What Did You Say, Listen, Hear ..... Or See 👀

 Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! I'm glad that you decided to read my blog for another week. 

Let's jump right on in! 

This week in class we discussed viral videos, and how to listen effectively. This blog posting is going to explore both of these topics. Let's start with viral videos!

I'm pretty sure that you know what a viral video is. Right? If not let me break it down for you, a viral video is a popular video that circulates the internet and social media through shares, posts, and discussions. This week in class we watched various Ted Talk videos about viral videos and how it happens. Prior to new developments in the world of social media, most videos that were posted to youtube were not posted with the hopes of going viral but ended up going viral over time. Compared to today, it seems that everyone wants to go viral or at least is trying to. Different social media sites especially Tik Tok have made it extremely easy for everyday people to go viral because of things like dancing, cooking and so much more. I believe that if a company has always wanted the chance to go viral, now is definitely the time. There are so many easy ways to get a video to go viral based on all of the resources that we have. We've talked about the entertaining videos that go viral but what about the videos that are deemed harmful? Like I mentioned above, it is very easy to create a viral video because of the resources that we have. A harmful video can become a viral video instantly and potentially leave a company to try and pick up the pieces of the damage a video has done. Although viral videos are sometimes used for our entertainment, we can't neglect the fact that they can be harmful to people and organizations. This kind of relates back to my post last week about cancel culture, but let's move along. Business news daily said it best, " A viral video can build up a brand in hours -- and knock it down even faster. "Business news daily gave an example of this. These examples included companies such as United Airlines, Domino's Pizza, Fed Ex, and Comcast. I mentioned in my discussion post this week that as communication professionals we must take non-viral videos as seriously as viral videos. I said this because based on the Ted Talks that we watched showed that a lot of our favorite viral videos didn't become viral until weeks or months later. Just because a video is viral yet, doesn't mean that it doesn't have the potential to eventually become viral. 

Now that that's out of the way! Let's move on. 

Do you consider yourself a great listener? Are you the person all of your friends come to when they need advice or to let out their emotions? If you are that friend then we can relate to one another. This week in class we discussed listening and if we truly are listeners or do we just hear things. Personally, I'm guilty of both. 

Wait did I really just say that? Yes. Yes. I did. I mean come on..... No one is perfect and we all have been guilty of this! We choose what we want to listen to and what we want to hear. I have been guilty of this plenty of times. Sometimes we hear people but we don't listen to their ideas or what they have to say because we may not automatically agree, but after reading a book by Dr. John Kline entitled: Listening effectively. Dr. Kline explored many fallacies about listeners that I believe that we all can relate too such as...

1. Believing that listening isn't a problem that you have 

2. Believing that hearing and listening are the same. This is something that I have used as an excuse. We listen to respond and not comprehend. I believe that we all have been guilty of this one. 

3. Good readers are good listeners

4. Smarter people are better listeners 

5. Listening improves with age

6. Listening skills are difficult to learn. Listening skills aren't difficult to learn but we must first know the key to being effective leaders. Don't worry I'm going to reveal them to you.  Just keep on reading. 

"Listening is key to all effective communication. Without the ability to listen effectively, messages are easily misunderstood. As a result, communication breaks down and the sender of the message can easily become frustrated or irritated," (S.U.N. n.p.)  

This quote couldn't be more true. When we don't truly listen miscommunications can easily happen to cause turmoil within a company. Dr, Kline gave key points in his book to help with listening skills. 

1. Understand the complexities of listening. We take "listening for granted because our ears work. Remember that we have two ears and one mouth for a reason. 

2. Prepare to listen for short-term, mid-term, and long-term periods. If we prepare ourselves it will help us retain the information better. 

3. As communication professionals it is imperative that we are able to adjust to different situations. 

4. Lastly, Dr. Kline stated that we must focus on ideas and key points. If we have a conversation with someone for an hour and once the conversation is over we can't have another conversation based on the points and ideas that were brought up then the conversion failed. 

What do you guys think? Are you already a skilled listener? Do you need improvement? Let me know down in the comment section! 

See you online next week! 

- Makayla Cameron 

Sources: 

2011-2021, S. (n.d.). Listening skills. Retrieved April 01, 2021, from https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/listening-skills.html

Viral videos bad for business. Brooks, Chad (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2021, from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2266-viral-videos-bad-business.html

Air, U. J. (2012). Listening effectively. Books Llc.