Review of posts

Five classmates posts:

Cammy on FoodPress:  Loved it!  Had no idea and can’t wait to spend some time here… Cammy nicely described the contrasting nature of the various types of blogs on the site.  The discussions about food, and the sharing of recipes will be fun to read.

Carrie’s Do-Gooder and Twitter post:  Carrie’s site was quite informative and nicely written… Was a little bland on the coloring and photography, but then it’s about doing good.  I loved the way she described herself and the things she loves about what she’s doing (good).  I really enjoy her Twitter posts, too!

Irina’s video and blog:  LOVED it!  She’s beautiful and funny and offers some keen insights into pop culture and fashion trends!

Josh’s Facebook redesign discussion:  Helped me to figure out what was going on with my Facebook page.  I still don’t understand why they did what they did either.

Stephanie’s thank you to WordPress was funny. 

I LOVED finding out about WordPress and I enjoyed learning so much about my classmates and the technologies.  It was great fun and terribly stimulating.  Maybe too stimulating!  Now there are lots of sites and things to add.  Looking forward to the exploration!

Welcome to “Girl in Seattle”

My final project for COM495 is “Girl in Seattle” — a blog. It’s not really a review blog, but it certainly includes elements of a review blog – restaurants, shopping, etc.  Truthfully though, “Girl in Seattle” is meant to chronicle the experiences of a woman (me) who has spent the last twenty-five years of her life commuting from the small town of Poulsbo into the big city every weekday, and back again every evening.  The commuting has been time-consuming (obviously), but it’s also limited my abilities to enjoy either place.  The friends I made in Seattle I rarely got to spend time with, and those that I left in Poulsbo every day I rarely got to know.

Blogging for Business

Blogging has been shown to be a very effective form of marketing for businesses, both large and small.  It offers a wide variety of “upside”:

Blogging allows businesses to highlight expertise:

• individual blogs may be trolled and used (with permission) by various publications and third-party resources
• Reporters who follow business blogs frequently will telephone bloggers with specific questions and when needing additional background information

Wikileaks: Apparently Assange Doesn’t Hide as Well as Hussein

Today, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange turned himself in in London after a world-wide manhunt was launched in light of the most recent Wikileaks postings.  I have watched with some sense of wonder as this tech-happy group of renegade IT people, led by Mr. Assange, have gleefully “outed” politicians and policies over the past weeks and months.  It’s a difficult thing to comprehend, even in discussions with myself.  In theory, I fully support the freedom of the press, and have hopes for transparency in government.  However, in reality, it’s my belief that this type of backroom policy-making, and under-the-breath muttering have gone on long before Wikileaks, computers or even snail mail.  In fact, it’s probably gone on since the beginning of time.  So, in some ways, Mr. Assange and his group of renegades are the ones breaking the rules — the established rules of politics and diplomacy. 

On Convergence… in my life.

This week’s readings offered what I would consider to be two different arguments both pointing to the same conclusion.  In the first reading, we learn the history and background of the blogging “genre” – through the use of representative anecdotal examples of how our culture has become focused not only on knowing, but on sharing… this concept of the fact that the only true privacy is so public that no one cares.  The author’s example of how Bill Clinton offered to share so much in an effort to highlight his transparency and “every man-ness” until it got to a point where President Clinton felt it had gone “too far” is a good one about how we — through blogging — are willing to make our private thoughts and lives public, to a degree.

Blogging as an Effective Form of Business Marketing — DRAFT

Blogging has been shown to be a very effective form of marketing for business, both large and small.  It offers a wide variety of “upside”:

Allows you to highlight your expertise

• Publications
• Interviews

Blogging allows you to “humanize” a business; it’s transparent

• Mission-oriented
• Socially responsible

Highlight the differences between your company/philosophy/skill set and others’

• Brand awareness
• Share news and successes

Cost is minimal

• It’s all return!

Learn what your readers are thinking

• Comments
• Free market research 

A Little Rap for Foursquare

For those who simply cannot get enough of Foursquare, I am happy to report that as of last Tuesday night, I finally obtained the “Crunked” badge as a result of checking into at least four different venues in one evening – yay, me!  That caused me to do a little research, during which time I stumbled across this very cool video, vaguely explaining the nature of Foursquare… I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Girl in Seattle – Status Update

Well, the girl was a little snowed in, but she’s going to be getting out there in the next couple of weeks.  The holiday decorations have gone up downtown, and I’m snapping photos like made.  I plan to do some fun shopping venues, and some cool holiday outings as well.  Mostly, I’ve been held back by my inability to get around town in the weather, but I’m rectifying that quickly.  I’ve been getting good feedback from my non-local friends (who seem to enjoy following me around town), which is nice, but I look forward to more feedback on content and presentation.

Eeek! What does it mean?

We have paper publications, we have online publications, we have social media — including YouTube… now things are getting messy… Here’s an article (and link) showing the latest issue of Russian Vogue, which apparently (I haven’t been able to get a copy myself) actually imbeds a video player.  Check it out!  Lines are blurring… you’re getting dizzy….

Three Persuasive sites

My favorite persuasive writing starts at The New York Times… take a look at a great example (in my opinion) of persuasive writing regarding the Dream Act.

Sweet persuasion #2 comes from the editorial staff at the Chicago Sun Times.  Here’s one of their latest on Wikileaks’ latest shenanigans.

Finally, I have a soft spot for sports… I love the folks at Fox Sports.  Here’s the latest from Jason Whitlock on the Vince Young troubles in Tennessee.  I’m convinced.