Pinterest- The World's Best Free Marketing Invention

This summer, I worked for a small boutique that sold jewelry, accessories, clothing, etc. and was frequently asked to update their social media sites. I did the basic Twitter and Facebook functions, where I would make fliers and post them for upcoming events and take pictures of new products. Then one random day when my boss was out and Grey's Anatomy was getting boring, I decided to make a Pinterest for the store. Without a doubt, this idea was probably one of the best marketing decisions this small business has made.

Pinterest allowed me to use my creativity to make a fun and colorful page that people would look at. I would set up displays of new products, take pictures, and add weird artsy effects to make them seem much cooler than they really were. I would then upload them to a specific Pinterest just for the company, and link the product to where you could buy it online.

After I posted around 4 boards, I sat back and forgot about it for a week or two. I logged back on to find I had hundreds of repins, and people were really liking our stuff. Without this medium, these people would never even heard of this small boutique outside of Philly, and we were starting to get in orders from people who had never heard of us before. Pinterest is all about sharing, and putting your products on this site will lead to only good things happening. I encourage every small business owner to learn what I have through this experience, and get the word out about your companies in a great FREE way.

Organizations Don't Tweet, People Do

Euan had a lot of very insightful information about social media. I think that the way he organized the book and his thoughts was very clear and concise, and his points were developed well with supporting details to help further my understanding. His passion and understanding for the topic was evident throughout his writing, and I think this book did a really good job proving its point. However, I felt at times that his points were repetitive. I think that he took a lot of time trying to convince people to blog and tweet more to get experience. While I think this is important, I think that he spent too much time trying to emphasize this when I found that other parts of his research were much more interesting. 

Overall, I found that his ideas and research were overall very enticing. I really enjoyed the chapter on what to do if your boss "doesn't get it." From my personal experiences with my internship this summer, I found that this is a pretty common occurrence. I often found that I had to explain myself and the advantages and disadvantages of social networking. I think that Euan provided a lot of really great insight about what the appropriate things are to say to your boss to get the total competitive advantage that social networking provides. This issue is a huge factor in businesses transforming to advertising and communicating on this medium and I think it is really important for us as well as our bosses to understand the positives social media has to offer. 

Who WE Are Actually Following

While reading my classmates blogs, I feel like I could pull the same idea from each of them. They feel as though following new people on twitter has allowed them to see and realize things they have never though of before, and they liked being removed from the 'Lehigh bubble.' This is a fact that I actually never really considered. While I am here I feel like I have no idea what is going on in the real world, aside from the occasional Jezebel articles my mom sends me. One student said that by following Lehigh Valley non profits and local organizations, she felt more connected to the community and had more of an idea what is going on outside of the occasional dinners in North Bethlehem (http://nvrogers.blogspot.com/2012/09/whats-trending-in-ent-195.html).

Another point I found interesting was that Twitter is hard and challenging. One student said that it takes a lot of concentrated effort to decide which accounts to follow, and then which tweets to read when pouring through your ever changing feed. Twitter is supposed to help us see what is important and what people are talking about and put it in a condensed space, but at the same time sometimes this condensed space is way to cluttered (http://louloudavid.blogspot.com/2012/09/twitter-is-very-your-followers-and-as.html).

A final blogger's post that I completely agreed with said that she could not decide which was better: following people you personally know, or following people everyone knows. This class has definitely opened my eyes to following new sources that I would have never considered following in the first place. However, I still love seeing what my friends are doing and where they are. I think that everyone should have what they think is a happy medium of people they follow. I think it is great to follow all of your friends, but sometimes it is better to reach outside your own personal bubble (http://sofiacapretta.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/friend-or-fan/).

Who I'm Actually Following on Twitter

There is a huge difference between the people I follow on twitter and the people whose tweets I actually read. To be honest, following The Wall Street Journal is just a confidence booster for me. Being in the business school, I like to pretend like I know what is going on in the business world. However it has become pretty apparent that I understand almost nothing the Wall Street Journal's twitter account posts. I don't have stock and I don't know anything about investments. So needless to say I skip over almost every tweet they have, unless I stare at it to pick up on key words so I can casually drop them in a conversation. In essence, I'm not really following them at all. A similar concept goes for the political figures I follow. Since this is the first year I am able to vote, I thought it would be a good idea to follow both the Obama and Romney campaigns to see what each of them were about (since I know absolutely nothing). Similarly, I still don't have any idea what is really going on and just find myself skipping over their tweets pretty regularly.

The Kardashians are a whole other story. I read almost everything they post, look at all of Kourtney's instagram pictures of Mason playing, and follow Kim to see what she is doing that night or when she is watching her own show (gross). Sadly I cannot help this at all, and it really pains me to say I think a lot of my generation feels the same way about their own twitter feeds. One would think that opening up our minds and following new sources and people on twitter would make us feel more informed about the world. However, I honestly just feel more confused than ever.

What We All Are Saying about Facebook and Twitter

From reading everyone's blog posts, I saw a lot of different perspectives about topics, especially Twitter. One student brought up that Twitter made them feel more connected to the people they were talking to, and I completely agree with this. I never really thought about it, but it is really cool when Kim Kardashian retweets something you said. It is like they are directly connecting with you, and that your thoughts and what you have to say are important. This develops a deeper connection with users that I never really considered until reading her blog (http://annathebold.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-ultimate-social-media-clash.html).

When reading everyone's blogs, however, I've realized that I seem to feel a bit differently about Twitter than my piers. Everyone seems to love twitter and use it all the time, and think that Facebook is somewhat dwindling and people are moving away from it. Among my close friends and people I have talked to, I do realize this is happening; however, I am trying so hard to make it stop. I love Facebook, and would hate it if everyone just stopped using it and switched to Twitter and Instagram. The main thing that I have realized from other people's posts, however, is that I definitely do not know as much about media channels as I thought I did. I think most of us are having this same realization as we find out different uses and thoughts behind these mediums.

I did find another student that had similar thoughts to me about tweeting. She said that she never really knows what is appropriate to tweet, what to tweet about, or what to retweet. I agree with her completely, and I do have a similar sub-conscious about my tweets. I completely over think about everything I want to say, and I think that this shows how this is probably a horrible medium for me to participate in. However, this class and Media and Society (COMM30) have both opened my eyes to the point that twitter is a conversation. I need to start using it appropriately if I ever want to get my point out or see others ideas. Through this class, I really want to grow as a user and see all of the things I will be able to do.

Overall, this experience has taught me that a) I am DEFINITELY not as social as I think I am and b) I really need to learn how to use social networking for more than just my personal friend circle.

Facebook v Twitter

Personally, I love Facebook. I love how everything is consolidated into one spot. I am friends with almost everyone I know, and I can see all of their status updates, pictures, wallposts, and comments in one direct location. With Twitter, however, I feel as though we are moving away from this. I have a fraction of the amount of followers on twitter than I do on Facebook. For my closest friends, I have to check their twitter for their status updates, their instagram for their new pictures, and then their facebook to whatever they felt necessary to post. It is become confusing and overwhelming.

From a users perspective, I chose Facebook for almost all of my communication and pictures. To be honest, I never really think my thoughts are witty enough for this channel of media. I always hesitate before I tweet something, and never really retweet much unless it is Taylor Swift saying something funny. I think the main reason behind this is because my generation and my friends tend to use twitter differently than its ultimate purpose. Most of our accounts are private. We say stupid things while at the same time plan on getting a job when we graduate. We use twitter for a way to connect with our friends and see what they are doing at one time. From my experience, we don't really start up conversations with each other about issues or thoughts. As we grow older and start using the medium for the real reasons, I think we will start to get lost and not really know what to do. I only follow my close friends, a few news sources, and Taylor Swift.

However, even though we do use Twitter this way, it is still how I get a majority of my news. Especially when I'm at college, I feel as though I am living in a constant bubble and not getting much information expect from what my mom emails me. People are constantly posting ironic, cynical, and funny tweets about things that are happening everyday, which inspires me to google and look on cnn.com to see what is going on. I definitely think the implications of Twitter help my generation to get more involved in the world and to see things from others perspective.

Blogster and their Code of Ethics

I find that it must be hard for the creators of sites like blogster to create a code of ethics. People can throw around the 'free speech' argument to combat anything put into this code. However, I think that blogster did a great job outlining what is appropriate for an online public site such as this one, and what is not. There is a very fine line between saying something illegal, and saying something that is technically allowed under the freedom of speech but not appropriate for this platform. Blogster needs to protect its reputation, and allowing people who say harmful, cruel, or violent things is something that will make them appear to be an unreliable source in others eyes.

Bloggers, on the other hand, also need to be very careful about what they post on the Internet. Once it has been posted, it is there to stay. We are completely entitled to our own opinions, however we need to be careful about what is made public. I think blogging is a great way for people to get their views out there and to receive feedback, however I think it does create an easy way for the wrong people to say the wrong things.