The Shawshank Redemption Essays - English-language Films, Films

The Shawshank Redemption "The Shawshank Redemption" is a unique movie which involves many different personalities and underlying themes. The personalities of the inmates are very interesting and when combined they create a fascinating plot, which gives a different perspective of prison life. The main characters are Andy Dufrense (Tim Robbins) and Eliss "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman). Additional characters such as the wise and simple old man, Brooks (James Whitmore), and the evil warden help to enrich the movie, giving it unequaled depth into the psychological aspects of prison life. The personalities of the Shawshank prison combine to form a community of sorts. This movie shows prisons not only as a place where murderers and thieves live, but also as a commune of people who have had problems and who are attempting to rehabilitate themselves. The story revolves around Andy who is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover in 1946, and who is then sentenced to life in prison. He is sent to the Shawshank prison, the state prison in Maine, which is known for its harshness. One does not know if it is Andy who committed the murder of his wife and her lover. What is learned though, is that he is not ready for prison and honestly doesn't seem like a man who would survive. His thinking going into prison is just to survive and blend in. He's a wise man who competently deals with what the justice system has served him. He is normal on the outside but emotionally tormented on the inside. Andy is a very complex character who displays introverted tendencies, keeping his feelings to himself and never allowing anyone beyond his stoic exterior except for Red. Andy's friendship with Red begins in a most peculiar manner. Andy asks for a rock hammer, which Red dutifully gets for him. Red, knowing that Andy is vulnerable, gets him on tar duty and takes him under his wing. The friendship is very unique and they both are energetic with emotion. Bill Dupre of the News and Observer writes of their emotion together, "This is a graceful, quiet characterization, and Robbins' scenes with Freeman are wrought with depth, delicacy, and precision." This is where the opportunistic side of Andy begins to be evident. After overhearing the guards talking, he almost risks his life to tell the guard that he will help him keep the $30,000 that he inherited. This shows that Andy had guts and that he wanted to survive. In return for his favor of helping the guard, he gets his fellow workers ice cold beers on the last day. It is ironic because he has quit drinking himself. Andy then begins to work in the library because the warden hears of his talents in finance. This is where Andy first meets Brooks. He use this opportunity to ask the state for more money to build a larger library. And finally, the way Andy escapes is almost genius. Knowing that he is on the good side of the warden, he devises a very interesting and successful plan of escape. Overall, Andy blends in with the prison community through the good times and the bad (the sisters, a group of homosexual rapists). His personality is one of a person who makes the most of what he has. But he never loses hope that he will be free one day. Red is a very unique character in his own right. The prison's sole black inmate, he is the man who smuggles contraband into the prison. He is also a "lifer" and he says that he is the only man in the prison who is guilty. He has accepted his fate and is dealing with the prison as his life but still tries to make his life on the inside the best he can. Red really doesn't think much about being paroled (he is rejected several times during the movie). He just takes one day at a time. He is determined not to let the jail system get to him. His friendship with Andy becomes stronger throughout the movie from when they first meet until Red joins Andy in Mexico. Red is a man who knows the rights and wrongs of the

Epicyon - Facts and Figures

Epicyon - Facts and Figures Name: Epicyon (Greek for more than a dog); pronounced EPP-ih-SIGH-on Habitat: Plains of North America Historical Epoch: Middle-Late Miocene (15-5 million years ago) Size and Weight: About five feet long and 200-300 pounds Diet: Meat Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; quadrupedal posture; big-cat-like head About Epicyon Possibly the largest prehistoric dog that ever lived, Epicyon was a true canid, belonging to the same general family as wolves, hyenas and modern dogs- and was thus a different beast altogether from the non-canid creodont mammals (typified by the giant Sarkastodon) that ruled the North American plains for millions of years before the Miocene epoch. The largest species of Epicyon weighed in the neighborhood of 200 to 300 pounds- as much as, or more than, a full-grown humanand it possessed unusually powerful jaws and teeth, which made its head look more like that of a big cat than a dog or wolf. However, paleontologists dont know much about Epicyons feeding habits:  this megafauna mammal  may have hunted alone or in packs, and it may even have subsisted exclusively on already-dead carcasses, like  a modern hyena. Epicyon is known by three species, all of which were discovered in western North America in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. The lightest variant, Epicyon saevus, was named by the famous American paleontologist Joseph Leidy, and for a time was classified as a species of Aelurodon; adults only weighed about 100 pounds fully grown. E. haydeni was also named by Leidy, and has been synonymized not only with Aelurodon, but with the even more obscure Osteoborus and Tephrocyon as well; this was the largest Epicyon species, weighing more than 300 pounds. The most recent addition to the Epicyon family, E. aelurodontoides, was discovered in Kansas in 1999; you can tell by its species name that it was also close kin to Aelurodon!

Theory of Extreme Capital Structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Theory of Extreme Capital Structure - Essay Example Therefore, capital structure can be defined as the arrangement of capital. In order to analyse capital structure, we need to highlight the difference between capital structure and financial structure. The terms are interchanged in some circles to mean the same, but they are not quite the same. Financial structure is the sum of all the means the firm uses to fund its activities. Therefore, financial structure comprises of net worth and liabilities of the company i.e. short and long term. The capital structure on the other hand is financial structure excluding short term borrowing. Capital structure has already been seen as two-fold, with the finance and asset structure. The source of capital is what determines what asset will be purchased. The structure of capital is categorised as follows: 1. According to sources: The structure may either be simple or complex. A simple structure consists of a single source while the complex is where the sources are more than one. (Although retained e arnings is not considered an additional source). This mode is only possible under the fund concept because it is rare for a firm to have one asset, invalidating the asset concept. 2. According to sources This is broadly categorised into internal and external sources. Internal sources comprise of share capital (bonus issue), capital reserve, and reserve and surplus. On the hand the external sources include share capital (bonus issue excluded), share premium, forfeited shares, long term and short-term liabilities and debentures. 3. According to ownership This is either ownership capital or creditorship (debt) capital. Ownership capital includes equity share capital and retained earnings while creditorship comprises of debentures, long-term and short-term liabilities. It is agreed by all accountants where preference shares should be grouped as they have the both elements of ownership and debt. 4. According to cost behaviour This classifies the assets as either fixed cost or variable co st, depending on their expense implications. The fixed cost capital include preference share, long term debt and debentures whereas variable cost capital include equity share and short term liabilities. Firms have different capital structures depending on industry, company type, and proportion of capital contribution. The theories of capital structure try to ask the pertinent questions in leveraging, valuation, and financial balance. This involves evaluating how a firm can affect its total valuation factoring debt and equity, how debt affects the firm’s position. This is by use of accounting ratios 1  Where  is the firm’s debt yield, assuming the element of perpetuity of debt 2.  [E=EBIT-I] Where we assume 100% dividend payout and the firms earning are constant with no element of growth. Therefore, the earnings/price ratio gives the market discount rate, which equals the present value of the series of expected future dividends at the existing market value of the share. 3.  Where  is the firm’s overall capitalisation rate. It computation is normally the weighting of the cost of capital as shown below + The theories of capital structure try to explain the relationship between capital, leverage and the firm’s value. What we want to know is what happens to , and when the degree of leverage (D/V) increases or how is the value of capital

The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 9

The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy - Essay Example the United States was in no way susceptible, but it had the task of defending its partners as well as bring to a stop the development of nuclear armaments (Ambrose, 1989). President Nixon had the same ideas and he based his goals in ensuring world peace is maintained. After his election into office, there was an increase from American citizens for American troops to be sent back home from foreign missions. Nixon promised American citizens that he will support American allies with resources but not man power. However, the process was delayed as protests became a daily scene in the streets on the United States. In providing a specific case scenario, the number of American troops who died in Vietnam reached 500, 000 (Dallek, 2007). This made citizens even more irritated by Nixon’s regime. Nixon however, launched vietnamisation which was a strategy to pull out American troops in the region, help build a Vietnamese military squad and provide them with weapons and financial resources. He succeeded in this particular quest as he was applauded for successfully ensuring peace in Vietnam and getting American troops back home. Nixon took over American during a time when the nations had a lot of enemies in terms of diplomatic relations. However, the nations also had significant allies Nixon was keen to retain (Ambrose, 1989). On many occasions involving warfare, Nixon was forced to use diplomatic efforts to be able to come up with lasting solutions. For instance, during the invasion of Arab countries in Israel, Nixon realized the significance of having good diplomatic relationships with the Arab countries (Dallek, 2007). Nixon was able to negotiate with Egypt and he convinced them to pull out in the war against Israel. Additionally, Nixon also used diplomatic efforts to solve the China-Pakistan war. In this occasion, Pakistan is an American ally and China a great ally to the Soviet. According to Parmet (1990) the diplomatic relationship between the Soviet and the United

How to win the cold war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How to win the cold war - Essay Example If there was any doubt in the hearts and minds of the American people as to rather or not they were able to face the struggles ahead those fears were squashed under the triumph of Johnson’s words. Johnson presented what he felt was key to the success of the U.S. in the cold war. He wanted the nation to get back to work and called for the production industries to beef up their rate of production. Johnson felt that the nation needed to be prepared. The preparations that they were to make would serve to ensure that not only America stayed supplied, but any allies. Johnson wanted the nation to be ready to help any allies who happened to run low due to the costs of the war be supplied with the materials they would need to fight the war and win. He said, â€Å"America’s production machine must grow-and grow rapidly† Clearly there was not doubt in Johnson’s mind that American would be successful. President Johnson also had special desires for Texas and the American West. He had confidence in all of the country but he felt that these areas should be delegated special responsibility. Johnson felt that it was in the west that the expansion should take place. He said that it is in the west that America found its strength and that this area, although having become America’s backbone in a sense, has not been fully utilized. There was a great bounty of resources in the west, according to Johnson, that could be used to help America and her allies sustain themselves during the heat of a war. Therefore Johnson encouraged the western Americans to take courage and be prepared to work hard and give of their natural resourced to come to the aid off their country who would need them in the midst of the war. Therefore much of the responsibility of increasing production fell on companies in the west. Some of these surely were glad for the increased business. Johnson was ready to lead the country into a bold victory. He was not going

Unfair Dismissal Legislation

Unfair Dismissal Legislation In this paper we will examine the tension between unfair (employee) dismissal legislation and the autonomy of managers to run their departments as they see fit. Interestingly, the question refers to managers right to manage their employees: It should be stated at the outset, unlike the rights afforded to employees by legislation and the common law, which are enforceable rights per se; there is no such right enshrined in the law to protect the autonomy of managers. It is also interesting to note that the question does not ask us to d iscuss the degree to which unfair dismissal legislation takes away managers right to manage their employees effectively or well, or ask us to comment upon whether or not the suppression of managers autonomy is a good or a bad thing for the development of a healthy and effective commercial workplace. We will argue in this essay that such an assessment is central to the question of this paper. After all, for example, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which seeks (inter alia) to regulate the conduct of Police Officers, might well be seen to take away rights of the police to arrest citizens, but only does so to protect the citizen from unconstitutional and unacceptable authoritarian practices. Likewise, in the case of unfair dismissal legislation, if the effect is to prevent poor management practice, then this cannot be seen as a negative thing. The worry is that such legislation will interfere with good management, by creating expectations in the minds of employees regarding the standard acceptable processes which govern their employment and as such, might prevent managers from taking the initiative to be creative and progressive in their management approach. The question therefore boils down to whether or not the current unfair dismissal legislation in the UK is sufficiently flexible to allow management creativity to blossom to the advantage of all stakeholders in the employee-management-employer relationship. Unfair dismissal of employees is governed by Part X of the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by Part 3 of the Employment Act 2002. The right to not be unfairly dismissed is defined is s94 of the 1996 Act, and s95 of the same act outlines the circumstances which are capable of giving rise to a breach of this employment right. Hepple and Morris (2002) p255 comment upon the amendments to the unfair dismissal legislation introduced by the Employment Act 2002: â€Å"[T]he new statutory standard and modified disciplinary procedures, broad in conception but minimalist in their requirements, ‘are so rudimentary in nature that they afford little protection to employees[and] ‘fall significantly short of the requirements of the current ACAS Code and of the standards of reasonableness developed by tribunals†. This would seem to suggest that this legislation has had little impact upon curtailing the right of managers to manage their employees, especially in light of the fact that there is no significant deterrent effect arising from the remedy contained in s34(6) of the 2002 Act, which only entitles an unfairly dismissed employee to four weeks pay compensation. It also seems apparent that s34(2) of the Employment Act 2002 has reversed the case law decision of Polkey v A. E. Dayton Services [1988] in which it was decided that employers (and, more importantly, their managers) should be reasonable in their choice and use of employee dismissal procedures. S34(2) of the Employment Act 2002 introduced s98A into the Employment Act 1996, subsection 2 of which states: â€Å"[F]ailure by an employer to follow a procedure in relation to the dismissal of an employee shall not be regarded for the purposes of section 98(4)(a) as by itself making the employers action unreasonable if he shows that he would have decided to dismiss the employee if he had followed the procedure.† Again, there is nothing in this section which would suggest that managers rights to employ their own styles of disciplinary procedure have been curtailed: As long as the procedures employed lead to a decision identical to that which would have been generated through adherence to the standard dismissal procedures contained in the UK Employment Acts. It might be argued that that this procedural latitude will not be enforced to its full extent, and therefore that employers and their managers cannot rely upon its provisions to escape liability for nonprocedural conforman ce, but, as Collins (2004) reports: â€Å"The potential width of this exception should not be underestimated†. In regards to this amendment and also to the introduction of the ACAS code under the Employment Act 2002, Smith and Morton (2006) write: â€Å"In spite of government declarations, it is not clear how the ACAS Code and case law can impose a higher procedural standard than the statutory procedures in an unfair dismissal claim, although the test of a reasonable employer (whose action will fall within the range of reasonable responses) remains. Henceforth an employer defending a dismissal may argue that adherence to a procedure above the statutory minimum or the ACAS Code would not have led to a different outcome.† It would therefore seem that, under the new unfair dismissal regime, employers have even more latitude to escape liability for unfair dismissal by procedural unfairness and therefore, even less reason to reign in their managers by insisting on extra training or standard management practices. It should also be noted that under the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2001, the maximum award available to an employer from an employee who unsuccessfully brings a claim in the employment tribunal has been substantially increased as it now, by virtue of the Employment Tribunal Regulations 2004, can also include non-legal preparation costs. This must serve as a deterrent to employees from making frivolous and/or poorly constructed claims for unfair dismissal. Ans so, our analysis of the UK legislative framework on unfair dismissal all point to a conclusion that this regime does not have any significant effect upon the right of managers to manage their employees, so long as the procedures utilized are synonymous by result. However, there is often a big difference between the legal impact of legislation and its cultural effect. Let us now perform a literature review of several key sources in the field of employee management to see if the practical and real effect of the amended unfair dismissal legislation has been to curtail the creativity of managers or otherwise interfere with their right to manage their employees, effectively or otherwise. The first point which can be identified from the literature is that the legislation on unfair dismissal has had different effects on different sized of business. Whilst the research is relatively out of date, it seems clear that the small business sector has been the least affected by the formal dismissal regime. As Harrison et al (1998) write: â€Å"The major studies (e.g. Dickens et al., 1985) are now dated and there have been few attempts to up-date earlier assessments of the impact of unfair dismissal legislation on small firms (e.g. Clifton and Tatton-Brown, 1979; Daniel and Stilgoe, 1978; Evans et al., 1985). This research and the periodic WIRS surveys (Millward et al., 1992) indicated that small businesses were less likely to have formal disciplinary procedures than larger businesses. This would suggest that small business managers autonomy to manage in their own way has not been significantly ‘taken away by the UKs unfair dismissal legislation and its enshrined standar d procedures. This is confirmed by the findings of a case study analysis by Harrison et al (1998) who found that: â€Å"The presence of a formal written disciplinary procedure does not, of itself, ensure that it is applied/observed by all managers, nor that common disciplinary standards will be applied to all employees, or even to all employees in the same occupation, grade, etc. For example, two instances were found where the senior site manager in multi-site companies in the catering sector was not familiar with the requirements of their companies written procedures. Harrison et al (1998) also found, from their interviews, that managers in this sector took a flexible approach to disciplinary action. The problem with this is that the approach is likely to differ from manager to manager with the result that the only way companies can maintain consistency is not to change, remove or replace senior managers: â€Å"[T]here was evidence from many of the interviews of a â€Å"flexible approach† being taken to disciplinary actionThis â€Å"flexibility† plainly has its strengths, but it inevitably also raises issues of perceived consistency or inconsistency among employees of actions taken by different managers [I]ts potential effect on both employee morale and on potential unfair dismissal claims and outcomes, was a principal reason why many organizations have restricted the right to dismiss to senior managers.† Interestingly however, the interviews conducted across multi-site organizations revealed that â€Å"managers were able to draw on the wider resources of their organizations, including the advice and expertise of HR/personnel specialists. In some cases these specialists became involved in helping line managers to handle disciplinary cases, usually with the effect of avoiding major discrepancies.† This would suggest that the UK unfair dismissal legislation has had a noticeable impact upon the rights of managers in larger organizations to manage their employees, the procedures clearly being taken seriously if outside help is being drafted in regularly. In pages 457-458, Harrison et al (1998) discuss the effect of unfair dismissal legislation on ‘management style. They confirm our earlier conclusion that Managers are still acting autonomously despite the unfair dismissal legislation: â€Å"There are acknowledged difficulties in attempting to categorise management styles in organisations, not least because they may vary from one manager to another, and from one situation to another.† McCabe and Rabil (2001) write convincingly on the rights of employees and the impact of these rights on employers and their managers. At page 34 they write: â€Å"‘[T]he most critical right of employees is the right to due process (Velasquez, 1982, p. 327)[D]ue process involves a system of checks and balances, it increases the objectivity of decisions‘the topic of due process in work organizations calls for much greater conceptual development, practical experimentation, and systematic research (Aram and Salipante, Jr., 1981, p. 198). Prima facie, these respective statements seem to conflict with one another: On the one hand, McCabe and Rabil talk of ‘objective decision making, and yet on the other, they talk of the need for ‘practical experimentation. However, I would argue that, rather than being mutually exclusive, these observations demonstrate the ability for fair management autonomy to co-exist with principles of due process, if not necessarily consisten cy. Managers can implement their own style of disciplinary procedures into a workplace as long as these implementations are perceived as subscribing to the princinple of due process and the end effects of these implementations are consistent with the outcomes which would have been reached under the statutory procedures. This confirms what we postulated earlier in this essay; namely, that the unfair dismissal legislation does not significantly impede effective and fair management autonomy, but simply prevents managers from managing their employees in ways which are inappropriate or do not follow the principle of ‘due process. As McCabe and Rabil (2001) write: â€Å"Not all managers know how to manage their work force effectively, nor do they all treat their employees fairly. A good due process system cannot make managers manage more fairly. It may provide a strong incentive for them to do that, but if they don t know how, the process itself will not teach them. In conclusion, I would argue that since the inception of the Employment Act 2002, which amended the unfair dismissal legislation contained in the Employment Rights Act 1996, the UKs legislation on the unfair dismissal of employees is sufficiently flexible to allow employers and their managers the autonomy to create and implement their own employee management procedures, so long as these procedures are capable of yielding fair and equitable decisions. Thus, in response to the specific question, to what degree has the unfair dismissal legislation taken away managers right to manage their employees? I would argue that it has significantly taken away this ‘right. However, in relation to the more important question, to what degree has the unfair dismissal legislation taken away managers right to manage their employees fairly and effectively? I would argue that it has not taken away this right significantly.

Tourism in Thailand :: Papers

Tourism in Thailand As we enter a new millenium the post-colonial nations in the world are still searching for ways to compete in an increasingly globalized, consumption driven economic environment. Many developing countries have speculated that Tourism is an effective catalyst for development as well as increased international understanding. Thailand, who has embraced tourism as the key to its modernization strategy, has been hailed by many as a paradigm for success. Over the past twenty years Thailand has enjoyed one of the fastest economic growth rates of any developing country. This rapid progress has allowed Thailand to emerge as an economic leader in the Third world. The $4 billion a year in tourism revenue is the core support of the Thai economy (Bishop, p. VI). Thai officials have attributed the success of the tourism industry to the "many attractions located in various parts of the country" as well as "the uniqueness of the Thai people" --- "their friendliness and hospitality (Bishop, p. 6 7)." However the Thai government has failed to recognize the contributions of sex tourism which is estimated to generate about $1.5 billion every year, according to Professor Krikiat Phiapatserithan of Thammasat University (World congress, regional profiles, p. 3). Thailand's failure to recognize the sex tourism is reflective of the discourse used by the worldwide tourism industry to analyze the industry's success. From the standpoint of the tourism industry the success of tourism is directly related only to economic factors, anything else is seen as unnecessary. It is in the best interest of tourism corporations and the countries that are dependent on tourism to discourage the circulation of information regarding any of the potential negative effects related to tourism. The censorship of information by these entities has caused much of the general public to be ignorant of the adverse consequences of the mass tourist industry in Thailand. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the sex tourism, using Thailand as the basis of my investigation. I will begin by shedding light on the complex social and economic factors that has formed the modern sex industry of Thailand. Then I will link the damaging effects to the Thailand's cultural values and quality of life to the emergence of child sex tourism, which in recent years has immerged as a significant contributor of tourist revenue.

Different Types of Narration Essay

There are a variety of ways to narrate a story, but essentially they can be broken down into two main groups: first person narrative, and third person narrative. In the use of the first person narrator, the story is told through the eyes of the ‘I’ narrator. The first person narrator can only relate incidents that he or she has witnessed, and only he or she can interpreted the situation, therefore in this respect the first person narrative is limited. We must remember that a first person narrator in a novel is not the novelist but a character who sees things only in the light of his or her own point of view and coloured by his or her personality, therefore events are biased to the narrator’s opinion. This of course can be used to effect in books where the first person narrator is unreliable and therefore we are forced to see a false picture of events. For example in ‘The Beach’ by Alex Garland, events are told by Richard, a backpacker in Bangkok. In the extract I have chosen, Richard recounts an encounter with ‘Mister Duck’, who, at the beginning of he book, commits suicide. In the extract below, it is only the second time that Richard ‘meets’ ‘Mister Duck’, the first being when Richard was feverish. Therefore we can easily presume that Richard was hallucinating when he first ‘met’ ‘Mister Duck’ but in this extract, it is hard to tell, from the way Richard narrates it, that ‘Mister Duck’ is imaginary: Mister Duck sat in his room on the Khao San Road. He’d pulled back one of the newspapers that covered the window and was peering down to the street. Behind him, strewn across his bed, were coloured pencils, obviously the ones he’d used to draw the map. The map was nowhere in sight so maybe he’d already tacked it to my door. I saw that his shoulders were shaking. ‘Mister Duck?’ I said cautiously. He turned, scanned the room with a puzzled frown and, then spotted me through the strip of mosquito netting. ‘Rich†¦ Hi.’ Of course, through first person narrative, we develop a more intimate relationship with the narrator because we have their character and way of thinking forced upon us, which in cases can make you sympathise more with this character, as you know their private emotions that they would not show openly. For example in ‘The Remains of the Day’ the use of the first person narrator creates suspense and mystery over the intense relationship between Stevens and Miss Kenton. Also in this extract, we feel Steven’s character imposed on the story as his unquestioning faith and dedication to his job cost him dearly his personal life. And finally Stevens unwavering sense of duty and reserve at all times leading him to deny his emotions eventually drive away the woman he loved. As demonstrated in the extract I have chosen: As I was bolting the door, I noticed Miss Kenton waiting for me, and said: ‘I trust you had a pleasant evening, Miss Kenton.’ She made no reply, so I said again, as we were making our way across the darkened expanse of the kitchen floor; ‘I trust you had a pleasant evening, Miss Kenton.’ ‘I did, thank you, Mr Stevens.’ ‘I’m pleased to hear that.’ Behind me, Miss Kenton’s footsteps came to a sudden stop and I heard her say: ‘Are you not in the least interested in what took place tonight between my acquaintance and I Mr Stevens?’ ‘I do not mean to be rude, Miss Kenton, But I really must return upstairs without further delay. The fact is, events of a global significance are taking place in this house at this very moment.’ ‘When are they not, Mr Stevens? Very well, if you must be rushing off, I shall just tell you that I accepted my acquaintance’s proposal.’ ‘I beg your pardon, Miss Kenton?’ ‘His proposal of marriage.’ ‘Ah, is that so, Miss Kenton? Then may I offer you my congratulations.’ ‘Thank you, Mr Stevens. Of course, I’ll be happy to serve out my notice. However, should it be that you are able to release me earlier, we would be very grateful. My acquaintance begins his new job in the West Country in two weeks’ time.’ ‘I will do my best to secure a replacement at the earliest opportunity, Miss Kenton. Now if you will excuse me, I must return upstairs.’ I started to walk away again, but then when I had all but reached the doors out to the corridor, I heard Miss Kenton say: ‘Mr Stevens,’ and thus turned once more. She had not moved, and consequently she was obliged to raise her voice slightly in addressing me, so that it resonated rather oddly in the cavernous spaces of the dark and empty kitchen. ‘Am I to take it’ she said, ‘that after the many years of service I have given in this house, you have no more words to greet the news of my possible departure than those you have just uttered?’ ‘Miss Kenton, you have my warmest congratulations. But I repeat, there are matters of global significance taking place upstairs and I must return to my post.’ Pages 218-219 In this extract we are frustrated by Stevens reserve and lack of emotion, and without the story being told form his side we might have felt Stevens to be cold hearted and distance and therefore dislike him. But in fact we pity his actions and feel moved. An autobiographical persona such as Pip in Dickens ‘Great Expectations’, are not to be taken as complete or even accurate portraits of their authors – they are often no more than studies in self criticism: I was quite as dejected on the first working-day of my apprenticeship as in that after-time; but I am glad to know that I never breathed a murmur to Joe while my indentures lasted. It is about the only thing I am glad to know of myself in that connexion. For, though it includes what I proceed to add, all the merit of what I proceed to add was Joe’s. It was not because I was faithful, but because Joe was faithful, that I never ran away and went for a soldier or a sailor. It was not because I had a strong sense of the virtue of industry, but because Joe had a strong sense of the virtue of industry, that I worked with tolerable zeal against the grain. It is not possible to know how far the influence of any amiable honest-hearted duty-going man flies out into the world; but it is very possible to know how it has touched one’s self in going by, and I know right well that any good that intermixed itself with my apprenticeship came of plain contented Joe, and not of restless aspiring discontented me. In the same way the innumerable portraits by artists of their friends, enemies or acquaintances are notoriously one sided, exaggerated and even on occasion, libellous. In a first person narrative, the use of interior monologue can be used where the reader is allowed inside the mind of the narrator and so we can hear their inner thought. For example in Ernest Hemingway’s ‘A farewell to Arms’, when Henry hears that his wife is gravely ill we receive an interior monologue: The nurse went into the room and shut the door. I sat outside in the hall. Everything was gone inside of me. I did not think. I could not think. I knew she was going to die and I prayed that she would not. Don’t let her die. Oh, God, please don’t let her die. I’ll do anything for you if you won’t let her die Please, please, please dear God, don’t let her die. Dear God, don’t let her die. Pleas, please, please don’t let her die, God, please make her not die. I’ll do anything you say if you don’t let her die. You took the baby but don’t let her die – that was all right but don’t let her die. Please, please, dear God, don’t let her die. Here we feel that the character is deeply involved in his surroundings and what is happening, the events he is recounting are extremely emotional and moving, but this is not always the case. In ‘Nausea’ by Jean-Paul Satre, it is the story of an observer of life in a small cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, and here the narrator is totally withdrawn from his surrounding, as though watching it on television. The narrator is distanced from events and the book is almost like a third person narrative in the sense that he is telling the story of the lives of those sitting around him, but of course true to first person narration he is interpreting the situation into how he sees it: It is half past one. I am at the Cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Mably, eating a sandwich, and everything is more or less normal. In any case, everything is always normal in cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s and especially in Cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Mably, because of the manager, Monsieur Fasquelle, who has a vulgar expression in his eyes which is very straightforward and reassuring. It will soon be time for his afternoon nap and his eyes are already pink, but his manner is still lively and decisive. He is walking among the tables and speaking confidentially to all the customers: ‘Is everything all right, Monsieur?’ I smile at seeing him so lively: when his establishment empties, his head empties too. Between two and four the cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ is deserted, and then Monsieur Fasquelle takes a few dazed steps, the waiter turn out the lights, and he slips into unconsciousness: when this man is alone, he falls asleep. The second type of narrative is third person narration. The narrator is omniscient, that is, able to move between characters, situations, and locations at any point, and granted full access to characters’ thoughts, feelings, and motivation. This is the advantage that third person narration has over first person, yet a sense of intimacy with the characters is harder to achieve. Some narrators might comment on the events taking place in the novel as they unfold, and even interpose their own views; the Victorian novelists such as Charles Dickens were adept at this manner of intervention, for example in ‘A Christmas Carol’, Dickens talks directly to the reader to convey his thoughts and ideas: Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change for anything he chose to put his hand to’. Old Marley was dead as a door-nail. Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of out ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Alternatively, the author might limit the narrator’s overt presence, and recount the narrative’s events as directly as possible. A third-person narrator might have a limited point of view, confined to only one or a few characters, as in much of Emily Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s ‘Wuthering Heights’, where the author is wholly absent and uses the characters to tell the story. Therefore she never directly interrupts the story to make a direct comment or moral judgement on the action of the characters. We notice that Emily Brontà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ in ‘Wuthering Heights’ uses narrators that are involved in the proceedings and therefore these people try to inflict their point of view on the reader. In this case it is to emphasise the point that the relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy is unique and not something that Nelly, or Lockwood (Wuthering Height’s two main narrators) will never fully comprehend as only Heathcliff and Cathy can explain their love for each other. She rung the bell till it broke with a twang: I entered leisurely. It was enough to try the temper of a saint, such senseless, wicked rages! There she lay dashing her head against the arm of the sofa, and grinding her teeth, so that you might fancy she would crash them to splinters! Mr Linton stood looking at her in sudden compunction and fear. He told me to fetch some water. She had no breath for speaking. I brought a glass full; and, as she would not drink, I sprinkled it on her face. In a few seconds she stretched herself out stiff, and turned up her eyes, while her cheeks, at once blanched and livid, assumed the aspect of death. Linton looked terrified. ‘There is nothing in the world the matter,’ I whispered. I did not want him to yield, though I could not help being afraid in my heart. ‘She has blood on her lips!’ he said, shuddering. ‘Never mind!’ I answered tartly. And I told him how she had resolved previous to his coming, on exhibiting a fit of frenzy. In some cases the events of the story are told through an impersonal narrative. This impersonal narrator then relates the story through the senses of different character, presenting the reader with a more rounded picture. For example in ‘The Tesseract’ by Alex Garland, the story is told from many points of view, quickly changing between one character’s perspective to another, each time the story being told from that characters sense and feeling. In the extract below we witness the situation from three of the character point of view The telephone made for an indifferent witness. But Sean’s reflection in the bathroom mirror, making contact as he turned away from the vent, was less detached. Even under pressure, the sight was arresting. His face seemed to be in a state of flux. Unable to resolve itself, like a cheap hologram or a bucket of snakes, the lips drew back while the jaw relaxed, the stare softened while the frown hardened. Fear, Sean thought distantly. Rare that one got to see what it actually looked like. Other people’s, sure, but not your own. Intrigued, he leaned close to the mirror, ignoring the footsteps that were already working their way up the stairs. ‘Aaaah, we’re going to be late,’ said Don Pepe, breaking the tense silence of the last five minutes. Jojo nodded and nervously pushed his thumbs into the padding around the steering wheel. ‘Yes, sir, we are. I’m sorry.’ Jojo paused a moment before saying ‘Yes, sir’ again. He was leaving time for Teroy to add his own apology. After all, he’d been the one who had suggested Hotel Patay in the first place. But Teroy, sitting in the passenger seat, wasn’t saying a word. No sense diverting Don Pepe’s irritation on to him, when he could keep his head down and his mouth shut and let Jojo take all the abuse. Fair enough. Jojo would have been doing the same if their roles had been reversed. The narrator is very important in a story as the narrator is responsible for the way a story is conveyed to its reader, or its point of view. The variety of ways that the author can manipulate the narrator and his or her point of view in order to gain maximum control over the work as a whole is often the essence of whether the reader gained the desired effect set by the author.

52 Effective Social Media Post Ideas and Examples to Fill Your Calendar

52 Effective Social Media Post Ideas and Examples to Fill Your Calendar For a marketer, theres nothing worse than struggling with a creative block. When youre pressed to create on a deadline, but you just cant think of something original to post, or an original concept for your next campaign, its easy to fall into despair. In fact, thats probably why youre here. Its okay though. We all need some inspiration now and then to help us shake off the rust and get back to creating awesome stuff. If that sounds like something you need, scope out this enormous list of social media post ideas. Theres inspiration here to cover every social network, too. So, no matter where your audience is most active, youre sure to find something you havent shown them before. 52 Effective Social Media Post Ideas and Examples to Fill Your Calendar via @But First, Here Are Some Free Social Media Resources If youre going to succeed on social media, you need the right tools. These freebies will help you do something with the inspiration youll get from this post: Social Media Calendar Template: Plan all your posts ahead of time. How Often to Post On Social Media Infographic: Learn exactly how to map out your posting schedule. Social Media Strategy Checklist: Build out a comprehensive strategy for your social media content. Not Sure Which Social Media Network to Choose? Before posting to any social network, it's worth considering how each one is used. Here's a quick reference sheet: How Do You Actually Put These Ideas Into Practice? If you're searching for social media ideas, you might be experiencing a few different problems: Lack of creative inspiration. Sometimes, you just don't feel like you have anything kicking around in your head. Constant fire drills to find content to share. You might also be scrambling day-to-day to find enough content to share. Content that isn't getting results. In this case, it might be time to try something you haven't thought of before. Sound relatable? Keep these solutions in mind: Plan Ahead With a Social Media Calendar The best way to keep social media posts organized is on a calendar. In fact, that's why we've included a free calendar template in this post. Here are some of the benefits of using a calendar: They give your team full visibility into your social media schedule. They make it easier to plan posts ahead of time. And make sure you're posting at the best times. They make it possible to plan content + social promotion in one place. No more switching between tabs and tools to map out your publishing schedule. Recommended Reading: How to Effectively Organize Your Social Media Editorial Calendar (Free Template) Plan Cohesive Campaigns The best way to drive a message home is to build a complete campaign. Oftentimes, brands struggle to keep up with their social posting schedule because they're too reliant on one-off posts. This makes staying organized difficult. Plus, it's tough to always be writing posts on the fly without much thought ahead of time. So, plan campaigns. These can be around: Campaigns to promote events. A series of posts promoting a single piece of content. A string of branded posts carrying a consistent message or hashtag. Recommended Reading: 24 Creative Social Media Campaign Examples to Boost Your Inspiration Schedule Ad Hoc Posts In addition to your planned campaigns, mix in some ad hoc posts. These are spontaneous one-off posts that aren't necessarily connected to a broader campaign, but still reinforce your overall brand message. Leaving some flexibility in your schedule makes it easier to react to trending topics and hashtags, which you can capitalize on for added brand exposure. With these three tips and all of the following ideas, you should have no trouble staying inspired and keeping your posting schedule ful. And Now, 52 Content Ideas For Businesses to Post on Social Media There's an endless possibility of content to share on social media. But these are the types of content that your audience will appreciate. 1. Your Company's Blog Posts Does your business have a blog? The best way to get your blog  seen is to share it on your own social media platforms. You know it's relevant to your business because  it came from your business.   Be sure the content you're writing for your business blog is valuable and will connect with your audience. The best way to do this is by writing actionable content such as "How to" posts. Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Blog Writing Process to Create Killer Posts 2.  Posts Showing Your Company's Culture What better way to showcase your business then by sharing a culture post? A culture post is an image or article that highlights what your business is all about. It could be a behind-the-scenes image of your employees doing something quirky or an article about how your business does something a certain way. 3. Industry News In raw numbers, news articles get more social shares than any other type of article. Most businesses that produce content are focusing on deep long form content rather than as-it-happens breaking news. Create a list of news sources in your industry. This could include trade publications or websites. Then, find those sources on Twitter and follow them. When they share something interesting, retweet it to your followers (or share it on another social network, like Facebook or Google+). 4. Curated Content Content curation is simply sharing the content of others in your niche. Sometimes the things you want to share with your audience have already been written. So rather than spending the time crafting an in-depth post, you can quickly share one that's already been written (by giving them credit of course.) At , we use our handy-dandy Chrome Extension tool to help with our content curation. Here's an example of a post we shared from Kissmetrics: Recommended Reading: How to Schedule Your Social Media Content Curation for Massive Growth 5. Question Posts Not everything you share on social media  has  to be a blog post or article.  Get your audience talking and engaging with one another by asking a burning question. For example, you could ask "What sort of content should I blog about next?" It's the best way to know what your audience  really  wants to read. Asking a fun question or creating a Twitter poll is a good way to get your audiences' insights. 6. Product/Company Videos Visuals are eye-catching when your audience is  scrolling through their news feed. It’s been proven time and time again that visuals help improve engagement, but what about videos? Research shows that videos have a 135% greater organic reach compared to photos. That’s a crazy high number. Take advantage of this organic reach opportunity by sharing videos about your company or a new product you have. 7. Customer Reviews And Testimonials Does your company have dedicated fans!? Let their voices be heard and share their thoughts on your social media. You can do this by retweeting their kind words or creating a graphic with their testimonial directly on it. Don't forget to include their name/handle! 8. Quick Tips And Advice Aside from sharing an entire 'How to" post giving in-depth tips and advice, you can share a few tips that you think are the MOST important. Sharing a simple tidbit is an easy way to share valuable information with your audience. Here at , we call them "Pro Tips." 9. Memes or GIFs Aside from sharing images to your social media, you can use memes and GIFs when publishing your content. This adds a fun spin to your plain post and will be too irresistible for your audience to scroll past. â€Å"GIFs are a great way to showcase your brand’s personality, stay trendy, and have fun† -HeyOrca. Memes and GIFs are becoming extremely popular among top companies.  At , we’ve recently started using memes and GIFs on Twitter and have found that they receive far more likes and retweets than regular images.Just remember to keep the meme or GIF relevant to your company and audience! 10. Contest Posts Encouraging people to participate in a social media contest  that is related to your brand will boost engagement with those who  are already followers and can help you increase subscribers by requiring those that don’t follow or like your page yet to do so in order to participate. Be clear about your objectives and exactly how you want your audience to participate for the best outcome. Define easy, simple rules before you launch your contest. 11. Holiday Posts No matter where you live, holidays are a big deal. Show your holiday spirit by sharing a holiday-related post on your business page. Whether it be an image, video or article your audience will appreciate that your business has real people that also get excited about holidays! Starbucks is known for getting exceptionally excited during Christmas season: 12. Photos From Company Events We discussed sharing culture posts that showcase your company's personality, but you can take that a step further by sharing photos from a company event. If your business hosts a charity event or fundraiser, a great way to spread awareness is by sharing it on social media. 13.  Post An Answer To A Commonly Asked Question Are you receiving the same question over and over again from your audience? Instead of constantly responding to this question one by one, solve it once and for all by sharing a post with the answer. Make sure to "pin" the answer to the top of your social media page so that your audience can easily see it. Here's how to pin posts on Facebook and on Twitter. 14. Share Infographics Infographics are a fantastic way to show a step-by-step guide, especially on Pinterest. (Hello! DIY) Infographics allow you to share  a ton of information with the use of visuals. They make boring statistics look appealing! Whether it be your own or a curated infographic, your audience will be drawn to the visual aspect and be sure to keep reading. Recommended Reading: How to Make the Best Social Media Images the Easy Way (+84 Free Images) 15.  Start A Conversation With A Leader In Your Industry Cross-promote yourself by getting your name out there, the best way to do this is to start a conversation with somebody in your niche. Twitter is a great way to start up a conversation that your audience will see. Find an industry leader's Twitter handle and make the first move! This presentation from Jay Baer explains the importance of connecting with influencers (and how to find them): 16.  Links To Free Resources Who doesn't love free stuff!? Whether it be ebooks, white papers, or other downloadable content, your audience will appreciate the free resources. Put together a content bundle, or a downloadable infographic so your audience can use it for reference. (Psst! You can get all of our bundles for FREE here!) 17.  Podcast Episodes Sometimes reading content can be time-consuming, so give your audience's eyes a break and share a podcast episode. Or even better, start your own! We recently started our own podcast  and have had great success with it! We cover topics and challenges our audience faces. If you decide to start your own podcast, check out this post to help get you started. Recommended Reading: How to Start a Podcast (Authentic Advice from Someone Who's Done It) 18. New Job Listings Is your team expanding? Let your audience know! Who better to work for your company than a dedicated fan who's watched your company grow? Or maybe they have a friend who would be interested in working for you. Be sure to list what positions are open like Built Visible does in this example: 19.  Hiring Announcements And New Team Members After posting your job listing, you're likely going to find the right candidate.  Once you've found the right candidate(s), take it a step further and show them off to your audience! Let everyone know that you're excited to have them be part of your team 🠤â€". 20. "On This Day In History" Posts The Huffington Post shares "on this day in history" articles everyday. Take this approach and use it in your own social media strategy. Find something interesting that happened in your town or city and let your audience know! You can also share "National Day" posts. Check out NationalCalendarDay.com to find things like National Coffee Day (and tons of other days you probably never knew existed), and create some posts for ones relevant to that day. 21. Event Promotion If an event happens and nobody hears about it, did it really happen? You can create an Event Page on Facebook to make your event feel more personable to your audience. Then promote the heck out of it on your social media channels! 22. Live Videos Live videos have become huuuuge on social media  recently. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram AND Snapchat have options for going live. Find the right platform that works best for you and where you will get the most views from your audience. Try to make it a weekly video. For instance "Tip Tuesday" or "Fun Fact Friday." This way your audience will be sure to tune in on those days. 23. Promote Email Sign-Ups If you want your audience to attend a webinar or demo (surprise!) you'll need to let them know by promoting the sign-up link on social media. Promote signup forms for webinars, demos, email newsletters, and so forth. 24. Image Scrambles You'll have your audience scratching their heads in no time when you post image scrambles. Image scrambles can be  posts where an image is scrambled up or zoomed in so your audience has to guess what it is. This is a great way to get engagement from your audience. What is this a picture of? Answer: It's an orange crayon! Recommended Reading: The 6 Types of Social Media Content That Will Give You the Greatest Value 25. Inspirational Quotes Okay, I know. Inspirational quotes can be  cheesy, but if done correctly they can be effective. At , we use quotes from industry leaders that we know our audience will relate too. Find quotes from leaders in your industry or testimonials from your audience  that will resonate with your target audience. 26. Company Accomplishments Believe it or not, your audience cares about you and they want to see you succeed. Share your successes with them on social media and celebrate together! Whether it be  awards you've won, reaching a certain number of customers, etc. let your audience know! 27. Host A Twitter Chat What is a Twitter chat?  It’s a conversation around one unique hashtag. This hashtag allows you to follow the discussion and participate in it. Twitter chats are usually recurring and on specific topics to regularly connect people with these interests. When hosting your own: Decide on a clear and brief hashtag that represents your brand. Choose a day and time that you can consistently hold Twitter chats. Come up with an appropriate topic and questions. Plan and promote your chat via Twitter. 28. Ask For Customer Feedback Not sure how your audience will respond to a new feature, event, or your next post? Find out how they will respond  before it happens by getting customer feedback. "Would you be interested in a social media event?" "Would you like if we created a custom label feature?" "Would you like if we wrote a blog post about email marketing?" You can even do this via Twitter poll to get your answer. 29. How-To Videos Aside from going live, you can create simple and short how-to videos explaining how a feature or tool works. These videos will give your audience an inside look and make them more likely to try out your tool after seeing how it works. Recommended Reading: How to Get Started With Twitter Video Marketing How to Do Facebook Video Marketing the Right Way How to Make a Video Content Marketing Strategy to Boost Your New Series 30. Product Reviews User reviews are proven sales drivers, and something the majority of customers will want to see before deciding to make a purchase. Many people read online reviews before deciding to buy something (I'm guilty of this too!) This is a great tactic if you're working in e-commerce. Try sharing reviews of products you carry. Or, you could review a tool that your company uses or integrates with to help drive sales. 31. Images Or Videos Of Your Product The best way to show how something works is through visual representations. You would never buy a car without test-driving it first, just like you wouldn't buy an online tool or product without seeing how it works first. Give your audience a firsthand look at how your product works, and maybe even throw in a cool tip they might not know if they didn't see the image or video. 32. Twitter QA Sessions Sure you could do a Twitter chat, but your topic has to be relevant PLUS there's a great deal of planning involved. By simply hosting a Twitter QA session, this allows your audience to ask a variety of questions. Your audience can finally get their burning questions answered and you can interact with your audience in a new way. Check out this post  from Passion Digital on how to host a QA session. 33. Spotify Playlists If you want to share music or whole playlists with friends, posting a Spotify playlist is the way to go.  Sharing music with friends is a time-honored way to discover new bands, talk over your music tastes, and learn a bit more about the bands that you love. Spotify has fun and useful playlist sharing features. You or a friend can build a playlist packed with your own music or music you’ve discovered through Spotify’s massive music library, and you have the option of sharing that playlist directly with others by passing around the playlist URL or Spotify link. Let your audience know what you're listening to and get them inspired! Get your audience pumped! Share a @Spotify playlist and let the world know what your office is...34. User-Generated Content We know you have super fans out there! Don't be afraid to show them off by posting fan-worthy content. Here at we send out 'swag' to those that grab our attention on social media or leave killer product reviews. Those people often share pictures of themselves decked out in our swag, and it's so awesome to see! I LOVE my new swag. Thanks, @! #happybirthdaytome pic.twitter.com/JNkXCvhs41 Amanda Huggett (@AmandaHuggett) October 10, 2016 If a fan shares anything noteworthy about your company, give it a share! 35. Posts Showing Off Your Company History Has your company been around longer than microwave popcorn? Then you have some history to share! It's always fun to see how far a business has come and where they started. Sharing a quick tidbit or piece of history is sure to intrigue your viewers. At , we are a start-up company, which means we're constantly changing and evolving (and even getting a new space!) New office decor arrived at @today!Thanks @jnhartford 😊 pic.twitter.com/UpvrgfznpH Ashton Hauff (@ashtonhauff) March 23, 2017 36. Company News Announcements Speaking of sharing your  history and getting a new space, let your audience be in the loop! Getting a new space? Launching a new product? Just have big news in general? What better way to get the word out than by sharing the news with the people who care. Make it fun and make it big! Get your audience as hyped about the news as you are. 37. Create a Regular Series Here's a great way to use live video on social media: create a weekly series or show. There are a few ways you can do this: Use a traditional talk show format. Have a guest each week. Paste does this well, hosting musicians in their studio to perform on Facebook Live: div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/PasteMusicAndDaytrotter/videos/10156378216834529/" data-width="770" data-show-text="true"blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/PasteMusicAndDaytrotter/videos/10156378216834529/" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"a href="https://www.facebook.com/PasteMusicAndDaytrotter/videos/10156378216834529/"Rainbow Kitten Surprise live at Paste Studio NYC/apWatch Rainbow Kitten Surprise live at Paste Studio NYC!/pPosted by a href="https://www.facebook.com/PasteMusicAndDaytrotter/"Paste Music amp; Daytrotter/a on Wednesday, April 11, 2018/blockquote/div 38. Repurpose Blog Graphics Creating new visual content for every social media post can be resource-intensive. So, why not create blog graphics with social sharing in mind? To do this, create versions of your blog graphics correctly proportioned for your chosen social network: Then, create social media posts (or even entire campaigns) around those posts, reusing their inline graphics: 39. Share How-To Videos Social media is great for sharing quick videos showing people how to get something done. Here's a fun example from the DIY Network: 40. Share Your Company's Financial Earnings For large publically traded companies, your followers might be interested in knowing how you're performing financially. So, consider creating an engaging GIF or video to accompany your earnings page on your website, or a blog post announcing your quarterly earnings. Here's an example from Home Depot: 41. Share a Case Study On One of Your Customers Do you have a customer that you know has had success (thanks to your company or product)? Get them involved in a case study! Then, share it on social media: 42. Share a Survey Check out this example from Case Study Buddy: 43. Promote a New Product or Event Here's another example from Case Study Buddy: 44. Share a Fill-In-The-Blank Post Asking your audience to finish a sentence can be fun, and it definitely encourages engagement. Think something like this: "What's your favorite ___________________?" "Fill in the blank: my favorite thing about [YOUR BRAND] is [ANSWER]". "When I need to [SOLVE PROBLEM], I use [PRODUCT/TACTIC]". Get creative with it, and see what you can come up with. 45. Share a Statistic This tweet from the Twitter accounts shares a snippet about Starbuck's marketing strategy that people might not have known: 46. Reshare Your Top Performing Posts You don't always have to reinvent the wheel. If a post did well once, what's to say it won't do well again? In fact, according to research from , there's data backing up the idea that it might even do better the second time around: The easiest way to identify top performing posts and automatically reshare it is with . Use social analytics to discover your best-performing posts: Then, use ReQueue to create an intelligent queue of social posts to reshare automatically:47. Promote Your Partners Add some positivity to your audience's feed, and shout out a company you work with that's killing it out there. Wow, what a lovely post to read. Thank you @Sally_Newm for nominating me and for everything you said. I honestly appreciate it so so much. Thanks @rustybrick for pulling all these together, it is a lovely idea and really shows how much our industry value each other. https://t.co/ir9nazs4kD - Samantha Noble (@SamJaneNoble) April 30, 2018 48. Share Some Interesting Industry Research In a lot of industries, having the latest knowledge and research is key to maintaining a competitive advantage. Tap into that by sharing stats and snippets of industry research reports, either ones you've created yourself, or ones you've curated around the web. 49. Use Paper.li to Share News Roundups Ever since Storify closed its doors, marketers have been searching for a replacement. Paper.li is a great stand-in, making it possible to create custom social media-driven online newspapers. By creating an account, you can curate content from different social media networks, and present it all in one place. Here's a look at how it works: 50. Preview a New Product or Event Everyone loves being first to see new stuff. By consistently sharing previews of new products or features, your audience will know to go to your social channels to find your latest developments. This example from NAMM, a major musical instrument expo, uses a GIF to promote an exclusive events: Have you always wanted to attend #SummerNAMM? Heres your chance! The Make Music Experience – an all-day, all-access pass for the prosumer audience to trial the latest music and pro audio gear from top manufacturers. Buy your tickets ($10 advance) here: https://t.co/V13CQfEXNf pic.twitter.com/MirrnacX9M NAMMShow (@NAMMShow) April 4, 2018 51. Get Creative With Emojis Love them or hate them, emojis can add fun and flash to your social media posts. Make sure you're using them appropriately, and in conjunction with other guidelines, by following this infographic: 52. Give Away Something Free Who doesn't like free stuff? By offering your audience an incentive to take action to get a freebie, you can drive some strong engagement, and help promote your products. Here's an example from PlayStation. In exchange for pre-ordering a game, fans can get a free customized theme for their console, which the video demonstrates: Pre-order the Spyro Reignited Trilogy and snag this dynamic theme for your PS4! pic.twitter.com/D8tGAsqoS5 PlayStation (@PlayStation) April 12, 2018 What Will You Post On Social Media? Phew! That was quite the list we ran through. Hopefully, you can implement these tactics into your own social media strategy, but those aren't all the things you can share with your audience. Do you have something you like to share on social media? Let us know down in the comments!

Writing an Engaging Op-Ed Piece

Writing an Engaging Op-Ed Piece Op-Ed is the publishing industrys commonly-used term for opinion editorial – the type of article in which ones opinion is expressed relating to political, public policy, cultural or controversial topics. Op-ed pieces are most often placed near the front of a publication and are treated much the same way as letters to the editor are treated.As with any persuasive writing – and op-ed articles are definitely considered persuasive – the approach you take will be the difference between engaging your audience and alienating your audience. Starting with a hook such as a question is an often-used approach that is effective, and sets the article up nicely to drive your point home.You should keep in mind that the opening paragraph is the best place to state your position and thesis, detailing why you are writing the piece, the news-worthy event that prompted your writing, and the slant you are taking on the topic. Beyond this, the format for the article can be varied, as l ong as you create a valid argument and provide reasonable explanations and points to support it.There are, however, basic things that should be included in an op-ed piece. The three necessary criteria of an engaging op-ed article are that it:Expresses the writers opinionIs written about a timely and news-worthy topicSuggests a course of action that should be taken based on the writers expertise or opinionResearch and valid facts are importantOp-ed writing should always be opinion-based yet factual and you should take the time to carefully research the topic if it is one on which you are not well-versed. However, most op-ed pieces are written by someone who is an expert on the topic, or at least someone who has kept up-to-date on all facts and recent news related to it, so most writers approach this genre only if they are highly aware of the nuances and commonly used terminology relating to the subject. As this genre of writing generally elicits much feedback from a publications read ership, any information that is incorrect will likely be openly and harshly criticized, immediately discrediting the writer. Since many newspapers allow this type of open criticism and dialogue, especially in relation to op-ed pieces (since the writer is most often not affiliated with the newspapers staff), op-ed articles should be carefully fact-checked before you submit them, especially if your purpose is related to marketing and achieving higher visibility for your company or organization.Op-Ed for marketingA brief word on writing op-ed articles for marketing: an engaging op-ed piece is a great way to achieve visibility for a company and can be used as a unique and effective marketing strategy to highlight the companys presence. A CEOs input, written in the form of an op-ed piece on current industry-related topics, will show his or her expertise and unique leadership ability. Most newspapers and publications will also include a tagline with a brief author bio, which serves as fre e and widely read publicity for any company – whether it is a small business or a multi-national corporation.Common mistakes writers makeEspecially if you are writing for marketing purposes, you should avoid some of the common mistakes writers makes when writing op-ed pieces. One of the most common mistakes that a writer will make when attempting to get an op-ed piece published is writing about a topic that is either old news or a weak/non-newsworthy topic. Submitting an op-ed article about current and highly relevant topics/situations is the easiest way to get your work published.Another common mistake is to approach the op-ed piece like a political ad or a public humiliation of key public figures. Especially if you plan to use your op-ed piece for marketing, it is crucial that you provide timely advice that is controversial, yet reasonable. While newspapers will allow some bit of controversy to be present in op-ed pieces because the writer is not associated with the newspap er staff, there is a limit to how far you can take it. You want to be seen as an expert – a voice of reason – and word choice, careful research, and precise editing is crucial in attaining this result. Often humor, insight, and emotional appeals are most effective in engaging your audience while maintaining your status as a concerned expert, and you should attempt these without seeming overly preachy.As with any persuasive topic, it is best to approach the subject through the use of active verbs, ignoring the overuse of adjectives and adverbs, which often tend to water down writing. Your word choice and language used are crucial in maintaining your role as an expert; dont resort to name-calling, unfounded accusations, or highly charged political statements that could be misinterpreted easily by readers.Length and formatThe average op-ed piece is between 400 and 1,200 words, and many newspapers have specific requirements concerning word count. If a publications op-ed re quirements are not listed on their web page, it is wise to contact the editor in charge of op-ed submissions and request information regarding submissions guidelines. Additionally, many newspapers allow op-ed pieces to be submitted via email but might have restrictions concerning whether the article should be included in the body of the email or as an attachment.If the newspaper or publication does not provide specific guidelines for submission of op-ed pieces, a generally accepted format is single-spaced, Times New Roman (or similar) font, with the authors name and the articles word count listed at the top of the page before the title and body of the article. Also, most newspapers prefer that the author include a brief tagline, or bio, written at the end of the piece.

Business Case Formulation for a successful SAP (ERP System) Literature review

Business Case Formulation for a successful SAP (ERP System) Implementation - Literature review Example Aladwani (2001) elucidates that, businesses are operating in environments that are undergoing continuous experiences of dynamic changes and as a result, many organizations are striving hard to remain competitive. Nonetheless, the changes pose challenges for most companies as they focus on improving their business practices and procedures, as a way of maintaining a strategic influence in the competitive market using the current forms of information systems. More significantly, the advancements have seen organizations adapt support information systems with advanced operations that include Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, which enhance companies maximization of strategic management of its resources by allowing maximum potential use of diverse enterprise systems that suit the organizational needs (Peffers, Gengler & Tuunanen, 2003). In most cases, the ERP systems implemented are based on the extensive knowledge of the industry, readily usable assets besides proven ERP processes, strategies and technologies. Kerimo & Uluhan (2003), emphasis on the fact that the use of clearly implemented ERP systems for a suitable company practices provide viable solutions that remain significant in achievement of business advantages in the competitive global markets. Nah & Delgado (2006) describes the use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems as being of great importance to companies as it offers integrated, enterprise-wide systems that can be used in the provision of automated support. As a result, the automated support system will allow effectiveness and efficiency of business procedures as it is considered essential for standard business processes within and outside operations of organizations. More considerably, companies have found it beneficial to adopt an ERP system that allows for improvements in management and decision-making. More considerably, the implementation

Influence of European Enlightenment on modern schooling Essay

Influence of European Enlightenment on modern schooling - Essay Example It also aimed to reform the society by using reasoning and understanding of the phenomena’s by using scientific knowledge. It aligned majority of the thinkers on the lines of reason and understanding during the 17th and 18th century. It was also referred to as an ‘Age of Reason’ by Thomas Paine (Hackett 1992). It is still believed by many that the basis of modern concepts and thoughts lie in the age of Enlightenment. Science, skepticism and intellectual understanding was promoted during this era as opposed to the superstitious thinking and intolerance by church and state (Wilson 2004). Origin of Age of Enlightenment The Era of Enlightenment was sparked by the great philosophers and thinkers of that time. Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677),Pierre Bayle (1647-1706),physicist Issac Newton (1643-1727) and Philosophers Voltaire were the major proponents in originating the Enlightenment movement (Casey 2008). The revolutionary leaders of the Enlightenment movement hailed themse lves as the courageous elites. They claimed to take the world out of the dark period of doubtful traditions and ecclesiastical tyranny due to which the historical wars took place. Education in the Age of Enlightenment The basic purpose of the movement of Enlightenment was to spread scientific knowledge and reasoning among masses and to take people out of the ignorance in which they were plunged in during the Middle Ages.The role of the educational system was very important in spreading the ideas and concepts of Enlightenment among the people. Continuous development took place in the educational system in Europe throughout the Enlightenment period and the French Revolution. The educational development increased and flourished rapidly during the Enlightenment period. Educational history prior to Enlightenment Period Before the period of Enlightenment, religious dogmatic believes and superstitious thinking was given value. The education was considered the sole right of males who belong ed to the upper stratus of the society such as nobles, mercantile and professional class. With the spread of the scientific revolution traditional religious and superficial beliefs gave way to scientific thinking and reasoning. Novel and revolutionary scientific ideas were proposed by the philosophers such as John Locke proposed that sensation and reflection plays a part in obtaining knowledge. Locke later developed a theory which was based on the same idea that every human being are equal in the capacity of sensation detection and that education should be made public and reachable by all classes of the society. The roots of Pedagogy as science, also has its roots in the in the Age of Enlightenment. The education was considered a basic tool by the philosophers and thinkers of that time to fight against ignorance and superstition. It was considered a way to achieve an open-minded and egalitarian society (Farzaneh 2009). They fought against censorship and worked towards the practice o f free speech. They wanted Declarations of Human rights and an easy and free access to education for all people. Spread and growth of Education system The education before the Age of Enlightenment was considered the divine right of only rich and noble upper class of the society. During the 18th and 17th century there was a significant