Community Relations

Apple, one of the largest corporations around, is based on going green with their environmental commitment rather than focusing on community relations. It appears that smaller corporations are more involved in community relations than Apple. Apple designates a whole section of their website to their environmental footprints.

Apple and environment issues surrounding the company started up about 20 years ago. Customers started complaining about how Apple was not doing justice to the environment. The Apple company listened and decided to make Apple a little greener by implementing programs focusing on environmental footprints, renewable energy, product reports and recycling old products.

Each month Apple releases environmental reports showing the percent of energy efficiency in manufacturing, transportation, product use and recycling. “We do this by focusing on our products: what happens when we design them, what happens when we make them, and what happens when you take them home and use them.” For example, from 1998 to 2011 there has been a 50% reduction in the amount of carbon emissions from the iMac. http://www.apple.com/environment/our-footprint/

Apple shows their support to the environment by focusing on their products. They are specific on how they design them and what is the purpose for them. For example, another way Apple gives back through technology is designing apps. They have designed apps such as chance2give, ivolunteer, and teaching apps. These apps allow the people to support causes and charities but not Apple directly. Apple gives back directly by carrying products that support various charities. They carry pink and red ipod products where Apple gives a portion of the cost of the product to breast cancer and RED (supports AIDS).

Apple is known for its innovation. The new CEO Tim Cook has made changes to giving back since Job’s death. Cook and Apple have supported tragic events, they donated $2.5 million dollars to assist with Hurricane Sandy. “According to The Verge, Cook said $50 million had been donated to Stanford's hospitals, with $25 million for a new main building and $25 million for a new children's hospital. Another $50 million has been donated to Product RED.”

Apple is doing a good job in environmental commitment, I do believe with Tim Cook as CEO Apple’s community relations will expand. “Mr. Jobs said at a company off-site last year that he was opposed to giving money away, according to a person who attended.” Cook is doing the things Jobs lacked as a CEO such as donating to non-profits, calling his employees a “team” and getting to know his employees. 

Social Media

From a designer’s point of view Apple is one of my favorite websites. It is modern and clean. The colors used are gray, black and white, which seemed to be boring and depressing but it draws your eye to the image. Most websites will try and pack so much information on one page, but Apple’s web page is very easy to navigate due to the fact of little information. Logging on to their website, www.apple.com I noticed the image changed each time. I like how it the image stays consistent on the screen and does not change unless you log back on. It shows a variety of different products. Apple is huge in the media! I mean if it wasn’t for  Apple products would social media be this big? I don’t think so. Researching this further, I went onto Facebook and scrolled through my news feed realizing that majority of the general publics status are sent from an iphone. The Iphone is the number one way people access social media. Check out how many people access social media through their iphones: http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media/. 

First Home Screen

Second Home Screen

The company Apple is one of the most innovative in their field. They are so distinct and superior to their competition. One thing that sets apart is social media. The biggest company in the world is also not following the crowd and engaging in social media. There is no official or verified Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account for Apple. Nearly every company you can name has filled its product pages with share icons for Facebook, Twitter, and in some cases Pinterest, but Apple doesn’t have any. Is this good or bad for the company? Finding out Apple is not involved in Social Media came as a shock to me. I wondered if I was the only one or if a lot of people did not know this. I was curious so I asked my roommates if they though Apple was involved in social media. Six out of Six said no and also found it shocking. I think because it is one of the largest companies out there it is assumed they participate in social media. When they found out their reaction was not negative so it is not hurting their company. If their name is already known why do they need social media? Brian Solis, principal analyst at Altimeter Group, thinks not: "The truth is, if they didn't have that momentum going into this new, connected generation they would have to do it," he says. "They already had word of mouth and that word of mouth continues. They already had that momentum." Below are two pictures one of Dell's Facebook and one of Apple's fake Facebook. Just by looking at this you can tell Apple did not create this page or participate in writing on it and Dell updates theirs on a daily bases. 

Dell Facebook

Fake Apple Facebook

Apple products target every age, gender, and nationality and do not need media to sell their products or advertise.

In my opinion, I think Apple is on the right track and it is a wise decision for the not to take part in social media. They have such a good reputation and I believe it has to do with not being involved in the media. Majority of media is negative. Because Apple is such a different company, I believe not being in the media is a trendsetter move and not conforming to what is expected.