Post by serina on Oct 29, 2014 1:14:43 GMT -5
I learned a lot about how important social media is or can be to nonprofit organizations. They have a lot of responsibilities when it comes to keeping up with all the various platforms: Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. With all the demands of this, they have more than just a few issues with keeping up with posts and responding to supporters and events, but also with keeping their information online interesting and engaging. Depending on the organization, it is very tough to have creativity with sensitive subjects; and to do it in a way that is ‘crowd-pleasing’ is even harder. It was also interesting to listen to their different perspectives on how they achieve their awareness. Every company approached it differently and had their preferences in social media platforms. I’ve always thought that any and almost every platform would be beneficial. But, from taking the course I now see how each one can be manipulated differently to suit each nonprofit’s needs. Some use Instagram because they want supporters to see what they do and the pictures speak for themselves, some favor Twitter because they rather use links and post ideas quickly as well as engage swiftly, and some like Facebook better because they use more words and pictures combined in each post. It is based on what the organization sees as the best outlet for what they will do regularly.
I felt like this course was very fast paced and at times super challenging. One thing that was most challenging to me about this course was its consistency. In the beginning I thought things would stay about the same way until the end of the course. However, the lengthiness of readings and lectures changed, and the amount of work changed. I feel like I could have managed my work better if everything kept the same amount; as far as each assignment that was required each week. For example, 10 articles to read, two 15 minute lectures, two 30 minute hangouts, one 10 question quiz (this one did stay the same as well as the due date), 5 tweets, 2 instagrams, one 400 word discussion, and one 400 word reflection. I had trouble with that changing as well as their separate due dates as well. It shifted a little. There were some changes in times and dates and lengths. Therefore, it was a slight confusion of what to expect. But outside of that, the main thing that bothered me most about this course was the last minute (it seemed to feel like) group project. I don’t think it is in almost any way a good idea to have a group project this intensive online. Because it was an online course, lots of people signed up with the known inability to transport themselves onto campus. Therefore, if there were no responses or miscommunication…one just had to deal with it and complete the project on their own. It was utterly stressful beyond measure considering our efforts were to please the client with our best work. Being under such pressure with the limits of an online project, with people that you would never see or work with outside of a chat group online, it was almost an impossible task to make cohesive and make it into something we were proud of. There was a lot of miscommunication and misinterpretations between group members, instructors, and project criteria.
Through all of this, one thing did change my entire outlook on my career. My goal now is to work with a nonprofit organization that I am passionate about to help them achieve more awareness through my skills with creativity on social media and across other media outlets for them as well. I feel that this is a career choice that will bring me great fulfillment in life.
I felt like this course was very fast paced and at times super challenging. One thing that was most challenging to me about this course was its consistency. In the beginning I thought things would stay about the same way until the end of the course. However, the lengthiness of readings and lectures changed, and the amount of work changed. I feel like I could have managed my work better if everything kept the same amount; as far as each assignment that was required each week. For example, 10 articles to read, two 15 minute lectures, two 30 minute hangouts, one 10 question quiz (this one did stay the same as well as the due date), 5 tweets, 2 instagrams, one 400 word discussion, and one 400 word reflection. I had trouble with that changing as well as their separate due dates as well. It shifted a little. There were some changes in times and dates and lengths. Therefore, it was a slight confusion of what to expect. But outside of that, the main thing that bothered me most about this course was the last minute (it seemed to feel like) group project. I don’t think it is in almost any way a good idea to have a group project this intensive online. Because it was an online course, lots of people signed up with the known inability to transport themselves onto campus. Therefore, if there were no responses or miscommunication…one just had to deal with it and complete the project on their own. It was utterly stressful beyond measure considering our efforts were to please the client with our best work. Being under such pressure with the limits of an online project, with people that you would never see or work with outside of a chat group online, it was almost an impossible task to make cohesive and make it into something we were proud of. There was a lot of miscommunication and misinterpretations between group members, instructors, and project criteria.
Through all of this, one thing did change my entire outlook on my career. My goal now is to work with a nonprofit organization that I am passionate about to help them achieve more awareness through my skills with creativity on social media and across other media outlets for them as well. I feel that this is a career choice that will bring me great fulfillment in life.