Company Website Comparison: Southwest vs. Continental (United)

For one of our homework assignments, we were asked to compare two companies with similar products and see how they set up their website. Below are my findings...

 VS.     

 https://www.southwest.com/     vs.    https://www.united.com/en/us

Verbal

Southwest: 

• “Points take you places” clear verbal signal on what they want you to do
• BOOK is clearly stated by the table to lead you to book a flight 

United:

• “Your next trip starts now” clearly edging the viewer on to book a flight

Structural

Southwest:

• Vibrant colors with numbers created from photos draw the viewer into their promotional credit card.
• This is the first thing viewers see
• Top of page is clearly defined by what they offer: flight, hotel, car, and vacations; special offers; rapid rewards
• The structure for booking flights is clearly defined with boxes and large font 

United:

• The first thing the viewer sees is a table with flight booking info and check in info. It is located in the left-hand corner, simple viewing as people read left to right.

Visual

Southwest:

• All tables/sections are clearly labeled in large white font
• Opening page is vibrant with an array of colors, clearly leading the viewer through each section 

United:

• Main page has changing background photos to showcase different destinations and travelers
• Font is upper, lowercased for easy reading and not too aggressive. 
• Changing background does not interfere visually with the booking table 
• Background colors change with each section

Cyber Aggression

On Tuesday, March 19th, Professor invited us to attend a STEM presentation over Cyber Aggression, where the presenters focused on trolling attacks on specific women for no true reason other than to troll them. This presentation included examples with crude language and depressing content, statistics on women who are assaulted online, and ended with four options to help combat online aggression. This presentation was definitely hard to listen to because of the truth the presenters were sharing. "Trolls" were creating fake accounts just to harass women- tweeting death and rape threats. The language used was terrifying, demoralizing, and meant to shame the women into hiding. Even reading them, I felt scared for the women.

As the presenters started, they wanted to define the differences between "online aggression," "cyberbullying," and "trolling." At first, I was confused. I was surprised that there was a true difference between each term, as I have heard each term used interchangeably. They defined each as such:

• Online Aggression: hostile and/or violent content that may or may not be directed at a specific individual 
• Cyberbullying: Targeted attacks by a known individual 
• Trolling: Baiting someone to get an emotional rise out of them 

In the examples the presenters gave, most tweets included all three of these definitions, and when you look at each definition individually, they all land on a common purpose: Shame. As the presenters focused on the aggression, I noticed they never mentioned why the trolls/cyberbullies were doing this. I recently read "So You've Been Publicly Shamed?" by Jon Ronson, and all I could think about were the examples Ronson gave, where normal people made one false tweet and became the new campaign for online aggression, cyberbullying, and trolling. The idea of publicly shaming someone is so enticing to some because it gives them the power they cannot get anywhere else. Plus, being behind a screen gives others a double life, allowing them to tarnish and ruin people they do not know without ruining their own reputation. 

While the presentation tried to give examples to correct the situation, there really is no correct answer. As long as people allow others to shame them, there will always be bullying and trolling online or in person. Shame is what drives those to bully and what continues others to keep bullying.

“The Rhetoric of Reach” By Elise Verzosa Hurley and Amy C. Kimme Hea- Response and Reflection

Elise Verzosa Hurley and Amy C. Kimme Hea inform audiences to use social media for professional success, by outlining the key to students’ lives as technical communicators and future professionals in “The Rhetoric of Reach.” Both Hurley and Kimme are professors who teach a course titled “Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing.” Through this course, students are asked to track their experiences with social media and to engage with audiences, focusing on the reach and crowdsourcing that is possible and hopefully positive to their work. Hurley and Kimme’s main focus is to “examine the effect of the pedagogical heuristic of reach and crowdsourcing as a means to foster students’ critical deployment of social media” as they engage and create a voice (56).

The beginning task for students in Hurley and Kimme’s classes is to disrupt the assumptions students have about social media and their connection and understanding of its effects at a personal and professional level. Many students find social media to take away professionalism and key grammatical expectations of writers as they try to get their ideas out as fast as possible. Other students noted a “carelessness about the craft of writing” by taking away the correctness or care associated with most forms of writing (60). Many students agreed that social media gives everyone a chance to have a voice, but then on the opposing side, with everyone having a voice “great ideas can get buried by so many opinions” (60). This initial breakdown of common thoughts surrounding social media is not surprising nor new. Educated people across all platforms are fighting for a voice, and at the same time, diminishing the very platform that is allowing them to speak. After the students were able to voice their grievances, they were given another project that would change their view to a more positive, constructive understanding of social media.

When rethinking the effects of social media, the growth of people with internet access and media usage cannot be ignored. In 2011 “81 billion minutes were spent on social networks/blogs, 64% of mobile phone time was driven by app use” (57). People around the world are connecting with others using the internet and mobile apps, increasing their social interaction. This statistic by itself is astounding to see, on top of the realization that every person you know, including yourself, helped add to that number. Social media touches everyone personally or professionally whether they want it to or not. Because of this intense consumption, there is a clear understanding by all that while social media positively influences connections with people you know, it can negatively influence connections with those you do not. The horror stories are perfect cautionary tales about poor use of social media and have created a dark cloud that looms over users, reminding them that it could happen to anyone with one false click of a button. This negative, fear-driven thinking is why Hurley and Kimme’s survey of students thoughts over social media is important to dispel if they plan on becoming technical editors and communicators.

HTML Tutorial

After reading the chapters for class, and feeling very confused about all of the lingo, I decided to find a video that would explain one of the most basic concepts. While this video is lengthy, it does a great job of starting from the beginning and walking the viewer through working with HTML and how to create an HTML web source.

Check it out for more info!

Social Media Rebranding Project Reflection

On Tuesday I presented over “Extremely Wicked, Shocking Evil, and Vile” social media presence. I had a blast preparing for this presentation and analyzing the social effects of this film. My initial interest in Ted Bundy and his effect on the world exploded into the interest of publicizing parallel stories, such as his ex-girlfriend Liz in the film by Joe Berlinger.

Through completing the research for this presentation, it gave me a deeper insight into the depths social media can go to. It also showed me how much effort and work it would be to maintain a solid social media presence while also creating a film. While Sundance is a huge honor, it can be very closed off from the rest of the world. Filmmakers need to consider the effects poor social media presence can have on the popularity of their film after Sundance.

As I looked over “Extremely Wicked, Shocking Evil, and Vile” social media presence, I was disappointed. So I decided to create steps that would help them stay relevant and publish positive press. The first step I suggested seemed very obvious to me, which was to create social media accounts for the website and then post on them regularly. I think this in itself would build a large following and answer questions of the public. Initially, this will feel like a small push but then will become the main center for communicating with viewers and pushing out information they want populated, instead of allowing other news sources to create a negative narrative of the film.

Overall, this project gave me true insight into what it would take to change the narrative or increase the views of a film. I believe my presentation itself went well. The class seemed very receptive of what I was trying to communicate and I am proud of what I was able to create.