Losing the “Dumb” phone for a Smartphone

The Switch

I’ve finally done it. I’ve traded in my Samsung Reality for a Droid RAZR, and oh, what a change. I thought, “I’m pretty savvy, how hard can the change be?”

Apparently, meltdown hard. I couldn’t find my pictures, I didn’t know how to change my ringtone or access any of the information on my SD card.

Eating at Olive Garden after picking out my phone, the waitress giggled while I struggled with my phone. Apparently the fact that a millennial doesn’t know how to get her pictures is hysterical (I have to admit that if I was her, I would be laughing, too).

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Pinerly makes Pinterest easier to manage

Hootsuite, TweetDeck, CoTweet, SpreadFast, Pinerly … Wait, what’s that last one?

From Pin-n-Tell

Pinterest, the digital pin-board that’s sweeping social media lovers everywhere is not only getting more pins then ever as it grows in popularity, but is also getting the attention of others in the social media ether.

Pinerly is a Pinterest-friendly dashboard that allows brands as well as people to manage their Pinterest accounts.

Pinerly offers the same functions as if logging on to Pinterest regularly, but Pinerly has many extras to boost, according to a Mashable article.

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Cause marketing as an advertising tool

Cause marketing or affiliate marketing are seen almost every time we enter a grocery store. We are inundated with pink packages and little cut-out sneakers on our weekly shopping trips.  But, what does it all really mean. In a nut shell, a company is pairing up with a charity or other not-for-profit organization to help promote the organization’s cause.

But, let’s break that down and delve a little deeper.

The good

A lot of not-for-profits, or organizations in general, do not have the means to do a mass campaign to fundraise or raise awareness. So when given the opportunity that another company is willing to spread the word and spend the money, who would say no?

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Social gaming succeeds through virtual goods

My sad little farm :( But me with cute pigtails!

Why did I play?

Per force of an assignment, I had to give in to something most people enjoy doing on a daily basis – playing a game on Facebook. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I do indulge in a game or two of Bejeweled Blitz, but spend money on it? That's definitely not on my top 10 list of purchases.

However, I bit the bullet and I did it. But not on Bejeweled Blitz, I decided to go to the second most popular game on Facebook – Farmville.

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Virtual Goods: Why they exist

From mafiawars.wikia.com

My close brush

My senior year in high school I got extremely addicted to an embarrassing Zynga Facebook game. No, not Farmville. Mafia Wars.

Why was I into a game that killed people, harvested cocaine or ran illegal auto part shops? I have no idea. I claim temporary mental instability.

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Your digital life doesn’t die when you do

If die before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Guide and guard me through the night

and have my last tweet take flight.


Let’s be blunt

What happens when you die? Well, there’s the few obvious ones. Your heart has stopped beating and you’re either in the ground or in a pot.

But, what happens to all you’ve done in life? All you’ve created? All the tweets, all the updates, the email accounts, the Pinterest boards, etc. What happens to it all?

It. Stays.

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Pinterest revolutionizes social media

There’s more?

My Twitter feed exceeds 100 new tweets before an hour is up. I log onto Facebook and I have a new notification practically every time. And now there’s another social media starlight out there – Pinterest.

For weeks now, Pinterest has been popping up in my Twitter and Facebook feeds, but I never explored it. I thought, “Eh, I’ll get to it eventually.” Well, times up! Gotta learn and gotta learn fast. Why? Because Pinterest isn’t like its social media siblings. It’s the supposed “adopted one” that people don’t quite understand right away, and that’s because Pinterest is a social site that’s made for the individual’s benefit more than any of the others.

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Politicians on Twitter

I’m being shown up

When I first got Twitter, I had no idea how to use it. I went on it for a few days, got frustrated and ran away from it like a little girl does when she sees a spider. I. Was. Scared.

However, then came along a class where using Twitter was mandatory. So, forced by syllabus, I had to figure it out. And now that I kind of know what I’m doing, I’m seeing 50-plus-year-old politicians showing me up. When did they learn how to use it before me?

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Who knew the Super Bowl had so much power? How the Super Bowl is changing advertising

When I Pee

Perhaps, everyone isn’t like me. To most, the Super Bowl usually means beer, greasy food, competition, football (obviously) and lots of screaming. I guess I’m the same in some respects. But, to me, the only thing the Super Bowl is good for is the commercials.

I pee during the game and come back screaming if I’ve missed a commercial or two.

However, those who live in the advertising/marketing world pray for fans like me. And, they’re hoping for more of them.

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"Mom, I don't want to be your friend!" Parents struggle with social media monitoring

The Shrouding of Social Media

During my senior year of high school, I finally broke my social media cherry. Some friends of mine created a Facebook account for me, took off the training wheels and let me wobble and ride down Social Media Lane.

At first, of course, I was confused. What seemed to come so naturally to my peers was like a minefield to me. However, one thing was clear – I did not want to be Facebook friends with my family. My mom had yet to create a Facebook profile, so I wasn’t worried about her, but my family was another story. For some reason, I felt my Facebook profile was to be kept for only my friends and me. Even though I had no idea how to use it, Facebook was sacred.

It felt instinctive to want to seclude that part of my life from my family. But why?

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Facebook Famine: Why were you so hard to give up?

Day 1: What did I do?
The words “I got this!” came to mind as I had my last look at Facebook and logged off. I thought two days without Facebook wouldn’t be hard at all. I’ve willingly gone many more days without it when I was in a time crunch, so I thought, “What could be different?” However, just coming off of a one-month break that included multiple daily visits to Facebook, it wasn’t so easy. I was shocked by how many times I reached for my phone to go on Facebook. While waiting for a friend to come to lunch – reach. Waiting for a class to start – reach.

But it didn’t stop there. It turns out I have a nasty little habit of opening a new tab for Facebook after I check my email. Who knew I went on it so much?

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