the school it deserves.”

I feel that after reading Ron French’s story, which is also on Bridgemi, this was a poor example or perhaps a short article. Although the article had well over 18 paragraphs and only three contextualized links. As the flow of the paragraphs increased to the end of the article the three links were the only sources that were used.

The article also had related links in the middle of certain paragraphs, that could cause some confusion as you are reading. That could be an added value for citizens in the school districts that want to see similar articles on the topic or as mentioned before cause a sense of confusion to the readers.

I do like the way the few links are attributed, it is the same as what we are currently learning and prior to clicking the link you know what you’re going to potentially be seeing. Thus, it is not click bait. Although this is blog post is not about the content of the writing, I think the authors had too much opinion in the writing. This is something that we should limit as much as possible so that our biases and personal beliefs do not run interference with the facts.

Ron’s Story

Ron French wrote a curated story about Betsy DeVos, that is used as an example for journalism students to study . Within his story he uses multiple sources to create a narrative where his subsequent paragraphs all have an introduction to his sources and contextualized links.

Unlike Bestsy DeVos, he had multiple sources included in his article. One source is from National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). This source includes how Michigan schools compare in subjects like math and reading as opposed to other schools.

Another great source Ron French used in this article besides Bridgemi.com is Professor Brian A. Jacob who is the professor of education policy, professor of economics and professor of education at the University of Michigan. This professor created an analysis that researched testing scores that have declined over the last 12 years.

The way he uses contextualized links as a way to introduce articles and people is nothing short of genius. He gives a quick summary of the points that are the main focus of the linking article and person. Rather than simply saying “click here” as if click bait, he uses phrases in the sentences to link. In my opinion this also helps the audience understand what they are going to be reading about.

Overall, Ron French made great use of curation techniques within his story that enables the audience to read through the article seamlessly, all while being able to check his sources to ensure they are facts and not speculation.

Walking out across state lines

Over the course of the last few months we have seen a widespread protest, perhaps the largest since the change following the protest for freedoms from our LGBTQ community. In the United States, students and some educators are now chanting through America’s streets, “March for our Lives.” This revolutionary phrase comes after media outlets such as MSNBC and CNN highlights a supposed flux in school shootings. However, not all students participate solely in “walking out,” some students have done group prayers.

A Catholic school in Denver CO whose students decided rather than walk-out, they would instead pray to honor the 17 students from Florida Parkland shooting. The difference? A national walkout for 17 minutes reached a large number of high-schools and colleges throughout the nation. This school’s approach is similar to what is being suggested by right-wing politics. Where as a nation, America should incorporate God back into the foundation of this country. Thus, these students did a prayer to intercede on behalf of the “souls” that were lost during this unfortunate event in U.S history.

There are three sides to these walk-outs. According to a post published by the Washington Post, there were tens of thousands of students that walked out during this socially accepted protest. Students are protesting for stricter gun laws. However, looking on the internet you will see students holding signs such as, “NRA WE WILL OUT LIVE YOU,” “No More Silence End Gun Violence.” The young marchers has said they are not protesting a particular party, rather they are wanting both Republicans and Democrats to create and enforce laws on an issue they believe has been over-looked. A video of the rally

Not all students participated or believe this is a major issue that should be a focus in America. A North Carolina student was one of 700 students that walked out. The school says according to a person who handles their public relations, “We teach our students to be independent thinkers,” Janet Conner-Knox, who handles public relations for Wilson Preparatory Academy, told CNN. “[Blackman] is an independent thinker.” With this statement it’s plausible that this student opinion is less than a percent of the overall political standing in the school.

A school district in New Jersey decided to give out suspensions to students who participated in the rally. This was done in protection for the students according to a quote from a school’s superintendent. He states, “…Therefore, we believe that allowing and/or supporting them to walk out of our schools on a specific date and at a specific time is not safe and will cause a major disruption to the education of those students, as well as those who wish to remain in class learning” in a snippet taken from Breibart news.

Google perks for college shopping

Being in college does have its perks. What do I mean? Well after using a guide to search for different data sets with Google’s advanced search method, I found out how to read and understand them. Using this style of research for data makes things a lot easier when planning for your future.

A great example, the different tabs at the bottom shows the demographics, admission, and cost/comments for school in a given school year. In this case it was for the 2011-2012 year in the state of Michigan. After deleting schools that are not public and four-year I was left with 16 colleges, that was a bit shocking to me. I really was not aware that in this state of ours we had only 16 public colleges. I am not sure if that is a small number; I definitely will have to compare that to other states with a comparable populace.

The school that is the most expensive is Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University. I noticed there are extra charges, and this school as per the comment section will have cost relating to in state tuition/ out of state as well as general education requirement which is also not a standard cost. Some of the colleges do not have in-state/in-district transportation cost while others do. And Eastern Michigan is the only college without this expense in-state/in-district misc expenses.

The complete shocker to me was that the University of Michigan Dearborn is the least expensive four-year college. Now I feel better about my decision to continue my education at this college. My continuous debt if it was concrete would surely thank me.