The Kellen: Facebook Page Analysis

To start off I just want to do a shameless shout out to my brother who is the heart and soul of this project.  He willingly allowed me to create an Autism Awareness page with him taking center stage.  Now first of all I need to let everyone know that he was asked and allowed me permission to do this.  In order to further subside my ethical dilemma's brewing inside I gave him power over what was posted by voluntarily handing over my password and information to allow him COMPLETE ACCESS to this page.  He was such a good sport in allowing me to post videos of him, which I found to generate the MOST views to the page.  The page didn't do as well as I had hoped for, despite my valiant effort.  The hardest part was capturing the random, raw, and comedic moments of my brother.  In order to give him justice I would have to first, actually live in the same household as him, and second would need a GoPro or some other sort of camera mounted on my person and constantly running at ALL TIMES!!


Quick overview of  The Kellen Facebook page created by my brother and I--  It reached a total of 81 likes (still plan on keeping that growing).  Reached over 700 views with the most popular post.  Averaged over 10 likes per post, and reached people in over 11 states.

The page generated the most significant spike in likes at primarily two major times.  The first was when the page first was launched.  The second was on one of the most popular posts (a video of my brothers amazing dance moves) made just this month.

 

 

Most of the 'likes' generated were made on Facebook itself.  With very few being generated outside of Facebook.

 

All of the people Reached by The Kellen were 100% organic.  The strategy I used behind this was that of networking within the realm of my personal Facebook page.  Each time I, or my brother posted something on The Kellen, I would immediately share that particular post on my personal Facebook page, in efforts to get my posse to generate the number of page likes.

The number of VISITS was super cool to see when it came to each post.  It made up for the fact that the number of likes per post was low by seeing the huge number of people who actually visited and viewed the post.  The highest number of views were generated by two videos posted.  One was of my brothers love advice I posted during Valentines. It received 500 views.  With the most popular post being reciently with the video posted of my brothers amazing dance skills with over 700 views.  Again super neat to see that others have looked at it, even if they didn't like it, it's still nice to know the post was reaching people.

My posts varied in frequencies of a couple times a day, to as far as a couple weeks between posts.  During the time frame of March the posts were at their lowest frequency of once a month.  This was probably due to midterms.  Likely a drag from spring break as well.  Either way, that particular month was not my strongest month of posting onto The Kellen. 
It came as absolutely no surprise to myself the most substantial time people would visit the page was at night, more resolutely between nine to midnight.  What DID come as a surprise though was that the time frames in which people would visit the page didn't vary much throughout the entire day.  Mostly meaning that the people viewing the page probably range from early risers like stay at home moms, to people with 9-5 jobs that pop onto Facebook various times throughout their work day, and younger crowds like college students or 20 something year olds who don't go to bed until late/early hours in the morning.

 

 

After my first couple of posts didn't generate the kind of action I was looking for, I thought of alternative ideas that would bring in the viewers.  That's when we talked about in class how videos tend to be the most popular among viewers.  So... I thought what perfect way to capture the awesomeness that I get to witness on a regular basis!! It seemed fool proof, then I ran into a snag, the ability to capture these moments that many don't get the pleasure of witnessing.   I later was able to acquire such footage of these said moments and posted it immediately.  The activity it pulled in on the page FAR out did the other posts I had been posting. 

The part that was the most interesting to look at was the PEOPLE.  This was super neat to look at.  The number of people this page actually reached even though they didn't actually 'like' the page was way greater than I had anticipated.  The next part was the places it reached.  Though majority of the numbers came from little ole Southern Utah, a vast amount came from states as far as North Carolina and Nebraska.  With majority of the states  being from the western half of the U.S.  Still... it was more than I had ever thought, or could imagine when first initiating this page.

 

Overall, the page did better then I had anticipated, but didn't produce what I had originally envisioned.  The plan was to show the world the mind/thought process of someone with Autism.  While it somewhat was able to achieve that, it didn't exactly get portrayed that why.  In a way the page developed into a self advertising page for my brother. He attained more subscribers on his youtube channel because of his self promotion he would do on the page every now and then.  I was actually totally okay with that, being that it was 'his' page ultimately.  I wanted him to have control over it, as to avoid my perception on things, but rather HIS perception, with just me accentuating or validating his awesome personality.

Contextual Analysis on the IMPACTS of Gov. Brown's Executive Order

Last year I was visiting a friend in California.  During my stay, I ran into a gentleman that worked for the State of California in the Agriculture department.  We had a lengthy discussion on California's water conservancy crisis.  He talked about the actions the State was taking to address the challenge, we then talked about Las Vegas and their similar progression to the same situation.  After this discussion I did some more digging on what was happening in California and the paradigm shift among the residents of the state.  Was it just hype? Or is there some validity?  What kind of actions are going to be taken to prove the importance of the problem?  Then I cam across this...

Earlier this month Governor Brown of California passed an Executive Order mandating urban areas to reduce their water usage by 25%. Gov. Brown's Executive Order on Water Usage was a major media event that catapulted the snowball effect of water conservancy throughout many residents in the state of California.  The argument with this was the push back from residents who didn't feel they should HAVE to cut back.  In announcing those measures, Brown had defended the water board’s restrictions from criticism that they did not go far enough, saying he wanted to do more but that such efforts take time.  The next worry is, What will they do next?

Another event that may have sparked this whole problem might have spawned from this media event. Those Dam Removals.... But I digress.

The take home point of argument is that of the Executive Order established recently and how the media event effected the audiences view on the draught.  Did I fall for the media event? The psychology behind the media framing?? I sure did.  Then I took my biasness and turned it to what the effects of living in the desert had.  Wait, I live in the desert! What does that mean for St. George, or even Vegas?  Am I pushing back just like the Californians are to this executive order? Though I may be one of the ones to question it, don't we all have our own brains to critically think of the ramifications involved with not doing research?? Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean we should believe it.

The use of major media sources to heighten awareness or to scare us, has been used far longer by stakeholders throughout history.  My plan was to take what IS happening already in California and apply it to the issues that could effect me directly.

I further looked into the similarities of what was happening physically and socially in Vegas, and why it wasn't as well known as California's problem.  Lastly, looked at the potentiality of St. George's ability to get to that same point.

If someone was to look up "California Water Crisis" in a popular search engine like Google, they would find articles posted as recent as yesterday or even hours ago.  The situation has grown substantially since the discussion I had with the gentleman from the California State Agricultural department.  Though I went in with a biased opinion of, "this is a real problem" since I heard from a first hand source that the situation was REALLY that, a situation.  It was easy to find sources that backed my opinion, but there were also other sources that said there wasn't much of a problem, and others that overdid it. That's the beauty of being a human, we question things.  This is where social media is... excuse my smirk, BENEFICIAL! Yes, I said beneficial.  Social media aids in getting the information out there to the world. The use of social media and social networking to increase knowledge of the topic is largely due to the amount of agriculture that comes from the state.  At first I was skeptical to the topic thinking that it might be overly dramatized due to the fact that it's California.  Along with the fact that some sources framed a "woe is me" type of connection for the audience.  Later on came to realize that the problem has been increasing over time.  The reason the situation in Vegas isn't as well-known is due to the fact that it's not at the same severe level that California's is. 

 

That's when the paradigm shift comes in.  Unlike California, Vegas, and even St. George has the ability to get ahead of the situation.  Understanding that the problem in California can potentially be a problem within our very own community people can take the actions necessary to reverse the current track we are on.  Since the problem in California is so great as to effect the economy of the state, people are starting to notice.  I'm willing to bet that there are still people living within the state who are oblivious to the fact of what is going on right in front of their noses.  California has lost over 500,000 acres of agriculture which has resulted in a loss of jobs, as well as loss of economic income due to the fact that 80% of California's Agriculture doesn't stay within California.  They rely highly on outside sources who buy from them. Cut backs in landscape also directly effects the residents which creates a paradigm shift of the problem.  Similar actions like water cut backs on landscape have been invoked in Vegas.

California Water Crisis   <

 

Las Vegas has set water restrictions on all landscaping throughout the city, as well as potentially charging residents for use of water. Mind you this is a suggestion.  First thing that came to my mind was charging the hotels and major cash revenue cows on the strip more for water.  One way can be by taxing businesses that bring in a substantial income with a water tax.  The use of social media in this city alone can flip a 180 and help aid in the cities ability to make a drastic change in how people conserve water, or realize they have an ability to aid in keeping this 'beloved' city from turning to dust.

 

 

 

The media's role here is to frame the importance of the problem to further enlighten and persuade society of the issue at hand.  People best respond to things when they can connect to it.  Though many feel that hitting people on the emotional level, that approach is a HIGHLY persuasive way to get a point across.  When people start to realize that THEY contribute to the problem, they'll begin to understand that THEY are also a part of the solution. 

What does that mean for US?? Little and quasi innocent St. George Utah?? Well, let me tell you!  I know we are all some form of communication or business majors, but let us do some math.  St. George has recently been ranked in the top 5 of the fastest growing cities in the United States. St. George's population is 73,421 people. Since 2000, it has had a population growth of 45.29 percent.  It is projected that St. George's population will double in the next 15 years, thus resulting in more water usage.  The problem is that we live in a desert.   Like we have discussed in class of St. George being an island, we are therefore unsustainable, at this current time.  With the use of social networking, I firmly believe that St. George can become a front runner of sustainable desert communities.  This is not saying we can't out source, this just means we wouldn't have to be economically reliable on other sources.  Maybe this is the answer---> Lake Powell Pipeline
 Or maybe it isn't---> Lake Powell Pipeline to Southern Utah