Insights in Professional Communication

In 2014, Ellen DeGeneres posted a selfie with a slew of celebrities after the academy awards with the intent to get it break the record for number of retweets. And it did. Of course it did. Ellen DeGeneres is famous. Everyone in the picture is famous. Everyone that loves Ellen is going to retweet the photo. Everyone that loves Brad Pitt is going to retweet the photo. And then you have her promoting people to retweet the photo on her show. Hence, the photo becomes the most retweeted tweet. Until #NuggsForCarter came along. April 1, 2017 likely happened like any normal day: a kid named Carter wanted some delicious Wendy’s chicken nuggets (which I honestly don’t know if I have ever had). So he asks Wendy’s how many times he would have to be retweeted to get chicken nuggets for a year. They answered him with a number that is really big: 18 million. Wendy’s, COME ON! This kid is only 16. At that point, Ellen Degeneres’ photo still held the record of most retweeted ph

Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Sometimes even a big company like McDonald’s can make an innocent mistake that has some costly consequences. In 2011, McDonald’s had the idea to create two hashtags to promote their company. The first one, #MeetTheFarmers, was to show consumers that the food was fresh and to make the farmers a big part of the company. The second hashtag, #McDStories, had the intention to get people to share good stories and memories of McDonald’s, but instead it had the opposite effect. People shared horrible experiences, such as the ones listed on Business Insider “-- Dude, I used to work at McDonald's. The #McDStories I could tell would raise your hair.” I think McDonald’s didn’t think through this idea. Obviously, people love McDonald’s. It is a multi-national, multibillion dollar business. But surely, they had to think that there are people who have had bad experiences there. It is fast-food. In a case study of this event published here , it p

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube: these popular social media platforms are an integral part of many people and most college students’ lives. Social Media has changed communication dramatically in numerous situations, such as college life, interpersonal relationships, organizational communication, and marketing. The positive impact is incalculable, though many would argue the negative influence of social media is ruining our society. Whether social media is good or bad, there is not denying that it has changed the way we interact with those around us. According to Statista ,   as of November 2017, 81% of U.S. Americans are on social media. People get on social media to talk with family members (Facebook), get advice (Reddit), share opinions and recipes (Blogger), as well as many other things. Before Social Media, communication usually came from the top down, but with social media, communication often comes from the bottom up. For instance, companies could advertise using c