Writing for New Media

As I started this class, I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew it would be about writing for the internet, but I had no idea what that meant. When we started talking about facebook the first day of class, I knew I would like it. Like most college students, I’ve been addicted to facebook and twitter for a while now. I got my twitter last year, and I am always updating my status. This class really made me understand the principles behind the website, and also how media is using twitter. it opened my eyes to a lot, and now I follow some really cool people!

The biggest thing that I learned from this class was how to blog. I already had a sports blog that I updated, but this class taught be how to use a blog as a resume. I was able to create my own website and it is something that I now share with everybody I know. I’m proud of what I accomplished, and it is something that I will consistently edit as I add more to my resume.

I was really hesitant to get a LinkedIn account when this class started. I didn’t understand the concept, and I still think it is a little interesting. I did “connect” with some of my former supervisors and will ask them for a recommendation, however I don’t think I’ll be using the website until I graduate and are actually looking for a job. As a student I don’t think there is much to offer.

As a whole, this class really helped me get a look at where media is going and what to expect when looking for a job. I knew social networking was a big thing right now, but this helped me see how it is affecting society. After creating a fan page for my mom’s business, Sheep’s in the Meadow, she now has more support for her business and she uses it to connect to people about upcoming events. She is so excited about the new possibilities, and it is all because I had to create a fan site for our class project. Seeing the success in her page was the turning point when I really saw how the internet has affected everyone.

After taking this class, I look forward to continuing what I learned in class and applying it to my life and my future career. I will admit, I’ll miss seeing #etown315 in my twitter feed, too.

For my viral marketing campaign I decided to make a facebook fan page for my mom’s business. My mom has a small business where she handmakes felted purses and scarves and other things out, and I wanted to create a fan page to get her business name out there. She already has a website, but I wanted this to be a way for her to share information with everybody about when her next shows are, and also as a way for her to connect to her audience. My goal was to get at least 75 people to become a fan/like it, and I really wanted to reach out to members of art guilds that she belongs to who are already on facebook. I thought facebook would be the best way to do this since it’s the most popular social networking site.

After having it created for a little over a week, 90 people currently like the page. My mom has added pictures to it, and I added a video I created for her business. I’m really pleased with the progress of the page, and it’s something that her and I will continue to constantly update.

To see her fan page, click here.

MY SITE

So far I am very happy with the way my site is going. I decided to do a wordpress site and buy my domain name. For me, it is the most efficient way to have a resume website since I know I’ll be able to access this after I graduate. My concern with using dreamweaver and building a site from scratch is that after I graduate I will no longer have the program to update my website. With the blog it is very simple, but there are so many possibilities to customize it so it is my own.

So far I have a page for video, audio, writing, about me and my resume. They are all completed and I can update them with new information whenever I need to. It is great because I have a lot of video projects this semester and have been able to update my blog as my class assignments progress. I don’t plan on making any other pages as of now. When I start my senior seminar page I will create a new page about that, but that will not happen until September.

The one thing I would like to learn is about the css of the page. I would like to change some of the fonts on my page, and learning css will help me accomplish that. Other then that, there is nothing that really confuses me. I’m really happy with my website, and I can’t wait to update it with more information.

Like everybody else has been saying, when I first heard of Twitter I was really confused and thought it was a terrible idea. I already posted my statuses to Facebook, so Twitter didn’t seem like anything different. If people saw my Facebook status, why would they need to see my Twitter post as well? Since I have a slight obsession with creating accounts on every popular Internet site, I finally joined the Twitterverse in March 2009.

When I first started using it, I still felt a little awkward. Not many people had a Twitter account, so I wasn’t sure of my audience. My mom was actually one of my first followers, so that eliminated the idea of me using expletives to in an angry Twitter post. She eventually stopped using Twitter, however more of my friends joined. Soon enough, I found Twitter to a place where I can share my ideas and thoughts and not be judged.

Since I’m friends with a lot of people on Facebook, I try to not update my status all the time or excessively express my opinions because I have a greater audience. On Twitter, I could say whatever I want. I’m the type of person who usually doesn’t stop talking, and I always have a lot of things to say. Twitter is an outlet where I can express what’s on my mind without having a direct person in mind to tell it too. It alleviates me sending random text messages about how excited I am about a Kansas basketball game to my mom, who really doesn’t care at all what happens in the game. I tweet all the time during sports games, and I love to break news when I hear it. Twitter allows me to get those thoughts out of my head without annoying the people around me (I do apologize to all of you who check their twitter during any sports event, I know I can get a little crazy).

Along with Twitter being an outlet for me to express my opinions, I get a lot of useful information from following other people. I’m an avid Phillies fan (you all know this by now), and I follow this one Phillies analyst named Todd Zolecki. Zolecki is always tweeting updates about the team well before the information hits the website or the media. I love hearing what’s going on in the bullpen as it’s happening and what players are saying. I also follow FOX 29 and I get a lot of breaking news from the Philadelphia area. It keeps me connected to the world. Twitter is a great way of staying in touch. Currently, I follow a lot of Olympic athletes and it’s really neat to get their twitter update right after I see them perform on TV. I feel personally connected to them, and that makes me happy.

I’ve yet to get Twitter updates sent to my phone. I already get ESPN text alerts, and other sporting news text alerts. I think Twitter would be pushing the limits on that. My phone gets enough automated texts, so Twitter would not be a good idea. Some of my friends, however, do get Twitter on their phones and this causes problems. They will then text me back a response when really I wasn’t talking to them.

The last thing I have to mention about Twitter is privacy. While I love social networking and using the Internet, I like my privacy as well. I will always keep my Twitter posts private. I don’t want the rest of the world seeing my Twitter, especially potential employers. I’m deathly afraid of stalkers, so I don’t want my life coming up online.

Now that I just wrote all of that, I’m going to go tweet about the Olympics.

Abigail Kramer is a junior communications major at Elizabethtown College, with an emphasis in mass communications. Upon graduation, she plans on producing sports games for a career, preferably in the Philadelphia area. She is expected to graduate in Spring 2011.

Abigail is currently the treasurer of Etown’s chapter of the Society of Collegiate Journalists, and she is also a tour guide for her college’s office of admissions.  She has had two internships in sports journalism. In summer 2009, Abigail worked as a sports intern at FOX 29 in Philadelphia. In Fall 2009, she was a sports intern at WGAL 8 in Lancaster, Penn. and assisted in the production of Football Friday, a show about local high school football. This upcoming summer, Abigail will be a production intern at ESPN 950 and the Fanatic sports radio station in Philadelphia. From fall 2007 to spring 200 9, Abigail worked for Etown’s student-run newspaper, the Etownian, first as the assistant opinion editor and then as the sports editor. In spring 2009 she was awarded the Betty Kaylor memorial scholarship for communications, and in 2007 she was named the Pennsylvania Scholastic Press Association Journalist of the Year.

Abigail was born on May 5, 1989, and has lived in Harleysville, Penn. her whole life. She lives on a farm with her parents and two brothers. Abigail attended Souderton Area High School and graduated in 2007. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends and dog, and she can often be found at Citizens Bank Park attending Phillies games. In her spare time, Abigail watches sports on tv and writes about them in on her blog.

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Abigail Kramer is a junior communications major at Elizabethtown College with an emphasis in mass communications. After college she plans on producing sports games in the Philadelphia area. Abigail was born on May 5, 1989 and she lives with her family in Harleysville, Penn. She enjoys hanging out with family and friends and going to Phillies games.

My hometown is small and simple. It’s nestled in a rural patch and is a nice escape from the crazy Philadelphian suburbs that surround the area. My hometown doesn’t have one specific zip code, area code, or even name, but we’re all located in one township. My hometown has only one stoplight, but nobody considers that part of our town. In my hometown we have no real Main Street, but the street we do have has a post office and a firehouse. There is also a gas station, elementary school, and a brand new local supermarket that not everybody was thrilled about. My hometown is always hard to explain. My house is lucky to be in the 215 area code, but our neighbors up the street are not as fortunate. I’m close enough to work in Philadelphia, but I live on a farm. My hometown has all the amenities of living near a large city but has every quality of small town, USA.

In my hometown, there are many crooked roads, empty fields, quaint farms, bubbly hills, and thick forests. I live in a valley at the bottom of the hill. Fred’s apple orchard occupies the land surrounding my home. Behind my barn and way behind the woods is a the Perkiomen bike trail that goes to Valley Forge, and from there can be taken to Philadelphia. Train tracks used to line the trail before they were ripped out. Many people come from far to ride it, however I rarely see the trail. My hometown used to be a train station. When little portions of the track used to still be embedded in the trail, my mom would get nervous that I would crash my bike and fall down the steep embankment. I never did crash, but I came close a few times.

In my hometown, the Perkiomen creek runs through the middle. It goes next to the trail and stretches twenty feet wide. Down the road from me is a bridge that crosses it, and every time it rains there is sure to be flooding. In my hometown, everybody goes fishing. My neighbor used to tell us that there was an expensive Koi fish in the creek and we would be millionaires if we found it. I’ve caught a few big Carp, but I never did find that Koi. The creek has always had a chocolate brown color, however that didn’t stop my brothers and I from playing in it when we were younger.

In my hometown, every face is a familiar friend. There aren’t many of us around, but we consider each other family. My hometown has a lot of helping hands, a lot of open hearts, and a lot of warm smiles. Everybody here has a first name, and everybody knows it. When news spreads around, it spreads fast in this town. When a local housing developer wanted to build 250 news houses where a run down farm was, my hometown backfired. A petition was made and everybody signed. The development was never built, and our town didn’t have to change.

In my hometown, we have a lot of traditions. We celebrate each Fourth of July with our own special parade. Children get dressed up, and local organizations made floats. I sit in the back of an old ford Falcon and my best friend and I throw candy to the spectators. The parade goes a mile down the main drag and ends at the firehouse for a picnic open to all. My hometown is so small that when somebody is missing at the parade, everybody knows. My hometown also has it’s annual Oyster Picnic held at the big white church, and later in the year near Christmas time we light the tree in the local park.

My hometown consists of my best friends. In my hometown we go fishing in the dark, hang in barns, and throw bonfires in my sheep pen. Our tires have mud on them, we play our music a little too loud, we talk about John Deeres, and s’mores are a regular meal on summer nights. The boys sip their beer and discuss car parts all night, while the girls sit and laugh at our next adventures planned. Through thick and through thin, I know I can always count on them to be at my side.

My hometown is my whole life. It’s my mother’s home-cooked meal when I need it the most, a hug from my dad after job well done, a high five from my brother after a great Phillies win, and a talk with a best friend when I’m feeling down. It’s a pick-up baseball game in my back yard, a trip with my grandma to skip rocks by the creek, a quick drive to say hi to a neighbor, and a long nap in front of the coal stove on a bitter winter night.

I have quite a few big city dreams in my life. I dream of working in sports in Philadelphia, where the stadium lights are so bright they illuminate the night sky. I dream of working around endless high skyscrapers and interacting with the city’s most exciting athletes. Philadelphia is considered my second home, however my hometown will always be where my heart is. I may not always be living there, but nothing can change my hometown.