Marcus Engel: Writer, Speaker, Trust Agent

This week we discussed trust in the social sphere. And just like relationships in real life, trust and credibility are two critical components of a successful relationship online. The question is: how does one build trust with their current and potential audience?

Social Media Today explains that sharing high value content, ensuring transparency, and having a consistent voice and personality are ways that trust can be garnered on a social platform. It's for these reasons that I trust and follow best-selling author and speaker, Marcus Engel on Twitter. Whether he is off- or on-line, his messages honor health care professionals, include his story of overcoming adversity and encourage others' commitment to higher goals.

As a college freshman, Marcus was blinded and nearly killed after being struck by a drunk driver. His two years of rehab, over 300 hours of reconstructive facial surgery and adaptation through a multitude of life changes are the basis of the keynotes given to major healthcare institutions, corporations, faith based organizations and many of the country's universities and colleges. I trust Marcus because he uses a consistent voice and personality in his keynotes, as well as online. The clip below shows he is friendly, inspiring and influential.

Marcus is respected as a communicator and shares content generously from other industry experts (as seen below). Even though this post in particular did not pertain to me, he lets his followers know that there are others who are working to inspire students and healthcare professionals about keeping the patients at the heart of patient care.

Furthermore, Marcus uses his platform as an opportunity to be open and honest with his followers. Rather than using social media to brag about his writing skills, he becomes relatable and human in admitting his nervousness about his upcoming book, as seen in the tweet below. It's clear that he doesn't take his work lightly and he wants to portray healthcare settings in the best light.

From gaining my trust, Marcus gains an advocate. I promote him to my peers via word of mouth, raving about his books and his motivational messages. I build their curiosity and provide resources, like his Twitter account, so they can take advantage of his daily "Task for Today" tips. He benefits from having the trust of his followers to continue to expand his reach and make an impact on healthcare professionals everywhere!

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The T's and C's of Whisper

Whisper, formerly known as WhisperText, is an application that launched in March 2012, claiming to be “the first completely anonymous social media network.” The features of the app include the capability to post anonymous messages or “whispers” in the form of text overlaid on a picture. 

Users have the option to respond to an anonymous post publicly or to private pseudonymous chats, but don’t have a public identity in the app. Developers claimed this would counter cyberbullying and the usual self-promotion found on Facebook since users had the opportunity to over share without repercussion. 

In October 2014, The Guardian planned to write a story about Whisper’s internal practices that breached the agreement made with its users, specifically in terms to privacy. 

Prior to the Guardian’s allegations, Whisper explicitly stated their commitment “to protecting [a user’s] privacy and the security of personally identifying information.” The ethical implications of these terms and conditions for Whisper are to act in a way that upholds the anonymity of their users. The references below illustrate just a couple of their underhanded tactics and the safeguards they put in place to address these issues:

• Every post is retained in a central database and users who expressly opted out of geolocation are tracked via IP data
• Previous terms of service said a user’s “permission to our access to and tracking of your location based information is purely voluntary.” Terms now tell users to bear in mind that even if location services are disabled, Whisper “may still determine your city, state, and country location based on your IP address.” 
• User information and posts that pose are shared with the Department of Defense, FBI, and M15
• Whisper’s new terms of service state they “may monitor User Content…[and] take proactive steps, including without limitation notification to appropriate authorities…[users] hereby expressly acknowledge and agree to such monitoring and that [they] may disclose information and data that might lead to your identification if, at [their] sole discretion, deem it appropriate to protect you or others from serious harm.”

The fact that their terms and conditions had to be rewritten to make their actions permissible is frightening. Truly, this app doesn't deserve their audience if they can be so dishonest in the way they conduct their network. In addition to now warning users of turning on geolocation services, their terms warn users to not include personal information that may “allow others, over time, to make a determination as to [their] identity based on the content of whispers as well as general location” in order to preserve anonymity.

Even with the detailed instructions in place for law enforcement agencies to obtain user data, I still question Whisper's legal threshold for providing private information. Whisper claims the measures taken to protect their users’ identities are “extremely secure,” but if The Guardian found these loopholes, how could they possibly expect their users to trust them on the promise of anonymity when they blatantly disregard their sole interest in using the site? 

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MMC 6936 Introduction

I brought the Gator Nation to the Grand Canyon!

Hi, I'm Tiffani Stephenson! This is my second semester in the MASM program (I took a break during the fall). I grew up in New Jersey and moved to Orlando when I was 13. I graduated from UF in 2012 with my bachelor's in recreation and event management. In addition to being a full-time student, I worked full-time as resident director for a local student apartment community. It's in this role that I got my first taste of social media as a business tool. It's also in this role I found a passion for marketing.

After graduation, I began working for UF -- first in development and then in facility operations. Before I knew it, my department became the topic for almost all of my summer projects. I realized there was a major opportunity for them to market socially. I did the research, identified goals, and provided tactics to successfully engage, entertain and educate our audience only to be roadblocked by a number of my colleagues who shied away from experimenting online. In my frustration (and entirely on a whim), I applied to a social media position for UF/IFAS Communications Services (ICS), submitted my proposal, and landed the job!

I've been with ICS since October, managing the main UF/IFAS social media presence and helping oversee the more than 300 UF/IFAS social media accounts across the state of Florida. Some of my responsibilities include strategy, content, analytics and measurement, site approvals and training.  I have really enjoyed applying what I learned in class to real-world scenarios and I know Ethics will be no different. There's a thrill that comes from working in such a fast-paced environment and learning about how to manage reputation, moderation, and privacy will truly keep me on my toes!

I juggle work, school, and owning a rambunctious puppy daily. In my down time, I enjoy traveling, listening to live music, practicing yoga, and binge-watching TV. I'm excited for this semester and can't wait to learn from all of you!

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