Reddit

Read ALL ABOUT IT………What’s The News on Reddit

Reddit is a social media platform that allows users to post a variety of news items and links to articles, discussions, and social commentary that will then be voted on by other users. This type of voting is the main feature of this site because the more votes a user item receives the more their information will be displayed for others to see. Ultimately by the “Reddit Community determines which news items get to be seen by more and more users.

Once a user joins Reddit you are not able to change your username once you have registered and everything you post, link or comment on will always be archived under the users’ information. I know personally exploring Reddit I got lost a few times trying to navigate through all of the information because it was become a little overwhelming go from topic to topic. You can easily lose track of time spending so much time on social media site.

According to the Marketer's Guide to Reddit article, it discusses how users can make Reddit “your own” by customizing their front page to reflect interests of their own and the ability to get interesting tidbits of news that may not have been already found on other created sites. This way users are able to use subreddits to categorize their information into various sections depending on the topics posted. The most frequent subreddits will appear across the top of the page top of your front page and allow you to see exactly what you want to see.

Reddit is seen as a fairly large sharing community and targets the larger audiences. There is always excessive traffics and threads incoming on Reddit with all sorts of information constantly. If you are trying to have a successful blog or created subject on Reddit, it is good for some of the following topics:

• Survival and Motivating Stories
• Educational Sites
• Politics
• Food
• Fitness 

In my opinion researching a health organization and information was very hard to locate on Reddit because all of the profiles created are all over the place. It was just so much going on at one time that I got lost in various posts and discussions that were repeatedly occurring every second. If the posts of a organization is not interesting to other users or get voted on by the Reddit Community then it would likely not be publicized as popularly as other articles are. This would make it very difficult for health organizations to reach users and determine which users are really interested in their sites since the usernames are general submissions.

I can only see health organizations using Reddit as a benefit to promote new ideas for raising awareness in a creative way and adding links that are attached to eye catching videos about their organization. If an organization wants to attract users to an appealing event or present people with motivating fitness information to better their health then, I can not see Reddit coming in as a helpful resource to spread the news.

Overall, if your post or topic does get high voting rating then it makes it hard for your information to reach the “Front Page” which is the popular spot for people all across the world to review. Reddit is more a virtual site to connect with other users by posting a lot of information for others people to see and vote on basically like a popularity contest of interesting information posted.

Pinterest

Pinning & Re-Pinning into a New World of Adventure with 

Exploring Pinterest was more exciting than using my personal favorite social media site Facebook. I had no idea the many different possibilities and features I was able to use so easily. Pinterest basically works just like a corkboard, any information that you find of interest can be “pinned” to any virtual board and you can create a endless amount of boards as a user.

Through Pinterest users are able to connect with others by sharing content in a unique and visual way. The set up for Pinterest was pretty simple and very resourceful for providing information in forms of infographics (images), quotes, healthy eat tips, workout plans and so much more all in the form of boards.

Boards are created for users to pin things of their interest and share items about information they want other users to know more about. Once your board is successfully created you are allowed to follow users’ boards and get creative ideas from their home pages. The unique concept about pinning another user board is that when they pin new content then the updates will constantly appear in your Pinterest feed. This means that you will be updated on the new items pertaining to that topic from other users.

Health Organizations can use Pinterest to draw more interest and engagement with their organizations because they are allowed to put pictures with their related information. Pinterest is an effective way to provide health information in a creative way to users especially through infographics. 

According to the Department of Health and Human Services Department of Health and Human Services article,  it states that infographics are images that convey information both verbally and visually to users. There meaning is conveyed through these images which allow organizations to be different in sharing their information and meaning through various graphics.

Through Pinterest health organizations have the ability to:

1.      Clearly define their purpose

2.      Present clips from their organization events

3.      Pin photo and testimonials

4.      Create eye catchy boards with their organization services

5.      Pin for conversation

After exploring various boards on Pinterest I came across the HIV/AIDS boards as being very successfully and informative for users. This goal of this board was to get people to say “No to HIV/AIDS” by raising awareness of the disease and recommending helpful ways to stay protected. They have 204 pins and 1, 124 followers which is actually inspiring that people are trying to change the epidemic affecting the world so drastically.

The boards provide a lot inspirational sayings and protective methods for practicing safer sex. Statistics and facts are listed about what the disease as done to so many people in the world. One dynamic feature provided is the AIDS World Day that is held nationwide to raise awareness for AIDs and brings people across to celebrate and engage in commemoration for those who were lost to the disease.

The information provided is clear and well organized. Users can easily navigate through these boards and the infographics make the boards even more interesting. I would consider there pinterest overall to be very informative and great usage of creative images to engage people in saying No to HIV/AIDS and being protected.

Overall, Pinterest is one of my new favorite social media platforms because it provides users with a lot of information and you can basically research any board that you would like. I like really like the idea that once I pin information of interest to me then updates will appear in my Pinterest newsfeed. I am exciting for the features and creative methods Pinterest have already created. I look forward to seeing more and more success with this platform grow every day.

YouTube

YouTube is on Fire: the ability to put words, images and sound to videos.....

YouTube is a website that gives anyone the ability to put sounds, visuals, movements, media, and your voice to various videos. Users are allowed to upload and share various media such as pictures and videos with others all across the world. Through YouTube users are able to add movement, sounds and voice features to their pictures and videos that will constant interest to users profiles.

When using YouTube you are allowed to:

• Research your favorite music or television shows
• Determine who is providing the information for job offers
• Research the different images and tips on healthy eating
• Determine the goals of organization that they hope to accomplish
• Research how a non- profit organization works
• Determine ways to add sound effects and new features to videos

Lastly Research ways that you can contribute and do your part to help out!

YouTube is filled with so many features for a user to navigate especially for being a helpful media channel for health organizations. This medium always has a constant and interesting feed for users to see. According to the CDC Social Media Guidelines article,in order to develop successful video postings for health organizations to reach users they must do the following:

1. Clearly Define Their Objective: Highlight and clearly establish what you are trying to say
2. Know Your Target Audience: Determine who you are talking to and how the message will effective research those users
3. Determine Moderating Capacity: The ability to actively engage your users based on providing adequate resources and information
4. Create Promotion: Determine catchy ideas you will use to get your audience to view the videos
5. Establish an Evaluation Plan: Determine ways you will measure the success of the videos

One health organization that really benefits from utilizing YouTube are those representing the Alzheimer’s Association which has various active channels that have been since the early 2000’s. This organization has over 56,000 video views and 1, 409 subscribers who are currently following their channel. 

This particular video was established to give users information about Alzheimer’s Association Facts and Figures during 2013. According to the bio of the Alzheimer’s organization it states, “More than 5 million people in the United States have Alzheimer’s disease in 2013. Everyone 68 seconds someone is developing the Alzheimer’s disease and there are more than 15 million caregiver available to assist people who develop this deadly disease. In 2013, this fatal disease will cost the nation over 203 million and is the 6^th leading cause in deaths.

In my opinion I believe this Alzheimer’s channel is very informative and did a great job in bringing more awareness to the cause and diagnoses of the disease. It gives very impactful facts and projections of how this disease will take a toll on Americans every day. Their target audience was clearly stated for users who may have family members or love ones experiencing this disease and helpful they can use to help fight the disease day by day.

Overall, YouTube was a phenomenal social media platform to explore because you can research all sorts of videos and information that provides an active talking session from those who have created the videos. You can be creative and add your personal touches to you and I think it is a great tool for health organizations to use to continue reaching people all across the world.

Twitter

Twitter: Simple and Short, and Spontaneous 

Exploring twitter was very fun and exciting for me because it was the simplest social media platform to discover. Twitter allows users to tweet quick statements on their pages and keep an active conversations with followers back and forth. The interactions and connections for twitter go beyond personal accounts, but also a variety of organizations.

The amount of characters allowed per tweet is limited to 140 characters can create a few problems for organizations because they have to communicate their information to users in 140 characters or less. This can become a complicated task because their tweets have to be attractive for users to re-tweet again and again on a constant basis.

According to Twitter Brand Best Practices, it discusses several ways organization can become successful in using Twitter as a resource. One very important practice mentioned was building your twitter equity and credibility because users how to know that the information you are providing is trustworthy information. You have to be able to develop your twitter profile reputation as a trusted source and be seen as an expert in particular subjects creatively to continue reaching your followers.

This is beneficial for health organizations because it build their brand and allows them to improve their presence on twitter.  @CareTeam provides a lot of helpful prevention methods to avoid contracting the HIV disease. Majority of their post are fun and creative to helping users make healthier decisions every day. They post videos and events for users to join and participate in basically daily motivation for users to stay protected and healthy.

I really enjoyed exploring the many twitter profiles and how they creatively designed their tweets to attract followers in such a small character amount. According to the Health Works Collective article, it talks about how Tweet Chat takes a great presence in organizations being successful. These chats reflect the following:

·   Planning

 ·    Preparing

·     Promoting

·   Publish

All in which are beneficial for growing an organization locally and globally. This allows users to have immediate access to companies and answer any questions or concerns that patients may have without having to visit their offices in person.

Twitter is constantly growing every day and there is no limit amount of followers or amount of posts that you are allowed to tweet. I like twitter because it is a simple, short, and spontaneous site that is easy to explore, not only for personal uses, but for expanding organizations also.

Exploring Google+

Breaking out of your Shell with Google+

Exploring Google+ was very breathing taking and refreshing for me because I discovered so many different features that connected me to many people across the world. Navigating through Google+ was not entirely new research for me because quite a few of my friends communicate with this social media site on daily basis. The features reminded me a lot of connecting with users as I do on my facebook account.

On Google+ you are allowed to create basic posts from your owner page and the ability to constantly interact with one another. I think it is very common for users to post things throughout their page and use the +1 for posts because it is really convenient when you want to share things and bond freely with others.

One of the most interesting features that I revealed on Google+ was the circles. The circles allows users to coordinate friends, family, organizations, interests, news, and etc. was a feature that took me by surprise. By creating the unique feature circles I think Google+ does a great of coordinating who you are following and those who are interested in being in your circles.  This allows only those in your circle to post and create subjects to share with you only.

Even health organizations can utilize Google+ to categorize their target audiences by using circles that would allow they reach their users easier. Aside from the circles, users can apply the +1 option similar to a like button to bookmark a variety of articles from researching that are interesting to them. This can be a key component for health organizations to also use this feature to bookmark important articles that they would like to share with their users. The great thing about this feature is the article is always refreshed and available for usage at any time for both the users and organization.

The health organization that I found on Google+ was the World Health Organization. This was a very interesting organization to research because they have over 15,000 followers and their posts are currently updated. These posts share information about public health issues and concerns that bring awareness to people all across the world that allowed to be publicly shared. 

The goal of this organization is to create and share content that will protect, promote healthy, enforce drug safety and contribute to the equity of health services for users. By allowing users to +1 post, share links, and comment on topics is great for users to connect with the health organization on a regular basis. Because this organization is worldwide it is very popular for users to stay update on bettering their health and the many different programs they can participate in to increasing health in their areas.

One very important health program put on by the health organization was World Blood Donor Day that allowed users and people to donate blood to save others life. The purpose of this event was to show people that one blood donation would save three lives and they highly encourage people to be apart of changing the world. I thought the organization World Blood Donor Day Banner design was very helpful in attracting users to their page and a way to spread the world globally.

Overall, I admire Google+ creative features to connect users with organizations and ways to personalize your direct communication with others. Clearly Google+ is on the rise fast and will be giving facebook some serious competitive when it comes to keeping users interested. With this social media platform you are allowed to explore a variety of features and through Google+ you will always be connected to your Gmail account and blogger whenever you log in. In my opinion Google+ is what you make of it and actually a creative way to unique in social media now today.