Social Media & The American Spirit

This past week has been hell for a lot of people. Lives altered. Innocence lost. 2 cities broken and changed forever. As the people of West, TX and Boston, Mass. pick up the pieces and try to make sense of the catastrophes to hit their communities, I have been making note of the ways in which our country has evolved into a more caring, unified, compassionate, genuinely GOOD society since our innocence was shattered on September 11, 2001.

I have never been more proud of our great United States as I have been this past week. Our sense of community, the "your brother is my brother" mentality, the outpouring of generosity from complete and total strangers to the victims of these two horrific events has been nothing short of extraordinary. To me, this is the purest symbolism representing everything that is wonderful about America. Sure, we have a cut-throat, dog-eat-dog mentality in business, and sure we have probably more than our fair share of violence, but holy crackers -- when someone impedes on our ability to join in celebration with people who are accomplishing one of the biggest milestones in their life, an event where there is so much joy and triumph over struggle, we as a nation really shine.

Social media is a wonderful tool to help develop a sense of community with those who are hundreds or thousands of miles apart. Through the internet and social media platforms, I was able to check on a family friend who was running the marathon, able to connect with a friend who lived in West (who as it turned out, lost everything but their lives), able to participate in the relief efforts for West, able to donate to The One Fund Boston, and most impactful of all, be in mourning with everyone else across the country. It is paramount that in times of grief and sorrow people have a sense of community around them to help them cope through things that just do not and probably will never make sense.

I was riveted for an entire week, glued to anything with a screen hoping for positive news developments in both disasters. On Thursday, when video was released of the suspects, it spread like a wildfire over cracking ground. Within a few hours, hundreds of millions of people across the nation suddenly had a watchful eye out for 2 very dangerous men. When the dramatic events started to unfold on the campus of MIT later that night, social media once again proved critical. Suddenly people were streaming police scanners over Ustream (which is by the way something that I don't agree with, but I won't get on my soapbox right now. We would be here a while), live blogging the events from their homes just mere feet away from the activity,  and tweeting/retweeting any nugget of information to keep their neighbors, whether literally or figuratively, safe from harm.

Social media is a powerful tool. People complain about privacy and about raising an overly-egotistical generation. What is so often overlooked is the good that social media can create. I currently reside in College Station and am a current and former student of Texas A&M University. Aggieland Outfitters, an A&M spirit store, led a joint effort of local businesses and student organizations to collect a donation of items to send to West, TX. The alert was sent out a few short hours after the explosion online, via texts, and through local news outlets. The following morning, the organizations began taking donations from local students and residents. Here is a link to an Aggie's experience being a part of the traveling caravan from College Station to West on Thursday evening (24 hours after the explosion). Below is an excerpt of his testimony. It is one of the many reasons that no terrorist, no hateful organization, and no amount of fear will ever shake my faith in humanity.

"In a joint effort orchestrated by over 15 local businesses with Aggieland Outfitters as the lead, 3 student organizations, 200 plus aggie volunteers, and countless generous donators, we delivered approximately 226,500 pounds (Over 113 Tons-equal to the weight of Boeing 757) of supplies in two 53’ Semi-trailers, two 35’ Trailers, three 15’ moving vans, one RV, one moving trailer, and convoy of personal vehicles. We also delivered over $15,000 in cash donations to the town leaders. You want to know the most amazing part? We had delivered all this within 24 hours of the accident. There is no other way to classify this extraordinary effort other than to just say “There’s a spirit can ne’er be told.” -Cameron Salome ‘07

I pray that this world becomes more peaceful and that terrorists seek to exist. Will that be reality? --Probably not. But I feel safe and content knowing one simple thing: The generosity and support in response to events such as Boston and West show why we will always win in the end.

Internet Diary Ep.1

I receive daily emails from both Groupon and Livingsocial that always flood my inbox with mostly meaningless offers for cheap deals I would never need nor want. However, I have yet to unsubscribe from these annoying e-blasts because occasionally, I find something that I actually buy. Recently, I found one such offer on Groupon. I found an iPad case that came from a reputable brand in a variety of colors for $7.99. That's a steal!! I bought the case, received it in the mail a couple of weeks later, and thus far have been completely satisfied with my purchase.

My purchase experience really got me thinking about these discount sites and their subsequent marketing strategy. My concerns with these discount sites are two-fold.

1. Increasingly often, I find deals promoted on these websites from companies whom, after further investigation, seem very sketchy to say the least. The company's website looks like it was built in the middle 1990s.... The price is too dirt cheap.... The reviews for the company are horrendous... The list could go on and on. I wonder how the discount retailer's (Groupon, Livingsocial) brand perception will change in the future if they continue promoting less than average businesses.
2. I understand that their whole concept is based around a daily changing buffet of offers, some better than others. I understand that these businesses feel the need to communicate these new offers to their subscribers.... But the overwhelming amount of emails that subscribers of these sites are subject to is ridiculous! On more than one occasion, I have been so fed up with these relentless emails, that I have seriously considered hitting the "unsubscribe" button at the bottom of those emails. These companies need to learn to balance their emails to customers. An annoyed customer is not a profitable one.

Groupon has been in some financial trouble lately. The stock price has taken a big hit from the high mountain on which it once was on. In 2010,  Google was attempting to purchase Groupon, but Groupon refused the deal then. I wonder who is laughing now?