Media and Social Change Required: Critical Analysis of Media - Coursework Example

Running Header: Media And Social Change Required: Critical Analysis Of Media. Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: Media And Social Change Required: Critical Analysis Of Media. SOCIAL media optimization is a means of attracting attention to a website in a bid to attract specific/ targettted people and also to increase conversion rates (Shervin, 2010, p. 79 ). In doing so, a website is relay information to a greater number of people hence enabling it reach its goals. Social media optimization is being practiced in almost every website in today’s world. Social media optimization integrates users of the websites into adding some bits of information or encouraging their participation in the site. In so doing, it creates a sense of belonging to the users because they feel that their opinions or actions are being sought for by the site. Normally, a website deals with a specific line of specialization; for instance a social lobbying site, an animal rights site, a disease awareness site among many others. For this reason, every website has its targeted users. In addition, the website will want to get more traffic. Social media optimization therefore becomes an essential tool in the strife to achieve these objectives (Micheletti, & Dietlind ,2008, p 769). There are two common practices in social media optimization. The first practice involves the integration of social features into the content a website. Features of social media enable the users of the social site to participate actively in the contribution and activities of the website. Such features include polling tools, RSS feeds, sharing buttons and user feedback. This second practice involves the use of promotional activities. In this practice, a website promotes ideas, products and services which do not necessarily have to be the subjects of the websites. In so doing, website is able to attract traffic from many types of people who visit it in search of specific information. This may be achieved by the use of blogs, status updates and discussion rooms and boards. The following paper takes a critical analysis on three different websites and their efficiency in integrating social media optimization. It is an essay being done as an assignment in sociology. Green place http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/what-we-do/climate/ Greenpeace is an organization which lobbies and campaigns against environmental degradation in Australia and Pacific regions (Greenpeace, 2011, p). The organization has been very vocal in many elements of the environment. Some of the areas whereby the organization has made an impact include: climate, forests, oceans, food, nuclear and whales. Being a campaign group, Greenpeace has a website to its name and has to attract as much traffic as possible so as to create awareness and also enable people participate in the protection of the environment. For this reason, the website has made a great use of social media optimization. The website has achieved this in the following ways: Connecting people and communities The Greenpeace organization is an organization whose main region of focus is in Australia and the Pacific. The website offers an avenue for the connection of people who have a dream of protecting the environment in the region. The green peace website is a free site which does not have any limited access to anyone in the world. This makes it possible for anyone in the world to participate in the activities of the organization. This is a very important move since by it; the website is able to attract an immense traffic. Moving content The website is frequently updated hence it is has relevant information to display. The website has a well defined scope of its activities in ‘what we do’ and in ‘news’. In the option, there are many links to each and every area of scope. In so doing, the website is able to give its contents to its users. The website also has a blog. The blog has posts from different parts of the world some of which are not even related to Greenpeace. This gives the users of the website a chance to get information from other areas of knowledge and attention in the globe. In so doing, the website is able to move content. The website has also face book and tweeter buttons where users can like or post specific links to the social networks. This is also another way in which the website is able to move content. Rewarding Inbound links This is a major short fall of the website. The website lacks a section where it recognizes the websites which have linked traffic to it. Linking directs internet users to another website other that the one they were in which enables the website being linked to enjoy more traffic. However, the website has an active blog which enable other websites to post their content in the Greenpeace’s website. Encouraging Linkablilty As discussed above, linkability allows a website to enjoy more traffic since people are directed to it. Linkability allows for other websites linking back to a website. The website has achieved in this section. It has a well developed blog which makes it easy for other website to post their articles and material in the website. The website also has RSS feeds and press releases. Ease of bookmarking The ease of bookmarking is achieved by social network buttons which allow users to like the websites on social networks. In so doing, the website is book marked on social network sites hence attaining publicity. A good website design should allow for easy bookmarking which is a key element of social media optimization (Maddison, Sarah, & Martin, 2010, p 105) Voiceless http://www.voiceless.org.au/About_Us/Misc/About_Us.html Voiceless is a no-profit organization which fights for the rights of animals in Australia. The organization was started in 2004 by a father and his daughter. The main activities of the organization are: Creation and fostering of networks of key people in the society e.g. lawyers, academicians and politicians in a bid to influence law together with public policy, researching on the animal industries to establish cruelty and brutalness, maintaining a well structured animal protection movement and lastly informing customers which enables them to make animal-friendly purchase choices. Connecting people and communities The website is able to connect many Australians in a bid to protect and safeguard the rights of animals. Like the Greenpeace’s website, the website opens to all internet users in the world. This enables the active participation of many people in the world hence creating more social awareness. In so doing, the websites connects likeminded people who have the intentions of protecting animals. The website is active in social networking sites which make it well placed to get a public audience and following. An effective website should be able to connect people with common interests for a due course and the voiceless website has been able to do so. Moving content In order to have audience from the public a website must be able to give attractive information. Attractiveness in this sense entails the depth of the information and the way of presentation. The voiceless website has been able to achieve this. It has an updated base of well research information regarding animals. A trend in social media optimization which allows for other websites posting their material in another website is also integrated in Voiceless website. The website has a links and a blog which allows other websites to post their materials in the Voiceless website hence its ability to move content. The website is also active in social networks like face book and twitter which allows for more content movement. Rewarding Inbound links The website has a recently linked section. This allows the users of the website to view traffic which has been linked to the website recently. Inbound links are links which direct internet users from other websites to a website. Acknowledging inbound links creates a show of gratitude to other websites hence continued interlinking hence more traffic. t Encouraging linkablilty The website designer and owners acknowledge the power of linkablilty towards attraction of traffic. The website has a well designed blog which has posts by the organization together with posts by other websites and organizations. This is a major tool of directing traffic to a website and truly, the Voiceless website has achieved in doing this. The website also has a well structured link section which allows for other websites to link to and from the website. Ease of bookmarking The ease of bookmarking is achieved by social network buttons which allow for the website to be bookmarked in the social websites. The website has buttons for twitter and face book. Easy bookmarking is useful since it allows users to like or post content in social networks easily hence attaining publicity. The social network buttons should clearly place on the user interface and Voiceless website has achieved this. Alliance http://www.aidsalliance.org/Pagedetails.aspx?id=141 The alliance organization is an organization whose activities are prevention, care & treatment of HIV/AIDS around the world. At Present, the organization has activities in over 40 countries in the world (Alliance, 2011, p.). The organization also conducts numerous awareness campaigns which educate the public on various aspects concerned with HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is one of the leading killer diseases in the world. It is the latest of the killer diseases in human history whose cure has not yet been discovered. The disease is transmitted sexually and its rate of transmission is alarming. For this reason, various measures have been put in place to counter the disease and its effects. The organization has a website to its name and the use of social media optimization is very inherent in it. Connecting people and communities The website is able to connect many people and communities around the globe. The focus of the website is on a social problem affecting many people and communities in the world. For this reason the website must be in a position to link up all the people and stake holders affected and infected. The Alliance organization aims at spreading the education on HIV/AIDS around the globe and also providing medical assistance to individuals and communities which have been affected by the killer disease. Therefore, the organization needs the website for awareness creation and also for lobbying of funds aid the infected. The website has content and features which connect the communities for instance its active involvement in the social media networks have propelled its public image to high level. Moving content As it is the case with other websites, an effective website must be able to move contents in itself. For this reason, the website must always have updated information as well as support information from other websites. The Alliance website is excellent in doing this. It has a well researched and updated base of information regarding HIV/AIDS which has enabled it relay the desired information to its users. The website also has links and a blog which allow for related materials since it has terms and conditions of use of its website. The website also makes of social networks for example face book and twitter in order to move content in the internet. The website also has a newsletter which gives information about its activities and the ground situation which also assists it in moving content. Rewarding Inbound links The website acknowledges inbound links from other websites though not as openly as the other websites. However, its well developed blog and media centre covers for this weakness. Encouraging linkablilty Linkability of the website is engineered by the use of a well structured blog and also a well structured media centre which includes press releases, case studies and photographs. This improved linkability has contributed to a high traffic to the website. As discussed earlier, the activities of the website and organization target a high traffic of people due to the broad subject the organization deals in. Ease of bookmarking The ease of bookmarking of the website on social networks has enabled the website to gain publicity in the world domain. The website is actively involved in face book and tweeter among other social network sites. The website has buttons/icons on its user interface which enable the users to like, comment or share details about the organization on the social networks. The buttons are placed strategically on the webpage for all the users of the site to see. Generally, the website has achieved its objective of attracting traffic by its immense use of social media optimization. Conclusion In conclusion, all the websites discussed in the essay have achieved in attracting traffic to their websites. The analysis of the websites has taken into account specific elements of a website exhibiting social media optimization. The elements are: connection of people and communities which aims at connecting as many people as possible into supporting the specific activities of an organization (Optimum, 2010, p 35), moving content which aims at ensuring that a website is able to give relevant and captivating information about the subject matter. It also entails having contents from other websites and organizations e.g. via blogging and linking. The other element is rewarding inbound links whereby the website tries to maintain a good relationship with other organizations and websites by acknowledging traffic which has been linked to the website from other websites. The other element is encouraging of linking which enables the website attracts traffic to and from other websites. Lastly the ease of bookmarking which enables the users to place the website on social networks for example face book, twitter, my space and others easily hence increasing the publicity of the website. Social media optimization (SMO), is a must include in any website in today’s world. Its benefits are many and obvious hence it remains to be one of the most actively used website marketing techniques. References Alliance,2011. A global partnership. Viewed on 7th September 2011. Retrieved from . Green peace, 2011. Greenpeace Australia Pacific. Viewed on 7th September 2011. Retrieved from . Maddison, Sarah, & Martin, Greg, 2010. Surviving Neoliberalism: The Persistence Of Australian Social Movements, Social Movement Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 101-120 Micheletti, Michele and Dietlind Stolle ,2008. Fashioning Social Justice Through Political Consumerism, Capitalism And The Internet (Except), Cultural Studies ,vol. 22 , no.5, pp. 761-763 Optimum, 2010. Social Media Optimization Techniques, Optimum Technologies, vol.19, no.6, pp. 23-46 Shervin , 2010. How To Do Social Optimization, Social Media And Tagged Dangers Of Social Media, vol. 12, no. 7, pp 77-102 Voiceless, 2011. The Animal Protection Institute. Viewed on 7th September 2011. Retrieved from . Read More