Reflection on Social Media Case 6: Basketball Cop Blog Post

A police officer makes a decision that is far from the expected norm. This case study really sparks the conversation about the power of social media. When a noise complaint was made about a group of kids playing basketball I assumed the worst outcome possible from this story. The cop coming into the storyline and instead of getting after the kids, but engaging with them was not what I expected. This is a great story, but how did it receive so much attention?  Social media was the avenue in which this story got to the world. This is important because this is an example of a positive story going viral. It is viral because the ‘players’ did not have a fan base previously.  When the second video was released from the police department it was no longer viral because they had a preexisting fan base. This Article by time shows how the story was rapidly spread from source to source. The story got more attention from the first instance, then it did from the second found Here.      

I think that this whole situation is great! First, the situation itself of the police officer playing with the kids to give them a different perspective of law enforcement. And second,  the way social media brought attention to such a positive story. The impact of the attention was great for the police station and for law enforcement in general.

As far as legal and ethical concerns I am not sure if there are any concrete problems to what happened. I wonder what the reaction was of the people who made the noise complaint. Legality is tricky with this situation. The officer did not carry out the request of the noise complaint, but also found that the situation was not threatening.

The most interesting part of this story for me what how it turned into a statement. The hashtag  #letkidsbekids was created as a reaction. This hashtag let to a larger conversation about law enforcement.

Online Reputation

Keslie Carr 

I was assigned to learn about Keslie Carr through social and other online sites. I noticed several trends as I sifted through her on online networks.

As a brief run down Keslie Carr was born on October 2^nd 1995. She grew up in Draper Utah.

First I am extremely confident that she is an active member of a sorority on campus called Kappa Delta. Kappa Delta pictures were prevalent on  Facebook  and on her Twitter.     By the amounts of pictures, she had with various members of the Sorority I believe she has been a part of this community for a long time.

Also from her Facebook  and    Twitter   I am assuming that another trend of Keslie is that she is very involved at Utah State. Check out this video   to see Keslie introduce the “Blue Crew” at Utah State. I learned that the blue crew is an organization at Utah state that plans and promotes activities for the college. Involvement at Utah state is a consistent pattern. I found that Keslie was Miss USU in 2017. Pictures from Miss USU are on her Facebook and Twitter. She won under the involvement category, adding to my analysis.  To continue this theme, Keslie is also an involved student in how she shows pride for her college. It is not hard to find pictures of Keslie cheering on her Aggies at sporting events! She even made an appearance on the big screen singing the fight song. To see this video, check out her Twitter ! If being featured on the big screen at a sporting involvement doesn’t prove her dedication, I’m not sure what will!

A post Keslie made on her Facebook  made me wonder if she some kind of promoter for a company. She was advertising a notebook and she gave a discount code with her name on it. I searched for similar posts and could not find any. This could mean that she only did this one time to sell a help someone (possibly a friend) sell a product.

Keslie seems to have a very active lifestyle.  Her Facebook shows that she ran a half marathon Picture Here  . She also has numerous outdoorsy pictures on her Facebook    and Twitter.  These pictures include her in hot and cold environments. This leads me to believe that she just likes being outdoors in general. This is outdoorsy trend fits into a pattern I noticed with how Keslie likes to travel. Her Facebook and Twitter show her having fun in Hawaii over Spring break. Traveling so far over such a short amount of time makes me that that Keslie likes to travel every chance that she can get.

Based on the pictures I saw of Keslie attending weddings it appears that she has a really big family. The way she posts about them it’s clear that she cares about them a lot!

By looking around for information about Keslie Carr I found that she is an active indivudal who is very involved with her University. She has active social media accounts that she seems to update regularly.

Reflection on Social Media Case 5: Paypal Deleted Comments

Freedom of speech is an important component of western culture. With modern technology it is becoming increasingly easier for Americans to express themselves via online commenting. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. are all social media sites that allow people to have quick conversations on various topics. The content of these comments vary. Different types of media attract different crowds.  Most websites will experience a problem with certain comments being deemed inappropriate. This Article    explains what these comments might look like or be about. It can be difficult for these types of comments to be regulated. It can also be difficult for a company to decide what should be allowed or not on a website. Paypal tried to delete bad press for their company from their media and this caused an uproar for the public. People felt like Paypal was ignoring their right to freedom of speech by taking away their comments. This idea brings us back to case study one and two. Should companies be allowed to delete comments that reflect badly on them? Personally, I don’t think they should be able to. People have the right to express and share their opinions, good or bad. This Article     discusses the implications for companies who decide to delete negatively about their brand. As we discussed in lecture and noticed in the first two case studies negativity about a brand can spread like wildfire, and stifling the voices of the public can backfire immensely.

What about when comments seem to just simply be inappropriate? Should a brand be allowed to delete comments that are offensive to others? I think it is difficult to find the line on what is okay and what is not. What is appropriate for one audience may not be for another. This sort of decision, in my opinion needs to be taken on a case to case basis.

I think it is extremely unethical for a company to delete comments if they don't like them, however I understand that their will be times that hiding comments will be necessary.