Digital Media Savvy

We’ve all fallen into a YouTube black hole. First you’re watching a tutorial on how to clean white canvas shoes, and next thing you know, three hours later you’re watching a woman in Japan throw a birthday party for her five cats. How did this platform transform from videos like “ Me at the zoo ” to full-length productions ? Business News Daily gives some stats about the platform. YouTube was launched in 2005 and bought by Google in 2016, making it the world’s second largest search engine. Nearly 500 hours of video content are uploaded to YouTube every minute! YouTube has launched several peoples’ careers in music, makeup, fashion and other industries. Businesses can also use YouTube to grow their fan base, educate their consumers about how to use a product, keep them updated about the launch of new products, go viral with a funny commercial, or even give an inside scoop into company culture. Nonprofits can also make use of YouTube, creating educational videos in support of t...

Southwest Airlines is continually ranked first-in-class in customer service and employee satisfaction, so I decided to review their community page / blog to see what the hype is all about (since I have never flown Southwest, much less been in an airplane before.) Going from the top down on the landing page, the Southwest logo in the top left takes you to the company’s main website to book flights. Tabs at the top right are also to book flights, hotels and cars and to find special offers. The second set of tabs are to navigate within the site, with tabs for the Community Homepage, Discussion Forum, Blog and Knowledge Base. A large search box makes finding information on the blog clear and simple. Below the search box is a large image and a featured blog post with other blog posts along the side and at the bottom of the page. When I did this review, the featured post was showcasing employee hometown destinations. It’s no secret that Southwest values its employees, a...