Reflection 6

Coming in to this course I really did not know what to expect. I felt as though I had some previous knowledge because I use social media. Although I was not currently active on all platforms I did have knowledge as to what they were, how they were used for different reasons and how to operate them. This course opened my eyes to more than what I already knew. From this course I see that you can use social media as more than just a means to communicate with friends and others from across the world. This course showed me how businesses operate and function within social media. I know there has been many instanced in which I have received information about current events happening in different areas. Twitter and Tumblr are my main sources used for current events as they are occurring other than actual news sources. I was not aware that these tweets/posts were actually serving as a solid source for those across the globe to receive information. I just simply thought they were mini-posts, comments, and opinions shared by individuals. When introducing non-profits and their roles in social media it began to open my eyes about how powerful these websites and phone apps could be. I know I have communicated with businesses via social media but I had always assumed they had a following prior to the creation of their accounts and that the accounts just served as another means to communicate and receive feedback from customers. I now see that social media can serve as the main platform to communicate with the public. It has the potential to hold more importance than I assumed. Many non-profits we have covered have successfully benefitted from using social media as a way to interact, inform, and receive help from the public. I enjoyed learning about the various non-profits that are out there.

As far as the actual course is concerned I feel it was a lot of work within the 6 weeks. I did not see any problems with the reflections because it forced us to do more than just learn about it but actually see the concepts we were taught in the real world. I did not feel that being a part of social media was essential. I feel if we were studying and doing our own research we could see the concepts and did not need to be a part of it if we were not actually going to fundraise for our designated non-profit. One can benefit from this course if you take the concepts taught and apply them to your own non-profit or one that you may be a part of.