Assignment #8 : Predictions

2020 will be the year of social media, or will it?

This year was supposed to be everyone's year. We're all graduating, moving off, getting married, having children, but corona ruined all of that for us. (thanks China) But, 2020 can still be the year for social media. There are a lot more options for us to have on social media. With people having to learn and adapt to social media through the time of the virus, people are enjoying how amazing technology is. 

Here are my predictions for some updates in technology

1. VR and AR adoption

Snapchat filters is one good example of how you can see and view locations and specific videos. Gen Z will mainly be the advocate for these technologies since according to the web index 22% is using Geofilters each month.  I think online stores will be excited with the virtual reality adaption.  

With AR adaption (augmented reality) some online stores can help customers try on virtual clothing versions before buying what they want. Amazon, Facebook, and Instagram should really consider exploring ways to implement AR into their marketing strategies. Or if you want to see how furniture would look in your house. 

2. Social Media CEO's

We all know how The Hype House is more or less like the CEO of Tik Tok. Well, now we need CEO's of each social media platform. There are so many things to understand how the formulas  work with social media. With social media CEO's, they can help other people understand 

3. Chatbots

When having an online business, a chatbot is something that is a necessity. Chatbots are created to help people get the answers they need when someone is not available. With this, you would not necessarily have to have someone always available. You could use it to make reservations anywhere, get a location, or answer simple questions. 

Hopefully all of these things will potentially be implemented this year. I think AR and VR would be a cool invention with social media. 

Assignment #7: Binge Watching

Did I Just Sit There For 7 Hours?

I do not really binge shows as much as I would like too. Sometimes I normally just watch the same shows over and over. Now with all the time I have, I might start binging more. When I do binge, I have to blink multiple times over and over to get my eyes readjusted to light after sitting in my dorm room with pitch black around me and nothing on except my TV and my LED lights. I've only binged a couple of shows here and there. Stranger Things, One Tree Hill, Grey's Anatomy (currently addicted now), and a few more.

The most recent show I binged watched was Tiger King. I hadn't planned on watching it until my friends told me too. They said they watched it in one day and I thought maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 

It is no doubt one of the strongest contenders for most watchable TV show of the year, which is honestly kind of crazy. It has been ranked #1 on Netflix since it was released. There are seven episodes in the documentary ranging from 45-52 minutes long. You can watch the whole thing in a weekend, or sit there for 7 hours and keeping your eyes glued to the screen like I did. 

Within this series, it follows a man that loves the attention he receives with camera crews being there. His name is no other than Joe Exotic. He is the owner of a semi successful private zoo with the hundreds of tigers and other big cats. You think that is crazy? He also ran for President of the United States, then he ran for governor of Oklahoma (also got 19% of the votes), THEN this is the craziest part, he supposedly tried to hire someone to murder his arch nemesis. This woman was DEDICATED to shutting down his zoo; Carole Baskins. 

 

Joe Exotic is far from what you would picture him. He's a ball cap wearing, mullet having gay man who swaggers with a knee brace after getting mauled by one of his tigers, a weird southern drawl, some strange combination of fringe vests, chaps, and sparkly shirts. I promise you, you think you've seen everything until you watch this show

. 

When you are watching this show you think "wow, nothing more wild than this could happen," if you say that, you are far from right. This documentary goes by fast so you have to make sure you pay attention. You find out that Joe married two guys at once and  had a business partner that snuck baby cubs into a casino and then sleeps with the women. Each story gets stranger and stranger as time goes on. Then out of no where, it gets dark. It shows accounts of manipulative and abusive relationships, suicide, and Joe Exotic's hate campaign for Carole. He believes she killed her husband for his money and fed him to the tigers.   

If you want to watch all of this go down you definitely should and then you can understand all of the memes that are going around.  

Here's the trailer for the Netflix show.

Assigment #6 - Global Trends

Hi, I'm Your Number Neighbor

When you live on a street or in a subdivision, you normally know who your neighbor is. Sometimes, you get close to them and get to know them well and they eventually become some of your best friends or even family. 

Last year, someone on Twitter started a trend where you text your "number neighbor." It became the newest trend people where doing and it was definitely something different. But what exactly is that and how does it work? It is actually pretty simple to understand. The instigator texts someone with the same number as them, with the last digit being plus or minus one. For example, if your number is 234-567-8910 your number neighbors would be 234-567-8911 and 234-567-8909.

 

Once you have texted your "number neighbor", you then post the screenshots on social media platforms (mainly twitter) and let everyone see what goes down when you do this.

Some guy named "Ryan" started the trend in late July 2019. He posted his conversation with his "number neighbor" on twitter and ended up getting over 127k likes. 

Even celebrities began to get in on the fun. Bebe Rexha, a pop singer known for her hits "Meant to Be," "Call You Mine," and many more texted her number neighbor and then proceeded to post it on twitter.   

Sometimes the whole number neighbor scenario can be pretty funny. Other ties, it can turn for the worse. One woman in California reportedly filed a police report after she played along with the game, and then received death threats in response to the whole incident. 

All in all, I think the number neighbor trend was pretty cool. I texted mine and I never got a response :( But, it was worth a shot. You should consider texting your number neighbor. You never know. You could end up being best friends with them. 

Here are some examples of number neighbor text messages: