Let's advertise to each other

Let’s face it. No one likes ads. We don’t watch commercials or pay attention to those annoying little pop up ads anymore. Advertisers are realizing this. Here’s the good news: they are pulling away from those annoying little ads. Here’s the bad news: now they’re making us advertise for them, and we don’t even realize it.

Companies are now using viral marketing which is becoming a more effective way to advertise a product or idea. Advertisers are done trying to get the word out to everyone at once, they’re finding it more effective to tell a few people about an idea and step back to let it spread. If a few people tell their friends, and those people tell their friends, and those people tell their friends, this idea has reached hundreds of people.

It may sound as if advertisers aren’t doing their job. Some people might see viral marketing as the easy way out, but it is not as simple as it appears. Companies can’t tell a few people “Go tell your friends to buy Pepsi” and expect it to spread. Viral marketing takes careful planning and creativity. Spreadable ads need to be funny or interesting, something people actually want to look at. Companies also need to carefully plan who to send the information to first. The first group needs to be made up of people who would enjoy it so much they would pass it on to their friends.

Finding the right group
The first group that will see and potentially spread the ad is important. A Pepsi ad will most likely not be spread if given to a group from Atlanta, Georgia (where the Coca Cola factory is located.) Warner Bros. and Universal Orlando resort knew how to target the message of “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” an interactive theme park in Orlando devoted to the Harry Potter phenomenon (opening 2010.) Instead of promoting the plans through mainstream media, the two companies decided to use the viral method. The first people to hear about it: Potter fans; seven fans to be exact. Orland Studios selected just seven members from Harry Potter fan sites to leak the news of the upcoming park. Those seven people started a chain that would alert the world of the project. This is a fine example of choosing the right starting audience. If Orlando studios had chosen seven random people from Facebook, the news might not have spread. Since it chose an audience that would be enthusiastic about the plans, the word was spread.

Making it interesting
Companies are realizing the power of YouTube. Some home-made YouTube videos are more popular and influential than the expensive commercials on T.V. Companies are starting to make their own funny and interesting YouTube videos to promote their products. BlendTec’s internet show “Will it Blend” gained popularity through its interesting videos in which a man uses a blender to destroy common household objects. The videos were funny and people shared it with their friends. But in reality, the YouTube videos they were watching were ads for BlendTec’s new line of blenders.

Other companies will put out an entire website to gain popularity. Burger King made a website that was a man in a chicken suit that could be controlled by the website’s visitor. People were entertained by the site and told their friends about it. This website turned out to be an ad for Burger King’s new chicken sandwich.

Clearly, viral marketing is working. Ordinary people are becoming the advertisers and it’s actually working. Personally, I think it’s a good thing. Consumers are choosing what products should become popular rather than the companies. Nobody is forcing us to pass these ads around. In a way, this gives more power to Gen Y. We’re basically choosing what ads to show the world. So, I guess I’ll join the viral marketing band wagon by passing this along, enjoy:

Look at me, I'm goal oriented!

Brazen Careerist is a website that Gen Y can join which will connect them to potential employers through their blog. The company is run by a business woman named Penelope Trunk who helps companies hire young people who have a blog on the website. Trunk believes that people who blog on Brazen Careerist make for better employees because they are more connected to the world and dedicated to being a part of the community than other Millennials. The website also helps students and employers get to know each other better. By reading blogs instead of resumes, employers can get to know what type of person they are hiring. Blogs do say a lot about a person.

I think it’s a smart plan, and I may make a profile later on. Perhaps it’s good for employers to read candidates blogs. A resume could list a dozen service projects that a person only did because her parents made her. A blog about how helping the poor should be America’s top priority says a lot more about a person’s true character.

My only complaint about the site is it’s a little too exaggerated. It’s full of mission statements claiming that the people on Brazen Careerist are changing the world. It’s true that Gen Y will lead the world in the future, but right now, we’re still students and we’re still learning, so just tone it down a bit. Other than that, this seems like a very valuable tool for any young person looking for a job.

If a man can become famous for loving Brittney, why not gain fame for loving wine?

I’ve never really understood wine enthusiasts. Swirling, sniffing, and examining the color of a beverage just seems unnecessary to me. You don’t see people do that with Pepsi. I always picture the stereotypical image of a wine enthusiast: a millionaire in a top hat and monocle sniffing a glass of Chardonnay. “Ahh, a fine year.” But this blog isn’t about wine enthusiasts, just one in particular. Gary Vaynerchuk is not the typical wine enthusiast. He doesn’t hang out at yacht clubs, but you can always find him on the World Wide Web.

Vaynerchuk grew up in New Jersey. His Russian parents owned a wine store there and so he took an interest in wine at a young age. Since he was underage, he got acquainted with the flavors that went into wine such as grapes, wood, grass, dirt, and an assortment of exotic fruits. He took over his parents wine business as an adult, and currently has more than 80,000 fans and has appeared on talk shows and news programs and has been written about in numerous magazines and online newspapers. How did this New Jersey wine lover gain such fame? Social Media.

He started broadcasting a podcast on a website called Wine Library T.V. In his online videos, fellow wine lovers can watch him discuss new wines, sample wines, and give tips on buying wine. He has made more than 600 episodes of his wine show. How did he gain so much popularity? Apparently there are more wine enthusiasts out there than we thought. Maybe some people just like his delivery. He is very gestural and passionate about his subject, not the typical stuffy millionaire. Perhaps this is how to gain fame on the web: having interesting personalities and going against what is expected.

I still question his popularity. I can’t imagine watching 24 minutes of a guy talking about wine without being bored, but the internet works in strange ways. It’s hard to tell how any online video gains popularity, but apparently Vaynerchuk knew the way. He stands as another example of the power of the web and social media.

How to become famous, without really trying

With new technology, mainly the internet, the world is becoming a more social place. Many argue that technology is actually taking away from social interaction and in a way it is, but it is not taking away from communication; it’s just gone digital.

Life before the internet
Say you go on a family vacation to Hawaii and you take a picture of your brother doing a crazy dance on the beach. When you get home, you would have the picture developed and maybe frame it so the rest of the family could see. You might take the picture to school or work to show your friends and tell them about your trip. Total amount of people who have access to the picture: about 30.

Life after the internet
You go on the same trip and take the picture of your brother. You upload the picture to Facebook or Flicker. Number of people who have access to the picture: millions.

As individuals, we have a lot more power to reach people now than we ever had in the past. This is from the rise in social media with such sites as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Flicker, and Blogger. Before the internet, if I wrote a poem and wanted people to read it, it could take years to get it published in a book of poetry and then the only people with access to it would be the ones who bought the book. With social sites such as Facebook or Blogger, I can publish my poem minutes after I write it and have it read by at least 100 people. That’s power that we often take for granted.

Social media is good for society because it puts the power of information where it belongs: with the people. We are no longer being told what to believe by major media corporations, we are now communicating with each other and forming our own opinions as well as the power to influence the companies that once controlled us. Social media allows people to unite even across a nation. When Amazon.com removed gay and lesbian themed books from its top list, the people responded with a nation-wide protest on Twitter. One company’s action that would have gone unnoticed by mainstream media became the topic of the news only because so many people were already reporting it. In a way, the general population is now telling mainstream media what to report. YouTube videos have been aired on national news just because of online popularity. YouTube videos have even been parodied on popular T.V. shows such as Robot Chicken and The Simpsons.

Original video

Simpsons parody

Social media is making stars out of everyday people. Waiting to be noticed by a talent scout is no longer required. Anyone with a webcam could end up being the next YouTube star. The popular video “Charlie bit my finger” was a home video shot by a proud mother, but now Charlie and his older brother have millions of fans and imitators. YouTube has made people stars for things most talent agents would scoff at: dressing up as a ninja and answering questions (Ask a ninja), protesting the ill treatment of Brittney Spears (Chris Crocker), and making a sexy music video about Barack Obama (Obama girl.)

Social media does have some downsides. It allows easier access to pirated material. YouTube faced a lawsuit when users posted clips from their favorite shows. Social media also makes rumors easier to spread. Dominos Pizza faced consequences when two of its employees posted a video of themselves doing unsanitary things with the pizza ingredients on YouTube. The company received numerous complaints and many customers vowed to never eat at Dominos again. The rogue employees claimed it was just a prank but Dominos still got a taste of the power of social media.

Despite its downsides, social media plays a beneficial role in keeping the world informed, entertained and connected. Mainstream media is using social media to connect with its readers through Twitter to better understand what people want in their news. Companies are using social media to advertise their products, and around the world, more and more people are connecting with the millions already logged on.

Make fans, not consumers

Gen Y is done looking at ads. We know every trick. We’ve seen every advertising method. Most of us don’t even watch commercials anymore, especially with the channel return button and now TiVo. As for print: who actually reads magazine ads? Don’t most of us quickly flip through them until we find what we’re actually interested in? Well, the companies who put these ads out are starting to realize this. At the recent “Ad Age’s Digital Conference” in New York, a financier named Fred Wilson shone light on the younger generation’s lack of interest in advertisements. He believes in order to be effective, advertising needs to be “earned” not “paid.” This means that instead of paying to have ads on T.V., agencies need to earn Gen Y’s trust through Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and other online social networks.

Some companies, such as Burger King and Kogi BBQ, have gotten a jump start on this new philosophy. Recently, Burger King launched the Whopper Sacrifice campaign on Facebook. Apparently if you deleted 10 people from your friend list, Burger King would reward you with a free Whopper. It may sound silly, but it worked. About 233,906 people were de-friended with the application. I’m sure one could re-friend them later, but honestly; would you want to be friends with a person who dumped you for a pound of meat? A less cruel use of social networking has been Kogi BBQ in Los Angeles which alerts its Twitter followers where their traveling Korean taco trucks are going to be next.

Is this new way of advertising efficient? I think so. Companies know they need to advertise online and pop-up ads aren’t cutting it. Companies still need to inform us about their product but in a way that does not look like a commercial. I know, in a way we are being deceived. By deleting ten friends for a free Whopper we are allowing advertisement to reach us. But with an ad savvy generation, this is the only method that works. We may not watch commercials anymore but if we see an application on Facebook for free food we’re hooked. Companies have to earn our trust with deals and free things on social networks, we become fans of the company and then we will eventually buy our own Whoppers or whatever they’re selling. The days of buying ads are gone, as Fred Wilson said: companies need to earn their publicity.

Radio gets gate jumped

The new millennium is definitely the age of citizen journalism and free speech. Instead of relying on the big names of the media, individuals are taking charge and broadcasting their own ideas. In the age of information and technology, people are equipped with more tools to share their ideas with the world. Bloggers don’t wait to be published in the newspaper, Youtube fans don’t wait to be aired on T.V., and now podcasters are doing their own radio shows.

Podcasting is a relatively new creation. The technology was there, but podcasting did not surface until 2004 when the Apple IPod became popular and songs were sent to users’ music players via the internet. This came to be known as “podcasting,” a combination of “IPod” and “broadcasting.” A person can subscribe to a certain podcaster (such as ITunes) and receive audio files when the podcaster provides them. Podcasts come in an RSS feed that are read by a podcatcher, a computer program that translates podcasts into accessible MP3 audio formats. One website simplified the process: in order to create a podcast you must create an audio file, “add the audio file to an RSS 2.0 feed,” and then “tell the world about your podcast.”

Podcasting has expanded since the first IPod. Innovators realized that podcasting could do more than allow music lovers to download songs. Podcasts could distribute information and allow people to broadcast their opinions to the world. Today, there’s a podcast for just about everything from celebrity interviews to information about diabetes. Common podcasts include informational content, audio instruction manuals, news stories and commentaries, talk shows, and storytelling for children and the vision impaired. Many podcasts cater to a certain group of people such as vegetarians who tune in to hear the latest recipes, religious groups who want to learn more about their faith, or baseball fans who want information about all their favorite players.

Anyone can podcast. Big news names such as MSNBC and ABC have their own professional news podcasts, but you can also listen to high school freshmen debating which Family Guy episode was the funniest of all time. Podcasts not only let people listen to a variety of subjects, they let computer users listen to a variety of people. This lets people who don’t have the “radio voice” be able to share their opinions with the everyone. Podcasting does a lot for citizen journalism and free speech because anyone can broadcast their actual voice to anyone who’ll listen.

Although broadcast radio is the medium being gate jumped by this new technology, podcasts can never replace the convenience of the radio. Podcasts can be played on portable MP3 players, but since they need to be downloaded first, radio is still the choice medium for music and talk radio anywhere anytime. People are still going to listen to the radio on their way home from work. Podcasts can be beneficial to the radio industry. When a particular podcaster gains popularity online, radio stations can gain listeners by putting that particular individual on the air. So, although news websites are causing newspapers to fall, podcasts and the radio can exist peacefully.

Graphic designer for hire

Here's something that caught my interest:

-- The Harrison (AR) Daily Times seeks a page designer who has exceptional graphic skills and artistic flare, and can work with the news and ad staffs to create pages that set a high standard; must know Quark and PhotoShop, while background with InDesign and NewsEdit Pro is a big plus. Work samples and resume to Carol Lawson, Box 40, Harris, AR 72603-0040 or e-mail for more information to carol@commpub.com.
(3/30)

The job is for the Harrison Daily Times, located in Harrison, Arkansas. It is owned by Neighborhood Newspapers also known as Community Publishers, which owns several small town newspapers in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

The job interested me because it was looking for a graphic designer with "artistic flare." Creativity is one of my qualities that I value most. The ad also grabbed my attention because they were looking for designers who were familiar in Photoshop and QuarkExpress, which are the two programs I'm most comfortable with. They also looked for a background with InDesign which is the program I used when I was on yearbook staff in high school.

The thing I can do at Lindenwood to prepare myself for a career in graphic design is to take as many design courses as I can and familiarize myself with InDesign and NewsEdit Pro. The best way to get a job as a designer is to learn as many programs as possible because that will make my resume more appealing to possible employers.

Come up with new tricks

Generation Y makes up a significant percentage of spending power in the United States. We spend up to $150 billion per year as a group. It is understandable that this number is so high. Gen Y is the largest generation since the Baby Boomers, and since the majority of us are still financially supported by our parents (either partially or entirely,) we have a lot of disposable income. Since we have such an impact on the economy, we are the main target for almost every company out there.

One main difference between the Baby Boomers and Gen Y is the amount of advertising we grew up with. Since preschool we have watched commercials on every channel telling us to buy things. We fell for the false promises in grade school, but those years of experience have made us more media savvy than previous generations. Some of us even took classes in high school to learn the major components of advertising. This has produced a generation that is more mistrustful of the ads on T.V. We no longer care about celebrity endorsements, flashy commercials, or other old tricks. This is causing a bit of a panic in some major companies such as Nike, Pepsi, and Levi’s Jeans who are loosing a lot of their younger customers. All of them are currently adjusting their sales methods to reconnect with their target audience.

Gen Y is plugged into the internet. Most of us spend our free time chatting online or exploring each other’s pages on Facebook. Companies that wish to connect with teens need to log in as well. Flashy pop-up ads, however, will not get our attention. Pop-up blockers make sure we don’t have too look at them, and those that do seep through will only be greeted with a scowl or an eye-roll before being closed. Get a domain name and hire some web designers. Gen Y likes a company with a good website and one that accepts feedback from its customers is even better. It shows us that the company is more interested in customer satisfaction; not just making money.

Gen Y has a heart. Studies show that teens are more likely to buy products if the company donates some of the proceeds to a charitable cause. A study from 2000 found that 91% of teens valued companies and products that supported a good cause, and 89% of them would switch to brands associated with a good cause. The recent popularity of Green products shows that today’s teens are still enthusiastic about making the world a better place.

Getting support from Gen Y requires more than a T.V. ad. Waiting for us to come buy your product is not the road to take anymore. If you want our attention, you have to come to us. Go to malls, skate parks, concerts, and college campuses and use contests and promotions to get attention. A lot of companies are even using “street teams” to gain Gen Y loyalty. “Street teams” are young employees who to go popular teen hang-outs to promote products, and get feedback on what is popular and what teens want in a product.

T.V. commercials aren’t dead yet. Teens will still pay attention to certain ads. Serious commercials that use celebrities or cool images to promote their products are ignored. Gen Y responds to humor and parodies. Sprite and Arizona Jeans actually parody the traditional serious or gimmicky ads in some of their commercials which has actually boosted sales from Gen Y customers. Commercials that make us laugh stick with us. We’ll even watch an hour’s worth of funny ads on TBS’s annual World’s Funniest Commercials.



Gen Y may be harder to reach with our general distrust of major companies, but we’re still reachable. We know all the old tricks of the ad agencies, but trying some new methods is sure to get our attention.

A World of Pirates

Put the word “free” in front of anything and we’re interested. CDs and DVDs can be expensive, but it doesn’t take much effort to get the same quality for free. The word for this is “pirating.” Like the pirate crews of the 17th century, modern pirates steal precious, very valuable treasure, but instead of stealing spices from the East India Trading Company, modern pirates are searching for movies and music on the internet.

Music

Music pirating has been around a little longer than movie pirating. Music pirates of the 80’s were a bit more innocent than the ones today. Teenagers held microphones up to radios to record songs to a cassette tape and friends would often share cassettes using the same method. The low quality was good for personal use, but was not something that could be sold to the masses. Today, internet pirates can download thousands of songs from an illegal provider who either gives them away for free, or sells them for a lower price. The number of music pirates is rapidly increasing. Studies show that 95% of teens illegally download music from the internet, and only 1 in 20 music downloads is legally paid for.

The numbers are even higher in China. Music pirating is so prominent that many major stores sell pirated CDs. Since pirates sell their CDs at a lower price, 95% of all music sales in China are from pirated music (which is why Chinese musicians make much less money than American artists.)

There are several ways that the music industry and the federal government are trying to put a stop to this pirating. One way is by putting out advertising against it. Obviously it takes more than a commercial to deter the masses (youtube is full of spoofs) which is why the government is increasing the penalty for pirating. Suspicious downloads can be monitored and illegal downloaders are being faced with heavy fines. If one is caught, he or she can end up paying a fine of $5,000, or $750 per song. That $1 download on iTunes is starting to look pretty good. But since only a small percentage of pirates are caught, illegal downloads continue to be a problem.

Movies

The number of illegal movie downloads is just as high as that of music. More than 25 million Americans have illegally downloaded a full length movie. One way to understand this trend is to analyze the way people view the issue. One study shows that while 78% of the people surveyed thought that stealing a DVD from a store was a “serious offense,” only 40% of them thought that downloading the same movie from the internet was also a crime. Perhaps the mentality is: the greater the risk of being caught, the more serious the crime. If this were the case, would robbing a convenience store two blocks away from a police station be worse than robbing one two miles from one?

Many people believe that since the movie business is so rich, it doesn’t matter if it loses a little money from an illegal download. Researchers call this the “Robin Hood Effect.” People fail to realize the combined effect movie pirating has on the industry. $1.49 billion is lost in output, $903 million is lost in earnings, and 22,986 jobs are lost (MPAA). Hollywood producers aren’t the only ones benefiting from movie sales after all. With the economy the way it is today, those 22,986 jobs would be very beneficial.

Peer Pressure

In my opinion, movie and music pirating is so wide spread not because it’s cheap, but because it’s cool. High school and college students talk about downloading new music and movies in daily conversation. In fact during dinner this evening some of my friends were discussing movies they wanted to download. I have also had friends trying to get me to download movies, “You don’t have to pay money to see it, Christine, look: this site will let you watch it for free.” When did paying for media become uncool? Just like with alcohol and cigarettes, peer pressure can have a powerful effect. The percentage of music and movie pirates would not be as high if people didn’t promote it. So if you regularly download music and movies illegally, I’m not asking you to stop because you probably wouldn’t listen to me anyway. All I ask is that you stop encouraging your friends to do the same. One less pirate can mean one more job for a legal movie distributor.

One of us

Flip open a magazine. What do you see? Flawless skin, perfectly toned bodies, perfect cleavage, perfect teeth, perfect hair, perfect everything. Right? Now look in the mirror and look at your family members and friends. Now what do you see? Flat chests, flabby stomachs, dark circles under the eyes, and lines everywhere. We all think the same thing: Why can’t I look like the stars in the magazine. So we buy gallons of concealer and foundation, pay money for Botox injections, or sulk on the couch with a paper bag over our head. I’ve got a newsflash for you: You are wasting your time and money! I’m not being insensitive saying that you’re so ugly you can never reach model standards; I am saying that there are no model standards because models look just like us. Models know how to hide who they really are. They have the power to hide wrinkles, lines, dark circles, pimples, and flab, and make their boobs, eyes, and butts bigger all at the same time. But they aren’t magicians; Photoshop is.

Generation Y knows the power of Photoshop. Most millennials own the program and dabble with it to add effects to their favorite pictures, but most forget that Photoshop is the most important tool to the ad and magazine industries. We continue to see the flawless bodies as a reality. Many people who do photo touch-ups claim that their method only enhances the natural beauty that a person possesses. As an avid Photoshopper myself, I see this declaration to be false. Changing the color tone of the photo and adjusting the brightness and the contrast are ways to bring out the natural beauty of the picture, as well as the person in it. Erasing wrinkles, lengthening eyelashes, and shrinking waist-lines are not bringing out the natural beauty of the photo or the person. Such extreme alterations, in my opinion, cause the image to cease being a photograph, and transform it into a computer generated piece of artwork. It is based on a real person, but it is no longer a photographic depiction of one.

Look at the picture below.

It is a Photoshopped picture of a woman, a computer generated piece of artwork. We know that no real person looks like this. The image is altered. We should think the same things when we see a photo such as this:

If you still don’t believe that most models have the same “imperfections” that we do, check out this website: http://www.glennferon.com/portfolio1/index.html . Click on any of these ad models and mouse over his or her picture to see who he or she really is. I guarantee some of them will make you feel a lot better about yourself.

Sickened by society’s deception of beauty yet? If none of this has upset you yet, maybe this will:
You’re never too young for a touch-up. Apparently children face a standard of beauty as well. With mobs of pageant moms training their tiny tots to be the future Miss America, many of them are turning to photo touch-up specialist to get their daughters noticed. Slathering their three-year-olds with make-up just isn’t cutting it anymore. Check out this website for a pageant photo touch-up company. (Mouse over the pictures to see the real children vs. the perfect pageant girls.) http://www.thephotoenhancer.com/example1.htm

As a future graphic designer, I know that I will most likely be forced to do such hideous alterations. In an effort to avoid this, I don’t plan on becoming a designer for any major ad companies or fashion magazines. I understand the impact such modified images has on people, especially women. For those of you suffering from low self esteem, remember: models are one of us, only they feel the need to hide behind a mask.

A New Low in Scams

“Hello, I have a lot of money, but need some American money to get into the country. Please give me your credit card number and I will give you half of my money. Thank you, and God Bless.”

That’s one e-mail that’s getting deleted. It’s true, not all scammers are geniuses. Some e-mails you receive might as well have a flashing “This is a scam” sticker. But, unfortunately, scammers are upping their game and finding new and craftier ways to get what they want: your money.

People have been stealing from other people since the dawn of time. Pick-pockets slipped into coin purses at the Coliseum, Jesse James hijacked trains to steal from the wealthy passengers, and banks have experienced hold ups since they first opened. Theft is not a modern concept. Modern technology, however, has made theft much easier than it used to be. Thieves once needed agility and weapons to steal whatever money a person had on them and the chances of getting caught were fairly high. Now, a crafty thief, using a false identity, can steal thousands of dollars from a stranger without ever leaving their home, making their chances of getting caught slim to none.

There are many strategies scammers use: fake companies falsely hiring, emails pretending to be a bank or other well known company, and yes, e-mails pretending to be a wealthy foreigner willing to give up millions of dollars for a credit card number. But just recently, scammers have broken away from e-mails and have logged on to Facebook as their newest source of income.

Read Write Web, reports that scammers are sending false notifications to Facebook users claiming they violated the terms of service and are having their page investigated. When the user clicks on the link, they are redirected to a page which requires them to fill out personal information to save their profile.

Why Facebook? It seems pretty obvious. Typical Facebook users are either in high school or college. This age group is focused on socializing and making friends. Facebook is a major social connection for many teens and young adults. Not only are these new Facebook scammers preying on younger more naïve minds, they’re also preying on social butterflies who would do anything to save their Facebook page if they thought it was going to be erased.

While Facebook is working hard to ensure such scams are erased from its site, this incident should stand as a reminder that nothing online is completely trust-worthy and personal info like credit card information should be heavily guarded. These Facebook scammers may have been thwarted, but they will be back in some other form. As more people surf the web, new thieves join the thousands of scammers already logged on.

Money > News?

The newspaper is dying. That fact is evident. We might assume that this recent trend is due to a growing interest in the World Wide Web. We would be correct in this assumption. Younger generations prefer to get their news from websites such as Google or Yahoo than run to the nearest vending machine for a newspaper. But I learned that this is not the only cause for the paper’s demise.

I was fortunate to attend a lecture from news journalist Bob Wigginton at my last Survey of Professional Media class. Wigginton explained recent trends that have contributed to the downfall of our oldest news source as well as how this unfortunate fate will effect the future of journalism as well as the world.

The internet is indeed a reason for a fall in newspaper sales, but it is not the only knife in journalism’s back. Another reason for a decline in newspaper journalism is actually the corporate take-over of news companies. Large corporations are not selling newspapers to keep the masses informed. The CEOs are only interested in one thing: $ $ $. If they don’t reach their sell goal, they panic, believing they have lost thousands of dollars. “They’re not really loosing money,” Wigginton explained, “They just aren’t making as much as they wanted to.”

When he said this, I couldn’t help thinking about my father’s former boss. My dad works as a carpenter. He is one of the best in St. Louis, and I'm not saying this because he is my father. His talent and attention to detail has been admired and acknowledged by employers and clients for many years. Unfortunately, one of his employers was more interested in making money than building good houses. When my dad took time out of his workday to make sure a door was hung perfectly or that the wood grain on the crown molding matched the chair rail, he would be scolded for "causing the company to loose money." My dad was "wasting time" and "time is money." His employer believed money was more important than quality. This philosophy caused his houses to have crooked doors and poor wiring. His construction company is currently struggling to stay in business.

This same situation is occurring in newspaper companies. In their quest to make more money, greedy executives are laying off thousands of journalists. This is causing a decrease in the quality of the hard news stories which further promotes the decrease in sales. So, don't always blame the internet for the fall of the newspaper; blame greed.

Building Sibley Day

I know when the concept of Sibley Day was announced, there was a portion of the student body who thought: No School? Sweet. Wait, you want me to attend a seminar? Yeah right. I was not one of those people. I thought the concept was a wonderful idea and I planned on attending several activities.

I ended up attending two. The first was a lecture on making the most out of a resume. That was helpful (no, I’m not being sarcastic, it really was a good use of my time.) The second one was less clear on the pamphlet: “Art - a found objects sculpture happening.” I didn’t know what it was about, but I knew it was about art, therefore, I would like it.

It was outside by the flag pole near Roemer. When I approached the spot, there were several people securing a wooden arch to the ground. Next to it was a large assortment of random objects: traffic cones, computer parts, toys, decorations, wire, bike parts, a sink, plastic bottles, pipes, etc. The small crowd of art majors that had gathered was overjoyed when we were told we were all going to make our own sculptures with the objects and attach them to the wooden arch.

Everyone scrambled around nailing and cutting and wiring things together. I spent a good portion of my time sculpting a fisherman out of a tennis ball and a Dr. Pepper bottle. After attaching it to a lifejacket that was already nailed to the arch, I helped other artists with their projects.

The small crowd of artists grew larger as the time went by. We even attracted a fairly decent crowd of spectators. Working on this sculpture was so exciting. I was happy to be a part of it. I thought making this, and working with my hands was much better than sitting in a seminar. I’m not saying the seminars were bad. Many of them sounded interesting, but coincided with the sculpture time. I really felt like I was celebrating Sibley Day to the fullest by participating in this event. And every time I walk past that glorious arch, I feel a sense of pride knowing I put I piece of myself into it.
My own contribution: Tennis Ball Fisherman

So you want to be a journalist

If the world of journalism and being a reporter fascinates you, grab a back pack; you’ll be in college for the next 4+ years learning the tricks of the trade. Or you could simply grab your lap top in the next four minutes and blog about anything you want. Granted, you will not be considered a “professional,” but it doesn’t take much to make a person a “citizen journalist.”

You may have acted as a citizen journalist without even realizing it. Like to blog about current events on your free time? Congratulations, you have participated in citizen journalism. A lot of things you do on the internet can be classified as citizen journalism as well. The article you wrote for Wikipedia, those videos you post on youtube, even those comments you leave on your favorite news site can all be classified as citizen journalism. Even your vacation footage can end up becoming a part of the citizen media collection. On September 11, 2001, when the first plane hit the tower, there were no news crews anywhere near the area. The footage of the first attack was shot by regular people with home video cameras.


Citizen journalism allows all people to express their opinions and share information with the world. It is a wonderful tool, especially for women and minorities (who are often over looked in the professional journalism world) as well as teenagers and college students, to have their voices heard.

If you’re looking for your fifteen minutes of fame, keep in mind that very few citizen journalists will have their name recognized for their contributions. With the billions of blogs on the web, your chances of standing out are pretty slim. Although, at times anonymity can be used to your advantage. Bloggers of controversial subjects are able to create a false screen name to protect themselves from their objectors. On very rare occasions, some citizen journalists can be famous. The most famous citizen journalist right now is probably “Joe the Plummer” who is currently in the Middle East “reporting” for an online news site. If fame is what you seek as a citizen journalist, wait for the next presidential election and become a candidate’s poster child first.

But in all seriousness, citizen journalism has its critics. Most criticism comes from reporters and journalists, people who went to college and studied journalism. Of course they criticize citizen journalism. They get paid for their expertise and if people prefer to get their Middle East reports from a plumber, they loose a portion of their audience. While traditional media will give us reliable facts, professional journalists should not disregard the citizen reports as uneducated babble from journalist wannabes. Any news station can deliver the facts about Hurricane Katrina: How did it happen? What was the cost of the damage? What is the government doing as a response? But it is the ordinary citizens who can deliver the emotional side: What was it like to loose a home? How are you receiving help? Did your friends suffer similar loss?

The events we see on the news affect every person in a different way. Citizen journalism allows everyone’s viewpoints to be heard. Not all media is blind to this fact. MSNBC actually has a webpage that gives ordinary people topics to blog about such as the war in Iraq. This major news corporation understands that citizen journalism doesn’t take jobs away from professional journalists, it simply gives us a broader view of current events.

Return to the Tribe: a Marshall McLuhan theory

Among many of Marshall McLuhan’s media theories is the theory of the Global Village. This is a theory about how the media makes our world more connected and shortens the distance between all people.

Most people might assume this new closeness is due to new advances in transportation (jets that travel over 200 miles per hour) and technology (video phones), but the media plays a bigger role in this new global closeness than we might realize. How did we find out about Hurricane Katrina? Flood victims did not call us on the telephone to let us know what was happening, media did. If one city suffers a tragedy, the entire planet can know about it while it is happening simply by turning on their televisions or computers.

Marshall McLuhan’s global village theory says that before media, ancient man depended on each other to survive, forming tribes. As humans grew more civilized they began to write: books, newspapers, magazines. According to McLuhan, “print is the technology of individualism.” McLuhan favored print media because it allows humans to remain individuals. When electronic media emerged, McLuhan said humans took steps backward into the same interdependent tribes of pre-history.

According to McLuhan’s theory, the more technologically advanced we become in our media, the more primitive we become. How is this possible? When humans depended upon tribes for their survival, they shared similar beliefs. If one tribe member experienced a tragedy, the whole tribe learned and responded in the same manner. How did they learn about it? Audio. They heard someone tell them about the tragedy. This same thing takes place in this new Global Village (Tribe.) One person suffers a tragedy, and it is broadcast to the world. How do we learn about it? Audio. We hear the newscaster deliver the news on T.V. Hearing the news requires little effort on our part.

Now, in an individualistic society, in a time after pre-history and before the radio, people got their news from print. Not everybody heard the news at exactly the same time. Everyone read it on his or her own time. It required more than simply hearing about it, it was visual. Receiving the news required people to read the text, comprehend what was being said in writing, and seeing it gave people the option to reread it for complete understanding. With the news process being so long as it was, it gave people more time to think about it and form their own thoughts on the subject instead of having it jammed down their throats while it’s happening. This is why Marshall McLuhan believed print to be the media of the more civilized individual man.

But, is being part of a tribe really all that bad? Yes, McLuhan believed electronic media makes humans dependent on one another, which in a way it does. But in a positive light, our smaller world has contributed to more peace negotiations and understanding. It connects people who might have been enemies in an individualistic society. All forms of media have good and bad qualities which is why we can’t just depend on one form. Yes, watch the news on T.V. and surf the web, but don’t forget about the wisdom that can be gained from a book or newspaper. “The medium is the message.” Don’t limit yourself to just one.

Way to spice up a web search, Google

Generation Y, we've all used it: Google. We all can recognize that familiar simple yet colorful logo when we surf the web. Heck, we've turned it into a verb.

Have you ever gone on the site and seen something different?

Yes, it's usually something clever for Christmas or Easter and just recently, election day.

Have you other logged on to see something like this?

Now, most millennials don't really stop to appreciate the creative logo tweak because, let's face it, we go to Google to find things on the web, not look at artwork right? Well, before you hit that search button, maybe you should appreciate that pretty little "Google doodle" (as they've been affectionately called by the creators.)

I came across this lovely little article called “30 Google Doodles We Love: Could Your Kid’s be Next?” The title caught my attention because Google is such a familiar company and as an art major, “Doodles” caught my attention as well. The purpose of the article was to announce a competition for school children to design the next altered logo, but before it announced the guidelines, it took some time to analyze some “Google doodles” from the past ten years.

You may not realize it, but most Google doodles have a reason behind them. Christmas, Easter, Veterans Day, etc. Those ones are obvious. Google Doodles often recreate pieces of art in the logo design.

It may seem like a clever design, but it is also a tribute to the original artist. Logos inspired by artists like Michelangelo, Picasso, and Munch are used on the birthdays of such people.

Google also celebrates the birthdays of other historical people such as Albert Einstein, Gaston Julia (the mathematician who devised equations for fractals), Louis Braille, Ray Charles, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Google even takes the time to celebrate the anniversaries of historical events such as the 50th anniversary of understanding DNA, the 50th anniversary of Sputnik (the first man-made orbiting satellite), and also the 50th anniversary of NASA.

What is it that makes Google different from other media? There are hundreds of other search engines on the internet. Most of them contain other pictures and text on the page besides the search engine. Often the pictures and text deal with recent news stories, shopping tips, or sports news. You’ll never see a tribute to a famous artist or scientist.

Even with a simple logo change, Google reminds us where we’ve come from. If it wasn’t for great people like Einstein our world would be much different. While other media are glorifying current events, Google is glorifying history.

So, thank you, Google, for taking the time to remind us of our past as well as giving us something pretty to look at when we surf the web.

Freedom of the Press=Freedom of Individual Thought

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press get used as an excuse whenever we feel our rights threatened. Any censoring by the government and we whip out the First Amendment. We often forget why our forefathers made freedom of the press part of the first amendment. Censorship was actually well enforced before the First Amendment was passed. During the Revolutionary War, those who publicly supported the king were often silenced by revolutionary leaders. Of course when the country was formed and the Constitution was written, the founding fathers put an end to such practices, right? Actually, no. The government and the press have been battling since the First Amendment was signed and many journalists have been censored because of it. From 1830-1860 during the Ant-slavery movement, many southern states banned abolitionist literature and articles, and even arrested certain people for possessing anti-slavery material. Even during both World Wars, the government flooded media with pro-war messages, banning anti-war journalism, saying it was in the best interest of the American people during a time of war.

If our government ensures our freedom of speech, then why do they interfere during times of crisis? It’s simple really: they understand the power of the press. It has the ability to shine light on the truth, to change people’s opinions, and to even cause riots and rebellions. Many historical figures have known this as well and have restricted the press to gain power. Napoleon Bonaparte said it best: “I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets.” He was able to take over an entire country twice and invade other countries because he had so much support from the French people. Of course, he silenced anyone who spoke against him. Adolf Hitler did the same thing and took it a step further by using the press to his advantage. He silenced anyone who stood against him, but also spread propaganda throughout Germany during WWII which glorified his leadership. Hitler even discussed the importance of propaganda in his book, Mein Kampf, saying it was necessary to share the “truth” with the audience. Of course his propaganda did not share the entire truth with the people. If it had, Hitler may not have accomplished all that he had. Hitler and Napoleon gained their power from silencing the press.

So what is it about the press that is so threatening to dictators like Napoleon and Hitler? The most important thing the press does is revealing the truth to the public. It reveals the good and bad of a situation when the leaders only want the good revealed. With a free press, many opinions about a single subject are thrown to the audience every day. With so many options, people are able to chose what they believe. One guy says taxes are good and another guy says taxes are bad. A person hears both arguments and has to decide which one he thinks is true. When you get into a place where the press is not free and all propaganda is one sided, a place like Nazi Germany or Napoleon’s France, only one opinion is being fired at the public. Taxes are good. If that’s the only thing a person hears every day, he’s going to believe that is true. Without the press telling the whole story, human beings become like sheep following the shepherd and believing everything he says. Hitler and Napoleon used this to their advantage.

One could say that freedom of the press gives us the freedom to think for ourselves and form our own opinions. Every day we are bombarded with thousands of other people’s thoughts and feelings: T.V., books, newspapers, blogs, etc. With so many options, we have the ability to chose what to believe, and that makes us human beings, capable of thinking for ourselves instead of sheep blindly following the shepherd.

Welcome to Japan

Most people don’t know the impact Japan has on American media. It may sound absurd to some. A tiny little island on the other side of the planet? But just think about how much pop culture in America came from Japan: Hello Kitty, Pokémon, Toyota, Naruto, and Nintendo just to name a few. Japan has even influenced art. Anime is becoming a popular style even for American artists. Even Japanese game shows are gaining momentum in America.

Truly that tiny island has a larger impact on the world than one might think. With Japan standing tall as a mass producer of global entertainment, it is important to learn the modern culture that a typical Japanese teenager experiences every day. What kind of media is Japan exposed to? How much does America influence Japan? I asked my friend Miyu, a nineteen-year old Japanese girl studying in America, such questions.

I met Miyu in my band class at the beginning of the fall semester, and despite some language barriers, the two of us became friends. Even before a class assignment to interview an international student about media, I have been interested in learning about her culture. It’s usually an even trade. She tells me how Japan celebrates Christmas and then I tell her how we celebrate the same holiday in America. I have already learned so many things from her about Japanese holidays and traditions and have been surprised at how many differences there are. In our conversations, however, we never really discussed media in Japan. So I wrote a list of questions to ask her about Japanese media, and I was very surprised by most of her answers.

Beauty Standards

The thing I was most surprised to learn about was Japan’s standards of beauty. I asked about the standard of beauty because the media plays a big part in what kinds of people we see as beautiful. Gatekeepers show us models in magazines and T.V. (usually thin, busty blondes in America) and we try to be like them with weight loss, boob jobs, and dyeing our hair; and for guys, weight sets to get that Mr. Universe physique. So I asked Miyu what Japanese people were encouraged to look like by the media. She said men and women were expected to be thin, I expected that. She also said that men were expected to be toned, but not overly muscled. I expected that response as well because I have never seen a hulk-like Japanese man. I was surprised to learn, however, that Japanese women are seen as more beautiful with brown curly hair, something that the majority of them aren’t born with. I Googled “Japanese fashion magazine” and saw that, as Miyu had said, the majority of the models were sporting curly brown hair. Is it really human nature to be something we’re not?

Entertainment

I was also surprised to learn how much American T.V. and music the people of Japan watch. Miyu listed many American artists who were popular in Japan including Avril Lavene, Myriah Carey, The Fray, Rhiana, and Sean Kingston among others. “’Bad Day’ [by Daniel Powter] is really popular in Japan,” Miyu added. She also listed High School Musical, Heroes, 24, Hairspray, and Pirates of the Caribbean as popular movies and T.V. shows in Japan. Japan gets a lot of its action movies from America, she told me, while romantic movies are made locally. Our interests in sports differ slightly. While both America and Japan enjoy watching baseball games on television, Miyu had never heard of foot-ball before coming to the U.S. And although we’ve heard of it, televised soccer isn’t as popular here as it is in Japan. America is mentioned a lot on world news in Japan, especially with Barack Obama taking office, and according to Miyu, most news of America is positive. “We like America,” she said.

Japan and America share another thing in common besides entertainment: advertisement. Go to Japan, and you will find just as many billboards, commercials, and ads as in the States. When I asked Miyu what are the top three things advertised in Japan, she said cars, make-up, and food. Some things are universal.

Observing the Millennial in its natural habitat

After reading the Millennials section in Mass Media in a Changing World, and watching a news story about Millennials on the Internet, I have come to the conclusion that the older generation views Millennials as a different species. “They are highly skilled at multitasking and working in teams.” “Millennials are less violent and less inclined to participate in risky behavior…” And my favorite: “They tend to posses short attention spans.” These were all quotes from the text book. While reading it, I felt like I was watching a nature documentary. I could almost picture Steve Irwin saying, “Crikey, isn’t he a beauty!” Or Jack Hannah declaring: “Millennials like to travel in herds across the grassy quad. Notice how the alpha-male t
akes care of the other herd members by sharing the ear-buds for his iPod. Such magnificent creatures!”

The news story took the same attitude, calling Millennials narcissistic praise hounds who have low work ethics. The reporter even mentioned that many work places have training groups to teach older generations how to deal with and interact with Millennial coworkers. One interaction rule was to not use harsh words around Millennials because they are so used to praise, criticism would confuse and anger them. Now, if that doesn’t make us sound like animals, I don’t know what does. Again I picture Jack Hannah saying, “When approaching a Millennial be very calm and quiet because they startle easily. The last thing you want to do is start a stampede.”

Human beings try to make everything easier by classifying many objects into one category. Flamingos, robins, peacocks, and kiwis. These are all “birds.” All of them have feathers and beaks and all of them lay eggs. And it is possible to describe the individual species. All kiwis are brown. All kiwis can’t fly. All kiwis are small. Etc. Well, that is certainly easy to remember and all of these descriptions are true. Human beings even feel the need to classify other humans. Blacks, whites, baby-boomers, millennials. These are all humans. All of them breathe oxygen, have warm red blood, and soft skin with hair. All of these are true. But unlike the birds, you can’t really describe individual categories without using stereotypes. All Blacks are… All Whites are… Filling in the blanks can cause a person to appear racist which is frowned upon in this culture. However, books and television personalities see nothing wrong with doing this to generation categories. All millennials hate to work. All millennials have an iPod. All millennials have a short attention span. Etc. All of these statements apply to some millennials, but it is not true for all.

Why did this classification system work for the birds but not for humans? It was easy to find true statements for birds in general as well as kiwis in general, but finding true statements for humans in general and millennials in general is harder. This is because millennials are not the separate species that the media makes them out to be. Millennials are humans, and like all humans have different personalities, dreams, likes and dislikes and should never be categorized otherwise. A generation shares an age range. That is all. They do not share interests or personality traits. Let me do what the media fails to do: introduce millennials as individuals.
(Names have been changed for privacy reasons.)

Lisa shaved her hair into a Mohawk and wears all black with skull accessories. But she would rather listen to Mozart than heavy metal.

Jane spends a lot of time online talking to friends. But at least six hours of her day are spent practicing her French horn.

Mary goes to college, has a job and spends her money on car insurance, tuition, and other necessities. She is very concerned with her grades and works hard in both her job and school work.

And then there’s me. I have never own an iPod or a camera phone, and I don’t want either one. I spend most of my day doing homework or chores. I have no time to text my friends or talk online. I’d rather talk to my friends in person. I pay attention in all of my classes and I consider myself a workaholic.

I, like many others, am a millennial, and I am a person.

Intro blog

Hello, my name is Christine and I'm an art major at Lindenwood University. I've lived in St. Louis all my life, and love it. I play the alto saxophone in the marching band and concert band here at Lindenwood, but music is not my passion. My biggest thrill in life is graphic design. It is my dream job. I've wanted to be a graphic artist since 8th grade when my mom (who is a graphic artist) taught me how to use Quark Express. From there I taught myself how to use Photoshop. I learned more design programs in high school when I joined the yearbook staff. I taught myself how to use most of the programs and even with the little knowlege I had, I designed all my greeting cards and picked up a few "freelance" jobs. (Emphasis on the free.) I designed the logo for my mom's shadow-box company as well as the new logo for my swim team, and a bottle label for my coach's beer company. Now in college, I'm taking a lot of design classes. I've learned Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe Flash, Correl Painter, etc. I love computer graphics. (My profile picture was done in Correl Painter by the way.) So far, my favorite program is Adobe Illustrator because there is so much freedom. (Click here for some examples from Illustrator Artists.) I love computer graphics and am excited to turn this hoby of mine into an actual career.



As far as entertainment goes, I love superhero movies, and I love comedies. The Dark Knight was totally awesome. My brother showed me this spoof some people did on You Tube. I think it's hilarious.