About as American as it gets

Budweiser King of Beers has one of the greatest fan pages I have ever seen. They have 15 different tabs on their Facebook page. They range from the ordinary, Wall and Photos tabs to the extraordinary, Birthday Buds which if you sign up for you receive a visa gift card on your 22nd birthday for a free birthday beer, and music downloads app, since Budweiser received a million likes on their Facebook page they are giving at one free song out to all their fans, I choose Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye.

One thing in particular that I enjoyed is that all their pictures are not what they are advertising; they allow pictures of everyday people such as you and me to upload pictures to their fan page.  The videos they have on their page are what someone would expect from a business fan page. It is all the amazing advertising that Budweiser has done in the past few years including my favorite commercial ever the grab some buds campaign.

I honestly don’t think that they could do anything better with their page. Budweiser knows it fans and what they like, and they have done an amazing job of making their page great. I feel that Budweiser does not need to use Facebook ads. They do it with their popularity, and their ability to connect with their consumers.

Budweiser has 1.7 million likes in the United States alone. They have 3.9 million fans worldwide. This company knows what it is doing.

Setting up a professional blog.

These advertising blogs do some things very well I really like ads of the world blog. They have a picture with every post, making it a much more user friendly blog. Another thing I like about Ads of the Worlds blog is that they don’t feel like they have to realize a blog every day. They post their blogs when they feel like posting them no because they have to, making the content better and not feeling forced.

This brings me to Chris Brogan’s blog; his blog isn’t as much about advertising as it is about making you a better/creative person.  He had a very nice set of posts like his post on his three words for this year, and ideas for building a valuable platform. I suggest everyone takes a look at this post if you want to be successful in social media.

The main thing that I’ve learned from following these other blogs is that I really need to put out more consistently quality work. I also need to work on having better pictures and videos with my posts. I hope that I can learn from this and that all of my followers will benefit from it as well.

When I go home I have the opportunity to disconnect from the world. We don’t home an internet connection, and our cell reception is spotty at best. Which is why this year for Spring Break I’m going home taking the battery out of my phone, and hiding my computer. My goal is going to be making this a learning experience on how someone can survive without being able to be reached by the outside world.

One of the few places I will be disconnecting from the world.

I look at the thought of going completely wireless as being in a sensory deprivation chamber. I know that there are things out there that can stimulate my senses but I’m choosing not to feel anything. I think that I will learn more about myself here than I could if I were able to sit down in front of a computer.

After writing this I think I might bring my computer out just once a day so I can blog about my experiences of the day.

I have a feeling that in the next five years there will be a new social network that will take over as the number three social media site, behind Facebook and Twitter, and it won’t be Google Plus. The only real aspect that I liked about Google Plus is their use of the Hangout feature. I enjoyed this because you can talk up to nine different people at a time, and if you have a webcam like me you can speak as any number of avatars. My favorite was a little white kitten.

This is me on Google+

All in all though my experience was not a good one with Google Plus, I just feel that I’m spoiled by Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg love him or hate him the man is a genius and he knows how to make a website that people can’t live without. Facebook is the most visited website for a reason and no Facebook killer will exist for quite a while. 845 million people can’t be wrong. Google Plus has nearly 30 million. That may be a lot but that’s nothing compared to the other social media websites out there. I have a feeling that Pintrest will bigger than Google Plus by the end of the year.

When talking about a single sentence that describes me it’s really hard to narrow it down to just a singular sentence and not a paragraph. My sentence not only describes me but my whole generation. We have been around for the dawn of the internet, and cell-phones. Those two creations have changed everything that we now know. True both these things have been around since the 80’s but the only got popular in the 90’s when we were getting our footing on what the world was becoming.

I can remember the first cell-phone that my family had; it was a three part brick phone. It was so big that the only time my dad brought it around with him was when he had a briefcase with him, and to think that we now have phones that are almost a quarter of an inch thick, and it still has the capability to go on the internet.

How do you describe what the internet has done for the world? The fact that I’m listening to music and talking to my friends all while I’m blogging astounds me. At the time of this writing I have fourteen tabs open, and on average I spend four to five hours a day on the internet. That is what I do with my day.

I have to ask myself then was today better than yesterday. Yes, yes it was. Because I live by the mantra my grandfather taught me at a young age, “Make yesterday the first day of the rest of your life, and always strive for something better.” Every day that you see me is the best day of my life.

In today’s day and age we are welcoming a new movement that everyone will have to adjust too. It is the Social Media Movement. We can no longer now ignore it, but we have to embrace it otherwise we will be lepers in our modern-day society. Social media is effecting industry as well. Go on Facebook and type in any national corporation, I can almost guarantee that every single one has a Facebook fan page.

Welcome to the Digital Age.

Today many of the best advertising campaigns are viral, or solely web-based. It is much easier to target your market when you know exactly what websites they are visiting, and what type of videos they are watching. It is possible for a company to target certain profiles on Facebook. In the future when I’m working on an account that I need to be seen by Males 18-23 in the Midwest who play video-games and listen to Radiohead. I can pinpoint the exact market for my product.

Believe it or not you have already been targeted. Going off my profile alone, I have ads along the side for Burger King, Groupon, Mafia Wars, and Amazon. It is very tailored towards me. I use Amazon every day, I check Groupon daily, and Burger King is the fast food I get most often, and I’m above the age of 14 nor am I one of your friends mom’s so I don’t play any Facebook games. The thing here though is that I don’t actually “Like” any of the things that I mentioned above, yet Facebook has pin-pointed many of the things I look at on a daily basis. How is this possible?

Direct Marketing.

I learned that Billy blues is not a very good restaurant. But the thing I will take away the most from this class is how to give a good interview. I learned how to find every aspect of a persons character, then to develop a story based off what I learned.

Feature writing was one of my favorite classes this semester. And now that it is coming to a close I start to appreciate the crazy amounts of fun I had in class. I just hope that all my classes next semester can compare to this one. I mean what class has a potluck at the end of the semester. Well this is the only one that I’ve taken that has done that.

Thank you Carol for teaching such a fun class.

Four Loko is an adult beverage that is 12% alcohol and they come in flavors from disgusting to bearable. Each can is roughly the equivalency to 4 beers.  It has the caffeine equivalency to two Red Bull energy drinks. Needless to say they are dangerous drinks.

After drinking a few of these I really appreciate the hilarity of this video. It shows someone who walks into a gas station just to buy an energy drink and Four Loko pops up on the counter. Then it goes in the dangerousness of the drinks. The costumers asks, “Why would anyone put this in their body?” and the narrator responds with “Because it’s cheaper than paying a hobo to stab you with a box cutter.”  The whole video is just like this the entire time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJyaACQaLYQ

College Humor just started a new web series title Full Benefits. It is about two coworkers who start up a relationship, and they don’t want any of their coworkers to find out about their relationship.

I go to college humor every day to watch the newest video every day.

Jim Sheeler’s 2005 “Final Salute” special report is a profound testimony to those people who know the ultimate meaning of sacrifice.

His collection of 12 articles bright light on the bravery of those who die for our freedom, as well as the enormous impact that these losses have on their families. From the young soldier not even 21 years of age whose life ends much too soon to the pregnant widow whose child will never meet their father.

One of the most touching parts of this story for me is in section 11 of Sheeler’s report. This portion of his writing details the night that Katherine spends next to her fallen lover’s coffin, as she sleeps on an air mattress and plays the songs she dreamed of dancing with him at their wedding. I remembered seeing these pictures in my photojournalism textbook last semester. The images alone were quite powerful, but reading Sheeler’s report gives them even more meaning. It perfectly conveyed the sadness that Katherine had.

Throughout this report, it became evident that it is not only an earth shattering event for the loved ones who receive notice that their love ones have fallen for their country, but is also equally difficult for the marines who must deliver these notices. Sheeler traces this experience from the moment he leaves his car to head up a family’s driveway, to the countless hours he serves as their support system in the difficult times ahead. Sheeler quietly illustrates the utter respect Beck shows as he goes about his job, revealing the manner in which Beck incorporates the Marine mantra into his daily life.

The “Final Salute” is an incredible testimony to our nation’s soldiers and their families, and also had quite an impact on me. Reading this article made me realize the incredible sacrifice that so many of our nations member have made so people like you and I can continue our normal lives. We will never know what it takes for us to sacrifice everything for the safety of our families.

Gene Weingarten’s “Pearls Before Breakfast” proves an interesting point about typical busy, rushed Person: we don’t always take time to stop and appreciate what we have right in front of us. Sometimes we miss out on incredible beauty when it is literally right in front of us. People get so caught up in their hustle busy lives that they don’t take a little time to listen to the talents of street performers.

Weingarten’s article follows the story of Joshua Bell, a famous violinist, performing in a crowded area of Washington, D.C. during a busy time of day. A man who is used to performing in front thousands of people who paid money to see him, Bell was shocked at the remarkably small number of people who put money in his case, or even stopped to listen to him play.

When I first started reading the article, I thought to myself that people must be crazy to not stop and listen to such a talented musician play for free. But as I read on, I realized that I am one of these people. Even if I enjoy what I’m hearing, sometimes I just feel I’m in to much of a hurry to stop and listen to a street performer.

People think that their time is worth much more than the person who is on the street playing to get you to appreciate their music. We could stop or we could just keep walking. Most walk yet those who stop get more than just great music; they get the respect of the performer. They see you and they thank you for the time you gave them. You have to stop and realize what you have around you. You need to stop and smell the roses.