Our Thoughts vs. Your Thoughts

This week we are asking for your input on our blog. We would like to reflect on the work we've done and see if you have followed along as we have developed our blog over the last several weeks! I am going to be asking questions specifically to our Facebook and Twitter pages, but check back throughout the week for questions on other topics!

1) Did you ever visit our blog's Twitter or Facebook pages? If so, did you find them to be a helpful to remind you of our postings each week?

2) Did you visit our blog's website because you saw it on our individual Facebook or Twitter pages? If so, did you consider this to be a successful way of promoting our blog?

 3) In what ways could we have improved our communication to you about our blog through social networking?

Thanks for your feedback! :)

Four Square vs. Danger

A popular social media app is called Four Square.  Four Square allows us to check in to different locations and become the "mayor" of a location if you go there enough.  Though this app is popular, it could be extremely dangerous.  By checking into locations, you put your information out to the world that you may not want everyone knowing.  It allows potential dangerous stalkers to follow you and possibly find you.  Social networks can be great, but when it comes to some like Four Square, we must be careful about the information we share with the world.  The Internet is fun but it can also be extremely dangerous and we must always remember that our safety has to come first.

Sleep vs. Xanga

Believe it or not, when I'm laying in bed at night not wanting to go to bed, I take out my phone or my laptop and I look at other blogs online.  My favorites come from Xanga.  Xanga is a blogring that is used for virtually anything.  I use it in order to look at different vintage photos, quotes, and fashion tips.  You must be careful when visiting this site though, because it becomes very addicting!!!!  I dare you to check it out.   www.xanga.com   :)

Pinterest vs. Other Time Wasters

Pinterest is a fairly new website that has become increasingly popular over the last year. Many people don't expect Pinterest to be as distracting and addicting as other online networks such as Facebook and Twitter. However, the reality is that it is easy to spend even MORE time on it than other websites. Pinterest allows you to look at pictures of almost anything, ranging from recipes to funny text conversations. Not only can your surf this page alone, but you can also connect through Facebook, looking at all of your friends pins too. It is easy to spend many hours on websites like this, like Tyler mentioned, and not even realize it. However, Pinterest might not be a complete waste of time. I, myself, have cooked a few great meals using recipes I found on there. I guess the big question is..is this website another mindless time waster like many people like to believe, or can it actually be beneficial in addition to being tons of fun? Happy pinning to all of you Pinterest fans!

Texts From Last Night vs. Homework From Last Night

(+69):

You made out with my dog and told me he tasted like a rainbow.

(847):

stuck in a tree...bring a ladder. also my arm might be broken. no questions are allowed.

(215):

If eating a cheesesteak naked doesn't make me feel better, then I don't know what will.

(909):

I'm so tired of waking up with my bed full of deli meats.

Have you ever spent a good 2 hours wasting time on the Internet instead of working on a paper or studying for an exam. Yeah, me too. Oftentimes I end up on these mindless websites for hours without even realizing it. My site of choice is Texts From Last Night. If you don't already know, it is a website where people submit funny texts, often related to drunken incidents. Sure they are funny, but usually it ends up being a big waste of time in my already busy schedule. Even for this blog post, I just wanted to add a few examples, but I ended up reading 14 pages of texts. I'm sure we've all read articles and news reports about how revolutionary and influential the Internet is and is becoming, but I personally think we overlook how big of a distraction it can really be. What are your favorite mindless, distracting websites? Do they really serve a purpose or are they more of a hindrance?

Instagram vs. Regular Photos

Instagram  is a free photo sharing program launched in 2010 that allows users to take a picture regularly on their phone and apply different filters to it. From there, they can share it on different social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Instagram is a huge leap from traditional, regular photos because there is no longer a need to buy a software to edit pictures or go have them printed and edited on a big machine. I use Instagram daily because I love to make my photos look different and add cool effects to them. As of this month, there are over 30 million different Instagram accounts made. Much like Twitter, you are able to "follow" different celebrities and friends to see their photos and how they edit them. Facebook recently just bought Instagram for $1 billion dollars in cash and stock, taking over one of the most popular phone apps to date. Make yourself an account and share your photos!


Below are the different effects you can use on your photos.

Cover Girl Vs. Other Make-Up Brands

Cover Girl is one of the most popular make-up brands out there, and this is partly due to the way they advertise. Cover Girl is famous for having celebrities in their advertisements, attracting all of the young women who aspire to be like them. In the above video, Taylor Swift is featured in a recent commercial for one of Cover Girl's new lines. Taylor Swift has a huge fan base, and Cover Girl recognizes this. By having celebrities like her in their commercials, they are able to draw a lot of attention to themselves and sell even more products than other make-up companies who have not used this same strategy. Also, a Cover Girl spread and commercial is given to the winner of America's Next Top Model each year. Young women that watch this show and see people they recognize in Cover Girl's ads are likely to be influenced to by this brand of make-up because they see them using it. However, the reality of Cover Girl is that they offer most of the same products and probably aren't that much different from other make-up companies. They have just used the right marketing strategies and have drawn a lot of attention to themselves by using famous celebrities in their commercials. Check out Cover Girl's website, www.covergirl.com, to see more celebrities they feature in their ads!