What to Tweet?

HAHA! Pretty much says it all. Some people's tweets are too much. Some tweet things that people wouldn't say out loud. If you are tweeting please refrain from what you are doing. Make it fun, I like it when people tweet news worthy things, new products, what goes on in the world, where is the new hot spot in town etc. I really don't like reading about your life or what problems your having or what you are doing at that exact moment! Be smart and tweet smart ; ).

-John

Can Big Companies Trust Their Employee's to Handle Their Social Media Accounts?

When designers like Marc Jacobs are on twitter their fans who follow him get to preview his new collections, projects, and what he is up to. CEO of Marc Jacobs who recently stepped down as the official twtter account handler gave this task to an intern of the company. Strangely enough the intern had a melt down on @marcjacobsintl twitter account. This is what he had to say about the company.

• A posting from an iPhone at midnight EST read: 'You guys and gals have no idea how difficult Robert is. I am only an intern. My last day is tomorrow. I wouldn't be tweeting this if not!'
• 'Good luck! I pray for you all. If you get the job! I'm out of here. See ya! Son't want to be ya! Roberts a tyrant! Seriously! He is tough!' another read.
• He continued: 'I can call him out! I'm out! Won't work in this town again! I know that! Learned a lot. But, I don't have the energy for what is expected!'
• Signing off, he added: 'Yea, walk in my MJ shoes! Don't judge me! I'm alone in this office having to try and entertain you all. This isn't easy. I have tried. Done!'
• According to The Daily Truffle, the tweets were deleted at approximately 4am EST.

Now, I love using Twitter and other social media outlets but if I were in the position of given the task to tweet for my boss, no matter the circumstance I would not let my frustration out on an account like Marc Jacobs.I wouldn't want to be 'blacklisted" from a world where I would possibly want to have a future career in. This makes Marc Jacobs company look back and also it can make companies like this and others to not trust their employees? If Robert Duffy thought about this more clearly he should have given this task to a trust worthy employee to deal with the twitter account. Companies should let their employers be trusted with social media accounts because this a new outlet to reach your audience/fans.That being said these type of accounts should be confidential with a team that deals with these outlets and protect the content on these sites and the passwords.


-JOHN

Solicitation for Luxury???

A few months ago a YouTube video was submitted by a New Yorker soliciting people on the subway for money to buy a new pair of very expensive boots.  The man began by introducing himself and stateing how he is currently employed and that he resides in the West Village.  Everybody from the beginning understands how this man is obviously in no dire need for a few extra dollars, but the man simply is not asking for money to eat or obtain a warm winter coat-no, this man flat out lets his audience know that he is financially stable, and just needs some extra money to buy himself designer shoes.  After watching this YouTube video I nearly rolled off of my chair in a fit of laughter, this man is BRILLIANT!!  He is simply mocking ideas such as poverty (which in no way is that humane or right) and the recession while incorporating social media trends to get his point across.

I have to admit, this little skit left an impression on me and still like to click back to it once in awhile, it is sometimes nice to see what truly is on people's minds and thoughts.  This man clearly was in no desperate need for money of any kind, just a few laughs and hits on YouTube to spruce up his social life.  What a great way to enhance your social life than with social media eh?  Not only are we utilizing these media outlets for business, pleasure, etc.  We are using social media to make a statement and open up a little creativity in the world.  Hey, I am all for it! 

-Anastasia Mantzaris

Give Rocky a Run for His Money!

I have always had a good eye for conquering puzzles and fixing things.  I always attempt to readjust various things from physical items to concepts and ideas.  For my future plans I have dreams of possibly joining a brand strategy team or participating in a conceptual branding company.  The economy is on the rise, but we are still struggling to fill out these kinds of positions where most companies have been tossing out the window throughout the past three years.  I believe with the help of heavy research and current trends like social media, we graduate students can and will be able to piece the "puzzle" back together again.  We must allow our creative juices to flow and fight until we get what we want out of the media, the industry of our choice, and our future employers.

 We all are instilled with a passion for something whether it be building toys or building computers, we are all in the same boat so to speak.  All this energy that has been accumulated throughout our education must go into something that we care about and love, because if we do not push ourselves in the right direction it would be a waste of precious time and energy.  Now in the mean time we all must suffer through the dull aching classes, ridiculous weekend work schedules and pathetic internship assignments, but that is the essence of young adult-hood.  Someone once told me that you must suffer in order to understand who you truly are, and that if you fight for what you love you will eventually see the greener grass on the other side!

Good Luck  Class of 2011, WE CAN DO IT!

-Anastasia Mantzaris

Photography

Photography

In my opinion, nowadays photographers are busy people. They have many clients more than ever have before they have an abundance of information available to us at the click of a mouse. It’s always evolving; full of opportunity and at times. As you can see, the modern day photographer is a busy one indeed. Running a successful photography business has always been about much more than just taking great photos. As shown in the diagram above, the skills we need as a photographer in 2010 are much more diverse. The list could go on, but, I think you will see the most notable change in skills is the web such as website, blogs, facebook, twitter.

The website and blog combination is great for photography. Website is presenting your services and blog have active order to attract people and keep clients come back. Facebook also have a lot of very active photographers groups. There is a lot of trust in the photographer/client relationship and to think about that when developing your marketing strategy.

Many photographers can not make money from taking photos; they need to know about Photoshop, marketing, twitters. That is a new opportunity for them to add more clients and make a lot of money.

According to Todd Owyoung, He is a professional music photographer based in St. Louis, Missouri. His website is ishootshows.com

1. What are the elements used in your social media strategy? Which do you feel is the most effective?

The main social media elements I use for engagement are my blog, Flickr and Twitter. For me, they act as the perfect compliment to one another.

A blog allows for rich content, while Twitter gives me a quick and light way to engage with people working in the music industry, other photographers and readers of my blog. Flickr acts as a supplemental way of putting my work in front of eyeballs and offers dialogue through their discussion groups.

2. Do you feel the effort is worthwhile? Does it pay for itself? Can you describe any sales successes directly tied to social media?

I think one of the beautiful things about social media is that it's an organic, fresh way of presenting your work. For clients, this translates into an extension to a portfolio and photo archive.

In addition, photo buyers aren't just looking on Getty Images or Corbis. These days, Flickr, photo posts via Google Images and more are all fair game.

The funny thing about blogging is that, short of monetization, it doesn't pay, but there's no mistake that it pays off. I can't tell you how many clients I've talked to who said they found my blog through Google by searching for "concert photographer" or "music photographer."

According to Kendrick Brinson, He is an Atlanta, Georgia-based photojournalist, and member of the prestigious Luceo images photographer cooperative.

1. What are the elements used in your social media strategy? Which do you feel is the most effective?

Blogs are completely intertwined with Facebook and Twitter in LUCEO's social media networking. You have to have new material to post on those networking sites in order to draw in traffic. You can't successfully market your photography without content-- fresh new, always changing, always engaging content. That's why we wanted a site that changed everyday-- once you've seen a portfolio site, you never go back; we wanted LUCEO's site to become a destination that you check several times a day to see what's new.

Part of LUCEO's mission is giving back to the photographic community so we have regular columns and blog posts that explain how a shoot went, for example, or Matt Slaby's column that explains common legal issues for photographers. If readers know you will have a From the Archive column every Thursday, they'll check your site every Thursday, for example. Give them reasons to come back. Our regular viewers, I think, truly enjoy watching LUCEO's photographers' work grow and expand and the process that goes along with that. We want our "fans" and "followers" to get to know us through our words and images. A lot of photographers don't disclose how they got to where they are and we are an open book.

Of course we also promote other photographers' work and photo news on Facebook and especially Twitter. I try to stay up to date by reading lots of photo blogs and following photo industry news feeds on Twitter. I want people to hear news from us first and rely on us for keeping up to date.

Again, though, no content means nothing to post on Facebook and Twitter and no hits on your blog, archive, or site. New content is crucial.

2.Do you feel the effort is worthwhile? Does it pay for itself? Can you describe any sales successes directly tied to social media?

My social media marketing efforts on the behalf of all of the LUCEO photographers is without a doubt worth it. We could potentially sell ad-space on our site if our traffic rates continue climbing as they have been. Specifically, this is just one for example; I got a phone call from a photo editor at The Wall Street Journal after I wrote on Facebook that I was doing a shoot in Alabama for a client. That editor wanted someone in Alabama and passed the job on to me. If he hadn't seen that in his Facebook livefeed, he would have given the job to a local photographer. Right there, social networking put money in my pocket. This happens often.

Planning My Wedding Using Social Media

 Planning a wedding is not easy to do.  There are a lot of small details that you need to remember.  There are also a lot of big money decisions that you need to make.  It doesn’t help that I am the first in my family to be getting marry.  If it wasn’t for the Social Media, I would be at a lost.

Two sites that I have been using are TheKnot.com and WeddingWire.com.  They have great ideas for invitations, cakes, dresses and locations.  They bring the vendors to one location and split them up into states.  They also have a section for real brides to share their personal wedding ideas.

After looking a bunch of banquet halls, I put a deposit on Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, NY.  Crest Hollow gave me a list of recommended vendors for DJ, photography, limo and florist.  We don’t have to use their recommended vendors, except for the florist.  We had to pick the florist from their list.  They recommended one florist but after reading reviews from other brides in a couple of forums we picked someone else.  Good thing we searched the forums because all the reviews for that they were very rude.  There are many forums out there that helped me.  I did a search for “Crest Hollow Country Club Brides” and I found links to forums where former brides commented on Crest Hollow and their recommended vendors.  Some brides used the recommended vendors and others didn’t.  That opened my search list. 

Since I am the first in my family to get marry, I don’t have a realistic idea of a budget or timeline.  Thanks to WeddingWire.com, I was able to create a budget and timeline sheet.  I just punched in the total budget and number of guest and they broken the budget down accordingly.  They also give me the flexibility to make my own changes and additions.  Plus they have an iPhone app so I can look at my budget and timeline on the go.

Social media has had a great impact on the wedding industry.  We no longer have to rely on what the banquet managers tell us.  I can get first hand experience from people who have been in my shoes.  These forums can make or break a company.  I had all intentions on visiting the florist that the banquet manager recommended.  But after reading the reviews from other Crest Hollow brides, I canceled my appointment.  Social media helps bring more importance to customer service and customer satisfaction.  You make one bride upset and thousands will know about it.

~ Michelle Martinez

Psychological problems brought by social network

Social network will lead to some psychological problems but I would like to emphasize the fact that if we wisely use social network to distribute information and express ourselves, we will not have any psychological problems

1We can compare us to others through social network. Our sense of self and individual values will be partly based on others’ opinion rather than ours. We find people who are better or worse than us by reading their blogs and watching their albums. In fact, people would like to show their positive side to the public.

2 it’s easier to find solutions to our doubts. We ask some trivial things on Twitter and Facebook when we need some help. We get instant feedback. We are losing our problem-solving ability by rely on others’ viewpoint. Actually, other persons cannot give you accurate answer depending on your context and circumstances. More resources and information make us more confident but more ignorant.

3 We easily friend strangers and get followers but our online popularity cannot prove our real interpersonal skills. We might mistake digital life for true life. We experience the rush of attention and focus like famous persons. Some people will feel depressed when they face truths in reality.

4 we feel anxiety when we lose control on something. Items we post online will likely be accessible forever or for a very long time. Sometimes we post some articles and poor judgments without giving consideration to outcomes. Sometimes we post some photos that we may feel regret and shame about them.

@Shuwen Zhao