Reflecting on the Semester

This class was a good learning experience for me. As a journalism major I decided to take multimedia as a minor because of the shift to writing on the web. Everything I've learned about writing on the web throughout the semester I intend on using in the future.

A lot of the assignments we did in class do apply to my future career as a writer. All of the writing experience has been good, from writing the social media case study and now turning it in to a speech to blogging each week. Creating the LinkedIn account will also be useful to me.

My favorite part about the semester was probably attending the BMA event. I think it was an awesome chance to meet professionals in the media business. I learned a lot at the event not only about my resume but how to present myself in job interviews.

Some other parts of the class that I enjoyed were creating the news letter for Team Wendy and making the Facebook FanPage.

Blogging was new to me at the beginning of the semester and I enjoyed reading all of the different classmates' blogs, but if I had to choose one it would be Jim Schwartz's Blog, because it was well written with great links.

Comet Branding

Comet Branding Site

Tonight for class we heard from special guest speaker Sarah Meaney, a part owner a company called Comet Branding.

She spoke about writing for the web, specifically communicating through social media sites.

Her tips for writing on the web were to keep paragraphs short and use the inverted-pyramid style of writing. She explained how web writing is very different than writing a paper for example.

She explained how most people just skim over the words on the page, but there are some ways that you can improve the chances that people will read your post. By highlighting important words for example.

It's also important to keep in mind who you are writing for when you write on the web. Especially when writing for PR. For example should your message be formal or informal? What is the message the brand wants to portray? Is your message too long? These are good questions to ask yourself before posting.

It's a good thing to know your audience...who they are and how much they know about your product. This way you have a better idea of what information needs to be addressed.

Comet Branding helps a variety of companies communicate through social media sites. Here is a list of the companies Comet Branding works with.

Also check out the Comet Branding Blog

Nestle Controversy

Environmental activists are battling with chocolate company Nestle over the purchase of palm oil to use in their candy bars. Activists believe that Nestle is contributing to destroying rainforests because of where they get their palm oil.

I do not see what the fuss is about, I have a hard time believeing that the Nestle comapny is truly trying to destroy rainforests. The company they made a deal with is responsible for the clearing of rainforests to create palm plantations....not Nestle. Nestle is simply paying them for a product and they are not even getting much of their palm oil from this company, only 1.25% of the palm oil they use yearly.

While I respect the power of the social media platforms where people are protesting, I don't think that it's right to become a fan of a product just so you can talk trash on their wall. I think the Nestle should pay someone full-time to monitor that wall deleting every comment and fan that is rudely critising their product ( positive critisism can be helpful). This would give the company a more accurate result of how many fans they really have.

I believe that this is a whole lot of fuss about nothing. The activists are getting thier undies in a bundle over something that most likely doesn't even effect them personally. As a Nestle consumer for my whole life, I truly do not care where they get there palm oil from and I am going to continue eating them because they are DELICIOUS!!

NESTLE FACEBOOK PAGE

wsj.com

more info

"What Happens in Vegas Stays on Facebook"

Last Tuesday night our class was able to attend a presentation called "What Happens in Vegas Stays on Facebook." There were two speakers at the event, first Emily Lenard spoke about Facebook and how to use it in a professional way. Then Katie Felten spoke about Linked-In and how to utilize everything it has to offer.

From Emily's presentation the biggest thing I learned is how to use the 'friend list' feature on Facebook. This is huge because it allows you to control who can see what on your profile, so you have more control of your profile. You could have your family see certain pictures or posts only or have professional contacts see only certain things. I think it's a good way to use Facebook to your advantage.
Emily is also the Associate Director for Wired Wisconsin.

Check out Wired Wisconsin

From Katie's presentation the biggest thing I learned was how to expand my connections on Linked-In. She mentioned four types of groups to join to meet connections and also how to attend live events to continue your relationships offline. I also learned how to organize my contacts.
Katie started a company called MKE Live.

Check out MKELive

I got a lot of information out of the event. I thought the speakers were excellent. This meeting helped me realize the importance of controlling what people can see about me on the web. I'm sure there is alot of people who don't care who sees what pictures they post, but I think as a student or a professional it's important to stay in control of your social media sites.

Crazy Theatre VP Tells Woman “Go F***k Yourself.”

I’m writing this blog in response to the situation between Sarah Kohl-Leaf and the VP of St. Croix Falls Cinema 8. If you haven’t heard, the incident started when Sarah, a Minnesotan woman, had a bad experience with the theatre in St. Croix Falls, WI.

Sarah and her husband had a bad experience at the theatre for a couple of reasons. First, because of the dated equipment the theatre doesn’t accept credit or debit cards and Sarah didn’t have cash. So Sarah tried the ATM, and it was out of money! Thanks to a friend with a check (this must be one of the only movie theatres in the world that still takes checks!) Sarah and her husband were able to see the movie on time without having to go to another ATM.

So, Sarah and her husband sat down to enjoy Shutter Island (Which I just saw and it was great, but you have to watch it from the beginning). A few minutes into the movie a staff member came in and announced that there were eight people watching the movie who didn’t pay to be in there. So the lady on the staff went around and checked everybody’s ticket stub. When she couldn’t find all of the perpetrators she went and got another staff member and continued the search. The point is the paying customers missed the first half hour of the movie because of this.

When Sarah got home she sent an email to Cinema 8 to inform them of her “horrible experience.” The email that Sarah sent is actually much more polite than one I would have sent in her situation. She simply explains her bad experience at the movies.

Steven J. Payne, the VP of Cinema 8, is the man who responded to Sarah’s initial e-mail. Here is a copy of the email Mr. Payne sent Sarah from twincities.com:

From: Steven J. Payne
To: Sarah Kohl-Leaf
Sent: Sun, February 21, 2010 12:57:00 AM
Subject: Re: Horrible Experience
Sarah,
Drive to White Bear Lake and also go f**k yourself. If you dont have money for entertainment, get a better job, and don't pay for everything on your credit or check card. You can also shove your time and gas up your f*****g a**. Also, find better things to do with your time. This email is an absolute joke. We don't care to have you as a customer. Let me know if you need directions to white bear lake.

Steven

Steven J. Payne - Vice President
Evergreen Entertainment
929 Old Highway 8 NW
Suite 200
New Brighton, MN 55112

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WHOLE SERIES OF EMAILS BETWEEN MRS. KOHL- LEAF AND CINEMA VP STEVEN PAYNE


This is insane, what kind of VP talks to a paying customer like that?
This response was so bad that Sarah started a Facebook page for fans of Boycotting the Cinema.

Click here to visit Sarah's FB page

Look at the amount of fans! This page has more fans than the population of St. Croix Falls.

I think that Sarah’s choice to Boycott the Theatre through Facebook is well within her rights. I am completely on her side. If a VP of a theatre talked to me like that there would be a problem.

It’s a great use of Facebook because it’s the most popular social media platform. She has a right to share her experience with the world, it’s not her fault that Mr. Payne responded like he did. It’s a good thing to put on Facebook so the other residents of that area can see it and decide for themselves if they want to support Mr. Payne’s movie theatre or not.


Here are a couple more links:

FB page in favor of VP Payne

More Info

BMA Lightning Round: Speed Interviewing & Resume Workshop

Last Tuesday night I attended a Lightning Round: Speed Interviewing & Resume Workshop. It was put on by the University Outreach Committee of the Milwaukee BMA, and they did a great job! It was held at the Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design in Milwaukee. Here is a link to the BMA event’s webpage, there are pictures from the event also:

www.bma-milwaukee.org/students/events/2010/lightning-round-speed-interview.aspx

The thing I enjoyed most was probably the atmosphere. It was laid back yet at the same time professional. I liked the whole idea of students getting a chance to meet marketing professionals and network with them. There was also a good chance to network with other students. It was a great learning experience for preparing to find a job in the real world. The resume review was great. The ‘Lightning Round’ interviews were also a good experience. I learned a lot about how to present myself just walking into a job interview.

I got a ton of valuable tips from the professionals who reviewed my resume. I learned about putting my resume in correct AP format, which for me as an aspiring journalist is very important. I also learned about creating a basic structure for my resume and then how to format the rest of my resume for a specific job.

One of the professionals who looked at my resume was Dan Austin, president and creative instigator at Perspective Communications Inc. in Milwaukee. Another professional I met was Richard Peterson who is a strategic market counselor for Peterson Communications based out of Menomonee Falls. I also met Jeff Carrigan , the founder of Big Shoes Network, a company based out of Milwaukee. I was interviewed by Mr. Carrigan and he gave me a ton of job-hunting tips along with a lot of ideas about writing careers that I’d never thought of. Here’s a link to his website:


http://bigshoesnetwork.com/

Overall the BMA ‘Lightning Round’ was a great experience.
The pizza there was delicious too!


Here are a few other links:


http://www.bma-milwaukee.org/

http://www.eisnermuseum.org/home.shtm

Mashable Blog 1

Bird Turd

mashable.com/2010/02/22/bird-turd

A new iPhone App called Bird Turd makes it possible for you to poop on tweets that you don’t like. For $0.99 a turd you can show your disapproval of someone else’s tweet.

I think it’s a clever idea that might make twitter a bit more amusing, especially for the really boring tweets that you get sick of reading. Call me immature, but I think it’s a pretty funny idea. I may not be able to afford $0.99 to drop a turd on every tweet I don’t like, but I am sure there are many people who can.

Future Journalists

mashable.com/2009/12/30/social-media-guide-for-journalists/

This article is about social networking tips for journalists. It offers helpful tips and links for journalists trying to catch their breath in today’s real-time media atmosphere. Tips like, a guide on how to create and store data on social media accounts such as Facebook and Twitter, how to connect your news website to other sites, and how to stay ahead of the game when it comes to journalism.

I really enjoyed this page, I found a lot of the links very interesting. Here are a couple in particular:

http://mashable.com/2009/12/09/future-journalist/

http://mashable.com/2009/09/15/social-news-sites/



Kids in Front of Screens

http://mashable.com/2010/01/20/youth-media-consumption/

This article is about the time kids spend in ‘front of a screen,’ in other words it’s about the amount of media kids are consuming today. Including time talking and texting on the phone kids spend upwards of 9 ½ hours consuming media each day. And with kids multi-tasking and using multiple forms of media at once the average is closer to 11 hours a day. This compared to 5 ½ hours five years ago.
This is an insane amount of media for a kid to be consuming. I wouldn’t be surprised if the number was even higher than 11 hours a day for a lot of kids. Whatever happened to riding a bike?

Marketing a Blender: A look at 'Will It Blend?'

www.blendtec.com/willitblend

Will It Blend is a series of videos featuring the founder of Blendtec, Tom Dickson, trying to blend nearly anything that fits into the Blendtec Total Blender. He showcases the extreme power of Blendtec’s home blender by chopping up everything from sports equipment, to toy action figures, to digital devices, to glass and metal jars of food. Yes, he blends the food AND the jar!

It’s really a genius marketing campaign for a blender company. What better way to sell blenders than to prove it can blend anything? This marketing campaign is an entertaining and informative way to promote the blender and the Blendtec Company, which also makes mixers and mills.

Link to Blentec's Product Page


Blendtec’s marketing campaign was obviously a success based solely on the number of viewers that have seen the Will It Blend series, which is 200 million and counting. In an interview on the website socialmediab2b.com George Wright, Blendtec's VP of Marketing, mentions how Tom Dickson, the host of Will It Blend, has become an internet celebrity. He can’t go anywhere without someone recognizing him from the video series.
More importantly it was a success in the sales department. In that same interview Wright also says that the sales of Blendtec’s home equipment have increased by 700 percent, not to mention brand awareness has skyrocketed. So that alone pretty much means it was a success.

Interview on socialmediab2b.com


A COUPLE OF MY FAVORITE EPISODES:

In one episode Tom fills the blender with a handful of action figures, “The Bad Guys,” and one Chuck Norris action figure, or “The Good Guy.” Tom goes on to explain how the two greatest forces of ‘good’ in the world are the Blendtec Total Blender and Chuck Norris. Then he proceeds to stuff the bad guys and the Chuck Norris doll into the blender. Sure enough, the Blendtec tears through the ‘Bad Guys’ and thanks to a little video editing Chuck Norris remains unscathed, proving once and for all that evil is no match for the Total Blender. Tom also makes a couple Chuck Norris jokes including a ‘Walker Texas Ranger’ reference and a ‘Total Gym’ reference. Yes, it’s a little corny, but it certainly drew attention to the product!

Link to Will It Blend?-Chuck Norris

In another notable episode Tom created a dish called “cochicken” by blending half of a rotisserie chicken mixed with a 12oz. can of Coca-Cola (without the can). In the actual episode the chicken included the bones, probably because no one was actually planning on eating it. However, since the episode aired the phrase “cochicken” has actually caught on, and there was a boneless version prepared on NBC’s show Today which was actually eaten by the host Meredith Vieira. This was yet another smart move by Blendtec’s marketers in an effort to get their name widely known. I couldn't find the Video of the Today show, but here is the original version.

Link to Will It Blend?-Cochicken

iPad....what's the point?

What is the point of the new iPad? From what I’ve gathered it’s a product made to compete with laptops, but I don’t think it will compete. I don’t think the iPad will replace laptops at all, not even a little bit. To me it seems more like a giant iPhone that is too big and awkward to use on a daily basis. Nearly anything that can be done on the new iPad can be done on your iPhone, which is much more convenient. Actually the iPhone has something the iPad doesn’t, a camera. I’m not sure how you would take a picture with something the size of the iPad anyway but that’s just one of its many downfalls.
The size isn’t the only problem with the new iPad. There is no USB port on the iPad making it difficult to upload from other devices. Also, the iPad doesn't support Flash player, which means users can't connect to sites like Disney, Hulu, or ESPN, as well as many popular online game sites. I just don’t understand how you can make a product that is supposed to compete with the laptop, and not have it be an overall better product. I just can’t imagine that people would spend $500 on a product they don’t really need.

Fatherhood

It seems like yesterday I was standing in the hospital, watching my son be born. My hand was turning red from my wife's grasp. The doctors and nurses were yelling, my wife was screaming, my son's head popped out and he began screaming too. The whole time I was just standing there trying to catch my breath.

Since that moment, I've began to realize that life is so much bigger than mine. It's amazing to see the progress my son has made in a little over a year. Now he is getting into everything, and although at times he can be a little burden, he’s also a huge part of my motivation. It's been a struggle at times, getting used to changing diapers, giving baths, and feeding him. But overall he’s been a great blessing in my life.

Then, just when I start to think I’m doing a pretty good job, and I start getting used to the whole father thing, my wife tells me she is pregnant again!

My name is Dennis Ottosen and I currently live in Fort Atkinson with my wife and son. I am a junior at UWW and I’m majoring in Journalism with a Multimedia minor. I transferred to UWW after graduating from MATC with my associate degree in Liberal Arts. I plan on being a writer.