Blog Review

The blogs that I liked the most, and that I have since bookmarked, are Seth Godin’s Blog, the Diva Marketing Blog, Fahlgren Mortine, and Ad Freak. I think that I enjoyed these more than the others because their format made them easy to read and because the content was relative to me.

I enjoyed Seth Godin’s Blog (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/) because it seemed more personal than many of the others I read. The style of his writing is clear, concise and entertaining, which makes it easy to read. Before I knew it I was four or five entries down, and as I scrolled down, I started to notice all of the books on the left that Set Godin has written. I know that it may seem superficial, but this made me feel like he really knows what he is talking about, and convinced me to read all the way to the bottom of the page. The topics that he writes about are interesting because they are things that I come across during my daily life or that I may even consider common knowledge (like clichés, the hidden power of a gift, and hunters and farmers), but I have never actually thought about them. I also appreciated all the examples he uses to further explain his opinions or ideas.

When I first got to the Diva Marketing Blog (http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/) I immediately wrote it off on appearance alone as something overly and overtly feminine that I would feel sort of guilty enjoying. But as I started reading it and the “About” section my opinion was quickly changed. I think that Toby Bloomberg, the author, gives a very positive, likable, and experienced impression. I am not an avid social media user, but I found the information on Diva Marketing interesting and valuable because I think that I will use social media a lot more once I am in the professional world. I also enjoyed this blog because the way that she explains certain concepts, with analogies (like a shoe or a valentine) or in list format, make it much more accessible. I can see this blog being very valuable for social media users, especially women.

I enjoyed the Fahlgren Mortine Blog (http://www.fahlgrenmortine.com/) because it had multiple authors/contributors who wrote about a variety of topics. I liked the format because it looks clean, but the colors and images make it more interesting than some of the others I looked at. I also liked how most of the entries were fairly brief with and option to read more because it made the blog less intimidating as whole and easier to read. I think that the information included in this blog is valuable both because it is interesting and because it is relevant to the public relations industry that I hope to eventually be a part of. My impression of the author of this blog was positive because they all seemed to be professionals with enough experience to know what they were talking about. I can see this blog as being valuable both to people who know a lot about pr and to people who do not, because many of the topics featured are things that most people, who are on the Internet regularly, encounter everyday.

The blog Ad Freak (http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/) was one of my favorites out of all the ones that I visited because I have always enjoyed commercials and because it had a variety of contributors. I really like the format of this blog because you can read about the advertisement, and you can either watch it right on the page or follow a link to it. The information on this blog was valuable to me because it is what I would normally find myself looking up information about. I think that this blog would also be valuable to advertising, public relations, or marketing professionals, as well as individuals who are just interested in and appreciate advertising.

Twitter

Before this assignment I had created a Twitter account for another class assignment, for which we were asked to participate in our choice of social media. I chose Twitter because I had heard that it was gaining popularity, and I figured if it was for a class I might as well buy into the fad. After finishing the assignment I honestly did not see the value, I viewed it, like many people do, as a massive collection of Facebook statuses. It was not until I worked as an intern at the Chamber of Commerce last summer, that I started to understand the potential that Twitter can have.

My second day as an intern at the Chamber I went to a presentation about innovative social media success stories. By the time the second speaker was finished I was convinced that Twitter could be extremely useful and effective for businesses and organizations, as well as individuals. However, over the last week I have learned that businesses or organizations’ Twitter efforts are only successful if they are implemented correctly, not if they are just jumping on the bandwagon. The organizations that I thought were the most interesting to follow over the last week were OSU PRSSA, Columbus Underground, and the various Marketing/PR Resources because the information was valuable and extremely relevant to me. I got frustrated with some of the media users that I was following because I got into the habit of just skimming over a majority of the large amount of information they were posting. The individual users that I enjoyed following the most were the ones that I felt were sharing information in the form of links or other users tweets.

From my combined experiences I think that Twitter can be a very valuable resource for me and other students who will be entering the job market in the next few years, both as a way to find information and to network. I am actually going to try to continue using Twitter after this assignment because it could be a great way to start learning about the career community that I eventually want to be a part of. However, there are two factors that I think will discourage me. The first is that as a whole Twitter is very overwhelming, I sign on and within five minutes of exploring I’m silently, or vocally, swearing it off all together because it is just so much information. The second is that I feel like unless I sign on 16 times a day I am never going to catch up with the rest of the Twitter universe. I think my conclusion after this assignment is that Twitter is something I want to be a part of, but in order to do so it will have to become a part of my routine, somewhere in between e-mail and Facebook, not penciled in the reminder section of my planner.