5

"What's on your mind?"

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do after graduation. I have a paid internship on campus until the end of the summer, but after that it's just... open. Unlike a lot of my friends, I still have no idea what I want to do. I have a general idea of what I like to do- writing scripts, editing video, and making designs- but no specific career path. I find I have a general knowledge of a lot of things, but not much technical knowledge that is required of specific media jobs. I may end up going to grad school or travel abroad before deciding what to do next.

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I've learned that collaboration is very important when it comes to social media. I think it is interesting the blogs are starting to become professional and some are regarded as legitimate sources of news. Anyone can be a journalists these days. Also, I am fascinated with what makes one social media site popular rather than another. People are very particular about their loyalties to one or another (Facebook v. Twitter) and I always wonder what makes this loyalty so strong.

Battle Royale! Google + vs. Facebook showdown!

Something that I find boring is reading the book. Although Brogan has good insights, I think you can learn the most about social media by actually observing and using it. We also need to get a whiteboard marker that works!

 Textbooks are a snore...zzz...

I can take what I'm learning and apply it to the real world because employers are often looking to see if you know how to market yourself on the internet. This can reflect your ability to market products, make pitches, etc. A blog can also be a peek into your personality, and employers want to see who you truly are so that they can assess if you're a good fit for that company.  

Watch your step! Your future employer may be looking at your Facebook profile!

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In chapter 73 of Brogan's book he talks about the importance of comments on a blog. Although comments can be used to critique a blog and make it better, people often write something just to start an argument. Voicing your opinion is great, but its better to post nothing than something unhelpful. With the amount of blogs people read, it's hard to comment on each one. People simply don't have the time, forget, or are too lazy to post something. If you're in one of those categories, you can pass the content along by sharing it on other social networks.

My comments on other people's blogs:
Amanda
Carolyn
Chris

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For this post, I reviewed the blog Pop Culture Brain that I follow on Tumblr. I have provided a screen shot of the blog below.

• The primary blogger is a guy named Alex. He is an editor in NYC, who studied Film and TV in Syracuse. He said someone told him he had an insane knowledge of pop culture and to start a blog, so he did just that. His goal, he says, is to put that knowledge to use. 
• This blog is in the gossip, pop culture, and entertainment categories. 
• It is organized in a top-down flow format, where posts are ordered by the date they were posted. It is a jumble of pictures, text, links, and videos. It is clear and easy to follow. 

I looked the blog over again according to Brogan's nitpicky things to consider. One thing I noticed is that he uses a very small array of colors, mostly black, white, and red. Although this does the trick and is clear and easy to read, it makes the blog look bland. The sidebar on the right is short and sweet. It has basic information about the blogger, his photo, and where you can go to ask questions, post comments, or follow him on other social media sites. It isn't artistic, but it gets the job done. There is clear division between where one post ends and another begins, so it isn't confusing or frustrating. Overall, I enjoy this blog and am never disappointed in what he posts. To take a look click here. 

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Brogan Book

From reading through chapter 21 it seems obvious that social media is an essential part of any business or organization. He says that social media and blogging can be used professionally, as a fast and efficient way to connect to your customers. In print, it can take days, even weeks, to address customer complaints. Through a blog, you can do that immediately, and avoid answering the same questions multiple times. Another useful thing about blog is that you can  customize the web space, allowing for creativity and a more apparent online personality. By establishing a professional online presence, you can become a trusted resource on the Internet. 

Wikis

I find wikis to be extremely useful, especially when conducting research or searching for something very specific. Often times, I'll try to remember something vague, and just by typing in a few key descriptive words about it, the wiki will be able to find what I'm thinking of. Although it can be a good source for information, like my high school teachers said, I don't always trust how reliable it is. I know that almost anyone can change or update a wiki, but usually they are edited and fact checked. I believe wikis are worth the investment, however, now that they are becoming more popular, there will be more and more to choose from. Investing in one at a company you work for or are really interested in would be a better idea. 

Wikia

Some of the topics on the homepage of Wikia are:

• Pixar
• Twilight Saga
• Academic Jobs
• Hot Wheels
• The Walking Dead

Twilight, of course, is prominent because the third movie just came out and they are working on a fourth. The Walking Dead is a popular show that has a huge cult following. The others came up when I hit the "remix" button, which jumbled the topics shown on the homepage. This is a good idea because it shows off things that might not be as popular. From the homepage I clicked on the Disney wiki. It is organized well, but lots of color and pictures. It has a slideshow of all of the shows of Disney right now. It also has a search option with lists of movies, TV shows, and characters. The wiki promotes other Disney related resources in its main paragraph, linking to the Disney twitter and theme park website. 

As you can see when clicking on the screen shot above, there is a header for each topic: characters, movies, TV, and TV episodes. This makes it easier to initially narrow down a search. There is also a search box in the top right to go directly to a specific page. The picture of Phineas and Ferb is part of a slideshow highlighting Disney shows. Directly above that is also a little blurb about the wiki, featuring links to its other social media sites. 

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Use frequently—Tumblr

1. Why do you use it? I use Tumblr because it holds every type of content there is. I can scroll through posts from the over 300 blogs I follow all at once. Anything and everything is on there from photography, science facts, political cartoons, and breaking news articles.
2. What makes it functional for your use? The scrolling dashboard makes it a one-stop-shop of sorts instead of having to keep clicking on different links.
3. What would you add to make it better? A better search function.
4. Is there anything that you don’t like about it? I don’t like that you can’t look up particular blogs. It is difficult to find specific people if you don’t know their URL.
5. How is it collaborative? It combines every type of media from audio clips, gifs, photography, illustration, etc. You aren’t limited to just a word post. 

 

My Tumblr Dashboard

Use sometimes—Twitter

1. Why did you stop using it/why do you use this site less frequently than the other? To me, Twitter is exactly like a Facebook status. I got bored with only reading short tidbits of information, then being directed to another site via a link.
2. What makes it different? It is different because information is shared so quickly and so far. In a matter of minutes, news can travel around the globe.
3. What could be changed about this site in order to make it better? If this site hosted video directly on the interface it would be better.
4. Would you consider going back and using it again ever or are you done-zo? I use it occasionally, but I will never be addicted like most people are. 

 

My Twitter Homepage

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As I said in my first post, some of my reasons for taking this class are to effectively use social media to infiltrate the job market and establish a social presence, as well as understand how information spreads (via social media) and discover new social networking sites.

The goal of my blog is to produce interesting content as well as a creative form. I would like to be able to make it fun to consume and look at. I would also like to see what each of the gadgets do, and use them to aid my audience in navigating my blog. 

The two gadgets I added are the search box and pageviews counter. The search box will make it easier for readers to find specific posts and the counter will allow myself and others to see how many people visit my blog.