Viral...Marketing!

Upon reading this as our last Keyword Search :( , I thought about what viral marketing really was before I even Googled it.

Viral is associated with virus, so I automatically picture people getting viruses on their computers and completely shutting down the system...

According to Wikipedia, viral marketing is just really using the social media that is already out there (like the popular Facebook and Twitter) to increase "brand awareness".

They put certain viral marketing advertisements on certain websites that marketers believe would be passed along by those visitors of the site.


Forms of Viral Marketing.

This type of marketing can come in the forms of: flash games, ebooks, images, text messages, and even more than that.
They can be as creative as being a mini interactive game to promote their product or as simple as just a pop-up dancing ad in the corner of the site you're visiting at the time.
Any way as long as it grabs your attention.

• When I looked for examples of viral marketing, this website came up and shows different campaigns that companies have used. I never even thought of how much of this I was exposed to until I saw this list.

I've definitely done the Simpsonize Yourself tool before. Which makes me think some companies much either be A. Complete geniuses for thinking about marketing in this perspective or B. Completely desperate to promote their product.
*As a side note, I used one of my pictures to Simpsonize Me just now...and it looks nothing like me....how disappointing.

Another viral marketing promotion I've done is the Subserviant Chicken. I'm sure you've all seen this as well, it's the ad where you can make the Burger King chicken dance!!..or do other weird stuff.

Effective?

Burger King has made both of these viral marketing promos happen...but I can't say they've been really effective to myself.

I don't ever really remember using a viral marketing tool and thinking to myself, "Gee, Simpsonizing myself was fun, let's go to BK now!"
...But then again maybe it works so well that I don't even know it.

This website though discusses how it's said to be one of the best marketing tools we have to date. Maybe so.

How ridiculous.lol.

Glad I Don't Have To Be A Secretary...

While I have never taken a class yet with Mr. Rift Fournier, I feel like I already have.
My first encounter with him was on Sibley Day when I went to the Emerson Black Box to hear Mr. Chris Cluess speak about being a writer for MADtv, and all of his life experiences.

I have to admit the first time I met Rift, he slightly took me by surprise. The way he talked...he just didn't give a damn almost and I really enjoyed that.
So, when he came into class I had an idea of what to expect.

As he was talking, he started telling us where he had traveled and what he had done. He's traveled and worked all over the world and written for Orson Welles. I'm sure there's plenty of other things he's accomplished as well.
The only thing it made me think about was, "Wow, THAT'S what I want". To travel and experience life, while doing something I "give a damn about," according to Rift.
(I also find it interesting that a lot of successful people say that getting their dream jobs were almost by accident, it makes me really wonder if I'll ever get my own "accident").

It also kind of freaked me out when he asked us how far along in college we were and if we were positive about our majors. After a few head nods, he says confidently, "You'll change your minds". (Or a variation of that). It scared me to think I may actually change my mind, because I LOVE doing this.

I've come to realize that it's people like him, Penelope Trunk, and Gary Vaynerchuck that inspire me to keep doing what I want to do, despite what anyone else says.

Rift had the passion for writing, he said ever since he was little he had a desire to be a writer.
He's from a small town, so am I.
Hearing things about people's lives like Rift's gives me hope that I can be just like that, and that being from a small town doesn't mean anything.

The whole guest speaker topic usually really kind of bums me out when we're assigned to write about them because I feel like we're just paying attention to what they say formally about the media.
Rift took a different perspective. He still talked about the media, but applied to his life and added stories to tell us exactly everything he's been through.

I really appreciated Rift coming in to guest speak, and I feel like he'll be a good teacher and great mentor for the future.

Wow, Gary...wow.

A Man After My Own Heart, Gary Vaynerchuck!
Googling Gary Vanerchuck's name led me straight to his website.
I watched his vlog addressing Dominoes and how other chains are going to be afraid to put things online and use social media. After watching it, all I could think was 'this guy is an absolute genius'.
I didn't even have to watch or look at the rest of his website to know it! The way he was saying that it's fine if they don't get it, the people that do can use it to their advantage is exactly the way everyone should be viewing it! Finally, a man who says exactly what's on his mind!
Working on building his family's local business into a "national industry leader", he uses things like Twitter, Tumblr, and Cork'd to spread his business.
He's made guest appearances on Conan O'Brian, The Today Show, Ellen Degeneres, and others. So this guy obviously knows how to market himself out there in the televsion market and not just the internet.

Everyone is using the internet more to find sources and businesses and better, more efficient ways of living and he's one of the best examples of a gate jumper that we have. Seeing the way he uses social media to his advantage makes me believe that GenY will maybe eliminate gatekeepers altogether because we're the ones creating the new technology and making new things popular...but we'll see though.

'Ze Brazen Careerist!...(I would really enjoy knowing how this came to be the title for the website...)

Okay, so I didn't really know anything about Brazen Careerist so I checked out the "About" section of the website. And this is what I found:
*It's a place for GenY people to get together and talk about everything about jobs and future careers. Not just the three piece suit people telling us what to do for jobs or how to it.
Brazen Careerist has company profiles and corporate bloggers, making it easier for everyone to have access to companies and what they're looking for.
There's a job board that shows: the job's title, the location for the job, the company that's posting it, and when the job was last posted. This website literally has everything for anyone looking for a potential career. The other extremely nice thing about having this job board is the hyperlinks they have that can take you straight to the full description of what they're looking for.
Blogs are posted on the website also, discussing all different topics, some called "What I Want vs. What I Want," and "Big Kids Do Cry and Sometimes It's at Work".
This place even has coaches in order to help every individual figure out what steps they should take in their career.
I can see vlogs being posted now for live webchat Q&A. Maybe evolving into more than that.

The only thing that I can see Gary Vaynerchuck and Brazen Careerist have in common is that they are using social media to their full advantage. They're aware of how beneficial the internet is to help and inform someone.

Here's an interview about what it's like with Brazen Careerist and being a GenY entrepranuer.
(I like how the first related link is a Gary Vaynerchuck video...)

Twitter: Jill's Favorite Past-time is a Social Media!

That's right...Twitter. After we've all figured out how to work the infamous micro-blogging, I googled "Social Media"...and it was pretty much everything I thought it was.

"So what EXACTLY is Social Media?" You might be asking? Well, it's basically when a regular person starts up a social, interacting, data and information sharing place on the web.
Things like Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Linkedin, Twitter (..oh joy), and even our Blogger accounts are all classified under the social media category.

The list goes on and on considering picture and music sharing, like Photobucket and LimeWire.

The Craze
This new industry has gotten to be so popular that I actually found a website, that I'm sure many other people will have on their blogs, that helps people figure out how to use the new social medias to their advantage...SocialMedia.biz. This website has helpul videos and strategies that discuss bringing a specific company a new online community to draw in a diferent kind of business to them. The website even discusses setting up a customized Web 2.0

Social media, in essence, can really help or hurt a company that's promoting itself within the internet.
A perfect example would be from this website, discussing how Dominoes had their business hurting after a video put on YouTube about a Dominoes employee sneezing and farting on a sandwich. The video recieved over 500,000 views. It's no longer avalianble on YouTube, but is accessible for visiting that website.

The Negative to Social Media
Now, don't get me wrong, I love social media as much as the next person. I have a Facebook, Myspace, and even a Twitter now (thanks to this class). But part of using social media is knowing when to stop using it, and come back to the "real world". Places like Twitter and Facebook and even instant messaging (yup, it's social media) are seen as almost sources of evil by parents with young teenagers. According to this other website, news reports linked Facebook to the main cause of poor grades and Twitter is "accused of putting morality itself at risk".
Which leads me to wonder...

Is Social Media ever going to really stop? No. It's pretty safe to say that.
Is it going to start dictating our lives though? Isn't it already dictating most of our lives?
It seems so strange to me that something so fun and recreational can also be used for business, but I suppose that's just a characteristic for Gen Y to have developed.

Now, it might seem like this whole blog I've written so far has been about the negative affects about our growing social media, but in reality, it's just the scary truth that could possibly happen.
But Social Media overall has been a positive experience for everyone. It's connecting us all in ways I'm sure people before us never thought to imagine...or at least didn't think it was coming so fast. Social Media has a power all it's own and is now a force to be reckoned with.

Jill asked us to post our favorite YouTube videos. Here's two:


If you don't know, I work at a Renaissance Faire. I took this video :)


This is one of my favorite shows, Man and Wife!

Ew, I'm Growing Up...Gross.

So I found a job from the free career search website we were given in class, and as I found it's actually right in Illinois!

Decatur, Illinois actually. About right smack dab in the middle of it. Or as Jill referred to it, "the armpit of Illinois".
That's not very attractive, Jill.



The Job

WAND-TV is looking for an Internet content producer who has about a 1-2 year experience. I instantly thought that the job description could be something I would be happy with.
The main idea of the job is to hire someone with experience in using PhotoShop and Fireworks, and a basic program language (working with HTML codes).

Ew...I'm Growing Up

The idea of growing up and getting a job is honestly, kind of depressing to me. One of my favorite movies is Peter Pan, and the whole "growing up" concept always seems like the gray cloud that's following shortly behind me; catching up more than I would like it to.

BUT! This job seems more like a career I would like to do, since I have to eventually grow up.
I love playing with PhotoShop and I know that I could learn more. Honestly, I didn't even know there was a program called Fireworks before last night at a business meeting for APO. I'm excited at the idea of learning this, though.

The second that Jill mentioned there were careers out there that are developing for social networking and blogs, I really instantly thought "Where can I sign up?", so I really believe I could excell at something like this.

What Can I Do Now?

I could definitely use my knowledge from my previous classes such as this one and Media Literacy. I also am taking Writing for Electronic Media next year (I'm only a Sophomore) and Fundamentals of the Internet.
Working in the TV Station could also benefit me because then I could have a general idea about what the news staff represents and what they're looking for in an Internet content producer.
Keeping my grades up couldn't hurt either, I suppose.

I hope everyone else in class found something they are just as equally excited about!

The Best Way to Market to Gen Y is to STOP Marketing.

Sounds confusing, doesn't it? The title, I mean.

But when I searched the phrase "Marketing to Gen Y" the first website I came across was all about telling companies to STOP marketing to us.

How do they go about ceasing marketing you might ask? Well, they don't actually stop making advertisements or give up trying to make us loyal customers to their products, but they do one thing before they start trying to pull us into their product.

They have to ask us 'What do YOU want?'. They need to listen to us first.

This website I first read made me come to a very strong realization about Gen Y and myself. According to the article, Tough Customers: How to Reach Gen Y, they say that people born in between approximately the late 70s to late 90s, possibly 2000 are considered main Gen Y.
That puts me smack dab in the middle just about, being a child born at the beginning of 1989.

In our first class discussion about being a part of Gen Y, I almost felt ashamed to be considered one born and classified with a group that is seen to the older generations as selfish, self-centered, and lazy.

The more I've read and written about Gen Y, the more I'm proud to be a part of this generation that is making marketers see that they need to listen to us. That we've been told from a young age to do what makes us happy first and that we can be anything we want to be.
This is becoming a challenge for marketers, because they can't tell us what we SHOULD like anymore.

And here's a list of Gen Y Charicteristics I've found. I rather enjoy knowing I'm part of this list:



Another thing that the first website I visited discussed was about how we need four things from a product.

1. Cheap cost
2. Good quality
3. Fast service
4. "An experience"

I couldn't agree more with all of this. I can't help but think that these are things generations before us wish they could've had at their time of controlling the workforce and finances.
Oh, and there's one other thing we need to see in a product...

Authenticity. I think this word scares a lot of companies because it means they need to stand out from every other group.
But it's true.
Our generation craves things to be real for us, we need reality. We can't be bullshitted, to say it very bluntly.

I think our parents and grandparents have shown us how much companies and the government has pulled the wool over their eyes that we're so determined now to get nothing but the truth and the reality of everything.

And it needs to be original on top of it.

But we've established what we need out of companies.
They should just think of this as a challenge for them.
Rise to the occasion. Apple has. 99 cent downloads?! Ha. Okay so I don't download songs legally, but maybe I should start. And Apple would of course be the first place I'd go to for it. Not just because they have good prices for songs and I can get the songs out of the comfort of my home, but because I have an Ipod and it only seems right.

The first website also mentioned that marketing tattoo parlors would be good because 36 percent of "Gen Yers" have at least one tattoo. Piercings should count too! I found this picture and thought it was pretty hilarious.

That's It! No More Classes Starting After 9 A.M. From Now On!

I'm sure we've all done things we're not proud of. When we were little our mothers or grandparents or teachers taught us that lying wasn't good and stealing was even worse.

But we were also taught that "sharing is caring".

So, when it comes to pirating movies and music...should we feel that guilty?
I guess it's not a matter of feeling guilty, because it's against the law.

I Know Pirating Is Bad, But I Do It Anyway
I think a lot of people are guilty of at some point either downloading songs illegally or downloading a movie and watching from the comfort of their own computer.

But it's easily accessible. We have programs such as LimeWire, BitTorrent, BearShare, and many more that we can find to download for FREE.
It costs nothing from the start. Granted, these programs come with certain features that you can't get with the free version, but I tend to stick with the free download.

I know that I'm a broke college student and paying for my music is far from my mind.


For about four years, I have never thought downloading music to be so bad. I thought 'people are sharing music, I don't have to pay for the cd, and it's all okay'.

Apparently not, after reading this article I really see that the government is really starting to have a lock down on finding people who illegally download music.
Fines of up to 150,000 dollars?!
I don't even have 200 dollars in my account.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is not kidding when they mean to catch people illegally downloading music.
College kids seem to be the top stories for when I searched Google.

Movies Get A Different Look When Being Downloaded.
There are many places where you can download movies legally. It's the file sharing websites everyone should be wary of.
As far as downloading movies legally though, there's a cost to it and piracy might eventually lead to a raise in prices of downloading movies legally.

I found it rather annoying in my search as well when I type in "downloading music/movies illegally", and there are websites dedicated to telling someone how to not get caught when commiting piracy.

GenY Wants Everything NOW.
This is exactly WHY I believe illegal downloads are becoming so popular...besides not having to even pay for the media entertainment.

We are so used now to the Internet giving us exactly what we're searching for and music and movies shouldn't be any different...right?

Here's an article I found written by a man who believes there's a different way to address our pirating issue.
I fully agree with Robert's ideas on pirating and how the government can try to hunt down all the people who are downloading illegally, but it can be pretty much guarunteed that they will not be able to find EVERYONE.
He also has some terrific insight on possible different ways to fix the pirating issue.

This is a man who should be helping the RIAA figure out solutions, instead of trying to tackle a problem that doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon.

I mean, c'mon, I've downloaded music illegally for years.

But I am grateful that Lindenwood has their internet system set up to where we have to make sure all of our illegal downloading programs are gone before we can have the internet on our laptops. It definitely takes away from temptation and I find myself doing more valuable things with my time than downloading music that probably can't even all fit on my iPod.
After all, it's only 4 gigs.

Photo-Retouching

As our keyword search was photo retouching, I decided to find one of the more extreme examples as posted above. Now, I'm sure that no magazines do this much extreme retouching, but it can happen.
Magazines retouch photos everyday for their advertising pages and interviews to give celebrities or models the look and idea that they are "perfect". Perfect skin, eyes, teeth, complexion. If you can think of things "wrong" with you, then the editors for retouching can certain help you out.
And it's right at our fingertips.
When I searched photo retouching, I found a lot of tutorials on how to retouch photos from your very own computer.

Photoshop Makes Retouching Pictures Easy
Anyone have Photoshop? I know I have the "free" Photoshop package on my computer, which limits my editing possibilities, but hey, I can make my hair go from frizzie to "frizz-free". If anyone has never experienced using Photoshop, it is a downloadable editing tool that gives you those capabilities of adding extra elements or taking away unwanted elements (like that unflattering zit you got right before Prom night).

Wait...You Didn't Look Like That on Your Facebook Picture
Photo retouching has made it easy for a lot of people to go from looking like they just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, to making it look like they're models.

Plain out and simple, photo retouching could be very misleading. Especially for people who always retouch their photos and post that as their social networking profile pics.

Anyone seen a photo of a celebrity before it was retouched?

Say hello to the camera, Brittney Murphy!

Art
It is very artistic and more jobs are being created. Which can't make photo retouching all bad, I think though that because it's exposed so widely to Gen Y, that there are going to be a lot of people out there who consider themselves artists to an extent because of it.
My friend and I have messed with making pictures look better, but sometimes retouching a photo is just a bad idea. Some people just shouldn't tamper with pictures.

Overall
Photo retouching can benefit in the number of jobs and even make a person feel better about themselves, but we can't really run from who we really are.
So I think GenY has to take that into consideration.

For now, here's an interesting YouTube video that shows photo retouching.

"I Think That Possibly Maybe I'm Falling For You"

Love.



Everyone wants this feeling. Out of all of our emotions, love and hate are the strongest ones. The biggest difference between love and hate is that love makes us feel good.
Marketing executives know this.

And they want to create this feeling when you're watching a commercial.

The article, "What's Love Got to Do With It?" addresses the fact that they want customers to think about what products they buy. Are they number one? Do they make you feel good? Are you in "love" with whatever product you buy, even if it isn't number one?

It's Programmed In Us, Even When We're Little.
Thinking about when I was younger, I always wanted my mom to come home with the "best" product. Especially when it came to food. I wanted the "authentic" Doritos, not the knock-off generic brand. It just didn't taste as good. Yea, they were basically the same thing, but it wasn't the same to me.

When we're purchasing clothing, what makes you feel good? Or better yet, what's the best? Because we want to be cool, happy, successful just like the girls in their commercials. A lot of girls go for Hollister, Ambercrombie & Fitch, Ruehl, and other expensive stores.
Marketers and advertisers for these brands all knew what they were doing when they created their logo or commercial.

All companies want you to fall in love with THEIR brands because once they've got you hooked, it's hard for the consumer to even look at anything else.

A Great Example of This: I love Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi and regular Diet Pepsi. When I go out to buy pop (yes, it's pop, not soda...) I look directly for Pepsi products. Not Coke. It's not the same. I don't love Coke. It's the original cola, yes, but I grew up loving Pepsi. So it is number one to me.

I instantly thought of Kay Jewelers when I was reading this article because marketing strageties are focusing on pulling at your heart strings, making you feel some degree of love.

"Every kiss begins with Kay"

It sticks in your head and instantly know when the phrase is said what they're selling and who's selling it. They also want you to fall in love with their company and products, so by showing commercials that have a happy woman and man in them, you instantly want that feeling and it gives you the idea that "Hey, if they can be that happy, why can't I be that happy after I buy my wife a diamond necklace?"

And generally, after someone takes a chance on a new brand and it works for them, they stay dedicated. Just like falling in love. You don't want to look at any other products similar to it, because yours "is the best because it's never let you down".

I must say, it does make an awful lot of sense; to use love as a strategy.

I Feel Like I Should Be Doing Something About It..I Think I Got Angry.

Maybe angry wasn't the word for it. Maybe it was aggrivated or upset. Or a mix of all of them.

When Bob Wigginton came into our class today as a guest speaker, I guess I didn't expect him to be AS passionate as he was. Maybe I just didn't think about it hard enough before he came in.

He was a reporter for about 24 years so I guess one would have to assume that he was passionate and cared about his art of journalism. I can only imagine his inspiration from reading the Washington Post during the Watergate scandal.

Still though, when he was speaking to us before we could ask questions I felt...just upset I guess. Like when he said that in the past two years over 6,000 journalists have lost their jobs I felt like saying "And...? What am I supposed to do about it?!"

I realize we are Gen Y and we will be in control of and running the majority of this crazy government pretty soon, but thinking about all of the other problems in this economy is just making my mind feel like it's going in a blender and it's not going to stop spinning.

I Don't Read Newspapers.
Newspapers do form a connection with the outside world..but I also believe that CNN does too.
I honestly and knowingly recieve more of my news information from television because my tv is literally always on when I'm in my room. I find it easier to do something else at the same time the news is on and that's what our generation's becoming about: multi-tasking.

I would rather be studying and listening to the news and then stopping what I'm doing if it catches my attention than dedicating 20-30 minutes reading a newspaper a day. It's my preference.

I don't take anything he said though for granted. I consider him to be a very informed, intelligent man. Things are just changing. Times are just changing.

Maybe when I'm a little older I will be wanting to pick up a newspaper more, but I'm not sure.

Actually, I think I felt guilty after this because before I walked to my next class I picked up the latest copy of The Legacy...

Only Rule: Never Say No.

Ever since beginning of High School I was dedicated to Theatre. I participated in all of the musicals I could (except Annie, that seemed like zero fun times).

When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up one of the many changing answers was "rich and famous" or "an actress".
Last year I was a Theatre major at my community college.

Now, here I am, Mass Comm major taking a Jill Falk Survey of Professional Media class.
I still consider it entertainment though.
Professional entertainment, if you will.

So for Sibley Day of course I jumped at the opportunity to attend the Improv Workshop with Proffesor (not sure if that's his correct title) Quiggens.
We played two games.

Whaddareyoudoing?!
This was the first game we played. It starts with two people on the main floor. One will be pantomiming (pretending to be doing an action) of anything. Ex: person pretending to be fishing. The next person will walk up to them and simpley ask 'What are you doing?'.

That person pantomiming, our exampling fishing, will say anything ridiculous and opposite of what they're actually doing.
So our fishing man says "Saving the world from Gladiators".

Person #2 that asked the question then has to act out saving the world from Gladiators.

This goes back and forth and you can switch out people in the middle of the game.

Party Quirks
If anyone has seen Whose Line is It Anyway? has seen Party Quirks performed.

It consists of 4-5 people (the number can always be more after everyone gets the hang of the game). One person is the host and must leave the room prior to starting. The others are the guests who get assigned to be either 1. People 2. Object or 3. Animal. When all are assigned the host comes in and let's the guests in one by one after they step off to the side.

The host has to guess what/who each guest is before the game ends. There can always be a time limit added on.


--I thought Whaddareyoudoing?! Was a better game because you get to think on your toes and it's a little bit more freedom with your actions.

Overall I believe Sibley Day to be a success. Everyone should come see and Improv show at the Black Box over in the new Performing Arts building!


At a Renaissance Faire that I work at in Kenosha, Wisconsin we have a group called the IMPROVables. They do the same kind of games.

They're fun to watch!

Citizen Journalist..Formerly Known As The Audience

The term citizen journalist is pretty literal; just normal, everyday citizens contributing to collecting media and making it available to the masses.
But it's more than just taking a picture of an event with your Iphone and posting a story about it online. Granted, that is a part of citizen journalism, it's just not the whole.

There are actual types of citizen journalists, which I found to be very interesting because at first when thinking about this term, I took it just as we were talking about it in class. Very literal and thinking just about people pulling out their picture phones and showing everyone what they've discovered or what happened to them on the way to work.

The website Poynter Online actually lists the different types of citizen journalists. From commenting on editorials and newspaper articles to the new hot commodity of blogging, everyone has the opportunity to become a citizen journalist.

In the Poynter Online article, number four, The Citizen Bloghouse I found to be the most interesting. A main company contains a blog and can choose to allow citizens to contribute to the information they've posted, possibly even start a blog of their own addressing that specific topic..and get paid for it.
I mean, we were talking about people taking on social networking jobs, I think it's even crazier to think that people are getting paid now to just sit in front of a computer and blog about a company's ideas/topics.

Addressing the same article, I feel like citizen journalism might take away from the actual honest opinion of the average reporter. There's opportunities now for people to give their advice and input into a reporter's article before it's even published. It makes me think that originality is going to be thrown out the window. And say good-bye to media reporters doing their assignments on their own.
But then again, we are Gen Y, and we do prefer to work in groups and feel that sense of community, so I suppose it might not be such a bad thing.



Citizen journalism has a lot of benefits, one of them being spreading information from overseas. This article discusses about violence in Kenya in December of 2007; a woman by the name of Okollah started blogging about what exactly was going on. What the media wouldn't talk about. Her blog escalated into people using Google Maps to pinpoint exactly where the violence was taking place.
It seems like without citizen journalism being formed, people might have never really known about this.
It really makes me wonder what other information we're missing out on.
...but it also makes me really excited to think about what media we'll be receiving soon.

I found this awesome video via YouTube covering citizen journalism...check it out.

The Medium is the Message

I have to admit, after searching "Herbert" Marshall McLuhan I found his achievements to be very impressive. For a man to be gaining an education "out of spite" of his professors made me even more interested in him.
Still, searching his name, I've found this: He was the co-editor of Explorations magazine, taught at countless universities (including St. Louis University from 1937-1944) and received the Gold Medal Award from President of the Italian Republic at Rimini, Italy, in 1971, I felt that I didn't really find all that I needed to on this man.

I found he was a philosopher for mass media, how cool is that?! He wrote Understanding Media, which passed along the phrase, "The medium is the message".
When I first read this phrase, I took it very literally. Ok, so we take in media (t.v., radio, internet, ect.) and we use that as the "message" that today's society and government are trying to tell us.

I was very wrong.
But I also found out that most people are.

McLuhan's point in this, is that we all look at things from an obvious point of view and then we miss so much more.

Apparently, McLuhan REALLY means that medium is "any extension of ourselves" and message is really "the change of scale of pace or pattern" when something new is introduced to today's society.

Why Would I Want to Feel Like I'm Being Spied On?

I do not own a smartphone.  Yes, I want one;  I'm even determined enough to plan to have it by April of this year.  
But do I want an application that gives me and others in my Gmail account an application that let's them know where I am (and vice versa)?
.....Not really.

For our GenY article, I chose "Did Google Just Kill All Other Mobile Social Networks?".  Before I read the article, the title caught my attention.  I knew about Google making a phone with certain applications, but after I was done reading this article, I was completely turned off by it.

The article cover the topic of Google having a type of applications for their phones called "Latitude".  Latitude makes it possible for the owner to view where people can view where their "friends" from their Gmail addresses, RSS readers and people who read their blogs to see exactly where they are.  
I find this slightly creepy.

I appreciated that the article covered the issue of "our real friends aren't all the readers or in our Gmail account address list--they're on social networks like MySpace and Facebook".
This would be Google's downfall because if someone's real friends aren't on Gmail or don't read their blogs.Reviewing this article even more, it addresses that this would give a "Big Brother" feel to anyone in possession of this.  Latitude doesn't even allow chat conversations (yet), just the "comfort" of knowing where your "friends" are, at all times.And this goes to the title of this post, 'Why Would I Want To Feel Like I'm Being Spied On?'.  There are all kinds of people in this world, some not very mentally stable as others.We joke about things over social networks like "Facebook stalkers" (someone who views other people's Facebook profiles, whether they're friends or not), but what about real stalkers?Will Google take responsibility for something to go as sour as that?I, for one, will steer clear from Latitude.  For now at least, until it improves and it's possible to use Facebook or Myspace instead of Google accounts.

THE PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW!

Part of the Bill of Rights, freedom of the press gives us the right to voice our opinions and not fear "interference".  I don't believe that when the Bill of Rights was first written, that anyone had predicted what we might be getting ourselves into.  
I do believe that the freedom to speak one's mind, write it down and even publish it could not necessarily be a bad thing.  On the other hand, sometimes we offend and even "cross the line" when it comes to respecting someone's privacy.

Now, when I say freedom of the press, this covers all aspects of media.  Anyway that we recieve news:  television, newspaper, radio, internet and so on and so forth.  

People should be able to write what they want and say what they want.  I mean, after all this is America, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, right?  Wrong (to a certain extent, at least),

We want to know everything and journalists work hard at making sure we do.  
But will it be ever enough?  And how far do we take issues before we "cross the line"?

While it is true that we have a democracy that seems to let us get away with almost anything compared to other countries, sometimes it seems like freedom of the press can put us in more jeopardy than we thought.
Take the New York Times vs. U.S. case.  The summary of it states that, "The New York Times and Washington Post began publishing portions of the "Pentagon Papers" (a secret Defense Department report of U.S. involvement in Vietnam)."  The U.S./Nixon Administration saw this as potential useful information to the enemy.  At the end of the case, The New York Times won.

While I believe we as a nation deserve to know certain things.  I believe there's a time and place for everything.  In my opinion, if I had a part in making a decision on that case I would have ruled in favor of making an injunction with the papers.
Freedom of the Press is important, but not as important as my life.  Any kind of story that could be potentially harmful is a possible problem if lives are at stake.

Is it really worth knowing everything?  Or are we better off left in the dark on some issues?

Meet My Friend, Fernando

When I first came to Lindenwood this year, one of the people I had the pleasure of meeting an International student from Panama, Fernando Sucre.

Fernando has lived in the United States for two years and is enjoying every moment.  
I had the opportunity to ask Fernando about how the media differs from his hometown, Panama City to America.  

MOVIES..

Panama tends to watch and view more American-made movies.  Since Spanish is the common language spoken in Panama, American-made movies tend to contain subtitles (or even the random dubbing).  According to Fernando, there actually aren't even that many movies shown that AREN'T American-made; which is just fine by him because he enjoys American movies better.

RADIO..

Compared to the U.S., radio is actually valued quite a bit more.  Not necessarily for the music, but for the rapid flow of news that Panamanians can recieve while living in the busy City.  Fernando informed me that since he comes from a larger city, they're always on the go (this instantly made me think of Chicago) and because new technology, such as smart phones, spread as fast there, the radio is seen as the main source of information during the day.  
Since there is such a need for radio, they of course have stations dedicated to news and politics.  The only downside to political radio in Panama, is that sometimes it can seem rather biased towards certain candidates.  Which, of course, would sway people's feelings about that politician.
Radio is also still nationwide.  Click here for some of the top radio stations in Panama.

SOCIAL NETWORKING..

I believe I come off as rather ignorant to think that social networkings such as Facebook or Myspace only exist in America (but hey, I've never left the country..so bare with me).  I gave Fernando a little bit of a laugh when I asked him if Facebook or Myspace was even avaliable in Panama.  Of course they are; they're even just as popular.  

MAGAZINES/NEWSPAPERS/TELEVISION

Retaining hot information can always come from the latest gossip column found in almost any supermarket or newspaper stand in America.  Apparently, it's the same for Panama.  Fernando admits to having a sister that reads People Magazine to keep up with American celebrities.  
It's no different either when it comes to newspapers.  Panamanian news seems to be filled with more global news than local news.  While Fernando could not vote  this year, he told me his dad still called after Obama won the election to ask him if he was excited about living in the U.S.  during the time our first African-American president was elected.
It made me think about how little we actually know about other countries and their politicians.  I can't even name one from another country.
As for television goes, some of the channels consist of FOX and CNN.  This is another source of media that involves Panama with global news.

The View on Americans..

While Fernando admits that the media portrays Americans "a certain way" he believes that no matter where you go, you'll always be wrong.  He's met plenty of nice Amercans..and plenty of not-so-nice Americans.  Kudos to Fernando for not believing everything he hears about Americans and keeping an open mind about U.S. citizens.

*Interested in learning about specific newspapers and other media from Panama?  Visit this website.

Am I A Representative for Gen Y?

Generation Y, iGeneration and "Gen Why?".  These are some of the nicknames for my generation and I must say, there are some things I cannot deny are irrovocably true; but there are other things, that just plain out upset me.  

My ipod is always on hand.  I text as much as possible.   And I also like to question if certain things are necessary.  I even, yes, have a good measure of respect for authority.

Life revolves around my extra cirricular activities to make me a more well-rounded person and I make work fit around that.  I am slightly pressured to do well in school and in my everyday life because I know, when I graduate college, the economy will not be in the greatest state.  
The only funny thing, is that I put more of these pressures on me than my parents do.  
They just want me to be happy.

I believe that I am Generation Y, that I would rather wear comfortable clothes and flip flops to work rather than what some would call a "stuffy monkey suit".  
I also believe that our generation should not be necessarily held responsible for having happy, wonderful childhoods.  Maybe our parents told us that we can always win, that we're special and that we can be anything we want to be because they didn't get enough of that when they were children?  

But of course, Mr. 60 Minute Man failed to address that possibility.

For as much as we supposedly put ourselves in front of everything, according to a Generation Y study, Gen. Y appears to spend more time with our parents and family.  Despite the growth in divorced parents.

As far as the work environment goes, I completely agree with the fact that we don't want work to control our whole lives.  We might come in with the attitude of "if I don't like this place, I'll find somewhere else to go", but I think that's fine.  We work hard, and we might as well enjoy where we are.  Maybe we want to be happy in all aspects of our lives; instead of thinking of going to a crummy job where we'd rather do anything else than go there for most of our day.  USA Today addresses this in an article, "Generation Y:  They've arrived at work with a new attitude".  I don't think there's anything wrong with enjoying your job. 
We also keep our lines of communication open when we're at the workplace.  Again, I don't see anything wrong with this.  So many people take their work home with them, so why can't we take home with us to work?  

As long as this doesn't affect our work.  Working as a hostess, I cannot have my phone on with me.  Texting my boyfriend while I'm seating guests would look bad, and I do not want to affect my place of employment negatively.

Living at home...hmm I mean, isn't is a smart move financially?  No one wants to be put in a bad financial position by moving out because they feel obligated.  Not everyone stays at home though.  I myself, am practically moved out because I only see my family about four months out of the entire year because I live six hours away.

Does the Baby Boomer Generation think all of our lives are like the movie Step Brothers?

For most of us, this isn't reality.  No matter how much Baby Boomer Generation wants to believe it.  

My advice for older generations would be to try and open your minds.  Our generation is evolving.  We have more effective ways of living, and if they try, they might learn something new and exciting.

Everyone should be able to enjoy and appreciate the more effective ways of living.

First Blog

I'm Kim, from Harvard, Illinois (no relation to the actual Harvard University). I am a Sophomore attending Lindenwood University majoring in Mass Communications. Radio/film are my two interests in this specific field.
When I'm at home, I work quite a bit; Subway and Ren Faire are the two places that consume about 80% of my life.

One of the things I'm passionate about is keeping the fine arts in local schools and communities. When I was in High School, my school didn't have enough funds to keep all extra cirricular activities going; the first on the chopping block was Jazz Band, Madrigals, and Art Club. I have participated in all of these and I knew how important is was to me and my friends.

My mother, along with a few other women, founded H.A.R.M.O.N.Y, a group for District 50 dedicated to keeping the fine arts within my school.
Americans for the Arts is a main website promoting keeping the arts within schools.

Switching gears, to favorite YouTube video. I actually don't really have a favorite YouTube video, but my friend Veronica showed me this last week and it just made me smile. This is from a band called I Set My Friends on Fire; just a fun video :)