Your blogger, Erica.

Your blogger, Erica.

Wednesday, 14 March 2018

#BLACKLIVESMATTER: The voice of the silents


#BLACKLIVESMATTER: The voice of the silents
 

The Black Lives Matter movement, an international activist movement that has generates the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, is a very popular movement, and very beneficial opportunity for public relations practitioners. The Hashtag explicitly denounces the anti-black racism that leads to discrimination of all kinds and murders. As a public relations practitioner, you must use this hashtag with great care as it raises a delicate story.



Pain and anger


The Black Lives Matter movement, followed by their hashtag, reached its peak in 2017, when a 17-year-old boy, unarmed, was shot by US white police.
Also, of the 987 people killed by the American police, nearly a quarter were black, and twelve of them were minors. You understand easily the frustration that the black people must feel.






The birth of this deep but powerful hashtag has awakened the humanism of many people around the world. Whether it's through anger, sadness or support ...



What are the advantages or disadvantages of social media for a public relations practitioner?

Advantages

             • On social web, we can reach more people. We can continually sensitize people about racism, we can reach their heart and their minds.
              • The fact that people are active on social media is beneficial, because they are reactive, and then public relations practitioners can know what they think about subjects such as the treatment of black people.
              • The key influencers makes to public relations practitioners an idea on what is followed, liked or disliked on social media. This is important to know who are the major actors of the Black Lives Matter movement.



Disadvantages


              • Social media may be time intensive, because the public relations practitioners have to always be aware on what is said, what is thought now, how people feel about something.  For a public relations practitioners it could be tiresome.
              • Because #BlackLivesMatter is a very fragile topic, people can become unreceptive or totally agressive. Misunderstanding can easily occur and create an explosive bad buzz.
              • People are often unstoppable. Once they are engaged with a cause, it may be difficult to target them if they have an only idea on something. They may be so much touched by the anti Black racism that they can themselves become racist, unfortunately.


And the recommendations? 

I recommend to public relations practitioners to not only recognize that this hashtag supports an too often repressed community, and it is delicate as well as powerful. It permits also to reach a certain type of people, so using this hashtag could be very beneficial.

#NATURALBEAUTY: From a trend, to a strength.



#NATURALBEAUTY: From a trend, to a strength.



Inevitable whatever the nature of your project, social media creates proximity to your customers and allows to maintain a special relationship with them. The #NaturalBeauty hashtag is very popular on social networks, and therefore represents an advantage for public relations practitioners. Firstly by pure trend or mode effect if I can afford, but also because it shows the powerful expression that people can have for the natural.




#NaturalBeauty in the world


In 2016, RnB singer Alicia Keys announced to the rest of the world her decision, not without reasons, to say definitely goodbye to makeup. A big wave of young girls followed in the world, posting photos of them without any makeup, with captions followed by the hashtag #NaturalNeauty.



More recently, the #SaggyBoobsMatter, another popular hashtag relayed by women whose breasts have lost their elasticity, reminded the world that we had to love ourselves as we are, and has therefore increased the popularity of the hashtag #NaturalBeauty .


It goes without saying that the #NaturalBeauty hashtag is a boon to any business whose goal is to enhance the beauty of the natural woman.

But, what are the advantages or disadvantages of social media for a public relations practitioner?


Advantages


             • The social web is still going fast

In 2018, it is clear that the social web is growing ever more. In fact, technology makes it possible to gather more communities, so we can easily reach our audiences via #NaturalBeauty.

              • Your customers are active on social media

It must be said, most of the consumers that we are, are spending our lives on social media. We are very responsive to information, and this can be an advantage to the PRP's for the promotion of their business, through the hashtag.

              • There are keys influencers on each social network

Every public relations practioner should take it into account. On social media, targeting web influencers and celebrities, it is easier to reach a significant number of potential customers. Just take the example of Alicia Keys and the wave that followed.


Disadvantages



              • Time intensive

Social media is a real challenge as they require a lot of time. Just imagine how many people are entering and posting on Twitter. The person in charge of this must always be connected to maintain the movement.

              • Negative feedback

Not only is everything fast on social networks, but everyone is very free. So the negative comments or feedback are not to be ignored. An audience might for example take a company for a band of opportunists, not understanding the true meaning of natural beauty.

              • More demanding consumers

As much as social web is growing, consumers are always looking for more. We must always keep the pace for the company, not to lose customers. Using #NaturalBeauty is good, but you still have to know how to manage the audience.




And the recommendations? 


The world of social media is interesting, but still it is necessary to walk on tweezers because Internet users are ultra-responsive and can at any time spit something in the face. Regarding this hashtag, I think that each PRP must be aware that behind there is a girl who protests against the dictates of society.







Wednesday, 21 February 2018

Robotic dolls: Our future sex life?


HAPTICS The Multimedia Communication Research Laboratory (MCRLab) at the University of Ottawa (Canada) is working on the digital transmission of tactile sensations synchronized with images. The first application would be to shake the hand of a virtual character and feel the pressure of his fingers, even the texture of his skin. An interface with a mechanical system of micro-sensors, from the simple glove to the integral combination, would produce the illusion. This field of development is part of the haptic.   This is the science of touch and the perception of the body in the environment.
Everyone knows at least one declination of the haptic: for example the famous vibrating joysticks for video games. In a completely different genre, reserved for adults, sex toys use the same principle.   Often a popular idea, the commercial development of a technology often depends on sex. The success of the VCR has been coupled with that of the pornographic video. The success of pay-TV from some international channels has been helped by the X-film programming. A sort of apotheosis of this "union", David Levy imagines in Love and Sex with Robots: the Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships a world where the intimate relationship with a robot doll would be usual. The love and the sexual act would become a configurable experience, with a choice on command of the emotion and the position, thanks to an artificial partner capable of initiative.


IMAGE OF DESIRE The British scientist in artificial intelligence announces the advent of this delightful innovation for 2050. No need to look into the future to consider now the likely consequences on human consciousness and the relationship of the individual to reality. Captivated by the image, the human would deliberately deceive himself about the real nature of his physical contacts and his emotions in order to exercise his desires. In this perspective, the feeling takes precedence over everything. The sexual act becomes a basic physical reaction to stimuli. Immediate filling of the senses would be enough, with the sole help of his own capacity to deceive himself. A materialistic, even utilitarian, vision of human relationships.   What could be the beneficial impacts of using robot dolls? An elderly person would no longer have to fear the gaze of his partner ... She would no longer have to suffer from her physical limits ... Counterparty: a dangerous reconsideration of the nature of old age and, by extension, of death. If it is possible to practice a constant sexuality, based on performance, a certain distance on the existence becomes impossible. With the key a total shake-up of society and an inversion of its elementary values. The most extreme fantasies (or giving crucial importance to the physical, the expected result) would be the only respected and appreciated. Without the presence of the other, with a supplement of dummy soul, moderation is no longer appropriate. Alone with his robot, the individual could project his impulses without any limit.   The vision of an expression of forbidden desires (see the manga images) would give place to the staging of these. For example with the appearance of dolls representing very young people. The love dolls industry now offers silicone dolls, much more realistic than their inflatable ancestors, which can take any appearance. Realism is a selling point and foreshadows the next step announced by David Levy: robotics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGfaQCY_bo4).


ALIENATION The consequence of this evolution is the alienation of the individual. A French film has largely treated the subject, telling the story of a man who substituted his wife a doll (Monique ValĂ©rie Guignabodet). In the future, sleep with a robot doll will he cheat on her husband or wife? Further, to desire a robot doll that makes possible the staging of a prohibition will it be legal? At the global level, the current vagueness about the status of the image provides an indication of the community's ability to respond. The gradual erasure of the frontier between reality and virtuality, the psychological confinement into a chimera, the dependence on an empty illusion of meaning are other predictable results.   In case of appearance, the robot dolls technology would only address a small part of humanity, able to consume manufactured products at high prices. Highly polluting products, accompanied by an unreasonable energy cost, would be created, serving a small elite. Relayed by the media, a debate would focus on the contribution of doll-robots to the individual. Robotic dolls: a well-being for oneself? For or against? The question is elsewhere, in the capacity of a community to share values ​​and ethics. The question must remain what do we want together? And not what can I demand for me? The investigation of the desire of each one by a medium "alter-realist" would transform more the spirit of a society than the spirit of particular users. The world would become hostile, because only able to satisfy the desire of a single individual. To confine oneself to such an experience of desire would help to annihilate the identity of man.

BLACK PANTHER: A REVOLUTION



The new Marvel Black Panther movie is centered around T'Challa, king of Wakanda, a fictional country in West Africa. Also, it's an opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of African superheroes. Wakanda, fictional kingdom of Africa, is the scene of Black Panther, the new film Marvel. After appearing in the last Captain America, the young King T'Challa, aka Black Panther, sees his power challenged by two enemies. This new album is adapted from the series of comics of the same name, created in 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Black Panther was one of the first African superheroes, but today he is no longer alone. Since 2013, in Nigeria, a new generation of heroes has been developing in the premises of the start-up Comic Republic. "We do not have to be white to save the world" The Black Panther Revolution In addition to the lack of representativeness, it is also a distorted image of African countries that has long been conveyed. The idea of ​​a continent waiting to be saved by Westerners has been winning for centuries. For Jide Martins, the creation of Black Panther in 1966 was a defining moment. The comics depict a state-of-the-art country, to which the American superheroes are asking for help to save the world. "Usually, when people think of Africa, they think of a primitive place. And when they think of a sophisticated place, they think of the West. But Black Panther has changed the game. Wakanda is an African country, and it is the most sophisticated country in the world, "he says. "The Wakanda is a positive representation of Africa, but the country remains a fiction," says the creator of Comic, who prefers to situate his characters in a more realistic world. "Unlike other African nations, Wakanda has escaped the brutality of European colonization. This, in addition to natural resources, has made Wakanda one of the most advanced countries in the world. The Wakanda gives an idea of ​​what African nations would have been if they had not been colonized, but in reality every African country was touched by the negative legacy of colonial rule, "said Dwayne Wong, a specialist. of the African diaspora and history in the Huffington Post in January.


However, Jide Martins refuses to make his works political objects. He specifies that he seeks above all to inspire younger generations. According to him, his characters are not superheroes because they have powers, but because of their values. "To be a superhero is to sacrifice comfort and the things that are dear to us to help others," he says. That's why the founder of Comic Republic wants to make his comics as accessible as possible. They are free, downloadable on the internet. "Comics forge character," he says. "I want to teach today's generation to do what is good and right. "