Bloggers are just rude!

Why is that no one wants to visit and comment on our blogs? Since blogging has become one of the major tools in communication today why don't bloggers like to go and comment on other blogs? Are they really that busy that they can’t go around and answer those comments others have made? People have taken their time and gone to their blog and read their stories, but yet they are being rude and not responding. To me that is just plain out rude and shows how much bloggers don’t really care what others think, but better yet just care about themselves and their blog. If they were smart they would take this as an opportunity to give their blog more publicity.

* This is just me venting and does not include all bloggers, just a generality of my experience with some.
* Picture from Google Images

Blogging Disasters: “Sony Shuts Down Fake Blog For Good”

With blogging being one of the newest and most used communication tools in today’s society expect that not everyone knows exactly what they are doing. Many companies have started to use blogging as a form of free advertising and others just as a networking tool. In this time of experimentation, many mistakes have been made and blogs have started to become problematic rather than beneficial.

Sony is one of those companies that have made mistakes; they used their blog in the worst way possible by lying to their customers. Sony and their marketing firm, Zapatoni, were caught in creating a fake blog to promote their new PSP. The blog was called “AllIWantForXmasIsaPsp.com” and it consisted of different people talking about how they wanted a PSP for Christmas or how they had one but their friend didn’t and really wanted one. The site looked pretty official, but to those die hard Sony customers t was easy to figure out the dishonesty. Like it said in Blog Herald, “With it’s overly hipster talk and the fact the domain is registered by a Marketing firm, it didn’t take long for the gaming community to find that Sony was behind the blogging deception.” Today, the blog has been taken down but Sony is still suffering from its ramifications. It’s customer’s are finding it hard to believe what they say anymore; will they ever recover from this horrible mistake? How could Sony not know that their “tech savvy” customers would discover their deceitfulness, were they not analyzing their audience correctly? Sony I think has learned a big lesson from this blogging disaster, to always analyze their audience and not try to get ahead of themselves. Now to all you new bloggers, learn from Sony’s mistake and other cases out there and do not let blogging become a problem but better yet learn to use it to your advantage.


*Picture from Google Images

The Writer's Strike Is Over, Now What?

Woohoo!!! The writer’s strike is over!! Now that this long awaited moment has come, when are the shows coming back? I don’t know about you, but it’s been way too long since I have had my Thursday night date with Dr. McDreamy, I miss my Grey’s Anatomy! I have been on withdrawal from my weekly shows (Monday- 2 ½ Men, Wednesday-Gossip Girl, Thursday- Grey’s Anatomy) for a while now and yet now that the strikes over I still have to wait some more. When are these shows coming back, I’m sick of repeats? When are we going to have our date night back Dr. McDreamy? Tell me what you think about this and let me know if you have any idea when they are coming back, I NEED TO KNOW!

*Picture from Google Images

How Technology has Shaped Communication

With technology at our fingertips I can’t help but ask myself how this growing World Wide Web is affecting the Communication field? Is this new and emerging technology controlling our views and ways of communicating? What are its implications, or better yet does it have any? In today’s ever so growing world of communication we have come to see that even though these new technology tools have helped us to network they have also created some problems that were non-existent. With mass media blowing up and having access to various kinds of news reports from many different sources at once, where do you know where the truth comes from? How are you able to filter out the truth from the “spam”? Are newspapers and magazines obsolete since the invention of online resources?

People today are able to sit down at their computer and look at CNN.com, NewYorkTimes.com, MSN.com, and many other sites for their daily news and current events instead of reading just one newspaper or magazine. If given the opportunity wouldn’t you rather get your facts from different sources at once rather than just one? Websites like Current, a fairly new online site that gives you the latest news buzz and access to write what you think about the topics at hand, is a great example of how technology has shaped and changed our society. Being a student studying the Communication field, this site really shows me how easy it has become to voice your opinion.

Technology today has really opened up the Communication field by allowing you to network and speak out about what you are trying to sell or promote. Whether it is a product or a client you can get it out there instantaneously. YouTube has also been a big contributor to this technology mayhem, especially in this year’s campaign election. With Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both using it for videos to promote their campaign, YouTube has become a great source for information about the trail. Having thousands of viewers on a daily basis, YouTube has even gotten Obama a Grammy for one of its videos. So, is YouTube a credible source for people to go and obtain views on issues at hand? What has technology really done for the Communication field in general? What has it done to us as a society, is it controlling our thoughts, and the way we communicate? What can we see as valuable sources of information, who can we believe? How has it changed our generation and the generation to come? These are the questions that come to my mind when I think about technology and how it has shaped today’s Communication field, like a fellow blogger wrote, “The future of communications is already upon us. Get used to it.”
*Picture from Google Images

Natalee Holloway: Is this case ever going to be solved?

Last Monday night I was watching the 20/20 special on Natalee Holloway called “The Final Hours of Natalee Holloway” three years have passed since this graduating senior disappeared while on vacation in Aruba and yet the case still has not been solved. Recently new evidence has surfaced which has caused authorities in Aruba to reopen the case and 20/20 to do this special. The number one suspected, Joran, which had been arrested and released twice revealed what he had done in a secret undercover camera in a “friends” car. Finally the truth is out and it’s the end of this tragedy for this family who has lost a child. But yet the body has not been found and Joran keeps changing his story, will this case ever be solved? Will Natalee’s body ever be found? Will the real truth ever be uncovered? As I watched the special and heard the tragic story that this family has had to go through, not only losing a child but also not knowing where her body is or what exactly happened to her, I asked myself how somebody could keep this secret and live with themselves after doing so. What kind of person is this Joran guy and how could he be so at ease with himself after such a tragedy has occurred?

* If you want to view more blogs on this you could visit Natalee's Blog.

* Picture from Google images

Tricks of networking

It’s all about networking; developing strong relationships with those contacts you have acquired and making sure to keep them. In PR, professionals need to build and maintain strong relationships with media in order to get their client exposed and at the same time protect them when things do not go in the right direction. As a media representative of your client you are the “liaison” between them and the media, without you your client would not know who to contact. You need to have a list of people to reach at any moment and for them to be reliable enough not to mess things up. That is why one of your major priorities as a PR professional is to create a media contact list, but not just people in media, friends in the media. But how do you make friends with people you don’t know and in such short notice?

In order to create these friendships you have to provide for them so that they in turn will provide for you in the future; not just call them when you need something from them, but keep them updated weekly and you will be on a first name basis with them in no time. You also need to know how to grab the media’s attention, these people get hundreds of press releases daily and why should yours be any more important than the next? Like it says in the Marketing Monster blog, “Think stickiness not hits.”, even though this has to do with blog sites and how many people visit versus how long they stay, it also involves both print and broadcast media stories. If a story sticks with a person, whether it be because of a video or headline they saw or read, they are most likely to come back and want to write about it. You have to know what type of stories your media connections look for or are looking for at the time and how your client fits in the picture; all you need is that one hook that will wheel them right in. Now I will leave you with this quote that I once read, “Knowing what to do is just as important as knowing what not to do.”, think about it and let me know what you think.
* Picture from Google Images

What did you think of Super Bowl XLII ads?

So like most girls I know the top reasons to watch the Super Bowl is for the commercials and half time show. Yes, you can be interested in the game too, but what attracts you to watch it the most is the funny commercials that cost so much to be played because of Super Bowl time slot. Last night was Super Bowl XLII, New York Giants vs. New England Patriots (undefeated), although I was not feeling well I still got up and went to go watch it with a bunch of friends. The commercials this year didn't seem that funny to me as years before, except for a few. I loved the Planters commercial with the Ugly Betty type girl, the Tide to go pen commercial was hilarious, the Bridgestone/Firestone screaming squirrel was awesome, and not to mention all the Budlight commercials were so clever (if only men really thought of those ideas themselves "Wine and Cheese Party") . These are only a few of the commercials that I thought were worth mentioning but if you want to go to CNN.com under latest news and click "best and worst Super Bowl ads" you could watch them yourself and let me know what you think of this years commercials. Oh and by the way GO GIANTS!

*Picture from Google Images