#Grammys vs #Oscars

If you weren't studying for multiple exams last Sunday, you were probably enjoying the Oscars on TV. But if you're like me and take "Facebook/Twitter study breaks" then you honestly didn't need to be in front of the TV to know what was going on. What's up with this generation of oversharing? Before, we only posted a Facebook status when something super important happened in our life. Now, we feel obligated to be the first one out of our million fake Facebook and Twitter friends to post about how Jennifer Lawrence sorta fell but she's so cool that it doesn't matter. Let's be real.
So of course nerdy marketing me decided to check out the statistics on social media trends after the Oscars and I was surprised when I saw that it was trending less than the Grammys were! I thought the Oscars were like the hugest deal ever, then second came the Grammys, and way farther down were the events no one really cares about like the MTV Music Awards and the Country Music Awards...But no! With 17 million comments versus 14 million, people cared more to talk about the Grammys!
Then something came back to me...the recurring LL Cool J pretty much forcing people to tweet about the Grammys if they wanted to see cool backstage photos that would appear on every magazine the following day (just kidding, no one buys magazines anymore). So is that what non-marketing people do? They actually listen and engage? It's like if the dude had some sort of hypnotic powers (maybe that's why they did so many close ups of his face...) that made people stop playing Words With Friends for a sec and hashtag the hell out of the #Grammys.
 
So even though it's great to watch people winning weird looking statues and thanking everyone they ever met while on stage, neither of those 2 events is the top trended event. Nop, it's an event that, as a foreigner, I've tried to understand for 5 years but still don't get..."where the heck is the ball?? of wait, they're stopping the game AGAIN because you can't have more than 5 guys + their astronomically-sized equipment on top of each other at the same time...or something like that"
yah, yah, you guessed...the SuperBowl!

Let's have a one-on-one, Valentine...

Oh Valentine's Day, you are most definitely the most divided holiday of all. Some wait for you for days while others wish they could skip you. Why is that? Well you have put expectations in people's heads like nothing else has before. 

Let's go back to its real origins. According to one of my best friends, Wikipedia, Valentine's Day comes from:

"a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. The most popular martyrology associated with Saint Valentine was that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire; during his imprisonment, he is said to have healed the daughter of his jailer Asterius. Legend states that before his execution he wrote her a letter "from your Valentine" as a farewell."

Well that's good to know, I should remind my boyfriend that we are both Jewish and celebrating a holiday that was originally Christian. But why does no one really knows the actual origin of Valentine's Day? People even call it Hallmark Day! Well because it has become one of the most commercial holidays of all times, that's why. The average spent on Valentine's day paraphernalia is 13.9 billion dollars! Now it is sad to realize that some of these dollars are spent by 14% of women who send themselves flowers! 53% of women even said that they would end their relationship if they didn't get anything on that "special day". 

Now this is getting out of control from the consumer's perspective. But let's talk about the companies' view on that. They would be dumb not to take advantage of men trying to impress, or I should say keep, their women by selling them stuff. 

As a foreigner though I have to say that the US takes Valentine's Day to a whole new level. We all know that the main purpose is to celebrate the relationship you have with your significant other. So when, during my first American Valentine's Day, I got a handmade card and chocolate from one of my girlfriends, you can imagine how surprised I was. Yes friends, in the US, Valentine's Day is apparently also to celebrate friends and family members (Ok not gonna lie, I really enjoy this aspect =D).

So of course just like anybody else I know that Valentine's Day is a commercial holiday but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't enjoy gaining a few pounds from the instagrammed chocolate covered strawberries I got and the dinner I was taken out to. But I am still a "five year old American", so if I had given my parents chocolate, they would have probably made fun of me.

source: http://www.statisticbrain.com/valentines-day-statistics/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine%27s_Day

Looking for a job? Try Twitter too!

What's the first place you think about when you're looking for a job? LinkedIn? Monster.com?
Well look no further than your typical social media platform that you use everyday! Twitter and NPR have been working together to come up with first live #NPRTwitterLiveChat aimed at helping job seekers use social media as a job search tool.

Now the question is: How do you do that?
Well think about it, why is it that you don't want to say any appropriate things on Twitter? You don't want futur employers to google your name and find these tweets. Well here it's the same concept, use your twitter account to build your personal brand and position yourself a professional in a specific area of expertise. According to the Mashable article entitled "How to Effectively Use Twitter as a Job Search Resource", some of the topics that came up during the live chat are the following:

• Follow the industry you are interested in, and participate in communities you care about.
• Don’t just retweet what others are saying; create meaningful content that people care about. Be a thought leader.
• Use Twitter as a jumping-off point to your more detailed online profiles — a personal blog or LinkedIn profile, for example.
• Many companies have job-related Twitter handles. Following those is a great way to keep tabs on job openings, rather than searching the company's website.
• Build your network before you need it; engage with people who do what you want to do.
• Don’t be overly professional. Twitter is a great way to showcase your personality and talk to people about your interests.
  
  
  
  
  

Now why would Twitter be more beneficial than any other platform? Twitter allows you to express yourself, show your personality so recruiters can have an idea of the type of person you are. Additionally, it is so easy for people to connect because of the hashtag or just even a keyword. Once a recruiter has found someone, he or she can just hit the reply button and engage in a conversation. See, so easy!!

Lastly one can ask: "how do I make myself noticeable on Twitter?" Well that part isn't too bad either. Show your personality, Tweet about topics that are relevant to your job search, use as many keywords as possible, and make sure to build your network appropriately!

I myself have started Tweeting more about what interest me and I am getting a LOT of new Twitter followers that are similarly interested in marketing and social media :) 

Now, go! Leverage your Twitter account to look appealing to job recruiters, you never know what surprising outcomes can happen! 

source: http://mashable.com/2013/02/09/twitter-job-search/ 

The Power of Social Media

Why is it that if you want to know about a worldwide news, you might have more chance finding answers on Facebook and Twitter than on Google? We discussed it in class, we went from a "gather then share" approach to a "share then gather" one. Knowing that, it seems to be so easy to get people together and make them act.

As many around me know, I am a huge advocate for Israel, hoping for peace everyday. So when last November I got a call from a Florida Atlantic University friend asking to help him spread the word about what he called a "SouthEast campus event" supporting Israel, I told him to count me in. He told me that he had created a Facebook event telling students to wear blue and white gear on the day of the event and that he was gonna invite me to it once he got back on his computer. Little did he know, I was getting an invitation from a friend in Atlanta 5 minutes later.
This event started growing exponentially as each person invited who showed interest in the matter would invite more people.
Soon enough, participants would post on the event, telling where they were Standing With Israel from and I would start seeing names of friends from all over the world as well as messages of gratitudes from Israelis. The day of the event, I was pleased to see people on campus advocating, as well as posting photos on the page.

This truly shows me the POWER of social media and how anyone can be influential if their audience feels emotionally attached to the matter.