There is a tradition in my family that on the way home from Knoxville to Hendersonville for Christmas, Spring, or Summer break we stop at Taco Bell, or as my mom calls it "Taco Hell." So after surviving the most hellish 48 hours leading up to break that seemed more like a month, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a Crunchwrap Supreme. I am now embarrassed for myself that I just shared that for the entire internet to see. Any who, as we were driving down I-40 and the usual Pekarsky family shenanigans were commencing I noticed something different about my cup than my dad's. Mine had tweets and FB status on them talking about the new Doritos Locos Tacos. Clever clever marketing on Taco Bell's part, letting the customer speak for the product. All the while enticing other consumers to tweet or share their thoughts on their new menu item with the chance of their tweet or status being on the a Taco Bell cup! Heck, I'd do it! However, I still don't have the guts or stomach to try that taco..
Monday, March 26, 2012
It's the little things
For your viewing pleasure
It's funny how weekends take on a new meaning the older you get. I now count the minutes till I can lay on the couch in sweats and watch "my shows" I missed during the week, two of my favorites being CSI: (yes I still watch the original) and Alcatraz. I have been called a grandma for my take on the phrase "T.G.I.F." but this past Friday my DVR gave me some great material for my blog, lucky you.
All credit for my CSI: social media find would have to go to my little brother, it was Joe after all who sent me a screenshot of his Xfinity app with the episode's synopsis. "Trends with Benefits" was social media overload from the very beginning, opening with a party that has a live "Twitter" feed projected onto the side of the venue. If a character was to "tweet" and include a specific hashtag their "tweet" would appear on the live feed at the party. Brilliant concept right? Eh, until someone "tweets" a picture of a dead body and it gets "RT" repeatedly. And there you have it, a culturally prominent show plot.
The CSIs continue to utilize social media through out the investigation, using "Facebook" profiles to do background checks on possible suspects. Blogging even pops up in the case, as it would turn out the victim was an extremely popular gossip blogger with a secret to expose. The victim was even enrolled in an "Anthropology of Fame" class, where it was taught the number one rule is always "Privacy is History." Sound familiar Advertising 490: Social Media kids? I won't give away the end of the case for any of those who want to watch the episode for themselves, but I will hint that "tweets" from students play a role in the "social" punishment for the murderer. So what did we learn from this episode? Maybe the phrase "Trend till the End" can be taken a little too far.
My Alcatraz social media connection isn't quite as involved but I found it pretty cool since we just wrote a paper on geolocation apps and Foursquare. In order to locate where a victim had been the night prior to her death, one of the detectives accesses the girl's "Friendsquare" check-ins. Her check-in confirmed the detectives theory and they proceeded with their case from there! So the next time you tell your mom you're here but you're really there, watch out she might check your Foursquare page. Moms are sneaky good like that. AHEM Julie Pekarsky, ahem.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Your local social media queen
So maybe I'm giving myself too much credit in my title there, but I'm not exaggerating when I say the majority of my news consists of social media happenings these days. Or even better I'm getting the bulk of my news from social media. Over the past couple weeks I've been browsing the headlines for some gems to share on here, kind of like my own Weekend Update minus the bad impressions. So without further adieu, I'm Caroline Pekarsky and this is your Social Sunday Update.
1. The Oscars were the best they had been in a long time
this year and the drama was only enhanced by the "did it happen or
didn't it happen?" wardrobe malfunction by JLo. While presenting the
award for Best Costume Design with Cameron Diaz it appeared that Lopez's
already revealing dress revealed a little more than she bargained for.
Twitter lit up with speculation of Lopez's "nip slip" and sure enough
that Monday a picture of the slip surfaced on, you guessed it, Twitter.
Lopez has continued to laugh off reports of her wardrobe malfunction but
it looks like social media will have the last say on that.
2. As many of us know there was a February 29th this year. And if any of y'all listened to Pandora on Leap Day hopefully you caught that Lexus had bought every ad on Pandora for the day. Once you clicked on a certain station and that initial ad popped up it was about half the time ads usually are. Subsequent ads were only about 5 seconds with no sound, only a picture of the new model. Props to Lexus for this clever strategy, I obviously took notice.
3. Attention all tweeters, there is a new Queen of the tweet kingdom: LADY GAGA. It's official, as of last Wednesday Lady Gaga, @ladygaga, is the first handle to have over 20 million followers. Gaga's only competition for the title was the boy wonder himself, Justin Bieber. Looks like those monsters of hers are a pretty loyal audience. So congrats Gaga, looks like you're on the right track baby you can tweet this way.
4. And finally I have a couple shout-outs to give to some very Twitter savvy companies. Both Quaker and Chipotle have replied to me within the past week simply because I mentioned their company name in a tweet of mine. Quaker started a #chewychat with me while Chipotle had two of their social media account managers tweet me. I was more impressed with Quaker simply because I didn't tag their handle in my tweet, and my tweet was in reply to an account they don't necessarily follow. Both companies kept the conversation going, discussing my weekend plans and the joy of impending graduation. I can now confidently say these companies have my business for years to come. And although I'm sure it doesn't mean much, I am fully endorsing Quaker Chewy Bars and Chipotle!
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2. As many of us know there was a February 29th this year. And if any of y'all listened to Pandora on Leap Day hopefully you caught that Lexus had bought every ad on Pandora for the day. Once you clicked on a certain station and that initial ad popped up it was about half the time ads usually are. Subsequent ads were only about 5 seconds with no sound, only a picture of the new model. Props to Lexus for this clever strategy, I obviously took notice.
4. And finally I have a couple shout-outs to give to some very Twitter savvy companies. Both Quaker and Chipotle have replied to me within the past week simply because I mentioned their company name in a tweet of mine. Quaker started a #chewychat with me while Chipotle had two of their social media account managers tweet me. I was more impressed with Quaker simply because I didn't tag their handle in my tweet, and my tweet was in reply to an account they don't necessarily follow. Both companies kept the conversation going, discussing my weekend plans and the joy of impending graduation. I can now confidently say these companies have my business for years to come. And although I'm sure it doesn't mean much, I am fully endorsing Quaker Chewy Bars and Chipotle!
"Funny how a melody sounds like a memory..."
Maybe it's the impending arrival of Spring Break and with it that much needed week-long vacation home, but my emotions have been operating at 110% this past week. I recently became obsessed with The Civil Wars, giving my Adele playlist a much deserved rest, and I'm not even kidding the words spoke to me. One of my favorite books of my young adult life is Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin, and last spring it was made into an amazing movie with an even better soundtrack. Coincidentally the main song off of the soundtrack was by The Civil Wars, and thus my obsession began. Their album Barton Hollow is like nothing I have ever heard before, some songs are strictly instrumental while others are hopeless love ballads. They're the kinds of songs that make you cry the first time you hear them. And now I'm sounding like a crazy cat lady.
The Civil Wars "My Father's Father":
Eric Church sang "funny how a melody sounds like a memory" and wow is that line true. It is almost like Inception when you hear a song and all of sudden you can feel that warm breeze, smell the air, and feel that touch on your skin. It's like you're transported back in time. You can relive all those incredible moments of happiness. Then you can also relive those moments that were once full of happiness and now just suck all the joy out of your room at 3am while you're up working on a social media plan for Dell. And all this happens because of a song that randomly popped up on a Pandora station or Spotify playlist.
Now don't get me wrong I love reliving high school memories on the walk to class or snowy days up at the mountain house while in the library working on a paper. So I was beside myself when my roommate introduced me to the new "Pandora", Spotify. You can listen to any song, any playlist from any show or movie, and make playlists based off artists like Pandora. But unlike Pandora, Spotify is linked through your Facebook with founder Mark Zuckerberg giving the greatest endorsement a company could ask for by setting his status to "Spotify is so good." I have been hooked this entire weekend and am listening even as I write this. So thank you Pandora Radio, Spotify, and their iPhone apps for holding my hand and walking me down memory lane on a daily, even hourly basis. And thank you to The Civil Wars Pandora station for introducing me to other amazing artists such as Need to Breathe, Maria Taylor, and Whitley. And to Spotify's Gossip Girl Season 1-5 playlists for getting me through homework this weekend. The next time you jump in the shower, grab a book and head to the balcony, or gear up for an all-nighter take Pandora or the new kid on the block, Spotify, with you and let your memory wander.
Now don't get me wrong I love reliving high school memories on the walk to class or snowy days up at the mountain house while in the library working on a paper. So I was beside myself when my roommate introduced me to the new "Pandora", Spotify. You can listen to any song, any playlist from any show or movie, and make playlists based off artists like Pandora. But unlike Pandora, Spotify is linked through your Facebook with founder Mark Zuckerberg giving the greatest endorsement a company could ask for by setting his status to "Spotify is so good." I have been hooked this entire weekend and am listening even as I write this. So thank you Pandora Radio, Spotify, and their iPhone apps for holding my hand and walking me down memory lane on a daily, even hourly basis. And thank you to The Civil Wars Pandora station for introducing me to other amazing artists such as Need to Breathe, Maria Taylor, and Whitley. And to Spotify's Gossip Girl Season 1-5 playlists for getting me through homework this weekend. The next time you jump in the shower, grab a book and head to the balcony, or gear up for an all-nighter take Pandora or the new kid on the block, Spotify, with you and let your memory wander.
The Civil Wars "My Father's Father":
I hear something hanging on the wind
I see black smoke up around the bend
I got my ticket and
I'm going to go home
The leaves have changed a time or two
Since the last time the train came through
I got my ticket and I'm going to go home
My father's father's blood is on the track
A sweet refrain drifts in from the past
I got my ticket and I'm going to go home
The winding roads they led me here
burn like coal and dry like tears
So here's my hope
My tired soul
So here's my ticket
I want to go home
I see black smoke up around the bend
I got my ticket and
I'm going to go home
The leaves have changed a time or two
Since the last time the train came through
I got my ticket and I'm going to go home
My father's father's blood is on the track
A sweet refrain drifts in from the past
I got my ticket and I'm going to go home
The winding roads they led me here
burn like coal and dry like tears
So here's my hope
My tired soul
So here's my ticket
I want to go home
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Taking it to the tweets
As part of my crazy Saturday night on the couch last night the much anticipated Saturday Night Live episode featuring Lindsay Lohan was the feature presentation. I am openly conservative and a registered Republican, so when SNL opened with a Fox News skit I was immediately skeptical. Without fail SNL made Shepard Smith look like a weirdo (I still don't understand the skeleton mother) and Romney look like an arrogant "1%"er. However it was the aftermath of the skit that really caught my attention.
Near the end of the skit the Romney boys were featured including a sibling I had never previously heard of, Tic Tac "The rebel who likes sugar." Everyone had a good laugh and that was that, right? Nope. Looks like the writers at SNL got the bios of the Romney men wrong, it is fact Tagg Romney who's the "rebel who likes sugar." Just check his twitter. Around 3pm Sunday afternoon Tagg, @tromney, showed off his comedic skills and tweeted in response to the SNL skit featuring his family from the night before. Twitter went nuts. I would personally love to know the final number of RTs Tagg's tweet got, it had to be in the triple digits. So props to Tagg Romney for being a good sport and capitalizing on negative press. After all bad press is still press, right?
**Update: Looks like Tagg Romney isn't the only Romney kid with a sense of humor. Early Monday morning Josh Romney had his own fun with SNL's spoof of his family.
Near the end of the skit the Romney boys were featured including a sibling I had never previously heard of, Tic Tac "The rebel who likes sugar." Everyone had a good laugh and that was that, right? Nope. Looks like the writers at SNL got the bios of the Romney men wrong, it is fact Tagg Romney who's the "rebel who likes sugar." Just check his twitter. Around 3pm Sunday afternoon Tagg, @tromney, showed off his comedic skills and tweeted in response to the SNL skit featuring his family from the night before. Twitter went nuts. I would personally love to know the final number of RTs Tagg's tweet got, it had to be in the triple digits. So props to Tagg Romney for being a good sport and capitalizing on negative press. After all bad press is still press, right?
**Update: Looks like Tagg Romney isn't the only Romney kid with a sense of humor. Early Monday morning Josh Romney had his own fun with SNL's spoof of his family.
And though she be but little, she is fierce
I'm Caroline and I'm a Social Media addict. I have a legitimate problem. I'm obsessed.
oh and p.s. 66 days till graduation!
And it just might pay off.
I was once told that the "perfect job" for me would be to run a company's social media so I could sit on Facebook and Twitter all day, look pretty, and get paid for it. Well look at me now... I am currently the Social Media Manager for Rent the Runway and just applied for the Digital Marketing Intern position with McCormick Spices in Baltimore. So it looks like I found the "perfect job" for me, huh?
I used to just be obsessed with social media. Now, I eat, sleep, and breathe it. I spent half of my Barnes and Noble Valentine's Day gift card (yes, I'm single and my mom sent me a Valentine's Day present) on Mark Schaefer's new book, Return on Influence, and another book about social media. I can spout off facts about Facebook Ad statistics like I used to run my mouth about sorority gossip. I am a changed woman. There is SO much more to a social media or digital marketing position. Heck! I didn't even know all there was to know until I cracked open The Social Media Bible, thank you Mr. Lon Safko. I'm not just some pretty girl in heels who farts around with Twitter all day. There is an absolute science and skill to this job and I am one of the lucky few at the University of Tennessee who gets to learn this invaluable information while getting class credit for it. Who knew it was actually possible to find a job doing something you truly love and are passionate about. With all the amazing career opportunities the field has to offer me it's easy to be teeming with excitement to graduate and join the lipstick jungle of 9AM-5PM.
So here's hoping, fingers legs and arms crossed, that I get that phone interview with and then a final interview and then the job. And then I can send that person my graduation announcement complete with my job position and a pretty picture of me and my diploma to let him know I did in fact find that "perfect job."