Contributed by Bryce Ward Back in 1997, the very first social media platform was born. The platform, named Six Degrees, had humble enough origins. Inspired by the “six degrees of separation” theory – which claims that people are six or fewer social connections away from each other – Six Degrees was simply a way for people to preserve and rekindle personal relationships with friends and family, and to create new connections along the way. But since then, social media has become so much more. Perhaps one of the most intriguing developments to come out the social media revolution of the…

Contributed by Bryce Ward TV advertisements have long been a staple of marketing campaigns for both small and large companies, but with the ever-evolving digital landscape it is important to take a few steps back and look at the current and future state of television. The steady decline of cable and satellite television in recent years has been well-known. Streaming services have been dominating the market because of they give users more flexibility in what they watch and at a cheaper price tag, too. In 2018, for example, Netflix usage surpassed cable and satellite TV for the first time,[1] a…

Contributed by Bryce Ward Despite constant advancements in artificial intelligence, many people still scoff at the relevance of AI. For consumers, such a view is of little consequence; but for business owners and innovators, neglecting AI could mean being left in the dust by more forward-thinking competitors. Domino’s is a prime example of how successful companies are already beginning to implement AI technology into their everyday operations. In Australia and New Zealand, Domino’s has begun debuting an AI pizza scanner called “the DOM.” The scanner, which hangs above the cutting board in a Domino’s kitchen, will be able to identify…

Contributed by Bryce Ward This past week a high-dollar restaurant in Manchester, England called Hawksmoor accidentally served a $5,700 bottle of wine to a customer who, presumably, ordered a much more affordable one. Hawksmoor could’ve easily marked this mishap off as a costly mistake, scolded the employee responsible, and moved forward. Instead, they chose to capitalize off their blunder by utilizing social media. Soon after the incident, the restaurant posted this tweet: As you can see, this post garnered quite the response on Twitter, receiving upwards of 66,000 likes in only a handful of days. Hawksmoor’s canny marketing decision turned…

Contributed by Bryce Ward Starting this week, Instagram will be testing a new “like” feature in Canada that, if successful, may work itself over to the American social media landscape. The new feature will hide “like” counts from feeds, and only the people who’ve posted something can see how many likes their post has garnered. Instagram, and most of social media, relies almost entirely on the like/favorite system – some might argue they can’t be separated – so this change has considerable implications, and whether or not these implications are positive is yet to be known. Instagram says they’ve decided…