My Two Cents on Privacy on the Net

The key points of this week's readings are that our ideas of privacy have changed over time, and that we have become somewhat unaware of these changes. Our information is sort of our payment for the use of social media sites, since it is used for companies to gear their advertisements and services toward us based on our information.
Papacharissi says being able to protect our private information is a luxury since us who are computer literate know how to make these adjustments, which I think is interesting. It makes the digital divide an even deeper issue, at least within participants who are users. The "have-nots" within the user realm are more susceptible with having their personal information shared and compromised. An example from the NPR radio piece of how their lack of computer literacy could hinder them is if a loan company sees pages they've viewed because their privacy settings are not properly set, they could make assumptions about the person that would prevent them from getting a loan or cause them to have higher interest rates.
Mui's article is disturbing since now all someone really needs to get information about someone is their picture and a program to detect features of that person's face. The fact that they can find something as private as someone's SSN from their picture is frightening. If the technology to do this becomes easily available to even businesses our extremely personal information could be compromised so much that our identities could be easily stolen, and what's scarier is a good amount of the population would probably have no idea this is possible.
I think the controversy of Facebook's privacy settings as presented in Angwin, Raice, and Ante's article aren't as startling as the information about the other two articles. The unexpected changes in privacy are sometimes annoying, since sometimes we don't know how long we've gone without noticing, but even after reading the article I don't feel that someone's information could be too compromised. I do agree that they should give fair warning before making any changes, though.
I definitely think privacy should be up to the user. I think it is ridiculous that users cannot opt out of Google's privacy settings. The argument is that our payment for using a service like Google is to share our information for advertisers and companies, but we contribute in far more important ways than that. As we learned earlier in class, users add value and have an effect on content that is on a site, especially one like Google. Users essentially make Google work by using the site, we shouldn't be expected to share our personal information on top of that. I also don't feel that privacy settings and our information that sites share should be transparent, so we know exactly what to expect. We shouldn't have to search what is kept private of our own information. In the last article, Google did not reveal that Gmail information goes beyond email, but to the rest of the net. Information like this should not be concealed!
I think Facebook's privacy settings are acceptable, and I really don't mind having ads catered to my expected tastes, especially since some are rather amusing. The only things that really worry me about a lack of privacy is the access of extremely private information, like my social security number, and that I could be denied access to things such as insurance later in life based on the pages I've viewed on the Web. I look at a lot of random things on the Internet and would appreciate not being judged for it!

Wild Waves Theme Park & Social Media

Wild Waves Theme Park in Federal Way, Washington has a very active Twitter page. They Tweet almost every day and have recently been posting a few times each day as their opening day for the season draws near. Most posts suggest followers buy season passes or tickets for Wild Waves, especially near holidays – even Valentine’s Day! Other posts mostly have to do with promotions and news about the park. Some of their posts are responses to people Tweeting at or about Wild Waves. I think overall Wild Waves Theme Park has a good Twitter presence, but they could improve in some areas.

Wild Waves has built a peppy persona with their presence in social media including Facebook and Twitter. They are always positive and seem excited about everything happening at the theme park. They respond excitedly to compliments about the park, which Dave Toliver says in his article “7 Ways to Create a Memorable Customer Experience with Social Media” that responding to compliments is great. Their getting excited seems to work well in getting potential customers excited to visit the park.

Though they respond to positive feedback on Twitter and Facebook, Wild Waves does not respond to negative feedback at all. In fact, they don’t seem to respond to fans who are not asking positive questions that do not have to do with visiting the park or buying tickets. For example, one man posted on the Wild Waves Facebook wall saying, “You know Squirt Soda? That's what the wave pool water looks like at Wild Waves xD but, I still love the place :D” Though the comment wasn’t necessarily a positive one, they could have responded explaining that the pools are all clean and chlorinated or something along those lines so the comment doesn’t sit there, unanswered for everyone to see. As Toliver says in his article, “Neglecting your social media properties when they’re full of customer complaints is suicide for your brand. It’s like publishing a customer service hotline phone number that no one ever answers.” This is just one example of a question left unanswered on the Wild Waves pages; they actually do it quite often. As someone who was a frequent visitor of Wild Waves then a long-time employee, I think they could really get good use out of responding to these sorts of comments. The biggest problem with Wild Waves’ social media is that they do not respond to negative or even neutral comments from users.

            The imagined audience for Wild Waves seems to be local fans and potential guests of the park. I think this is the case because they promote buying a season pass often, which are useful for people who are somewhat near the Federal Way area. They do not advertise individual ticket sales often, which is more realistic for people who live far away or someone who has a busy work schedule. I would imagine their imagined audience is people who live all around Washington but by Tweeting about season passes so often they may be turning away audience members that do not live near the park.

            Something I find interesting about their Twitter is that they have about three hundred followers, which seems like a small amount considering Wild Waves is the only theme park in Washington state and is the largest water park. Even more interesting is that while they only have three hundred followers on Twitter, they have over twenty two thousand fans on Facebook. I know they have had a Facebook page longer than a Twitter, but the difference in numbers is appalling. They don’t seem to have had their Twitter very long and they’ve had Facebook since 2009. They have far more fans on Facebook, but seem to post on Twitter more often. Wild Waves does not have a link to their Twitter from the Facebook page, if they did they main gain a lot more followers.

            Wild Waves creates a sense of community with their Tweets by involving other Western Washington organizations in them. For example, Wild Waves re-Tweeted something posted by a local news station, Komo4, about the weather. Another post says “Best in Tourist Attractions and Kids Activity. Thank you Fed Way and everyone that voted!” By doing this they are acknowledging their local community though they are known throughout the state of Washington.

            On Wild Waves’ Facebook page it seems that previous customers are more active than on Twitter. Several people post their pictures on the Wild Waves Facebook page in excitement of their visit. Other fans see their pictures and often reminisce about days they’ve had at the park. It seems to get more people excited about visiting the park, so it may be a wise technique for Wild Waves to post old pictures of days at the park to encourage people to go to Wild Waves. In this way, Wild Waves could use people’s good memories to get them to come visit the park.

            Wild Waves uses some crowd sourcing on their Twitter in some of their posts. Recently, they’ve been Tweeting and asking followers to vote for them as the best theme park and best water park in the Northwest. Again, this shows that their perceived audience is people who love Wild Waves, and this time people who have been there. They also crowd source by asking for feedback about their website, which is smart since they are asking the people who view their website for information what they like and dislike about it so they can improve it.

            Recently, Wild Waves has Tweeted that they will be announcing two new rides – not at a ceremony or on a newsletter or on their website – on Facebook. By doing this they are taking social media marketing to a whole new level. To find out what the new attractions will be fans of Wild Waves will have to be on Facebook and join an event created by Wild Waves. Someone who does this will likely become a fan of the park on Facebook and will see posts and have constant reminders of Wild Waves. This is a huge way they can get more followers and fans, and potentially far more visitors when they open.

            I worked at Wild Waves in the past, and I recall a Facebook promotion that went on, where users posted the name of someone who referred them to Wild Waves page and whoever’s name showed up was given a free iPad. That was a great way to get new people to the Facebook page and to draw attention to it. As Toliver wrote, “Find the social media influencers for your audience and give them extras.” The influencers on the Wild Waves page could get them a lot of new guests, and for such a large company an iPad is a small cost to really get their name out there. Plus, it rewarded users for their advertising (at least one VERY lucky user).

            Overall, Wild Waves Theme Park uses social media well to promote the park. They reward positive fans and followers with something as small as an acknowledgement and someone got a “thank you” in the form of an iPad. However, something Wild Waves can and should improve on is responding to feedback that is negative or even neutral. Their connection with their community and drawing on good memories really give Wild Waves a good persona on the web. I do think over the years the development of social media accounts for the park has helped their company, though I think they could improve upon things even more by responding to everyone who talks to them on their sites.

Butler, Devin. “You know Squirt Soda? That's what the wave pool water looks like at

Wild Waves xD but, I still love the place :D”. Facebook.com. 15 Mar. 2012, 10:25 p.m. Facebook Comment.

Toliver, Dave. "7 Ways to Create a Memorable Customer Experience with Social

Media." Mashable Business. N.p., 03 11 2011. Web. 20 Mar 2012. <http://mashable.com/2011/11/03/social-customer-experience/>.

Wild Waves Theme Park (WildWavesGOWILD). “Best in Tourist Attractions and Kids

Activity. Thank you Fed Way and everyone that voted!”. Twitter.com. 15 Mar. 2012, 3:58 p.m. Tweet.