Writing for New Media

It took me a while to get used to this class. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from it because everything seemed so laid-back, but overall, I enjoyed learning about social media.

I wasn’t too keen on having a Twitter account at first, and I’m still not sold on following a whole bunch of people. Still, like Gavin said, it is an excellent way to get news quickly. I mostly skim over my feed until I find tweets from CNN, The Associated Press and Doctors Without Borders, but I am trying to accept it as a format for “ordinary” microbloggers as well. It would have been cool if we had called up Biz Stone and Jack Dorsey, too.

I thought the viral marketing campaign was an interesting use of Facebook instead of holding it to just wall posts and status updates. The competition between me and Jen was a good example of viral marketing because after we invited all of our friends, we really had to rely on others to invite more people. Though we could beg for fans through status updates, tweets or word-of-mouth, it really came down to our friends’ participation and willingness to get others to join the fanpage. The fact that everyone came up with a different idea and was able to gain a following is worth mentioning because it shows that Facebook especially is beneficial when it comes to viral marketing. Millions of people use the site, and to start a campaign through a group, event or fanpage means that hundreds, and possibly thousands or more, will see what you are trying to do and help spread the word. I think it would have been interesting if we were made to market a viral campaign through YouTube instead of Facebook (a la OK Go) and see if the results would have been the same.

I think the two most important projects from this class were LinkedIn and the website, because both are great ways to present oneself professionally on the Internet. Because more and more job openings are found online, and interviews are sometimes held online as well, it’s imperative that we learn to upload our resume and examples of our work for potential employers to see. I finally got my LinkedIn account at 100%, and I’m still adding connections. My website took me a long time to complete, and often I became extremely frustrated with DreamWeaver and the whole process. For the most part, I knew what I wanted to do but I couldn’t figure out how to execute it; I think I’m the least tech-savvy person in this class. I am proud of my site, though I realize it’s far from perfect. Still, I successfully uploaded and attached my audio and video samples, .pdf-ed my writing samples, and wrote a resume. I wish I had done it on Wordpress though, because then I could edit and update the site from my own computer. Plus, DreamWeaver was pretty confusing for me most of the time.

Overall, I’ve realized that social networking is an important tool for communicating to others on a wide spectrum. I would have liked to have written more blogs for the practice and experience of it, but I realize I can do this on my own time and don’t necessarily need a class to write blogs. It also would have been nice if we had gotten around to wikis, but I didn’t mind the extra time to work on my website. As a communications major, I thought this course was a good introduction to social media, and it’s beneficial to have this knowledge as more and more people turn to the Internet for information and entertainment.

Jen and I decided to use viral marketing to compete against each other through Facebook fanpages that we created for ourselves. I didn’t have a goal number-wise, only that I wanted to get more fans than Jen. After I created the fanpage, I invited all my friends to join and asked them to invite others. I also used status updates on my personal Facebook to promote the page, and I included the link to join. I used my Twitter account to tweet about the competition, and I used word-of-mouth as well.

I was successful in getting fans but unsuccessful in beating Jen. Come on guys. As of 7:20 p.m. Thursday, April 22, I have 258 fans, and Jen has 331. I’m pretty pleased though, considering that I started with 300 less friends and because more than half the number of my friends are fans.

Of course this competition is still going until tomorrow at noon, so YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO “LIKE” ME.

http://users.etown.edu/a/allemans

Like Gavin, I also have very little experience with web design and HTML, and I found this project frustrating. I’m not a fan of how Dreamweaver is set up, and I’m having trouble getting my pages to look the way I would like them to. The pages I’ve been working on are my biography, writing samples and home page. As of right now I am finished with my bio page but would like to put a picture or more words in there at a later point. I am slowly getting my samples page how I’d like, but I’m not sure if my links work. My home page is atrocious right now because out of frustration I deleted what I had been working on before break, and all that’s left are buttons for Twitter and Facebook. All the other pages are what I need to work on, and I’d like to focus on how they look (white space, correct margins, content). I also need to see if my links work, because right now I have a feeling they probably don’t.

By the looks of my web page, it’s pretty obvious that I need to work on HTML, linking and making my pages look more presentable.

After tweeting for nearly three weeks, I still remain confused as to what exactly Twitter is and how it should be used. My Twitter feed has seen everything from news updates and company promotions to personal complaints and opinions, and I’m left (t)wondering what I should be posting.

Like Khouri, I’m not a fan of posting every little thing about myself for all to see, though I’ve tried that route (through complaining and updating to being completely random). It’s not that I’m uncomfortable with people following me, it’s just that I don’t really see the point of people who wouldn’t normally speak to me suddenly wanting to read what I post.

I think Twitter works best for news corporations, who can take advantage of updates sent to phones to inform their followers of various headlines and breaking news. For example, the main tweets I read come from CNN and The Associated Press because I am more interested in what’s happening nationally and globally than I am with what’s going on with the people around me.

In that vein, I also enjoy tweets from various celebrities and musicians, like Ellen DeGeneres and Coldplay, because both accounts inform me of interviews, performances and behind-the-scene action. As far as using Twitter as a personal outlet, I agree with Phantom Planet’s guitarist Darren Robinson. I don’t need to be updated minute-by-minute on someone’s life. If I want to know what someone is doing, I’ll ask them – and vice versa. I shouldn’t have to have an entire conversation with someone via tweets that clog up Twitter feeds everywhere.

I feel Twitter is best when used professionally to share links and information rather than as a virtual diary.

Samantha Alleman is a junior communications student at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, PA. She has a concentration in mass communications and especially enjoys print journalism. Samantha hopes to continue in that field after her May 2011 graduation.

Samantha currently works as an assistant copy editor for the Etownian, the college’s student-run newspaper, and as a student manager for Dining Services. Throughout the year she serves as a Peer Mentor. At the end of each semester she performs in dances with the College’s dance club, focusing mainly on jazz and Irish. During summer 2009 Samantha worked at the College as a student assistant for Special Events and Summer Programs, where she helped organize conferences, camps, concerts and weddings.

Samantha was born in York, PA. in 1989. She grew up with her mother, father, two older brothers and her twin sister. She attended Central York High School before enrolling at Elizabethtown College in 2007. In her free time, Samantha enjoys watching movies, listening to music, reading, taking photographs and sleeping.

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Samantha Alleman is a junior communications student at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. She hopes to use her concentration in mass communications to find a job within the field of print journalism after graduation. Among other hobbies, Samantha enjoys reading and listening to music. She lives in York, PA. with her parents and sister when she is not attending school.

I’m from York, PA – specifically, Manchester Township in the northwestern part of York County (I live in the development directly above Stillmeadow Park). As you can see, I’m about 10 minutes off both Route 30 and I-83. North George Street divides the district into the “west side” and the “east side.” I live on the west so we often hear very cleverly-crafted jokes about “West Side Story.”

York County is fairly big – a little over 400,000 people. We’re also fairly big in the sense that we’re not called “Yorker Porkers” for nothing… we love our fast food joints and convenience stores. That’s the Rutter’s store where I worked my senior year of high school. Their motto is “Why go anywhere else?” And the answer is: because you can. And you should.

I suppose York isn’t too bad. Every year we have the York Fair, which lasts 10 days from the end of August into September. My school always gave us a half-day during that week so we could go to the fair with our family the rest of the day. A lot of country acts give concerts at the fairgrounds. In fact, my first concert was seeing Alabama perform there.

CYHS: We take up farm land.

My high school is built on farm land. When it was first built everyone assumed it was an airport because it’s obnoxiously big. This school is only about 4 years old; the high school used to be in the city but moved when the district kept growing. Everyone jokes that we were safer in the city than we are on the farm because we’re now closer to the prison. In fact, during my junior year we had to go into lockdown because a convict escaped from the prison and was running around near our school. It didn’t actually matter that we were in lockdown since I was in lunch at the time and the entire cafeteria is window, but that’s the genius of my school district. The high school is also near the incinerator and the Codorus Creek, so I’ve often gagged from the smell while walking into the building.

It's a lie.

On the east end of York we have the Galleria Mall, but on my end we have a dilapidated little mess called the West Manchester Mall, aka “WestMan.” Year after year more stores close and the poor thing is only kept alive by the movie theater, a SuperCenter Walmart and a handful of goth and emo mallrats.

Although York has a sucky mall and questionable school districts, it’s what I’ve known for 20 years and I’m proud to call it my hometown.