Cross Fit & Fitness on Social Media | Contextual Analysis

Cross Fit and Fitness on Social Media - Contextual analysis

You wake up, roll out of bed and start off your daily routine. As you sit at the kitchen table eating your cold cereal, you pull out your phone and get on Facebook or Instagram and start scrolling through your news feed for the latest updates. You skip post after post of people pursuing their fitness goals. This makes you wonder why they feel it is important to document their every move. How many times has that happened to one of us? All the time. But what does this mean? 

Fitness has been a trend in the United States since the early 1920's and has grown more now than ever before. The trend that is being questioned is the need to post such activities on social media. Is this for others to see what you are doing, or is it the need to show off what you are achieving in efforts to motivate yourself or others?

To some, it goes back to the ancient Greeks and their Olympics. In those times, it begin with several types of games from boxing to discus and running. Now, fitness has developed into bodybuilding, sports performance, cross fit, and more. Fitness has become more of an everyday occurrence, rather than something unique and rare. 

The trend of documenting fitness on social media has increased greatly over the last several years. This has not only occurred on social media platforms, but also on personal blogs. A website named, Simply Measured, identified the top 10 social media fitness pages. 

Context

The main area within this topic is psychological, social and cultural context. however, i have covered the 5 basic contexts below. On a website named EliteDaily.com, there is a post talking about the culture of fitness.

• Physical: this impacts this event because of the location where working out takes place. It is usually at the physical performance facility that is equipped with weights, treadmills, etc. 

• Psychological: physical fitness relates to emotional health which can be a driving factor. It is common for posts on social media to have an inspirational quote that would encourage one to push to their physical goals. A post by greatist.com, spoke of the impact that that social media can on one's health and fitness. An example was given on that webpage stating when one first saw a photo of the medal from winning the Boston marathon, and how that encouraged them to prepare to run the race. As the race approached, more posts on social media helped them feel a desire to push themselves to win the race.

• Social: Fitness can be a social thing. On social media it is common for individuals to interact with others. This can include commenting on photos, and encouraging others to get physically fit. This expands beyond the training gyms. Some take it to the extent of creating communities on different social media sites to build up their following. According to remedypr.com this is often reflected towards high intensity interval training (HIIT). This is what brings forward more exposure to social media about cross fit. 

• Cultural: in the United States, it is becoming more culturally common to go to the gym and to workout. Even posting photos on social media at the gym or doing a new workout. For the past several years this has been apparent on social media. On hlntv.com, there are 9 portions within the cross fit culture.

• Temporal: commonly many people get tied up and involved in fitness that it becomes their life. Many look at that as a negative thing when that time that is used could be put elsewhere such as spending time with family etc.

My Thoughts

I think that the trend on social media is a waste of time. Personally i like to go to a gym or do something active without the need to take a photo and post about why i feel its awesome to work out. I know the benefits i receive and i don't need to be plastering others news feeds so they accept that.

Facebook Page Analysis | DSU Alumni Association

Page Likes

The page likes increased until mid-March. Facebook reduced likes to pages based on inactive FB accounts which is where the dip came into affect. Overall there was a steady increase in likes. This came from the continuous posts and interaction created.

Net Likes

All the likes to this page were organic likes. The spike in January occurred from a FB contest we did along with some photos that were posted from a Jazz night that was held.

Where the Likes Happened

This shows where the likes took place. The majority of them took place from visiting the page. Several were based off from others suggesting to like this page.

Post Reach

These are the post reaches. There was a huge spike in late January and also one in early April. We try to run a FB contest each month. The January was from a white-out game.

Likes, Comments, and Shares

Involvement on this page hit a huge spike in early April. This was done on a post of an album from an Easter Egg Hunt that was held for Faculty, Staff, Alumni and Students.

Page/Tab Visits

We had a lot of increase on our page. The majority was from our timeline but we had some based off events, photos, and likes tab.

When Fans Are Online

The best time to post on this page is early morning around 8/9am and is high throughout the day.

Page Like Demographics

Facebook Ad

The proposed ad content is below on who we would want to target.

Posts

Below are three parts of the posts. Majority in April, and then some in January when a spike took place. The spike was from a post about the traditional white-out game that 2,000 t-shirts are given out from the alumni association and the d-crew.

Popular Posts

The posts below show some of the high interaction rates that took place on the page. During D-Week at the 100th Anniversary of Whitewashing the Block D, we posted photos that we took place there. From that single album that was uploaded, we reached 2400+ individuals with over 5,000 photo views from within that album. On top of that, we had 11 shared of photos from that album with over 150 likes from the photos within that album.

Overall:

The page is doing really well and there has been an increase in interaction on the page.

Facebook Ad

I handle the marketing for the DSU Alumni Relations office which encompasses close to 40,000 alumni. It would be appropriate to reach out within St. George area, and SLC as a large majority are within those two areas. I included California, Arizona, and Nevada which are the next largest audiences of alumni which increased our outreach outside Utah by 7,000.

Contextual Analysis | Fitness Trend & Social Media

I'm not exactly sure what I want to do mine on, but I have noticed a lot of feed about the "fitness trend" on social media. Possibly focusing on where would cross fit be without social media. Including why people feel the needed about their fitness journeys on posting on their profile pages.

What can be done? | Public Education Board

What would i do if i were on a public education board??

I have several friends who are in the education program, and from their perspectives it can be challenging to get a good paying position as an educator.  But that is not the only problem. Many elementary schools have a difficult time being able to afford proper and up to date technology for students to learn. With the way the world is connected to technology, it would be vital to allow the opportunity for students to be exposed to current technology to prepare them for their future. If I was on a public education board I would choose to find ways to help schools be funded better to allow me to offer students technology opportunities in the learning process.

Explaining yourself? Think before you act.

Everyone is constantly seeking ways to express their opinions and explain themselves. With the evolution of social media, many have turned to this empire to express their thoughts and ideas. Despite this thought expressing giant, many end up in a mess of what they say and sometimes regret what they post. 

The perfect example of this has been from celebrities stating certain things then being criticized for what they said. Some resulting in providing apologies for what was said. If there is one thing a person can learn from social media is be careful what you say because once said, its hard to take back. It is best to think twice before posting anything that could be controversial on social media. 

Mission Statement & Personas

Mission Statement & Description

Dixie State University Alumni Association strives to promote the welfare, progress and development of Dixie State University. We exist to preserve and promote the Dixie Spirit throughout the community and the world. If you have graduated or completed 12 credit hours you are an Alumni of Dixie State University and belong to the Dixie family of 40,000+ members! 

Personas:

Person 1: 

Alex is a recent graduate from Dixie State University that relocated to Phoenix, Arizona. He was involved while attending his undergraduate studies and now wishes he could have a way to continue his involvement and meet more people. He is new to the area and doesn't know many people. While at the grocery store checking out at the register the clerk notices his Dixie State t-shirt and mentions they also attended Dixie. Come to find out they both attended Dixie in overlapping years.

Person 2:

Aarika has been in contact with her college roommates constantly since she graduated 20 years ago from Dixie State. They are practically her best friends to this day. As they went out for lunch reminiscing of their glory days playing on the Dixie volleyball team, they keep wondering how they could get the team back together for a reunion despite losing contact with the other players and their coach. 

Person 3:

Leonard revisited Dixie State University as it has recently claimed University status. He hadn't been back since he graduated back in 1964. Now as a retired CEO of a large California company, he is looking for ways he can not only invest in higher education but wanting to get involved once again with Dixie. He had a great experience when he lived in St. George and wants to give back but is not sure where to begin.

























This page will focus on not only informing recent graduates and alumni about updates at Dixie State University but provide ways to help reflect back on experiences at Dixie State University.