American Social Media

A person's profile can tell you a lot about them. What does social media say about Americans? Check out this funny graphic I say in a Mashable article:

Taylor Swift - Sparks Fly (Official Music Video)

I don't think it is any secret that I am a Taylor Swift fan. I have seen both of her concerts here in Minnesota. This is footage from her latest concert Sparks Fly from July. To this show, I went with my mom :) Every time we passed a mom with her little girl my mom would say "I'm taking my daughter to the concert too-- and she's 21!" Kind of *roll your eyes* material but it made her really happy that I asked her to go with me. Anyway, ENJOY!

My First Date With LinkedIn

Went in to work last Saturday to consult on social media strategy for a new company we are launching. Explaining how different social media venues play to our benefit and in which ways was beginning to be difficult for my boss to see. He wasn't understanding how LinkedIn is not the same kind of personal network as Facebook so I came up with this analogy:

LinkedIn is like your first date. You put forth the best presentation of yourself. You shower, dress up, act poised and interesting. You are on your best behavior. Facebook is more like when you bring your date home to meet the family or hang out with your friends-- no hiding ANYTHING!

He really liked this statement and finally understood that both are personal and social but in entirely different worlds. He really liked it so I thought I would post it for others-- let me know what you think!

The Blog Recovery

This blog was made Fall of my Freshman year of college. I am now embarking on my Senior year and have decided to revive this archive. I am trying to focus myself on life after college. Questions like grad school? Job? Apartment? Bills? are all clouding my head. My main focus right now is trying to decide what career path I want to choose. I have decided I am most interested in the fields of Marketing, Public Relations, Web Editing, and Event Planning. Now I have set myself on a path to do some work/internships in each of the areas to determine which I want to pursue (though they often overlap). So far, I have a lot of experience in social media and a few years of simplistic web editing. Starting a new internship with a sales and marketing firm should allow me to explore a lot of my areas of interest, especially since they are launching a new branch that should make a splash in the insurance and wellness industry. I will certainly learn a lot from this experience. My last college Summer, working 4 jobs, volunteering, and trying to have fun while saving money for future expenses certainly has my mind in a tail spin.

Hollywood Reflected

Hollywood is a business—it has many departments, workers, rules and guidelines whose products make up our grand system of entertainment. If a movie won’t turn a profit for the Hollywood corporation, they won’t support it until it conforms to the business in a way that assures a hit. This means that in order for a film to be processed, it must conform to the Hollywood principles to gain enough support for production. Sometimes original endings are altered to fit the Hollywood standards. Especially when adapting a book or screenplay into a blockbuster film. Hollywood standards manipulating scripts that go somewhat against the grain prevents our society from other cultural experiences or seeing things in another light.
Hollywood’s manipulation can even ruin a movie. It sometimes produces a film with an ending that doesn’t quite fit the rest of the plot or detracts from its message. This is seen in many movies of today. For instance, I remember a couple years back when I saw Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher in the movie The Guardian. I remember how surprised I had been that I liked the film. It caught my attention in all the right ways and gave me new expectations for Kutcher’s acting abilities. I was completely and unexpectedly sutured into the film right up until the ending. The ‘motto’ (if you will) for the story had always been “never leave a man behind”. It was stated several times throughout the storyline of the film but in order to create the Hollywood standard happy ending, the film concluded with a captain going down with his sinking ship refusing to be saved and the rescuers leaving him behind. This one man was left behind for the film to gain an overall happy conclusion allowing the rescuers to save others. This completely took me out of the film and effected me so much that I still remember today how completely ‘off’ the ending was in regard to the whole film’s message. Many films of today have uneasy conclusions similar to this that don’t seem to reside with the rest of this film because of Hollywood’s profit-driven standards.
So why do we as viewers continue to support the Hollywood hierarchy that produces awkward endings? Literary theorist Northrop Frye once said “happy endings do not impress us as true but as desirable, and they are brought about by manipulation”. We as audience members have been so manipulated into expecting the happy endings that we are pushed away even if an unhappy ending is better suited for a particular film. These ‘forced happy endings’ replace what may be the better resolution. Sometimes (especially in award seasons) endings are even manipulated just because it would better fit another genre and therefore have better opportunities for award nominations. The constructs of Hollywood ultimately manipulate original scripts and ideas to what is more profitable for the business.
The manipulation of stories to fit standards and to make them more marketable to the public is not a new concept… Hollywood is just a master of it. This trend goes back centuries ago. People would alter endings of stories to keep the tales living long and to spread the stories across the world. The Brothers Grimm were evidently aware of this, for whenever they came across a fairy tale with an unhappy ending; they changed it to a happy one. For instance, Little Red Riding Hood was first concluded with the grandmother and Little Red being eaten by the wolf, but in later editions of the tale, a woodsman would save Little Red and her grandmother would be locked in the closet instead of eaten. The Brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) knew that editing the conclusions of these tales would make them more accepted throughout the world and therefore more profitable for themselves. The concept of the ideal happy ending was therefore conceptualized long ago but Hollywood’s manipulating influence has gone so far that endings just don’t always sit right with the plot of the film. The Hollywood hierarchy is preventing us as audience members from being exposed to a variety of films that may expand our knowledge, culture, values, likes, and ideals.

MySpace, Facebook, and the Uses and Gratification Model

For our second scholarly article critique, we studies the article “Explaining why young adults use Myspace and Facebook through Uses and Gratifications theory” by Mark Urista, Qingwen Dong, and Kenneth Day. The article explored what made Social Networking Sites (SNS) so appealing to young adults. SNS allow individuals to have an active role in the socialization process as well as a hand in creating their own identity through a convenient medium of communicating with others. The researches set out to find out how members of these SNS use the sites to fulfill their wants and needs and thus give us a better understanding of why young adults are appearing so addicted to these SNS. The researchers conducted their study by separating 50 students into small focus groups and having them discuss their views of MySpace and/or Facebook (since all participants had accounts). The article proved 5 ways in which people use Social Networking Sites to fulfill their needs: efficient communication, convenient communication, curiosity of others, popularity, and relationship forming/ reinforcement.
This article was very interesting and easy to relate to as a fellow college student. I enjoyed reading and learning but wish that the researchers would have found more in their study because I feel that there is still SO SO much more we can learn from Social Networking Sites!

Dexter.

Dexter is a television series on Showtime going on its 4th season. Recently I have been introduced to the show have already completed the first season. The show is about a 'normal' man who works (along with his foster sister) in the police force. Dexter is a blood spatter analyst and his foster sister, Deb, is a cop on the way to making detective. The police department is filled with many interesting characters.
The twist of the story is that no one knows who Dexter really is. Secretly, Dexter is a serial killer who lives by a code to wash the streets clean of scum that infests life. He only kills once he has enough evidence that the offender is really a 'bad person'. This code he lives by allows him to feed his internal beast for killing by channeling it into a beneficial, productive way.
This program captures the viewers attention and gives lots of entertainment. My personal reaction to the series so far is the fact that the views becomes personally attached and invested into the show. Dexter is 'the good guy' but also the killer. The show lets you feel like you can catch onto the twists and turns and solve problems with Dexter as well as surprising you constantly to keep you involved with these cases. This show has been very fun to observe and I will continue to watch at least another season!
Dexter.