#SWF Googles
Posted by TristenS in Not so Nonsense on May 2, 2012
True to form… most googling for the past week or so has been done looking for bars and ways out.
Donnie Darko Marketing… If 2001 Was 2011
Posted by TristenS in Social Media, Uncategorized on May 1, 2012
Social@Ogilvy put out a really interesting article last week about social marketing as inspired by the popular film, The Hunger Games (article can be seen here). In it, Social@Ogilvy’s VP Geoffrey Colon, @djgeoffe asks,
Does social media help drive consumption of content or does good content drive social media engagement?
Colon argued with ease how essential social media based word of mouth is when it comes to any sort of marketing initiative, and that content that supports your initiatives must be engaging to be worthwhile for consumers (duh!). He said, ”…it was the creation of some wonderful social media content that helped drive word of mouth more than simply the all too familiar promotional messaging built around trailers and games.” I’m not too sure that’s the case for this film seeing as it was already a popular literary series. Regardless…
This clearly got me thinking about something slightly unrelated to the article overall, and that was one of my favorite films as a young dewey-eyed teenager, Donnie Darko.
For those who are unaware, Donnie Darko came out in 2001 with minimal fanfare, and according to IMDB grossed only $4.5 million at the box office. The studio, though, made sure to give this dark film the social currency it deserved, and in 2001, that came in the form of a bad-ass website, www.donniedarkofilm.com. The interactive site was certainly ahead of its time and honestly still creeps the shit out of me, however, it’s maze-like qualities kept users thoroughly engaged and (for rhyming’s sake) enraged if they could not solve the next step in the online puzzle.
I didn’t really futz around much with the movie or its corresponding website for that matter until the spring of 2006. The only reason I remember this was because I was a senior in high school and became so intrigued with the site after my then-pregnant creative writing teacher decided to drop an existential bomb on us in the form of a movie about a psychologically advanced teenager. Pardon the digression – alas, the website’s content is still particularly engaging and I’m clearly still very bitter about not reaching the end of the maze. Needless to say, six years later, I’m still heavily effected by the content (and user experience for that matter) on the Donnie Darko website, so much so, here I am trying to visualize how amazing the content would have been in a social media context in 2012.
Seriously though, what would have happened if the Donnie Darko type films of the last decade had social media to help stimulate its word-of-mouth marketing? Clearly, The Hunger Games example from Colon is an edge case considering the extreme following that the book series had to help support the upheaval in its WOM, so what about the little movies that could? (See also, Twilight and the Harry Potter films.)
At a glance, it looks as though someone over at Fox is currently running the Donnie Darko Facebook page (or perhaps its Frank?). The page is more of an homage to the awesomeness of the movie and its content is based around fan art and “What’s Jake Gyllenhaal Up To These Days?!” type posts, however, could you imagine what it would be like if the film came out today? It probably would have received The Dark Knight type treatment (a reminder of what that was is here) mixed with some amazing social media type components. Holy crap, my brain is exploding just thinking about it. If the maze-like methods behind the website were incorporated into a social media boom behind the film, Colon’s article would argue that it’s hyper-fan appeasing content could have helped further not only its overall box office earnings, but the proceeding cult following as well.
So… I Did a Cleanse This Week
Posted by TristenS in Uncategorized on March 8, 2012
The easiest way to get me to do something I already kind of want to do is to be pushed with the ittiest bittiest bit of peer pressure. Most recently, this has lead me to buy a bus ticket and participate (somewhat) in a ski trip — that’s probably in a blog post in and of itself — and, as of this week, a cleanse.
So I’m not really one for fads at all, at least at this stage in my life. Perhaps 15 (eek) years ago you could easily wrangle me into getting a Tamagachi or Ferbie but not today friends! Not today…
Oh yeah so the cleanse – I’ve been wanting to do one around the time Gwyneth Paltrow and most of Hollywood began raving about it. At that time, though, and probably now for that matter too, people were talking about cleanses with lemons and peppers and other horribly tasting concoctions. Clearly the amount of negativity around something that’s supposed to be sooo amazing is what turned me away for this long. Until now.
One of my new year’s resolutions was to make healthy decisions which has admittedly been a smidge bit of an issue but hey, I’m trying. With that in mind, I kicked off 2012 with the idea, nay, the need, to do a cleanse. I was fully convinced that this would be an awesome way to get healthy, and boy was I right (wrong..ehh right).
Despite the fact that it’s taken me 3 months to actually get my shit together enough to do one, I am now fully done with a cleanse. Luckily, one of my coworkers was on the same wave-length as me and helped push me over the edge and do the Kaeng Raeng cleanse with her. They recommend their newcomers to do their 3-day beginner cleanse which I kindly obliged. The cleanse arrived this passed Monday and so Tuesday began the 3-day journey into cleansehood.
I’ll try to break the days down by themes. Since my writing is incredibly choppy due to my raging ADHD that came out this week.
Day 1: “But it’s 10 o’clock in the morning!” My coworker replied as I cried out loud for a huge slab of meat. Luckily, by the graces of my psychic abilities (I’m convinced I have it!!), I went to the grocery store and picked the type of fruit most likely to be in my juices (rasberries and blueberries FTW!) and already had similarly flavored yogurts to help get rid of the blegh taste. This helped make the first day rockin’! That is, until I got to work, started drinking the cleanses, and was hit with the sudden urge to eat any type of meat on God’s great earth. “UGHHHH I WANT A BURGER!” was the exact words to come out of my mouth to help yield that type of a response from my coworker.
Day 2: “NEW YORK SMELLS LIKE FOOD” Had sweet dreams of cows, steaks, hamburgers, you name it. Noticed that everyone online posted more pictures than normal of the culinary pleasantries – those assholes. It’s like I was being chased around by food, even from the supposed confines of the internet. Tried to hide inside of my office all day to escape the sweet smells of the great city of New York. Drank half of my lunch because it was, um, disgusting, and spent the remainder of my day munching on baby carrots. Went to a happy hour after work where I didn’t drink alcohol (that’s actually a big deal seeing as I normally succumb so quickly to peer pressure). Stayed too long, felt faint from not finishing lunch/having dinner in a timely manner. Got home and got violently ill. That was awesome.
Day 3: “Queeeeeazy” called home to my mommy to let her know what the hell went down the night before. Almost went to the hospital, but luckily felt better after I, um, ate something (fruit). Had some residual queasiness up until the afternoon, even after having the breakfast cleanse. Suffered through the rest of the day. Can’t tell you how excited I am for my breakfast tomorrow (scrambled egg whites with peppers and a piece of wheat toast with a thin layer of jelly — not that I’ve been planning that or anything…)
When all is said and done, when you completely disregard how foul one of the flavors was (umm blueberry, egh), I actually feel great. I’ve never been one to go off the numbers on a scale, so just the fact that I feel great is fan-freaking-tabulous. Would I recommend Kaeng Raeng? – sure. It was inexpensive and pretty effective. If you’ve ever wanted to do a cleanse before, just go for it. Seriously, you have nothing to lose but some weight.
Online Dating. Not Embarrassed, Just Cheap.
Posted by TristenS in Not so Nonsense on March 2, 2012
Recently took a trip into the online dating world on a website called sparkology.com, also dabbled in another site called howaboutwe.com. Both are very interesting, and hey, Sparkology even has an iPhone app. The only thing keeping me away from maintaining these online experiences is that you have to pay for them. Don’t get me wrong, $15/month is certainly a very cheap price, especially if it means you can scam on dudes from the comforts of your morning commute, but… I’m one of the cheapest people on the planet, and while I don’t want to be single forever, paying for an online flip-book of dudes doesn’t really seem like a beneficial way for me to spend some dough.
It should be said, I’m not against online dating at all – everyone knows someone who knows someone that met their significant other on a dating site and it clearly worked out. Just not sure I’m ready and willing to shell out some greenbacks to a website in order to find a man.
Hm – also didn’t help that my psycho cousin decided to play around on my Sparkology account and start poking/winking/whatever’ing at people. Maybe that was the source of being turned off from online dating. Okay, well, I mistakingly gave my cousin my login information because I thought she was a sane person and would go on the site just to look at it one time which seems like a relatively sane idea considering she’s in a very happy relationship. Far be it from me to think she wouldn’t abuse her privileges and log on to my account multiple times per day (more than me) and comment on all of my potential suitors, “He’s way too old for you!” “He’s a smidge too ___” and so on. She’s totally going to get pissed when she reads this, but whatever – you’re insane.
Do you use a dating site? How’d you meet your significant other – that is, if you have one..
Workout Plan – The Equinox Edition
Posted by TristenS in Not so Nonsense on February 2, 2012
“Trying out Equinox tonight with my roomate. A gym which imports its water from the fountain of youth, uses money bags as medicine balls, and gold bars for free weights.”
Okay peeps, we’re into the beginning of February which means all of those new years resolutions are at their sink or swim point. If you’re like me, you made a generalized resolution like “quit smoking,” “read more,” or “be nicer.” My resolution this year, however, aside from being less bitchy was to “make healthy choices” so yeah it’s generic enough that it can cover a variety of regressive behaviors i.e. drinking like college student, smoking like a chimney, disregarding the need for physical fitness, and eating like a heifer.
In the last few weeks, I’ve significantly scaled back on my drinking, haven’t smoked at all (actually I kind of gave that up last year), started working out again, and began eating like any self-respecting adult should. Everything is going smooth sailing thus far and the gym is becoming noticeably less busy which is way more convenient because I can finally get my ass on a treadmill.
I’ve never been a fan of fancy gyms – they’re overwhelming and filled with people who are too attractive and physically fit to be around those who… aren’t. I go to Planet Fitness – a gym comparable to Average Joe’s from the acclaimed feature film Dodgeball. It’s $10 per month and I love it because it has all the shit I need minus the hoopla of needing to be a sexy Manhattan gym. Yesterday, however, my roommate convinced me to go to her gym Equinox for a one-week trial. This place is the Globo Gym to my Average Joe’s. It also costs more than 10 times my monthly membership and boy does it show. They have towels infused with sweet eucalyptus, padded stretching zones, numerous studios, sexy looking locker rooms, a juice bar, good looking people, massive space…
I had my first Equinox experience this evening and holy mother effing shiz. I was so taken aback because this place was loud and kind of erotic in a weird way – there was just a lot of good looking people sweating all at once, it was kind of like an orgy… or a Britney Spears video. Either way, not sure I would go back after the 7-day trial just because it was incredibly intimidating to be sweating like a beast amongst a sea of beautiful people.
Either way, my cousin ended up going with me tonight and we did a class called Barre Burn. It was awesome, if you’re in to being yelled at by a petite former-ballerina. I actually really enjoyed the class, and please rub it in my face when I complain for the next 5 days over my inability to walk. Okay, maybe I’ll go back…
Like this:
Becoming a Developer
Posted by TristenS in Social Media on February 1, 2012
photo from http://www.coneinc.com/
“Coding leads to insomnia…”
One of the best ways to get yourself hired, and keep a job is to make yourself an indispensable resource. Instead of throwing you a bunch of meaningless examples, let me instead pose a different kind of scenario. Take an at-glance of what it is you do on a day-to-day basis at your job (or what it is you would like to do if you’re looking for a gig). If you see people in your company doing things (or job descriptions) you’re interested in learning about, or could do better, the only thing stopping you from moving forward with those opportunities to be a professional Swiss Army knife is yourself.
If that doesn’t make any sense (which it probably doesn’t because I’m running on about 3 hours of sleep). I worked in social media on an earned & owned capacity and am now at a job where I’m doing social media on a paid-basis. Last week I decided to go completely rogue and teach myself… how to CODE. That’s right. I’m going to build websites, tabs, and hell, maybe apps in the next few months when I’m done with my studies – whenever that may be.
I know there’s no way I’m going to be building a Matrix – mostly because if given the chance, I’d take both the red and blue pills, ya know, just to cover all my bases. Perhaps you’re interested in following my route and becoming a sleep-deprived developer. If this is the case you should check out some of the following websites, Code Academy for javascript (no, java isn’t the cool way of saying javascript, as I learned the hard way), Ruby Monk, Learn Code The Hard Way. They each cover different types of coding language, one which I’m presently learning and know nothing about so If you decide to take the same path as me, at least hit me up and maybe we can join the sleepless express together.
For the record, I took two semesters of Arabic in college… That was easier. *sips coffee*
Glee Sucks
Posted by TristenS in Entertainment on January 31, 2012
I totally have that chick's Michael Kors earmuffs, also photo from http://www.fox.com/glee/
Ryan Murphy is a smart guy – that we know. This can be seen in the awesomeness that was Nip/Tuck, is American Horror Story, and used to be Glee. While AHS’ pace is a little too fast for my liking, its overall storyline is cohesive, engaging, and leaves you wanting more. The same could be said of Nip/Tuck and season one of Glee.
Glee, the show which apparently started off as the post-High School Musical response to the status quo of adolescent life, being: social rejection, unwanted pregnancies, and other teenage intricacies, has now given in to a commercialized musical hedonism seen only in the trajectory in careers and lives of children actors. Everything starts out great, they’re super popular – probably with their own TV show, or series of made for TV movies, then they have a music career and eventually there’s a tipping point when they become less relevant and fight to get back into the lime light (see: Lindsay Lohan 2004-current, Britney Spears 2007-2009, Celebrity Rehab, Celebrity Apprentice, etc).
My main issue with Glee has nothing to do with the fact that they produce music. Hell I actually like their music, and anyone who is privy to my personal life know that I’m a whore for a good show tune. My problem with the program is that is lacks the soul and purpose it once began with. It seems like Ryan Murphy & Co. are more concerned with pumping out number one hits on iTunes and filling stadiums rather than creating thorough, better thought out storylines to accompany the sweet beats in the show. Bottom line – the program has turned into a joke.
Anyone remotely familiar with Gawker has certainly read their reviews of the series. My favorite one of the season, “118 Questions About Last Night’s Episode of Glee” posed a series of unanswerable questions that viewers are left asking themselves after some episode in December. My number one question from Yes/No (aka the last episode I suffered through) is, when did Sue & Emma become friends? And for that matter, when did William McKinley acquire a synchronized swimming team? More importantly, how did said synchronized swim team survive the rigorous funding process set forth to any non-Cheerio related program?
(Sigh). I digress. If there is one thing that people are guilty of in this world is the need for escapism. Glee, with its shotty storylines and jazz hands is certainly an escape. Now, no one tell me what happened in the Michael Jackson episode just yet, I don’t have my cilice on just yet.
Looking for a New Gig?
Posted by TristenS in Social Media on December 8, 2011
Me too and the news is pretty hopeful.
The US Department of Labor reported an increase of 120,000 jobs during the month of November (a New York Times article details it here) and there’s nothing but improvements coming our way. If you’re as impatient as I am, and if I know anything about #millennials it’s our inability to sit idle too well, rest assured that you’re lucky enough to have the right tools with which to amplify your career prospects.
Something I find most interesting about our generation is the ability to make navigating the internet look like child’s play. Members of older generations might consider this skill to be borderline stalkery, but for the incredibly lucky members of our generation who grew up using computers full-time, we know that the only thing holding you back from a role on a CSI show is your overall lack of acting ability. Adversely, this wonderful ability can also be a hindrance to your job searching if you’re not handling yourself properly on the internet.
That being said, it’s best to use your knowledge of the interwebs to enhance your over-all job searching.
Here are three quick tidbits of advice before you start disseminating your resume:
- Know Your Footprint: Do an audit of yourself online.
Perform a quick Google search of your name and be sure to use quotation marks. If you’re unaware, the use of quotation marks in a search makes the query an absolute. If you’re a John Smith type, hold your pre-emptive self-congratulations. You’re no easier to hide on the internet than the rest of the John Smith’s out there after you provide additional details such as where you’re from, or you went to school. Entering “John Smith,” “Stamford, CT,” “U. of Whatever” will tell me a lot in a search engine. - Self-Edit: So you’ve figured out what kind of websites your name is tied to – now what?
First of all, you need to ask yourself what kind of things would you like associated with your name. It’s probably not pictures of you doing a keg stand, or a link through to an unsavory website. Leave the college years in college. Remove tags and associations with groups that lost their funny-factor, and ask friends (or blurry acquaintances) to remove pieces of content (photos, notes, etc) that may not show you in your best light. - Become an Expert: While the internet has given us things like LOLCat.com…
it has also given us a stronger ability to self-educate. Figure out who the prominent people in your field of interest are and learn from them. Stay up to date with the latest and greatest in your field and be able to speak to them. Remember folks, a college degree will only get you so far.
On Joining the #MillennialChat
Posted by TristenS in Social Media on November 29, 2011
Apologies go out if you’ve been peeved lately by my inundation of tweets. Unemployment has allowed me to throw my hat – and opinions – into a number of Twitter chats. I helped in my fair share of branded Twitter chats but never engaged with them more actively until now. The reason for this is because I’m mostly interested in spreading what I already know about social media in to conversations regardless of what the topic is plus I have an inherent desire to spark dialogues – no matter how silly or controversial the matter. That being said, I was happy to have stumbled upon #millennialchat – lead by @MillennialChat every Tuesday at 3:30 pm eastern time – this afternoon. They herald themselves as the glue that connects millennials with other millennials by chatting about millennials. Clearly this was worth indulging.
I’ve always been intrigued by the way that members of different generations function with one another within the work place. Well, to say “always” is a bit of a lie – the idea never crossed my mind until I found myself to be the youngest member of my last team. It was really interesting to see the way that people who grew up with the internet and people who grew up and then got slapped in the face with the internet collaborated, especially because I worked at a digital agency. It got me thinking – perhaps being millennial gave me a bit of a leg up in the digital world?
The first question during the #millennialchat was the idea of crowdsourcing and later lead to discussions on collaboration. I’ve always been of the thought that they are indeed synonyms – with “crowdsourcing” being the more buzzworthy word of the two, hence making it more millennial than the other. I felt the urge to respond faster than anyone else participating in the chat – “Need to source your target audience to gauge their level of interest in your ideas. It’s the new focus group.” This seemed to get a good response from everyone in the group and warranted some retweets and follow up questions. To answer that, I’ve observed that a lot of my millennial-aged peers, and the majority of them (even other generations) tend to work best in a collaborative environment; this being the reason why we had a number of really great brainstorms.
This then brought me back to a number of conversations I’ve had with my mentor, whose reciprocal theorizing you can read on his blog, Reciprocity Theory, and twittlings @dfossas. A lot of our discussions tend revolve around the human experience, and in one particular instance we got to talking about the millennial age — aka my peeps. Let’s face it, we’re a group of people who have tended to been brought up with the standard belief that a collaborative environment is the best way to educate. Hence the reason members of my generation worked on seemingly a significant number of group projects while growing up. You might have a good idea, but your partner might have another point of view, and together you can make a super-idea – voila! Or maybe it’s because your chemistry teacher didn’t want you to blow up your classroom so she paired you with someone who wasn’t getting a crappy grade – I digress.
Regardless, a number of us were raised in environments where collaboration was key, and while I’m still new to the “real world” it’s interesting to see that while we are all certainly more than capable of coming up with amazing ideas (or whatever else it is you’re crowdsourcing) on our own, it’s when a number of people come together that amazingness happens. This, of course is not the case all the time. Many of us have seen crowdsourcing/collaborating destroy what would have been awesome, earth-shattering ideas. But maybe it’s the idea that millennials are so acquainted with working together that collaboration has somehow become fostered into the real world as well.
Either way, I eagerly anticipate getting the transcript of our conversation from this afternoon and to join future chats.
Is Facebook the New Virgin?
Posted by TristenS in Social Media on November 28, 2011
Don’t be mistaken, the Virgin Group overseeing over 40 different businesses in seemingly every continent on the globe, headed by billionnaire founder Sir Richard Branson, once started off as a magazine, Student, then morphed into a mail-order record distributor in the 1970s. Living entrepreneurially and taking chances is something that Branson has done nearly his entire life.
We are all familiar to a certain degree of Mark Zuckerberg‘s rise to the billionnaire club, and if you saw David Fincher’s The Social Network you now have a fictionalized perception on just how Facebook came to be. Boy from Long Island attends Harvard, drops out when his website becomes the coolest thing on earth since James Dean; website dominates college campuses, then the United States, then the world.
The shift in Facebook since its beginnings somewhat mirrors the professional trajectory that Branson chose to take Virgin. Both companies started off as a way to keep students entertained in one way or another. The Virgin Group shifted from the music industry to what feels like every apparent industry imaginable on earth – wine, air, fitness, finance, vacations, trains. Facebook, since its inception less than a decade ago, has seen a number of changes in not only its appearance, but its services as well – instant messaging, marketplace, timeline, possibly a phone, and many more of which you can learn about on their blog.
The point of it all is a good entrepreneur evolves alongside their clientele. I’m particularly interested in seeing if/how Facebook will translate its brand from the web to actual products and if it effectively takes the Virgin route and plans on total global domination.
