Facebook Results

The purpose of this Facebook page was to share DIY ideas for different handmade items that I like to and would like to create. Also, I have never been a big user of social media, so I felt by getting 50 likes on my page was a reasonable goal. I hoped this page would provide inspiration for others who were looking for new projects to try.  To do so, I planned to use a variety of tutorials, such as: YouTube videos, picture demonstrations and other written instructions.  For my first few posts, I decided to go with YouTube videos.  As can be seen, the YouTube video tutorials were not getting the response I desired.

 

Seeing that videos were not the key to success, I aimed for picture demonstrations.  My first great success of this was a picture tutorial of repurposing an old window into a coffee table.  As I continued with the picture tutorials, I also discovered that although my posts were doing better, they still weren’t reaching as many people as I would have liked.  Then I realized the window coffee table tutorial reached a lot more people because they are interested in repurposing objects more than making things from scratch.

 

After I posted a few more picture tutorials and only achieving one real success, I knew I was still doing something wrong.  So I took a look at my demographics.  In doing so I found the majority of my viewers were women, ages 35 to 44. 

 

Unfortunately, I myself do not fall into this category, so I had to seek guidance from someone who did.  Luckily for me, my mother-in-law fit into this category, so I enlisted her expertise. It is because of her that I found I should post more home and yard decorating ideas, that involved repurposing objects.

 

 

 

Self Evaluation

 

Looking at the number of people who liked my page, when starting it from nothing and with very few Facebook friends myself, I am pleased with the results I gained from this project. I found, that I got more views and likes with the photo based posts than any of the videos. This was different from what I expected. The videos I thought would draw more attention, but I found that it was the short quick glimpses of things that drew in people more than the in-depth videos.

I also believe when people were reading the tutorials,  they were able to understand it better and as an added bonus, the viewers didn't have to listen to weird music, awkward silence or people talking. I also feel some of the videos were to lengthy, making it difficult to hold people's attention, which also helped lead to my decision to use pictures.

Next time I do this I will try to get more involvement from my followers by having them share what projects  they did and what ideas they liked. In addition, I would encourage them to share new ideas that would help more people get involved in the creative process.

Another Fort Hood Texas Shooting

In 2009 a tragedy took place at Fort Hood, Texas when army psychiatrist Maj. Nadil Malik Hasan opened fire. Hasan took the lives of 13 people and wounded 32 others. His rampage sparked shock and anger in the hearts of many Americans, especially since it was a U.S. military major attacking U.S. citizens. Unfortunately, this horrific act is not the only one to occur at this location.

On April 2, 2014 Fort Hood military base in Texas had a haunting replication of a shooter on the base. The gunman, Spc. Ivan Lopez, was reportedly suffering from mental health issues that he was receiving treatment for. After shooting 19 people Lopez turned the gun on himself, thus ending the rampage.

With social media we now are able to get information about events instantaneously. This can lead to responses where we see people react in anger, grief and sympathy. Being able to receive information in real time and respond just as quickly, we often see initial emotional response from the people.

 

Media in this current event focuses on the shock of the people who were there, how they could not believe this happened again and the shock of Lopez’s family left behind. The media failed to mention or draw attention to the other families who lost members due to Lopez’s outbreak. All that seems to have been said about those who were wounded or killed is that they all were military. The media is drawing on the sadness of Lopez’s condition and failed to recognize all others who have been devastated by this incident.

With an emotional drive, the media has seemed to switch gears from focusing on the aftermath of what happened at Fort Hood, to military members suffering from mental health issues and that inevitably being the cause of this outburst.

After reading all these articles I find it distressing that the media and society focus on the mental condition of the shooter. Yes, it is important to know what may have lead Lopez to do this act, but the others who lost their lives, I feel, should receive greater recognition than the gunman. In addition to this, in just a few days the social media has already started to lose interest in the event. I know repetition can be annoying, but I feel we should not let this tragedy slip way from our view without giving it proper recognition and reflection. I hope that this could lead us to greater precautions in the future as to avoid a third repeat.