Mind-Mapping

Below is a mind-map created for my internship at the Red Cross.  It maps out the various tasks I have to work on over the next few weeks to plan for the organization's annual fundraiser: BIG B*A*S*H.



At first, I really didn’t want to create a mind-map. I like my traditional pen and scratch piece of paper. It does’ t have to look pretty. I always make priority lists to organize my thoughts and keep myself heading in the right direction. After using the bubbl.us brainstorm and mind-map tool, I’m actually a fan of organizing my projects this way. I think this tool is best utilized for larger, long-term projects that you can map out over a span of time, making it worth your time creating it on this site. Overall, the site is easy to use, but it can become irritating as the map grows larger and you must begin rearranging all of the neatly arranged bubbles.


Although I did like this tool, I probably will stick to pen and paper for most of my planning and prioritizing needs. Usually the need to write a list strikes me when I’m away from a computer.

Wikis

How to set up a page:
It’s very easy to set up a professional Facebook page. The more difficult part is maintaining it. The best piece of advice I have for creating professional pages is to stay true to the organization it is being created for. Make sure the page reinforces the organization and is used properly and professionally. In my opinion, it’s best to come up with a plan and a direction for your page before signing on to Facebook. It’s easy to get carried away, so it’s a good idea to have a clearly defined purpose and focus to serve as inspiration.

Advice for posting:
For professional Facebook sites, I would suggest making brief status updates 1-2 times per week. This is just a general guideline -- it really depends on the specific business or organization. One thing to keep in mind is not to overwhelm your fan base with frequent updates (more than once/day), especially if they are similar to each other and/or focus exclusively on advertising. There needs to be some mixture of status updates and posts, so your fan base doesn’t get bored or annoyed by the same things day-after-day.
The Facebook professional updates I enjoy most are ones that ask a question and encourage customer feedback. The Children’s Place uses its page for promotional purposes (like coupons, sales notices, etc.), but it also frequently poses questions. Some recent status updates from TCP:

• Happy Valentine's Day from The Children's Place! How do you celebrate Valentine's Day with your little Valentines?
• You know what goes great with The Children's Place sleepwear? A bedtime story! What's your child's favorite?
• Brrr! Looks like another blizzard is heading toward the Northeast! What do your kids like to do on snow days?

Great professional FB pages:
Gap
Although its status updates can be overwhelming and tend to do a lot of advertising, the actual Facebook page and its structure are very appealing to me. They have multiple tabs the user can click through, so the page is not cluttered with different pieces of information. Overall, it is very user-friendly and promotes user-generated content. There are many videos and discussion forums that make this page stand out from other competitors. Gap also promotes many charities and had a donation campaign that donated $1 to a group of charities for every "like" on its donation status updates.

Cedar Ridge Winery & Distillery
This Facebook page focuses more on creating a positive public image, than in-your-face advertising. The page often posts photos of wine tastings and other special events that showcase what the company has to offer at its location. The main thing I really like about this page is that it isn't frequently updated, meaning someone posts maybe once or twice a week. This is infrequent when compared to larger businesses or organizations that can flood a user's News Feed with posts multiple times per day. When something is posted, it captures my attention, and I usually read it when other Facebook "spammers" get ignored.

Bad Writing

This is the trailer for the documentary called "Bad Writing." I haven't seen the film, but I have watched the trailer several times. I sort of stumbled across this while searching for other videos on YouTube for a different class. Looks interesting.

According to the film's website,

"Bad Writing is a documentary about a wannabe poet who sets off on a quest for answers about writing - bad writing, good writing, and the process in between. What he learns from some leading figures in the literary world will inspire anyone who has ever dreamt of creating art."

A Simple Photo to Share

I took this photo at Brewed Awakenings last year. This old woman had the coolest hands, and I loved her bright red shirt and pink nails. The white coffee cup and the bright red of her shirt contrast well against the wood grain and black background.

A simple photo like this is one I would probably be willing to share on Creative Commons.

Links

Below are a few of my favorite links. I usually visit these sites daily or multiple times per week.

Check them out!

• Local job-search sites -- I've gotten three in-person interviews from jobs posted on these two sites
• Iowa Jobs
• Corridor Careers
• Living Social Deals in Cedar Rapids/Iowa City -- gift certificates to local businesses for at least 50% off!
• Tidbits of Linn County. Enter their weekly drawings -- I've won almost every item.

Using Web 2.0

As a so-called “Digital Native,” I’ve grown up surrounded by technology, and technology has grown with my generation. I wonder, at what point did we graduate to Web 2.0 from Web 1.0? I have grown up with both versions, but it seems difficult to remember a time when the Web wasn’t interactive with virtual communities and user-generated content. YouTube was created less than six years ago, but the site has become so popular for entertainment (and even educational purposes) that it is difficult to remember the days before the site was launched into the internet Hall of Fame.

 So, how do I use Web 2.0? Like many others, I have various social networking accounts – LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. I have the ability to check and/or update each one of these sites from my Blackberry or iTouch. Of my various social networking accounts, I only regularly use Facebook. The other accounts have been started, but not expanded upon. With all this talk about limiting one’s digital footprint and monitoring what is said on the internet, I think I’ve become somewhat hesitant to explore these accounts more in-depth.

It is easy to assume, since I am a “Digital Native,” that I have some vast technological knowledge. As I prepare to graduate this spring and begin applying for jobs, I seem to be finding out just how unprepared I am for the jobs created just for “Digital Natives” and Gen Y. I wonder what constitutes proficiency in a computer program, application, or other form of technology. At what point does one become knowledgeable enough in a program to be able to list it on his or her resume?

Of course there are other aspects to Web 2.0 other than the popular social media sites. However, I have had no desire to create a blog and add to the unending digital diarrhea that has flooded the internet and my Google search results (the new search engine Bing! has a point in the phrase “What has search-overload done to us?”). This should be interesting.

Web 2.0 Interests

Today, we live in a world dominated by the internet and social media. The New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year in 2009 was Unfriend (v. To remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook). Though I feel comfortable creating and maintaining a Facebook site (public or private), I don’t have a lot of experience with other social media sites, such as Twitter. How relevant has Twitter become in the professional world? Is “tweeting” a new skill I should acquire before entering the professional world? What do employers want to see from me?

Although Marc Prensky would call me a “Digital Native,” I have felt somewhat out-of-the-loop as of late. A few college courses have challenged my technological abilities, but I have rarely challenged myself to learn new things, especially after the classes have been completed and technology has continued to advance. I really want to gain a broad understanding of the various technological tools expected of many new grads. Perhaps one of the best qualities of my generation is the ability to learn and adapt to new forms of technology quickly and eagerly. Although I do not necessarily place myself in the same league as other “Digital Natives,” I am eager to learn and am easily self-taught based on my various experiences growing up with different forms of technology.

A top priority for me this semester, is to gain a better understanding of the marketing, PR, and advertising qualities of social media and other various online tools for internet marketing. I have seen many recent job postings related to online marketing, and it seems this has turned into a very viable career opportunity for “Digital Natives.”