Here is a sneak peek at what an advertisement would look like from the one and only...Celiac Symposium:
I was intrigued when I input different key words into the "behaviors" and "interests" slots, how drastically it would increase or decrease my reach to people. It was kind of fun to be able to tailor an ad that would reach a demographic of my choosing!
This is my Facebook page. A year and a couple months ago, when I was diagnosed, I didn't think my "disease" if you must call it that, would benefit me academically. It sure did, though. When this assignment was first presented, I thought, "Crap, what am I going to dedicate a whole Facebook page to?" BAM! It came to me. So here it is:
My mission statement was simple:
I think I strayed from my original mission statement. As I progressed through the semester, I would be breakfast or I would take something to work and think, "Hey, my fellow Celiacs should know about this amazingly tasty meal," so I shared it on my page. I'd say food ideas make up most of my page. I tried to generate a discussion with a few of my posts but it never seemed to take off. The most engagement I would receive would be one comment, MAYBE two.
This just shows how many likes my page has today: A total of 66.
This was my reach. The highest point on there correlated with the post I made on December 10, 2014. This post was a video of a popular song by Lorde with the lyrics changed to make light of a Celiac plight. This made sense to me, it was a clever rendition of the song.
This is a screenshot of my posts. I posted a lot of pictures of food. I did this because one of the biggest concerns, in my opinion, that an individual with Celiac has is what they are able to eat. What can I have and still enjoy without getting sick? Well, I've been on that journey for a year now and by trial-and-error sampling and investigation, I have found what works. Those posts received a fair amount of feedback, especially one I posted that asked about local restaurants in town people had frequented and found to have gluten-free options. Also, one post that I was particular happy about was my "Fall in love with breakfast again." I talked about the bread that I had put my breakfast eggs atop. This bread is the best brand to hit the gluten-free world. I raved about it, more or less, and one of my followers wanted to know the brand. Gasp. She wanted to know the brand and I could had the answer!!! I could help her out! My last post, a video, didn't receive as many likes as I had anticipated since it was a video and I thought it was pretty funny but overall, my posts attracted decent feedback. I think I even warranted 2 shares on the video.
This assignment was a soul-stretcher. Like I've said before, this class has really cultivated critical thinking skills. I constantly found myself trying to think of something worthwhile to post and share with my followers. What would the Celiac population I've been wanting to reach want to know? What light can I shed on this quandary we (as people with Celiac) are faced with?
I think I hit 2/3 of my personas from the beginning of the semester. They were: people like me, who are new/fairly new to this whole gluten-free diet way-of-life, the mother who doesn't know what to fix for her kid with the disease and the rest of the family is not, and the clueless people who don't even know what Celiac disease is. Like I said, I posted a lot of food options so I would say that appealed to the first two personas. The other posts with which I was trying to be funny, again, the first two personas might be able to understand the humor. However, I did not make the clueless, well...less clueless. What I should have done was have one of my first posts be what Celiac disease is. That would have set the page up for sure.
When it comes down to it, I would have done two things differently: (1) address the clueless population and (2) added a bit more of a variety of posts since I feel 90% of my posts were pictures of food.
I do like the first post I made, though. I did sort of a throwback to when I was diagnosed and encouraged my followers to do the same. My point was to encourage a type of camaraderie among the readers. I was so excited (since it was my first post), when I was notified I had two comments!!! That was a bright spot of the whole experience, most definitely.
I've never had a specialized Facebook page before, so this was a journey to remember. Thank you Professor Young for encouraging me to think outside the box!
“Meet the Mormons? What is that?” I asked myself
when my sister asked me to listen to a new song by our very own David
Archuleta. I didn't know at the time but this song would be a big part of the Meet the Mormons film buzz on social media. David Archuleta is from Murray, Utah and became quite a big deal after making it to the finals of American Idol in 2008 and earning the runner-up title. Mr. Archuleta is a member of the LDS faith himself.
This was my first exposure to the documentary film that explores the lives of 6 LDS members that live anywhere from Nepal to Georgia. Each individual has their own story. One member is a Humanitarian worker, another is a Bishop. One LDS mother tells of her struggles as a young adult and the journey she took that led her to the LDS faith. The film explores the life of the head coach at the U.S. Naval Academy, a kick boxer in Costa Rica, and the candy bomber of the 1940's Berlin Airlift (meetthemormons).
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, engaging in the use of social media in order to introduce the film, is featured in this YouTube clip:
Elder Holland explains that the film is meant to be informative and not a proselytizing effort. Also, as a film first intended for the Legacy Theatre on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, the film did so well and is why the film made it to major theaters. Research accumulated after the film debut at the Legacy Theatre, according to Elder Holland, indicated that viewers were more likely to:
1. Consider Mormons as Christian.
2. Understand more clearly the name of the Church.
3. Be more respectful.
Elder Holland then goes on to address the social context.The social context has a lot to do with the
roles individuals play and the inherent rules that accompany those roles. The role in
this case is being a Mormon. Elder Holland urges members to share the film, to "like" the film's Facebook page, and to share the trailer or other material. That is what happened. Many members took seriously their role as Mormon as well as social media user and went to work, posting and promoting. Post after post on the MEETTHEMORMONS Instagram profile (5,114 followers) debuts people in front of movie marquees, pictures with members from the films, or followers singing their version of the song, "Glorious." There are still posts that show up on my feed almost daily that seem to carry a reminder that the film is still out there, still waiting to be seen. The social context has a lot to do with networking and spreading the word and that is exactly what is happening. This is citizen journalism. Spreading a message, promoting a film, religious or otherwise, is at the tip of our fingertips. The LDS, or Mormon faith, ('Mormon' is a nickname) is definitely a culture. The film is about members of this culture. The YouTube clip from above includes Elder Jeffrey R. Holland talking about one of the most important aspects that the film depicts, that of these members "...striving to follow the Savior and the difference that that had made in their lives." This film and that purpose is a look into LDS culture through the lives of people in this film. The film was released on October 10, 2014, a week after LDS General Conference. General Conference is another facet of the culture and was effectively used to advertise the film during breaks between Conference sessions. These contexts seem to be interrelated at times. The cultural practice of watching General Conference was used to promote the social context of viewing and supporting the film.
The psychological context is one that is best illustrated by a screenshot:
These are what audience members thought of the film. My favorite? The last one on the right: "I liked that it felt like you were getting to know people and that those people happen to be Mormon" (Elaine Bradley, Neon Trees). The word 'emotion' stuck out to me while we were talking about the various contexts in class. Testimonials like these, accompanied with visual aids aimed at inciting emotion, personify the psychological context for me. These people are happy and they have good things to say about the film. This approach is meant for the psyche. Notice the social media icons below the boxes, ready for sharing and distribution on multiple social media sites.
It's not all bunnies and gumdrops, though. Of course there are always two sides to each story. Upon browsing a website called "Metacritic," a user will be exposed to opposing opinions about the film.
Obviously there is more than one way to look at the psychological context of this film. Some viewers came away uplifted and better educated, other viewers saw the film and its intent very differently. Here we see citizen journalism at work yet again. Websites are being created where viewer and writer alike can post reviews and influence perception.
I've lived in an LDS bubble my whole life, assuming everyone is LDS, LDS but inactive, linked to the LDS church in some way, or at least having good, LDS values and intentions. I am not saying I am opposed to the bubble, I am saying that I have come to place a high value on being informed. I believe this is far safer than being ignorant. Websites like "Metacritic" are evidence that there are always going to be people outside of that bubble with different opinions than my own. Not only different opinions but also varying methods of sharing those opinions.
That being said, I think the fact that the LDS church is utilizing social media tools more now to spread the word and appeal to an audience that at times, can only be reached by these mediums (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.), is brilliant. Walk into any public setting and you will see, at any point in time, a vast number of the people present with their face down, consumed by the electronic device in their hands. If the device is not in their hands, it is somewhere close by. Sometimes it is the only way to reach the people. Sad? I think so. Effective? Obviously. There is a lot more behind the scenes of Meet the Mormons, and I was intrigued as I delved a bit farther into the different contexts that are intrinsic within the film.
