Week 2 Part A: Communication Between Business & Consumer

     Before the internet really took over our lives, getting in touch with a business meant hauling out the Yellow Pages, tracking down the number, calling during operating hours, and hoping the person on the other end wasn't rude.  Now it isn't unheard of to conduct business without ever hearing another person's voice.  While this may be a bit more impersonal, it does make businesses easier to access on your time, and allows the business to respond in their own time as well.  This can make problem solving more efficient, if the business is reliably checking its messages and reviews.  The downside to making public complaints via a review site is that the business may not see it, choose to ignore it, or openly refute your complaint.  This can devolve into a war for public opinion which you may not win, even if you're in the right.  Still, many professional businesses opt to respond to customer problems promptly and politely, even if they're only giving you lip service.

    The flip side of this coin is that customers sometimes leave disingenuous reviews either because they're angry at the business or they're hoping to receive some sort of compensation.  This means that as consumers it is up to us to weigh the likelihood of a review, especially since anyone can write one.  If a business has several four and five star reviews and one outlandish one star review claiming they were physically assaulted by the owner on premises,  it would be fair to take that lone review with a grain of salt.  Likewise, if a company has many negative reviews making similar complaints followed by several high reviews saying everyone else is lying, well, chances are someone at the company is flooding the review site.  It is up to us as consumers whether or not to take a risk on a business.

    I took a look on Yelp at two local businesses, both larger companies, one that I have favorable feelings towards and one that I avoid.  I found that the reviews both positive and negative pretty much lined up with my own experiences at these businesses.  The reviews I read for the Handel's Ice Cream location in San Marcos were an even combination of customers liking the ice cream but complaining about the price and the slower service.  Reviews I explored for the San Marcos Lane Bryant clothing boutique also mirrored my own experiences.  Many customers enjoyed the wider range of plus sized clothing the boutique offered compared to department stores, but complained about the quality of clothing for the price and the high-pressured salespeople.

    The most helpful reviews for both locations were those who were detailed yet concise.  You could tell that there were people who truly enjoy writing reviews, but perhaps have delusions of grandeur of becoming professional reviewers.  I couldn't slog through a review that began with the poster harkening back to their summer childhood ice cream treats.  The review above the novel was short, too the point, but still detailed enough to be trustworthy.  They stated the pros, the ice cream was delicious and the service professional, and the cons, the price was high and the lines were slow.  Ultimately in their opinion the experience was positive enough for a solid four star review.

    Reading these reviews really made me examine how and when I leave a review for a business online.  I realized that there are businesses that I love and have frequented for years, yet I've never thought of leaving them a review.  I really don't go out of my way to leave negative reviews for a business either.  I have to be emotionally fired up and even then the moment usually passes before I actually get to typing.  The only times I can actively remember writing reviews were when I felt my basic rights were being violated--if a store or employee was sexist or homophobic or was actively spreading misinformation.

    As the manager of a business, I have had to address many online reviews.  Thankfully, most have been favorable and I respond by thanking the customer for their business.  I have had to deal with some very nasty reviews and I admit it did take some restraint to remain professional.  Those reviews were largely customers who had failed to get something for free by complaining and tried to drum up negative reviews until I appeased them.  In these cases, I apologized for their poor experience, while also clearly outlining our company policies which they had ignored, thereby showing potential customers that the poor review was coming from a disingenuous place.

    I really enjoyed the exercise of writing positive reviews, and I'm going to strive to make it more of a habit.  I sent a review to my favorite indie bookstore, Mysterious Galaxy, and told a brief personal anecdote about their staff's helpfulness and knowledge of their product.  I then wrote a glowing review for my longtime hairstylist at Dulcinea Salon, giving examples of all the diverse styles and colors she's put on my head over the years!

Week 1: Blogs I Commented On

 Oliver Atwell

Chyla Castillo

Lesley Herrera

Week 1B: Social Media Use Today

     Back when social media was first starting to become a constant in our lives, there was a distinct contrast between sites used for sharing personal stories and those used to promote a business. In today's Gig Economy, those site are one and the same.  As more people strike out on their own to develop small businesses, sites like Facebook and TikTok which began as purely social platforms are now places to build a clientele.  In several cases, the line between personal and business has vanished completely with the rise of the Influencer, where the person themself becomes the product.  Through sponsored content, individuals, small businesses, and large corporate entities can benefit from one another like never before.

    Social media utilized purely for personal stories usually takes shape as either stories meant for loved ones or stories created for fandom spaces.  Personal photos, videos, or blogs meant to keep friends and family in the loop mostly take place in spaces like Instagram and Facebook and are geared towards major or daily life events.  Such platforms have taken the place of calls to Grandma or holiday letters.  Posters' faces and names are shown and posts are written in a casual manner.  Fandom spaces thrive much more in anonymity.  The focus is on the fandom itself more than the fan.  Posts usually consist of photo collages, reviews, film clips, and various forms of fan art.  While fandoms are very active on Instagram and Facebook, they thrive in fandom-centric spaces.  TikTok, Twitter, and Tumblr are the fans' domain.

    Of course, all of these spaces have also become lucrative platforms for both independent and corporate businesses.  Big name companies like Wendys have keyed in to millennial and gen z markets by hiring witty social media directors to create viral trends or jokingly clap back at rival franchises.  Large chains have been able to build upon their brand mainly via Twitter, which relies more heavily on brief, catchy written messages over imagery.  Where smaller businesses thrive are Instagram and TikTok, where the photo and video-driven format can better showcase a service or product that does not have brand name recognition.  These image-heavy platforms, alongside YouTube, are also where influencers find their largest audiences.

    The ways in which I personally use social media have changed over the years.  I was already a young adult when Facebook came on the scene and was an avid user of MySpace and LiveJournal as both a way to keep in touch with high school friends and to journal.  As fandom communities grew in online spaces, I shifted to a less personal approach to posting and that is still what makes up the bulk of my own posting and consuming habits to this day.  Becoming heavily involved in a fandom requires a certain level of anonymity for many.  Firstly, the focus of a good fandom account focuses mainly on the fandom, not the fan.  Secondly, it can be a brutal place and sharing too much of oneself in highly dramatic fandom spaces--and most fandom spaces can be highly dramatic--is begging for a huge headache at one point or another.  At one point I was moderately famous in a small fandom circle for creative output and was later relieved that only a few close friends I had made knew anything about me.  Following a large falling out between two factions (in which I was thankfully uninvolved), I took a large step away from the creative end of social media and became more of a consumer.

    Nowadays I still post content, but low views don't discourage me.  I'm far happier engaging with small numbers of people and largely steering clear of drama, although we all love a little drama now and then!  I am planning on venturing once more into influencer-dom in order to build clientele for a future business.  My past experiences, niche as they were, taught me the ins and outs of being well-known in internet spaces, and I feel as though I can navigate them far more confidently now.  As always, I strive to keep different aspects of myself compartmentalized on the internet.  I made true, long-lasting friendships from social media, but I'm well aware of the power of parasocial relationships.

Week 1A: My Blog Theme

    Travel is an essential part of the business I am hoping to build, so when I saw an entire section of blog themes dedicated to travel, it was an easy choice!  It may seem that any image conveying the idea of "travel" would fit my personal criteria.  When taking into account the clientele I am aiming for, however, the choice becomes more complex than fluffy clouds versus open roads.  For a business geared towards making big adventures accessible to people with big anxieties, I had to choose a theme that would convey calm as well as excitement.

    When thinking of what personally makes me, an autistic person with anxiety, excited about a new trip, I immediately think of flying.  Unlike many anxious people, I love air travel--perhaps it's because I have such fond memories of it from childhood.  To this day, I will fight for a window seat so I can watch a city become a model town until it vanishes below the clouds.  I know that for some this thought is terrifying, hurtling through the sky in a big metal tube.  I hope that by seeing the clouds as I do from my window seat while my readers are safely on the ground, they may see a bit of the tranquility I find when flying.

    The image of clouds as seen from an airplane also can bring a feeling of excitement.  It's the realization that the first part of a great journey has begun.  Planes can take us so much farther so much faster than cars, trains, or ships.  There's a definite thrill to leaving your home and within a matter of hours finding yourself a world away.  This juxtaposition of the serene clouds with the knowledge that they represent what is likely a big step for anyone with anxiety made this particular theme perfect.

    Formatting is also an important factor for any blog.  While the imagery drove my initial choice, I was also drawn to the simplistic formatting of the page.  The background image doesn't fight with the content.  The post itself is the highlight and is easy to read without any clashing color choices.  I think back to my old MySpace days and I can't fairly describe any of my design choices as "legible!"  I can't say that I would take serious travel planning advice from a cluttered blog.

    Hopefully the blog theme I have chosen can be one step towards building a professional platform for myself that will encapsulate all the pleasure one can find while traveling, even if they feel like they could never leave their own backyard.  The blog in itself is a new adventure for me, as I haven't written anything beyond short Instagram posts since I graduated college!  I'm excited to stretch my writing muscles again!