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Earth Day

Earth Day is drawing near! Thursday, April 22nd is a day dedicated to supporting environmental protection. More than 1 billion individuals celebrate this significant holiday, involving over 190+ countries. In schools around the nation, teachers will start the day by announcing the significance and history of Earth Day before diving into fun projects that celebrate environmentalism and sustainability. Here we will do the same, starting with a brief history of this holiday and including some at-home ways to help you become more sustainable in honor of Mother Earth!

History

According to earthday.org, the first Earth Day was on April 22nd of 1970. Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin recognized the ignorance Americans had when it came to pollution. Americans were oblivious to the fact that they were “consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles”. At the time there was an anti-war movement and Nelson decided to use that to push a teach-in day (April 22nd) about conservation on college campuses. This event quickly snowballed, capturing the attention of the media and the official name became Earth Day. It became so popular that earthday.org also states that “Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, urban dwellers and farmers, business and labor leaders”. This sparked a revolution in environmentalist-focused laws around America and people began to celebrate Earth Day around the world in 1990. Now, it is a widely honored day that people take part in every year!

At-Home Sustainability

Below are some fun ways that YOU can celebrate being sustainable this Earth Day, as well as everyday of your life! Although it is important to note that the growing climate crisis is due to big corporations and their non-eco friendly practices, any small step an individual makes to grow towards sustainability gets a big hug from Mother Earth.

Save! And! Reuse! Amazon! Boxes!!!!!
Upcycle your clothes! There is a whole community on TikTok dedicated to this!
Opt in for No Receipts when shopping, as it saves paper
Have an exact meal plan going to the grocery store, so you don’t end up wasting food
Grow your own herbs!
Take showers instead of baths, but still make them short! A standard shower head uses 2.5 gallons of water in a single minute- imagine it as gallons of milk wasted!
Use reusable make up cloths
Cut up old t-shirts as rags instead of donating them, Goodwill throws a lot of donated items away
Keep plants in your home as a method of air purification!

St. Patrick’s Day and Public Relations

Questioning Origins of St. Patrick’s Day Themes

Leprechauns, rainbows, parades, and beer are now some key factors in the modern St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. As much as we spend every March 17 blindly celebrating the holiday with these themes, have you ever stopped to think where all of these St. Patrick’s day themes came from? By looking back at the holiday’s history, one can ultimately find that public relations are the culprit for turning the originally Irish-Catholic holiday into the drunk green parades we now know and love.

Looking Back at the creation of St Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s day was first recognized by the Vatican in 1631 as those in Ireland had celebrated the “religious feast day that commemorates the death of St. Patrick,” the nation’s patron saint credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, who died in the fifth century (Arizona State University Knowledge Enterprise). “For most Irish people at home, the day remained primarily religious into the 20th century,” and did not even become “a public holiday in Ireland until 1904”.

However, it was during this time in the 1900s that the holiday began to transform. During the 1920s – 1950s, the religious holiday was more somber with morning mass, a military parade, and closed bars. In the 1960s, the holiday began to become more exciting when celebratory parades began to replace the traditional military parades leading to the beginning of the annual St. Patrick’s Day Festival in 1966. The festival in Dublin, Ireland is more familiar to what we know now, including a “four-day event of music, treasure hunts, performances, and of course, on the day itself, a two-hour parade” that draws up to half a million people.

St. Patrick’s Day Traveling to the United States

Immigrants in the United States wanted to find a way to celebrate their pride “The first recorded celebrations of March 17 [in the United States] took place in Boston in 1737,” but it was not until 1766 when “the tradition of parading began amongst Irish Catholic members of the British Army in New York”. At the end of the civil war as more Irish immigrants came to the United States, and as the St. Patrick’s Day Festival began to surge in popularity in Ireland during the late 1960’s, Irish immigrants began to carry over their celebrations to the United States. This celebration was not only a tradition they carried from Ireland, but also a way to celebrate their culture as they were often stereotyped while in the United States.

Public Relations Using Holiday for Profit

In the 20th century, marketing and public relations firms began to take advantage of the annual festival taking place in the United States. Companies’ event planners could plan out promotional events surrounding the annual festival. Some examples of this you might see today are parades, bar crawls, concerts, and game nights. Public relations workers took it even further and began to create season product lines involving anything that was the color green. Seasonal clothing, foods, drinks, and alcohol are all some of the ways that marketers began to use the holiday to their advantage for promotional purposes. The main marketing actions that solidify the event as a national holiday rather than a yearly festival are the greeting cards that began to become mass produced throughout the nation during March. Ultimately, the timing, unique colors, and entertaining events associated with Saint Patrick’s day on March 17 all tied perfectly together to create a joyous, cultural celebration just as the weather begins to become nicer out leading up to spring.

The Strength of the Holiday

With the help of marketers and public relations professionals, St. Patrick’s day was able to stand the test of time on a national level. Beginning in the 1600s and a quiet religious holiday, festivals and marketers have transformed the holiday into the entertaining and joyous holiday we all know today. Although the original intent of public relations professionals may have been to profit off of the festivals, their actions lead to the continuous celebration of Ireland’s culture on a national level centuries after its origin in the 1600s.

All historical facts and statistics are outsourced from the “TIME” article “How America Invented St. Patrick’s Day” written by Zócalo Public Square on March 15, 2015. Zócalo Public Square is a magazine of ideas from Arizona State University Knowledge Enterprise.

Source link: https://time.com/3744055/america-invented-st-patricks-day/

Happy Women’s Day

Where there is an existence of a woman there is love, beauty, strength, change, magic and happiness. Here is a list of women we admire:
➢ Kamala Harris is the United States’ first African American female vice president, the highest ranking female official in U.S. history.
➢ Amanda Gorman is a poet and activist. Her focus is on the issues of
oppression, feminism, race and marginalization. She is only 23 and she is the first person to be named “National Youth Poet Laureate”. She delivered her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the inauguration of U.S president Joe Biden.
➢ Malala Yousafzai is an education activist. She advocated and demanded that girls be allowed to receive an education.
➢ Rosa Parks was an American activist in the civil rights movement. She is known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. She resisted bus segregation. Parks rejected bus driver James’s order to vacate a row of four seats in the colored section in favor of a white passenger, once the white section was filled.
➢ Harriet Tubman is American abolitionist and political activist. She escaped and rescued approximately 70 enslaved people using the network of antislavery activists and a safe house known as the underground railroad.
➢ Madam Cj Walker was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist and social activist. She is the first female self-made millionaire in America. Walker made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for black women through the business she founded “Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing company.”
➢ Theresa Kachindamoto is known for her forceful action in dissolving child marriages and insisting on education for both girls and boys.
➢ Ruby Bridges is an American civil rights activist. She was the first African American child to desegregate the all white William Frantz Elementary school in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis.
➢ Kalpana Chawla was an American astronaut, engineer. The first woman of Indian descent to fly in space.
➢ Katherine Johnson is the African American woman whose hand calculations successfully launched John Glenn into orbit in 1962.
➢ Sonia Sotomoyar became the first latina supreme court justice in the U.S.
➢ Mae Carol Jemison is an American engineer, physician, and former
NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.

To these strong women, may we be them, may we know them, may we raise them.

If they can do it you can as well. As Dr. Mae Jemison said “ Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.Fearfully and wonderfully Follow your dreams.”

Black Female Pioneers of Yesterday and Today

Inez Kaiser
Inez Kaiser was born in a time where race kept her from fulfilling her need for higher education. Held back due to racial exclusion, Kaiser found solace in Pittsburg State University and studied education. Determined to expand her knowledge, she later earned a master’s degree from Columbia University and an honorary doctorate from Lincoln University. Kaiser led a
twenty-year teaching career in home economics while simultaneously publishing her column “Fashion-Wise and Otherwise” in black-owned newspapers spanning the United States. After an editor suggested she venture into unknown territory, Public Relations, Inez quickly took a liking
to the field and a few years later, birthed Inez Kaiser & Associates, the first African American female-owned public relations firm in the United States and the first black-owned business in Kansas City, Missouri. The firm found great success acquiring big-name clients such as 7Up, Sterling Drugs, and Sears. What seemed to be a risky career change led Inez down an exciting
and adventurous path. In her lifetime Kaiser became the first African- American woman to join the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, the first black women to join the Public Relations Society of America, a National Minority Advocate of the Year (1997), and a trusted
political advisor for minority women and business during the Nixon and Ford’s Presidential era. Laid to rest in 2016, at the age of 98, Inez Kaiser spent her life dismantling gender and racial barriers, cementing herself in history as an entrepreneur and civic leader.
Nepherterra Best
After working on a government affairs team and landing large accounts only to watch her supervisors land the check, Nepherterra wanted to reap the rewards of her hard work and build a name for herself. Award-winning PR professional and serial entrepreneur Nepherterra Best draws strength from her predecessors in her passion project, Dope Boss Mom Blog, and three successful businesses Pride Public Relations, Mosaic Communications, and NewsReleaseNow. Serving as the Chief Communications Officer and Co-Founder of Pride Public Relations, she and her partner have built the company into an award-winning African American women-owned PR
firm in Charlotte, North Carolina. Best’s primary goal is to expand her current companies to their fullest potential; it’s possible she’ll follow in Kaiser’s steps, one day returning to her political roots advocating on behalf of minority women and businesses. Although Best may seem settled
in her career path, this is just the beginning of her legacy. Leaders such as Inez Kaiser paved the way for black female entrepreneurs in 2021. Today’s entrepreneurs such as Nepherterra Best are continuing to make strides in the business community to make it more inclusive and welcoming towards black women. These two women and thousands of others like them are people who used their “limitations” to their advantage and battled against racism and sexism to create their unique paths and forever fasten themselves in history.

National Love Your Pet Day

National Love Your Pet Day is being celebrated on Saturday February 20th this year! Love Your Pet Day gives pet lovers an excuse to give extra love to their fur babies. This holiday was created to encourage pet owners to spoil their pets and focus on the relationship they have built with them. Here are some ways you can celebrate with your pet this year!

●Allow your pet to have a special treat

●Go for a long walk or adventure!

●Give them lots of attention

●Practice some of their favorite commands! (Sit, Rollover, Fetch, Etc.)

●Play with their favorite toy!

●Don’t forget to have lots of snuggle time!

The holiday also encourages pet owners to observe their animals’ environment. Here are some ways to go about this:

●Inspect their toys and make sure they’re safe to play with! Get rid of any broken toys that may have become hazardous.

●Check that their vaccinations are up to date. If not, schedule their next vet appointment.

●Give them a bath, brush their hair, brush their teeth, etc. Make sure they’re nice and clean!

●Wash their bedding, blankets, etc. Even if it’s not laundry day!

Remember this is their day to be pampered!Give your fur babies a hug for us! Happy snuggling!

Fun Virtual Activities to do with Friends

The one thing I have struggled with the most during the pandemic is maintaining my relationships with people I cannot spend in person time with. Just like most people, I have been stuck in a house with my family for the last couple of months. While I love my family and am used to spending a lot of time with them, seeing as I spent 18 year with them, but this is the first time I have not been able to spend time with anyone else. The short trips I take to the store does help a bit but with our masks covering our faces and at least six feet between us, it is hard to get any honest human connection that way. FaceTime and Zoom have kept human connection alive during a time it feels impossible for it to exist, yet talking to someone through a screen with no activities can get a bit old. I began to look for ways to spend time with my friends even though we have run out of things to talk about, especially since there is less to experience stuck in your house. Playing video games is the easiest thing to do virtually with the creation of gaming consoles, online gaming and digital platforms like Discord. Yet, it is not easy to spend thousands of dollars on a console, online gaming membership and the video games themselves. Here are a couple of free/cheap activities you can do over the phone with someone you no longer get to spend in person time with.

1. Teleparty

Watching television shows and movies is probably the number one thing people spend time doing together. Of course, since the pandemic started we have all done our fair share of Netflix binging but it is always more enjoyable with company. I have found a browser extension that allows you to watch the same thing as your friends at the same exact time. You simply find the show or movie you want to watch, can be on Netflix, Disney, Hulu or HBO, click the Teleparty extension in the top right corner of your browser, copy the invitation link and send it to your watch partner. When your partner clicks the link, it will bring them into the Teleparty watch room where the show or movie will be synced perfectly. If one of you pauses or skips, the video will do the same for the other person. Amazon Prime Video has their own version of this on their website, but it only works for things on available on Prime Video. JellyParty is just like Teleparty but it allows you to watch anything from anywhere together. So if there is something on YouTube you may want ti watch together, I would recommend JellyParty. But be warned that while all these extensions are wonderful, JellyParty can be finicky at times.

2. Skribbl

Pictionary is a game that most people have probably played at least once in their life. Skribbl gives you the opportunity to play this with your friends even when they aren’t with you. For this to work, you will need to visit skribbl.io and create a room. After you have done that, you simply need to copy the invitation link and send it to however many people you would like to play with. Once they receive the link and click it, they will be transported into your created room. After that all thats left to do is press play!

3. Jackbox

This is a great website for someone who likes playing comical games with friends. It is a lot like Kahoot but with the raunchiness of Cards Against Humanity. There are multiple games to play on Jackbox and all of them are hilarious. Quiplash is a game to see which of your friends can come up with the funniest joke on the spot. Fibbage helps you figure out which of your friends is a horrible liar in a humorous way. And Drawful is a lot like skribbl but with a slight twist that results in hilarious drawings. Trivia Murder Party is a lot like Jeopardy, if Alex Trebek constantly made fun of you and and killed whoever lost. All these games are available on JackBoxgames,com and all you need to do is pay less than $10 for any game you want, create a room and send the rooms code to your friends!

15 Items You Need in Your Home Office

If you are reading this post, then you probably are learning or working at home during this pandemic! Ever since the world shut down, people find it extremely hard to focus on their responsibilities within their home. Here are some things you need in your home office to make sure you stay on top of your work!!

1. Your Computer

You can’t have a home office without your computer! Try to put this in a well-lighted area for zoom meetings. A monitor is optional, but sometimes very helpful for students.

2. WIFI

Make sure you are close to your router to avoid technical difficulties when working!

3. Desk

It’s super important to have a desk area where you can focus on your responsibilities. You need to be able to have an area that’s strictly for your work!

4. A Comfy Chair

You don’t want to be uncomfortable! You’re going to be spending a lot of time in it. So you want to make sure it’s good quality!

5. A Lamp

Lamps to help your lighting of course! This helps you when you’re staying up late to do your homework.

6. Surge Protector

It’s always helpful to have these around! There will be a million different cords to plug in, and this will help you have the space for them.

7. Printer

You may need to print out some assignments! If you are like me and save past assignments for your future, this comes in handy!

8. File Cabinet

For all of your assignments of course! Also a very simple and convenient way to stay organized.

9. Calendar

This can help you stay organized daily! Being home, sometimes we lose track of our assignments. This helps you stay on task!

10. Door

Make sure you can shut out everyone in your household! No distractions!

11. Healthy Snacks

It’s easy to grab something quick and easy. Make sure you have some healthy snacks in your office so you’re taking care of yourself!

12. Pictures

Surround yourself with pictures of your favorite people, places, pets, etc.

13. Headphones

These come in handy for those zoom calls!

14. White Board

Just in case you need to brainstorm ideas, write down goals, or reminders, etc.

15. Pens, Pencils, Notebooks!

Even though we’re all virtual, you can still take notes!!

I hope this is somewhat helpful to you and your new home-office! Good luck!

Searching for Event Alternatives in the Time of COVID-19

There’s not one person out there who hasn’t been impacted by this pandemic and one of the things we miss most are events. Any kind of event, whether it’s a movie night with friends, a work party, or an award show, perhaps, a coffee date or 21st birthday. Whatever is it, we’ve all missed something or have seen it get cancelled and the sinking feeling that you’ll never be able to go out again absolutely sucks. Soon Thanksgiving and Christmas will be the focus of holiday stress as people try and figure out how they can possibly bring some family and friends together. It’s not easy planning virtual events or finding ways to spend time socially distant, but I looked into some ways you might be able to make an event happen, while staying safe.

Here are some things to ask yourself as you try and find ways to bring people together;

Can you gather outside?
Is there an outdoor place either public or private that would allow your group the space to mingle while wearing masks?

When possible, holding events outdoors is a great way to allow people to see each other face to face without getting too close to each other. I noticed the sudden return to nature when lockdown began. When we were no longer required to attend our normal workspaces, we turned towards the pockets of nature in our communities. Green spaces sometimes feel more at home than buildings do, and taking care of these spaces is important too.

Make sure to always take all trash with you, leaving nothing behind.
Make sure to always have your mask on you because parks are likely to be busy. Consider making individual servings so you can share food and go for activities that don’t require close contact.
Even with precautions it’s a good idea to get tested if you end up gathering a large group.

In my local parks I’ve seen small birthday parties, group picnics where several couples/individuals set up their own blankets/chairs six feet apart, and even a lantern lighting ceremony. Being outside can make an event all the more aesthetic and can allow guests to feel more at ease than in a confined space.

My Science professor tells us he’ll be having his daughters over for thanksgiving and they’ll be utilizing both masks, face shields, and plexiglass, and while it will surely be a Thanksgiving to remember, he noted that he’d rather have the memories and the happiness of being around his family than nothing at all.

So it’s okay to feel conflicted about the Holidays this year, of course we want to draw joy and festivities from the holidays but as we enter winter, and Covid once again takes some turns for the worse, it’s worth it to make even the silliest accommodations in order to keep each other safe while spending time together.

Can the event be held virtually?
What adjustments need to be made for an event to happen virtually?
What does a successful virtual event look like?

Virtual events are tricky but when done right they can be a great alternative to an in person event.

Early in the pandemic, my family organized a zoom happy hour with my dad’s extended family. Happy hour on the beach is a favorite activity of ours so we hoped grabbing some drinks and sitting with our immediate family while on zoom with everyone would be a great idea.

However, there were a few things we didn’t really anticipate. For one, you can really only ever have one person speaking at once. Normally, there’s up to 20 of us all having various conversations, or playing a game, someones usually taking pictures, we eat, we drink, and it’s easy going. But in a virtual call, we found ourselves awkwardly trying to hold conversations with the whole group, only to hear three voices try and respond at once.

So, what can you do to make sure a virtual event doesn’t flop? PLAN.

A virtual event will need more planning because nothing can really happen simultaneously. Each activity, speaker, or conversation must happen one at a time, and without a cohesive plan, you’ll be left with a silent zoom call and people awkwardly logging off claiming wifi problems.

One really important aspect for an event is the ability to engage with others. Is there an activity or a conversation that allows everyone to be engaged and participate in the event. Putting people in small groups and having them compete is another way to promote participation. Competition is always helpful in getting people involved.

Promote Your Event!

If the goal of your event is to expand brand or business awareness, know how to promote your event through social media. Plan posts leading up to your event to spread awareness and let people know information about how to participate ahead of time so they can plan.

Even thinking of a small party favor that could be sent out in advance, or if promoting a service/product, offer a discount or a coupon towards purchases of your product.

But Remember…

Some things may just get cancelled this year, and that’s just one thing we all have to face. I think there is something unique about facing a Pandemic in these exact moments in our existence. It’s a shared experience on a truly global level and it’s not a pleasant one. However, some really brilliant and beautiful things have come from this year and it’s important to remember that this won’t last forever, and there will be a time to take out our dancing shoes again. Even if the world isn’t quite the same after this.

Holidays and COVID

Traditionally during the year, many people visit family and friends for the holidays. Due to the unfortunate circumstances that have befallen us in 2020 regarding COVID-19 and the regulations that have been put in place to mitigate its spread, large gatherings have become something to frown upon by many people trying to do their part to keep America healthy. Coming from personal experience, my annual Christmas gathering at my grandma’s has been canceled, along with many other people’s, to no surprise, and New Years won’t be the same without a massive crowd watching a giant disco ball drop in New York. While everything might seem bleak going forward with the rest of the year and the months that follow, I have some tips that can help make a lonely holiday fun again (until we can go back to enjoying life as it was).

Secret Santa

Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, gift giving (and receiving) is always an exciting experience. Since most people will be spending the winter holiday away from those they love, what better to do than set up a gift exchange via mail? My friends had the brilliant idea of doing so, and we organized a Secret Santa all online with wish lists and anonymity just like we were in person. Of course if you mail a gift to someone, the jig is up and it’s no longer a “secret” Santa, but the anticipation and gifts make it all worthwhile! Once everyone receives a gift in the mail (and knows it’s part of the gift exchange), set up a video chat with everyone, play some holiday jingles, dress for the occasion, and open the gifts altogether. The get-together won’t feel complete without hugs and some board games, but just make sure to save those for the next time it’s safe to gather! Plus, the added novelty of receiving a gift from someone far away makes this holiday tip all the more fun.

Online Fun

Since the beginning of quarantine, people have been coming up with ways to connect with others from afar. One of my favorite things to do to have fun with my friends while we’re apart is to play some online games together. One of the great things about video calls is screen sharing, since it’s perfect for having everyone look at the same screen at once when playing together. Depending on your friend group’s interests and their budget for these games, there are lots of options across the board. For your friends just looking for any sort of fun for free, play some Roblox and have an audio chat going on. If someone likes to host a lot, they can get Jackbox, something everyone can play on their phones together for a great time full of laughter. If everyone likes to game and owns a console, set up an online room for an Xbox, Nintendo Switch, or Playstation game. Personally, I’m a Nintendo fan, and Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart are definitely some of the best options for online fun with friends. This plan works even better if everyone can manage to designate a night for a meeting every week, two weeks, or month.

Not into gaming? Have a watch party for a movie or binge a series! Someone’s bound to have something everyone wants to watch, so get cozy, pop some popcorn, turn out the lights, hit play, and laugh or cry together with friends over the computer.

If TV’s not your thing either, a long conversation with a group of friends is always fun. There’s always something to talk about and you might be able to figure out some new ideas to have fun together remotely!

Unconventional But Safe!

This is for people who are really stir-crazy, need some company ASAP, have time on their hands, and have a friend or two who want to pitch in. Quarantine with friends for two weeks! Unless someone is okay with hosting without risking a possible spread of the virus amongst other people who live with them, Airbnb typically has deals for long stays at places, so a two week stay would be relatively affordable, depending on where you go, of course. This type of thing needs some decent planning beforehand, and getting a quick COVID test and its results before leaving home would probably be best. Not saying this is the most practical way to pass the time in quarantine, but it’s definitely plausible and it sounds like a lot of fun!

Social Media During a Pandemic

Social media has been a prevalent platform during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Its use reaches countless purposes. It is a connection to family and community, an escape from the reality of the world, a marketing tool, an awareness promoter, and also a spreader of misinformation. These aspects of evolving social media usage cross the boundaries of both beneficial and detrimental. Learning to adapt to the constantly changing climate of social media is important to understand, in order to maneuver through work as a public relations professional.

Connection

During the time of the pandemic it’s been hard for many to connect with friends, family, and their communities. Social media is just one of the many ways that people are working to stay connected to each other when they can’t be together physically. One form of social media that has acquired a larger following since the pandemic is Tiktok.

Tiktok hosts a wide array of different communities, including but not limited to, Cottage Core Tiktok, Witch Tiktok, Alt Tiktok, and Dance Tiktok. These offer large communities between strangers and friends, and create an opportunity for people to feel less alone during the pandemic. Many older relatives are also turning to social media for the first time in order to connect with the older and younger members of their family. So much so that in a recent study 64% of those ages 35 to 49, and 34% of those ages 65 and up stated an increased social media following from March to May, with March and May being the months that had the most strict lockdowns during the pandemic.

One family, The McFarlands even rose to fame by filming their antics on Tiktok as a way to keep from being bored in the house during COVID-19. Among these antics they’re most well known for their group dancing videos. This form of content’s main purpose is to serve as a vehicle for smiles and laughter- something needed during tough times.

Escape

Not only has social media been used to cure loneliness during this pandemic, it has also provided a sense of escape. Something that many have struggled with, during the lockdown period, was finding things to do. For many, the solution was to log into social media and endlessly scroll through status updates, short videos, selfies, memes, and inspirational posts. The endless stream of content that is available on these platforms can cause the time to go by, and distract people from the real world. More bad news comes in every day of 2020. Some people chose to focus on real life updates, and others ignore it, by concentrating on the feel-good side of social media.

Information and Misinformation

For those who choose to tune into every update in current events, social media became the hub for quick briefings. Across all platforms information is shared nonstop about current events. For many users, their social feed is where they get a majority of their updates. This can be good, as it is a quick way of receiving important information. During the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many relied on their social media for the quickest updates. Unfortunately, some of this news has not always been factual, and with the spread of information being amplified, it has led to a lot of division on where groups of people stand on the same issues. One example of this, in relation to COVID-19, is the anti-masker agenda. It has widely been spread on social media, through the attention it has gained, by people against wearing masks, and also people for it. By mentioning this issue on social media, both parties are amplifying how frequently it will show. This is done by using hashtags, follows, and shares to spread its relevancy in the algorithms. In this niche, there are vast amounts of misinformation about COVID-19, including vaccines, guidelines, and mask usage, that can be detrimental to how the public has reacted to the pandemic. Not only does it affect the health and safety of the public, it has also caused a lot of division between people. Recently Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter have been fighting against this issue by creating misinformation warnings on posts that seem to include unfactual content. While misinformation can often get mixed in with the actual truth, there is a great amount of guidance that social media has made available. One instance that sticks out the most is the addition of a COVID-19 Response segment that has been added to Instagram’s Search Page. This page includes the accounts for CDC and WHO, which are two large organizations, that have taken on the brunt of information delivery during the pandemic.

Altogether, social media has largely been impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic. It is easy to say that the effect social media has had on connectivity to communities will permanently change the way we communicate with others, and help to minimize the divide between generations, and their usage of social media. This is a lasting effect that will probably continue to strengthen past this pandemic. It has offered an escape to so many, when it feels like there is so little to do, or that can be done. The vast amount of communities available to people on social media helps to offer this escape from the real world, and can affect how people interact with each other. Another issue that has been impacted by social media, and the pandemic, is division caused by the mass-spreading of information. It is fair to say that this large-scale amplification of ideas is going to continue past the pandemic, but it definitely has come to a forefront with current events, because it’s something that so many can relate to worldwide. Overall, social media has formed a sense of community for so many, during a time when people can’t actually be together. This is something that public relations professionals will have to maneuver around in the future and adapt to, as the world of social media is constantly evolving to fit consumer needs.

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