H&M, MIA???

Of course when I begin following a new company, they fail to update their Twitter regularly. H&M hasn't tweeted since February 18th. Today is the 24th. Where can they be??? The last thing they tweeted about was the UNICEF fundraiser. Letting a day or two go by without one tweet is alright, but six days and still nothing?? That's a bit bad.

With the new Twitter addiction, consumers frequently check up on their favorite store or company to see up to date news. Businesses should realize that if they have a Twitter account, it is important to update it at least once a day. In order for people to become more interested, they need to be sent messages over and over again. Before a business opens a Twitter account, they really should be trained on how to use this social media outlet correctly. It can only be beneficial if it is used the right way. I hope H&M reappears in Twitter world! Come back!

Enough with the hype already!

Throughout the winter season, I've realized how much hype there has been about snowstorms. Yes, the Philadelphia area did have almost two feet of snow, but sometimes the hype gets annoying! As the weather channels announce a winter storm watch, social media is clogged with tweets and Facebook statuses about the snow. I admit, I join in the "excitement"...Well, I hate snow, so I'm a negative Nancy when there's a snowstorm on the way. I've had enough of the winter blues, so please stop crossing your fingers for snow!

Anyways, I feel that students create the most hype of everyone. This makes sense because who wouldn't want a snow day??? Every other Facebook status I've read today was about the snow storm that's coming towards this region. For example, "snow snow snow snow snow *", "wants it to snow. A lot", and "For once I actually hope it snowssss...."

With all the hype, everyone will begin to believe it will snow, which will lead to partying, which will lead to sleeping through class if there is still class! It's interesting to examine how social media can affect the outcome of certain situations and how much it affects the thoughts of people. It looks like it might actually snow in Northeast PA this time though! And yes, I'm using this blog, a social media outlet, to add to all the hype!

Businesses promoting fundraiser projects via social media

For the past few days I've been stalking H&M's twitter page to see what they are up to. They have the usual tweets about current sales and links to their store website.

I found an interesting tweet today about H&M's sponsorship for the "All for Children" Unicef project, which helps children get out of work and into school. The tweet included the project's website. H&M carries fashion items by Sonia Rykiel and she will donate a certain percentage of its proceeds to the Unicef project.

It is interesting to see how H&M is connected with this and how they use their own social media vehicles to promote the cause. It is nice to know that huge stores and corporations are trying to help raise funds for different projects. These corporations have the tools and resources to help make a difference.

The Unicef project will be helping children in India and other countries. You can learn more about the project here.

Farewell to Woot.com

Unfortunately, I feel the need to move onward to a new company to follow on Twitter. There's only so much to write about an automatic robot Twitter account (Woot.com). As originally planned, I will now follow H&M! I couldn't find it at first because its twitter username is only hm...not H&M. So here we go...

WOW! I love it. Although I've already noticed places for improvement, I love what H&M has been tweeting about. They tweet about their new fashion arrivals, their facebook page and surprisingly, problems that are occurring in their different stores. One tweet announced that they were investigating their 34th street store in NYC for throwing away unsold garments. How dare they do that!!! I should tell them to donate their clothes to me. I haven't seen many companies announce their store issues. I think this is a good way to be transparent to their fans. Good job H&M!

The Story Behind the Shirts

Although I've expressed my opinion of woot.com's Twitter account, I haven't announced my love for shirt.woot.com yet! As I began following woot.com on Twitter, I became bored of the overly used tweets which only included the sale of the day. I wish someone would hack into their account and put a joke up or at least something that you can feel connected to, like a personal thought or insight.

Since I usually fall asleep looking at Woot's twitter page, I decided to go to their website and explore their other woot sites. I've become a huge fan of shirt.woot.com! I love t-shirts and the idea used to create the website is, I believe, genius. Basically, people put up t-shirts with cool graphic designs to sell with a story behind it. For example, for Chinese New Year, shirt.woot.com sold a a t-shirt with lanterns and chinese zodiac signs. Below, there was a poem about the festivities and a story along with it. The designers of the t-shirts write the stories. I think having this extra story behind the shirt is a great way to sell. It makes it more personal. I think woot.com should look at this in a way that would help their Twitter account. It needs to be more personalized, instead of the automatic robot it has become.

LinkedIn and Ready to Go

Twitter, Facebook.com, Yahoomail, Myspace...so many social networking websites, so little time! To add to that list I just joined LinkedIn. It's hard for me to resist joining a new social network, especially if it's an outlet to find a job! Currently, I've been searching for jobs online using Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com. They can get frustrating and not very personal. Joining LinkedIn was a good decision on my part. I love it! My profile is set up and I am ready to become a professional on the website.

Although job search engines can be confusing, there are YouTube videos which can be very helpful to get you started. Try it out! Hopefully a job will be just a click away.

Ads-Tastic! Superbowl Ads Mania!

So, I know most people watch the Superbowl for the game of football, but many others watch it for...yes, the commercials! Prepare my popcorn and chip dip and I'm always ready to watch to see what the ads are like every year. It sounds like I'm a dork who analyzes the ads, but it's very important to the companies and to the viewers. Who wouldn't be excited to laugh a lot from hilarious and sometimes corny ads? Millions of dollars are put in to these commercials, so we expect them to be great! Instead of the usual fast forwarding through, we can't get enough of them!

Since social media is becoming so popular, it has made the commercials easier to view...over and over and over again! People tweet about ads and link it to youtube videos, people view the videos and share them on facebook and then maybe some people email them to others! The list of social media outlets goes on and on. It spreads the commercials throughout people very quickly and makes the popular ads even more popular!

My favorite ad for this season:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISs5XAtUyio

Gotta love the chubby cheeks :)

Is Ashton Kutcher Becoming a Twitter Addict???

Along with Woot.com, I've been tracking celebrity Ashton Kutcher's Twitter account...aplusk. I like him as an actor (he's funny & cute & sociable &...so on). Anyways, I checked his Twitter out and he tweets some pretty awesome things and of course, lots of funny things, too. With all of the social media outlets he uses, I feel like he's becoming a social media whore!

It's not like he's tweeting only about his daily life, but he tweets about Twitter and other social media outlets he uses. He directs his audience to his live Ustream from his Iphone, where you can watch him on video. He tweets about his favorite Youtube videos. He links to his Demi & Ashton Foundation and the different organizations he's involved with. Basically, he's promoting where he can be found on the internet, which seems like everywhere! It's like a Ashton Kutcher domination of cyberspace! If there was a list of people who utilize social media the best, he would be on top. I think people can learn from his social media expertise and become a Twitter head like him.

You'll get addicted to his addictions: http://twitter.com/aplusk

Woot.com's Twitter Account isn't so "Wooty"

Definition of "wooty": fun, awesome, entertaining, exciting, etc.

Yes, I made up that definition. For my Social Media class, I've been following Woot.com on Twitter. If you don't know what Woot.com is, it's a website that sells a main product, mostly electronics, each day. It has a special of the day and it is up until they sell out. I think it's an excellent business idea and I love how there are different Woot.coms. Such as, wine.woot, tshirt.woot and kids.woot. The not so excellent thing is their Twitter account.

I've been tracking it for the past two weeks and it's rather boring. Everyday, they usually just tweet about their special of the day. No cool events or contests. No pictures or articles. It's just blah! They need to add some spice to their Twitter page. Check it out and see if you agree!

Becoming Social Media Savvy

To start off, I started my first blog in 2003, not knowing it was a blog. Weekly, using Xanga.com, I wrote posts about what was happening in my life. I used it throughout high school and drifted away from it in 2006. It became my journal and every time I read my thoughts from back then, I laugh. I wasn't blog savvy then because it was just a paper-free journal. I had no central theme to it and I've discovered that's why I never had any comments on it besides my friends'.

I'm attending a Social Media & PR class at Wilkes University currently to dive into the cyber world and grasp the concepts of the ever-changing social media outlets. I hope it will help me become a better candidate for jobs, since I am job searching right now and graduating in May! Ah!!! I also want to become more savvy with the whole Twitter concept because it seems like a great way to social network! So, here is my first official blog for my class. Enjoy!