Social Media Campaign & Website: The Los Angeles Minimum Wage

Minimum wage laws is a socioeconomic topic that is becoming increasingly popular in many large cities. To combat poverty, cities such as San Francisco have recently raised their minimum wages. The city of Los Angeles is now considering that as well.

la smallDuring the fall of this year, Mayor Garcetti of Los Angeles passed allow that would make it legal to raise the minimum wage in Los Angeles from the current $9.00 an hour minimum to  $13.25 an hour by the year of 2017. While many Los Angeles residents responded well to this proposed increase, other council members thought that the raise should be greater, making the minimum wage $15.25 per hour by 2019.

While both parties undoubtedly had the best interest of all of the people at heart, they failed to recognize the economic impacts that this would have on the community and the short and long term effects it would have on small businesses, especially in lower income areas such as East Los Angeles.

laperspectives333As with most major issues there are people strongly for raising the minimum wage and others who are strongly against it. Reflecting this phenomenon is media that is either strongly in support of one side or another. The problem that exists however is that there is no platform that Los Angeles citizens can utilize to engage in a productive discussion surrounding this issue. LA Perspectives is here to do just that.

In order to engage the most citizens possible and ensure that a wide demographic is represented in the discussions, LA Perspective’s primary platform is a website. Yes, it may seem archaic to do something like this right off of the bat, instead of leveraging the power of tools such as social networks, however the fact of the matter is that not everyone is on social media. That said, it is still essential to integrate this site with social media in order to spread the word and engage more viewers. Here are some of the primary features of the proposed website.

1) The “Your Story” page. This is the foundation and backbone of the site. Here users can yourstoryupload and share their story through a video or even engage in an online discussion with another site user. The purpose here is for both business owners and employees alike to hear and understand each other’s perspective.

 

 

2) Statistics. When discussing an economic issue, it is absolutely imperative that everyone has an understanding of the statistics surrounding the issue. Statistics here will be of two statisticsvarieties: A) statistics regarding the current state of Los Angeles and B) statistics predicted by economists who have conducted economic impact studies for this issue.

 

 

 

3) The film. A moving documentary is always a good tool to harness when trying to excite filmand engage citizens in a discussion surrounding societal and local issues. Users could watch the film on the site and share it through modern social media sites such as YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter, and Google Plus.

 

 

4) A poll. It is always good to measure the public opinion and this tool would be used in pollorder for the City Council members who will vote on this proposal in order to gauge where the public stands on this issue. Visitors would be simply given one change to share whether they are in favor of A) No minimum wage increase, B) Increasing the minimum wage to $13.25/hr, or C) Increasing the minimum wage to $15.25/hr.

 

5) Social media integration. Due to the wide demographic that this site is intended for, LA Perspectives shall leverage the power of the most basic and common social media sites Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The media posted on these sites will be simply things that are posted to the main LA Perspectives website shown and thoroughly explained above. For example, if Mr. Stein wrote a post explaining why raising the minimum wage would be harmful to his small grocery store business, then the link to that article will be shared to all social media platforms. If he includes a photo of his shop, then he’ll even get some extra publicity on Instagram. The purpose of integrating social media here is simply to encourage easy and effortless sharing of the media posted to the site. Since these social media sites are some of the most common and familiar ways that people in the twenty first century share information, they seem to be the best platforms to use for spreading the word and sharing the stories posted on the LA Perspectives site.

la city line22

 

*Note: The images on this page are either A) original works or B) purchased with an extended license from ShutterStock.

Social Media Campaign – Originality in the Music Industry

Over the last few decades, music and technology have been rapidly evolving together. However, even as sounds are explored and technology advances, originality and uniqueness have been compromised. Mainstream artists have taken hold of the charts, making it harder for independent and upcoming artists to be discovered. The music industry has become a sort of catch-22: an artist can’t become popular without a hit, but that artist can’t get a hit without being popular. Label executives and producers are apprehensive about taking risks with new artists and artists that are exploring different sounds. Instead, they rely on the artists who’ve already made it big.

Research has proven that pop music is actually beginning to sound the same— and this is inevitable. With only so many possible notes and tones that can be used when composing music, it’s no wonder that songs are starting to reflect each other. It’s nearly impossible not to be influenced by an already existing tune or melody. Even so, when presented with an incredibly diverse world of music, it’s the same kind of music that’s played over and over on radio stations; the same “Top 40” and the same “Today’s Top Hits” playlists that are the most popular on applications like Spotify and Pandora. Even when listeners are offered an endless selection of tracks—more so than ever— they choose to support the artists that have already been established as mainstream, the ones they’re familiar with.

This is where “Underground Radio” comes in: a radio station dedicated to surfacing the artists that have been pushed aside by the mainstream music. So many radio stations exist, and yet so many play the same repetitive loop of songs that the stations think people want to listen to. Underground Radio focuses on the listeners and the music they respond to, whether in a positive or negative way. Here, the less well-known and local artists get to have their songs played to an audience that is open to new sounds. Every time a song is played, listeners get to vote on the website or call in and voice their opinion. At Underground Radio, it’s less about the commercialization— it’s about what the people really want to hear.

I’ve created a website for the radio station (with our classroom number as a fake frequency…) that includes a poll that would be updated for every new song that’s played, as well as a slideshow of “Recently Played” songs so listeners can find the songs they liked. Although I haven’t created it, in addition to this website there’d be an Instagram that posts snippets of songs played along with their album cover to help promote the radio station as well as the artist. There would also be a Facebook page for the station that provided a link to the website.

Private Money for Title I Schools- Social Media Campaign

Studies show that, as of 2013, the majority of public schools in the United States are in poverty. Around 51 percent of students from pre-kindergarten to twelfth grade qualify for free or reduced lunch. While the economy has improved, poverty rate has still been increasing. These students are at an extreme disadvantage. Many of them start off just like any other kid, with the same drive and willingness to learn, but over time their lack of resources steers them in the wrong direction.

Many schools receive Title I funds from the government. In order to qualify for Title I funds, at least 40% of the school’s students must be considered to be living in poverty. There are many benefits of private funding as opposed to Title I money. Title I money comes with many strings attached. It must be spent on things like teacher aides and reading programs that narrow the achievement gap. It has become evident that government funds just aren’t enough.

My idea is to create a website that allows people to donate private funds directly to a Title one school in their area. These funds can be spent on classroom supplies like pencil boxes and notebooks (things that are so often purchased by the teachers with money out of their own pocket). It can also be spent on things like after school athletic programs, physical education, and music programs, all of which are things that can keep student out of trouble and on the right path.

My target audience is middle age/ older adults that belong to the middle/ upper class. To spread the word and convince people to donate, I will not only have a Website as well as a Facebook account.

The campaign will be called FundMyFuture.

 

 

Social Media Campaign- Health in the Media

Health is something that everyone needs to be concerned about. Therefor, I believe that is a topic worthy of attention. The media has the responsibility to report on health news and it fulfills that responsibility, just not in the right way. America has seen a dramatic decline in health over the past decades, especially among the youth. With this decline, there has been an incline in the amount of money that junk food, fast food restaurants and beverage companies have been spending on advertising. Along with this trend is the increase in the advertisement of unrealistic body images. Models are getting thiner and celebrities are being idolized for their thigh gaps. This is creating a circulation of media topics that contradict each other and promote unhealthy and unrealistic lifestyles.

All over the internet, most particularly on social media sites used predominately by girls, one can find “thinspo”(thin-inspiration) pictures, memes and eating choices that are supposed to give young girls inspiration to lose weight. However, these pictures and messages are incredibly harmful and unrealistic for the mind. Also, they normally promote getting skinny, not healthy. This leads to unhealthy expectations and to young people resorting to tactics and disorders such as anorexia, binge eating, bulimia, and more.

As an attempt to bring awareness to the fact that the media is promoting unhealthy eating habits and body images, I have started a REALhealth blog. The goal of this blog is to promote a REAL healthy lifestyle with realistic images, messages and life tips. Hopefully the trend of REALhealth blogs will catch on and become just as popular as “thinspo” and that support for healthy advertising will become a more prominent cause. The eventual goal would be for greater limitation regarding advertising unhealthy eating habits, especially among channels and sites that are predominately used by youth and for there to be a movement to make depicted body images more realistic.

Here is the link to my blog:

http://realhealthblog.tumblr.com

Social Media Campaign: The Education System

If you went to kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and high school, at eighteen years old, you spent a total of about 2,340 days, or 35 percent of your life, in school. But how much of that time was actually well spent? In this project, I wanted to analyze the education system, specifically the high school system. I, like the majority of high school students, absolutely dreaded school. I hated the classes-they were too long. I hated the tests- they were pointless. I hated the homework- all of it was just busywork. The only reasons I even went to school were for my friends and to get good grades for college. But now that I’m in college, that miserable mindset has changed into a much more positive one. I am motivated to find out what I really love to do and what I am passionate about. The only problem is, I have little to no idea what that actually is.

I went to a private high school. It was supposed to be one of the best in the county, and it was challenging, but in all the wrong ways. Instead of challenging myself to find what I am good at and what I am passionate about and developing those skills, I spent a lot of time merely going through the motions, doing the bare minimum to get an A and never really learning anything. But I never changed this mindset because one, it was working, and two, no one ever told me it was wrong. In everyone’s eyes, I was succeeding. I finished in the top ten percent of my class and earned decent scores on my ACT and SAT. But looking back on it all now, I realize that even though I went to a “good” school and did relatively well, I didn’t truly succeed because school got in the way of my education.

This is what I am trying to solve in this project. I want to change what the idea of a “good” education means, especially in high school. I believe that there is more to a “good” education than memorization and receiving high scores on standardized tests. I don’t believe that you are receiving a “good” education if the thought of school makes you sad and dejected. The goal of this project is to transform the high school system into a place where one can spend more time finding and pursuing what he/she is passionate about, rather than mindlessly going through the motions, which is what high school encourages today.

The target audience is essentially anyone who works in education, as well as high school and college students. Below I have the links to my Twitter page and website. I will be posting on these sites regularly, giving out content on the high school system for people to discuss and reply to, as well as links to other sites that inform people about the system we have today. I think this is important because the first step in solving a problem is realizing that there is a problem, and a lot of people don’t realize that there is a problem with the system today or are choosing to ignore it.

 

https://twitter.com/STES_MAC

 

https://fixhighschool.wordpress.com

 

Social Media Campaign: Got Hunger? “The Proposal”

Got Hunger is an organization that is working towards solving hunger. We recognize that hunger is a HUGE issue, so we have decided to tackle it in Los Angeles first.

Our project has three steps to it. The first step is for awareness. Participants will take a photo of themselves in green on May 10th our starting day and write the caption as “Got Hunger?” and will tag our Instagram or Facebook in the photo. Our goal is to have these pictures go viral and get more and more participants helping us to spread the awareness of hunger.

Step two is to experience the problem. Participants will give up one meal in their day. This will help them to see what it is like to not eat for a period of time. We know that this is no where close to sever hunger, but think that it will help our participants to realize there is an issue.

Step three is to help the problem. Participants, after not eating one meal, will then take the money they saved from the fast and donate it to the Los Angeles Food Bank. The LA Food Bank has been serving for 40 years and has distributed 1 billion pounds of food in that time.  The food banks vision is: “No one goes hungry in Los Angeles County.”

We admire the Los Angeles Food Bank’s vision and want to work with them to make it come true.

Our target audience would be at first college students. Because this is starting on a college campus, we think that it would be the best place to spread the word and get the ball rolling. Once this becomes a bigger thing we hope that journalists, politicians, and other people of authority would be reached.

On our website (http://www.sitebuilder.com/website-templates/site/39984610/desktop/23F8cJMLi4YPkBr9CYo9wfrKdL7XjT) you will find links to our Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/gothunger?skip_nax_wizard=true&ref_type=page_profile_button) and Instagram (https://instagram.com/got_hunger/).There will be posts on both two times a month. These posts will feature our participants and the donations we give to the Los Angeles Food Bank.

Please visit our website and participate starting May 10th.

Social Media Campaign: Sex Trafficking

Human life is invaluable. Yet slavery, which puts a price on an individual, still widely exists today. Sex trafficking is a major problem that plagues millions of people worldwide. The term refers to the “recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act where such an act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion,” according to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Last year, within the United States alone,  3,598 sex trafficking cases were reported, among many others that went unreported. In addressing this issue, I have created Humanity For Free, an organization that works toward preventing sex slavery in the US through programs that emphasize the value of each human being. Humanity For Free has three active goals in achieving this: implementing educational courses in schools, providing sex slavery survivors with transitional programs while getting back on their feet, and raising awareness through large scale campaigns. With these measures, my organization hopes to one day put an end to sex trafficking.

Humanity For Free seeks to involve people of all walks of life, but the main targeted audience is early teens and young adults. Studies show that the average age for someone to be sold into sex trafficking is 13 years old; in order to prevent this, we want to focus on reaching out to children and young people before they become victims of this crime. However, while we do want to educate young people, our organization cannot get off the ground without benefactors. Funding is crucial for Humanity For Free’s goals to become a reality. For this reason, our marketing approach aims to get the word out to young people, while still catching the attention of parents, business people, and more mature adults with the means of contributing. We plan to share the link to our website via Facebook, which appeals to a broad range of ages. The goal is to increase in publicity, progress to larger campaigns, and unceasingly spread the word. When Humanity For Free gains this momentum, we will be that much closer to ending sex trafficking and ensuring each human life is absolutely free.

Please visit our website for more information.

www.humanityforfree.weebly.com

Text-to-911 Social Media Campaign

“Call if you can, text if you can’t.” My project’s focus is the hope for a text-to-911 universal implementation system. This idea has been discussed within the past few years, but has only been done in a small town within Iowa. The hope for this system is to give voices to those who are not able to call, whether it’s because of a dangerous situation or hearing/voice disability. All voices matter and this new technology will able to support that idea. Gone are the times where talking on the phone was being tied to a landline. Gone are the times of non-connectivity, where now it seems like everyone is connected in some way or another. There is Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. platforms for people to connect with others with similar likes/dislikes. In a time such as this, it is imperative to build a network of safety, where asking for help is not tied to just a phone call.

The target audience for this project is geared towards those of all ages. Teenagers, college students, parents, political figures can all benefit from this system. The hearing/speech impaired are those who can benefit the most form this system. What can they do now if they cannot speak or cannot hear? Everyone deserves the chance to be saved. But most importantly, anyone can need help and when calling is not an option, text-to-911 can be.

I have begun a website in hopes of sparking conversation amongst the populace. The goal is to spread the word about this new technology as well as its importance to the people. The website asks for individuals to share this information either through Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. This new system should become common knowledge, so that there is pressure for its universal implementation.

The creation of a twitter account connects back to the website in efforts to create a unified front between the information on the website and the social aspect of Twitter.

Social Media Campaign – Cyberbullying & Anonymity

Anonymity on the Internet is becoming a growing issue. There are many social media sites, such as Reddit, 4chan, and Yik Yak, that revolve around the idea of anonymity. While anonymity is a great way for some people to communicate with others without the fear of being tracked down or having their “footprint” on the web, it does create problems. One major issue that comes along with anonymity is cyberbullying. Sites like 4chan and Yik Yak allow users to easily harass, bully, or “troll” other users since there is essentially no way to track down the cyberbully. Because of this issue, I am launching a campaign called “Anti-Anonymity.”

Anti-Anonymity is a project that is set to promote the use of social media sites that use and require true identity, such as Facebook. With this project, I intend to target those who use social media, which inevitably targets a wide range of age groups. I find that it is in the hands of social media users to be the ones who make the change, for the web is theirs to mold. However, I am planning on targeting certain age groups through the certain social media sites I utilize in my campaign. I have already created a Twitter, Facebook, and website to promote my project. With Twitter being most popular among teenagers and young adults, I hope that Anti-Anonymity’s twitter will be exposed to them. Facebook is still used by teens and young adults, but is also popular with older adults. Therefore, I hope to reach parents through Facebook so they can become aware of my movement and encourage their children to use social media sites that require real identity. As for the Anti-Anonymity website, I created that so that it could be the central part of the campaign. I have posted the link to the website on the Twitter and Facebook accounts so that anyone who hears about the campaign through those platforms can get more information via the website. On each platform, there will be various posts including text, photos, and links to other sites that also encourage true identity. These social media sites offer incredible features (i.e., trends on Twitter and Facebook) that will assist me in promoting my campaign.

Many web users enjoy and cherish the ability to be anonymous on the Internet, so my project will not be a walk in the park. I am planning to explain the consequences of anonymity online and how the web could be a friendlier environment if users were willing to give up their anonymity. It is my hope that with the information and evidence I gather, people will listen to my campaign and support its cause.

Cyberbullying- Social Media Campaign

Facebook is the largest social media site in the world with a total of 1.35 billion users. Along with many of the other social media sites, Facebook is extremely fast growing amongst all ages. A site that was initially created for young adults has become a site for people of all ages. As Facebook has become more popular we see an increase in children using this site. There are many complications that are caused by children becoming more active on this site. As parents are gaining knowledge through the negative propaganda in the news about social media, they are beginning to worry about their children’s safety while using it. Cyber bullying is one topic that is often discussed amongst parents whose children are using social media.

In these past years, many have noticed a recent trend in the rise of cyber bullying. Looking at recent evidence, one can see that bullying on social media sites such as Facebook have led to people taking as drastic measures as committing suicide. Cyber bullying amongst America’s youth is a very serious matter causing the creation of the app “Face Haven”. This app that partners up with Facebook is only accessible to minors in North America. This app makes it easier for minors to erase posts or pictures that they are tagged in that make them feel attacked or uncomfortable. The ultimate goal for the creation of “Face Haven” is to create a safer Internet community for North America’s youth.

I intend to use Facebook and Instagram to help campaign for my project. I hope to target both parents and children in my campaign for my project. I feel that these are two audiences that are necessary to target for this project simply because they are the ones that “Face Haven” is made for. I have decided to use these two social media sites to help with my campaign for my project because they are both directly affiliated with “Face Haven”. Facebook is a social media site that is commonly used for individuals of all ages causing me to think that it will be the easiest to spread the word for these two audiences. I decided that Instagram is another solid option to use for this campaign because it is not only owned by Facebook but also is able to connect with the parents. Instagram will allow me to post impactful pictures that I can then link to the campaign’s Facebook page.

Here is a link to my Facebook Page:

Here is a link to my Instagram Page