Be My Guest (2)

This weeks post comes from friend and fellow classmate Lo Woodward.  Lo is an avid vegetarian and I love the storytelling abilities she has as a writer.  Enjoy!

When the Apple Crumbles… by Lo Woodward

Last Night, approximately 10pm- Midnight (hey, I said approximately!) ….

Late in the evening, I got into a discussion with a buddy of mine, while cooking up a storm in his bright red kitchen. Since I am a vegetarian, I commented, as he was offering me some spices for cheesy tortillas we made, that I may not want spices on mine and to let me check the ingredient list for animal products. Sure enough there was none, as he had strongly suggested to me, but I had figured it was worth the look. Eager to prove my point, I went rumbling through the cabinets, finding a gravy packet that had “beef fat solids” in it.

“HA! Look! See…sometimes spices and baking stuff has animal in it!” I said, waving the packet in his face.

“Yea, but that’s Au Jus! It’s beef broth based gravy- Duh!”

So the point of this story? To show you the simple ironies in life….let me explain. Lets go back in time to:

This Morning, approximately 12:08 pm…

Be My Guest!

This weeks blog post was written by a classmate and friend of mine Meg Tidmore.  She is a senior at GSU and will be graduating this May.  Congratulations Meg!!!

Oh, Do I stink?, by Meg Tidmore

We are about to graduate college and head out into the “real world” and for most of us that means TONS of job interviews in order to find our dream job. In classes we learn what to say on an interview, or what to wear and how to act, but the focus is on the verbal, but what about the rest?

Yes, we all know to dress professional. It has been my personal experience that if you are a tall female, it is a good idea to wear short heals or flats. If you are taller than the interviewee, there might be a sense of intimidation and you don’t want to intimidate anyone. Skirts are fine if they are to your knee or just below, but everyone looks good in a nice pair of black pants. I have also been told that the key to a perfect interview outfit is a blazer, true or not, it is always good to have a nice jacked and your shoulders covered. You don’t want to show to much skin, keep it professional. Also, don’t over do it on the makeup, you are going for an interview not a night on the town. Its okay to make your outfit yours, just don’t go over board or crazy.

What makes a video go viral?

My PRCA 3030 professor asked us in class this week: What makes videos like ‘David after (the) Dentist’ go viral?  After much thought I reached one conclusion…there is no one reason.

Upon reading my assignment I happily went to YouTube and began searching for videos that have gone viral.  I watched several home produced videos and even a few Saturday Night Live shorts to uncover why such videos go viral and others that are as entertaining are hardly viewed.

I like many others found ‘David after the Dentist’ very entertaining.  I loved when David asked, “Is this real life?”  The most entertaining facet of the video, besides the fact that David is ‘buzzed’ to say the least and he has a promising career as a stand up comedian when he is older, is the innocence in little David’s questions .

“I feel funny. Why is this happening to me?”

4 squared?

Foursquare has been the subject of many tweets on Twitter lately and the subject of many morning show clips.  Just what is foursquare?  And most importantly, what’s in it for me?

I noticed about a week ago I started seeing tweets from people who I follow-on Twitter mentioning the site foursquare.com.  These people were unlocking different badges and becoming the ‘mayor’ of different businesses.

So, what is it?  Foursquare is a mobile app that tells your friends where you are.  Users get badges by visiting different places in town and checking-in to foursquare.  Let’s say you frequent your local Starbucks, you could potentially become the mayor of Starbucks and gain a badge if you check-in from there a lot.

Social Media: Friend or Foe?

For PRCA 3030′s topic of the week I was assigned: “Social Media: Friend or Foe?” : Listen to Shel Holtz, Mark Ragan and others discuss “concerns and objections around the adoption of social media communication channel.”

 Being a very visual person, I was a bit scared that with my ADD tendencies I wouldn’t be able to sit through the entire podcast.  To my surprise Mark Ragan kept me engaged the entire time.  His idea to role play was great and it offers listeners many arguments for social media implementation.

In this podcast Ragan acts as moderator and gives real life examples of barriers and questions you may encounter when trying to convince the CEO to embrace social media.  There are many concern and objections to adopting a social media communications channel for those who are not familiar with the many free, open-source software available.

Search Engine Visibility

This week for PRCA 3030 we were required to read Search Engine Visibility an Edelman Digital Position Paper. 

After reading the Edelman paper I learned that there are two primary visibility tactics that websites can use:

• Paid Search or search engine marketing
  • Small text ads which are triggered when certain keywords are searched
• Optimized search or SEO
  • Sites are setup or designed such a way as to rank towards to top on high-value keywords

Social Media: Defined

This week for my social media class I was asked to read various tweets defining social media.  I was then asked to create my own personal definition.

Of all the tweets I read these three were my favorites:

@trevoryoung Social media is a catalyst for change – change in the way we connect with each other, change in the way businesses communicate with the world

@dbreakenridge Social media means listening carefully and learning to share valuable information that bonds people and builds strong relationships

@MarketingVeep Social media shrinks time and place’ it imposes a stark brevity; it leads strangers to each other; gives booming voice to a whisper; turns two legs into an army

I feel like each adds a different dimension to the definition of social media breaking it down into smaller segments.

Social Media Monitoring: Is it ethical?

In Jeff Bullas’s post, 28 Reasons Why The CEO Is Afraid Of Social Media, he lists various reasons why companies have not yet begun to implement social media into their business plan.  A few common fears and misconceptions are:

• Our customers don’t use social media.
• Tools to measure and analyze social media aren’t mature yet.
• It could damage the company’s reputation.

Truth is many consumers are now using social media networks to connect with one another sharing information on brands they either like or dislike and many consumers are writing blogs about their experiences with these brands.

Haiti, Social Media, & The Red Cross

According to the Associated Press the first images to come out of Haiti showing the devastation caused from a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that leveled many Haitian cities did not come from reporters.  Instead the first images were tweeted out over Twitter’s network.

After the 7.0 magnitude quake shook Haiti on Jan.12, social media networking sites were buzzing with information being shared between “friends” and “followers.” Within hours several Facebook and Twitter pages were created to connect quake survivors with their family and friends.

In the midst of devastation Haitians began setting up “media centers” in the city of Port-au-Prince.  These “media centers” are areas where people can come and for a monetary fee they can charge their cell phone, use a phone to make a call, and even access the internet briefly.

Social Media: “That’s not for me!”

At least that’s what I thought as recently as Jan. 11, 2010.

In the past 10 years, I have not really had the need for a Facebook page, Twitter account, or any other social media profile. I tend to keep in touch will my family and a small circle of friends by telephone.

I graduated high school in 2000, three years before MySpace came into existence, and the most that I had ever used the internet for was research. Now it seems like social media networking sites are everywhere.  The first thing that classmates ask me when they want to keep in touch is, “Do you have a Facebook?”  When I say no people usually take a step back and look at me as if I have three heads.