Technology – Creative Journal: Marketing and Creativity

Technology

Help! Technology Stole My Childhood

April 21, 2009

Whether it’s texting a friend or downloading the newest song off iTunes, being a kid has changed drastically. Gone are the days of waking up for Saturday morning cartoons and in are chatrooms and spending hours watching YouTube. It can be argued that technology has made our lives easier and enables us to accomplish more, but to say that technology has improved life all around is far fetched.

Do you remember when you would wake up Saturday mornings and watch The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or go over to your friends house for a sleep over and get excited when you could stay up past your bedtime? You may not remember all the details, but you do remember how much fun it was to be a kid. As a kid you worried about when you would lose your next tooth and whether you would get the ‘nice’ teacher at school. Nowadays, kids have different priorities and different agendas.

To give you an idea of what kids know and do now, I asked some 11 year olds the other day if they knew what “Monopoly” and “Jenga” was to which they responded no. When asked if he knew who Britney Spears and 50 Cent were, they knew immediately. 11 year olds don’t know popular board games, but do know pop sex idol, Britney Spears, and rapper 50 Cent. Do you see something wrong here? Kids are growing up too fast and technology has a huge part in this.
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Economy, News, Social Media, Technology

LA Goes Wireless, So Should Companies

December 23, 2008

Los Angeles has always been known for being a hot spot for social trends and cultural change, and recently I noticed something that I hadn’t really taken the time to notice before. Driving down Melrose and La Brea, I noticed just how few payphones their were. In fact, I was unable to see one for almost 3 blocks.

Not only was it just in this vicinity that I was unable to find a payphone, but in other surrounding areas as well. This lack of payphones leads me to believe that LA has gone wireless. Today, cellphones have replaced the need to carry around quarters except to pay for the parking meter. Cellphones are no longer for the rich and powerful as they once were back in the early 90’s, but are now common ‘toys’ for teens and necessary tools for students and professionals.

LA’s new direction in regards to communication is something that businesses should be aware of as well. Consumers can now get the weather, find out what’s for dinner, look up directions, and update there Facebook all from there cellphone. Businesses should take advantage of this and find new ways to target consumers. While payphones do exist in remote locations, such as near the bathrooms at shopping malls, LA for the most part has made the transition from landlines to wireless.

With the addition of Wi-Fi, 3G networks and reasonable wireless service plans, a cellphone has become standard for most. When email became preferable to ‘snail mail,’ companies jumped onboard, trying to tag every page with there advertisements. Now that cellphones have become the new ‘communication’ tools, companies should recognize this and latch on to it. Whether it is through text advertisements, which many companies have already been utilizing, or through cellphone apps, ‘wireless advertisements’ will be the new way to advertise and the new way to communicate with this new generation.

Social Media, Technology, Web 2.0

The Hour The [Social] World Stood Still

December 16, 2008

For some, in a matter of moments, the words plastered across the screen as shown above meant the world was at a stand still. For the hundreds and thousands of Facebook ‘followers’ and ‘stalkers,’ site maintenance of the Facebook site means trying to find something else to do while tirelessly refreshing the Facebook page in hopes that Facebook is able to finish fixing there site after only 2 minutes.

Today after speaking to a some friends, I realized just how attached some people are to Facebook. Facebook has become not only a social phenomenon, but also a cultural one.

For college students, Facebook has become a class in itself. Spending countless hours looking at friends photos and there updates has become a daily activity. Finding out something about that girl in your Chemistry class that you’ve been dying to talk to has never been easier. When asking my friends what they are doing, “facebooking” is a common response.

It is easy to see why when Facebook closes its site for maintenance, users all around the world feel lost for the few hours it is down. When you look at what Facebook has done, they have assimilated themselves into peoples lives by making life easier.

How is life easier?

No, Facebook cannot do your dishes or clean your room, but Facebook can help you stay connected with friends, co-workers, and help you network. Facebook can notify you of events, sell or buy items from the “Facebook marketplace” and even help you remember your friend’s birthday.

The social world is dominated by sites just like Facebook. The melding of these social ‘tools’ into people’s everyday lives has not only made using these sites daily tasks but in some extreme cases, necessary.

Career, College, Economy, News, Social Media, Technology, Web 2.0

Dear Blog, Please Get Me A Job

December 13, 2008

As I was flipping through various news articles on the web, I came across an interesting article written by Adam Nichols of the New York Post. The article, entitled “Better Sign of Times“, was about a banker who was recently put out of a job due to the economic situation. For many of us, ‘standard protocol’ when looking for job involves:

1. Looking for job openings

2. Submitting our resume

3. Waiting for an employer to ask us to interview with them

Joshua Persky, the un-employed banker from the article, thought of a different way to look for a job. Using his creativity, Joshua Persky used a sandwich board sign saying he was looking for a job and wore it around Park Avenue. Not only did Persky attract plenty of attention from New Yorker’s, but Persky also attracted many job offers. So popular was Persky’s approach to finding a job that he created a blog where he documented his experiences.

Eventually, Persky got a full time offer from Manhattan firm Weiser LLP. When looking back at his experience Persky states in the article that

“Obviously, I had vigorous interviews, but I think it was [the blog] which sealed the deal,”

A blog.

Not his resume, not his interview, and not his sandwich board, but his blog. That is what sealed the deal.

As college students and young professionals prepare to apply for jobs, one advice that I would like to give is this. Company’s that are looking for someone to fill the position that they have an opening for get hundreds and hundreds of applications. Just like when you apply to get into a college, you have to write a personal essay, in essence, a personal blog can serve just the same purpose. A personal blog gives the interviewer a chance to look at many different aspects of you that a resume would never be able to show. From your writing style and use of logic, to what you are interested in and motivated at; your blog is an extension of yourself and everyone should have one.

It is not hard to find two applicants that have great GPA and great community involvement and drive, but what is the key determinant in deciding who gets the position is who is able to leave that lasting impression. In the case of the sandwich board banker, Persky was able to differentiate himself from the rest of the field by not only having a creative way of ‘applying’ for a job, but by having a personal blog that tells ‘his story’ and builds his personal brand.

Whether you write about fashion, music, what your favorite cartoon is, or even what you think the government should do with the economy, always remember that a personal blog is a tool that tells people who you are, where you’ve been and most importantly, where you want to go.

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Article: Better Sign of Times, Adam Nichols

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