Response to AttentionMax’s blog

This post is the last of the two required posts that we have to respond to for class.

In response to Max’s blog, regarding “Mission-Critical Presentation Advice: Dump Powerpoint,” I kind of agree, kind of disagree.

He mentions that, after reading about advice to better present yourself in a presentation, Max notes that power points are way overdone. In other words, people use power points to hide behind the presentation, which ultimately doesn’t draw the audience to pay attention. He also notes that power points should only be used for long and written printed reports, if that. Other than that, people need to stay focused on the individual and not so much what is on the screen.

I agree in that power points do take away from the presenter and takes the focus away from them. However, being a little shy when it comes to public speaking myself, I like power points. Normally I will put the main, important facts on the slides, and read the more detailed information from note cards. But I think that if it wasn’t for power points, I would have a harder time giving a speech or presentation. Eventually, and this is my personal opinion, if you only put the necessary points on the screen and speak about the rest, the audience will read the screen and follow along with you as you read into further detail, directing their attention back and forth between you and the slides.

Visit ytsrvinu to read the post.

The Young and Hip Life of Miley Cyrus!

It has been reported that the young and infamous Miley Cyrus just signed a deal to write her own book; a memoir of her life.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Miley and I love her songs, but a book? About her life? Come one. She’s only, what, 16? What could she write about? She’s only two years a teenager.

A report from ytsrvinu says that she wants to let her fans know how important her relationship is with her family. OK… I can understand that. After all, she has, so far, failed to fall into the celebrity-teenage- drug/ alcohol- trap.

You go Miley!

INTERNET USE, NO. 4

This is my final post related to my group project, which began at the beginning of the semester, regarding Internet Use. This post is a follow up to the second post: how businesses use the internet.

Here are a few examples of how today’s businesses are using the rapidly growing internet:

• Keeping Up With Industry Trends and Competitive Intelligence: staying current with the industry, tracking industry and company activities, research of innovative developments, learn what customers think, and discover what people are saying about competitor’s.
• General Research: locate suppliers and buyers, find market information for business plans, get results from newly developed software, and search for new jobs and/ or employees.
• Customer Service and Sales: find new customers for products/ services, test newly developed software applications, provide ordering mechanisms through the internet for people to buy products directly online, and save on postage and other distribution costs.

I think these are great explanations of how companies are using the internet, and if they’re not, these are valuable reasons to get involved on the net.

With today’s industry growing around the internet, it would be nearly hard for a company to succeed over competitors if they weren’t on the internet in one way or another. The internet is becoming a primary source for business, and soon companies that operate offline only, will be extinct.

Response to "Sex and Drugs for Teens" blog post

For my marketing class, we had to find a blog, unrelated to our classmates', and post a comment on it. We also had to use that word that orginally could not be found when googled.

Just a reminder, the word is ytsrvinu, and I posted on Perez Hilton's blog regarding a UK television show-- portraying sex and drugs amongst teens-- that may be coming to the U.S.

Here is the link to the page which I commented on:
http://perezhilton.com/?p=18306&cp=2#comments. I'm number 134.

HERE’S ONE EXCITING THING GOING ON IN POLITICS

Well here’s one thing regarding politics that is more on the up-side of all that is going on in today’s Presidential race… the Bush wedding.

The world knows that Jenna Bush, one of the two Bush daughters, is engaged to be married to fiancé Henry Hager next month. The wedding will NOT take place at the White House, however, it will be held at the Bush’s Texas ranch where the couple feels it will be more low-key and feel more like home—literally.

I’m so glad to hear about political news, such as this, that isn’t negative or bashing about another candidate.

I can’t wait to see photos and read about this extravagant event. Stay tuned for updates after the May 10th event, or click on this link for more ytsrvinu

DID THEY OR DIDN'T THEY?...

That is the infamous question right now; did Jay-Z and Beyonce recently tie the knot?
No one knows for sure but there have been speculated rumors, and close friends have hinted that something did occur last Friday, April 4.

What I don’t understand is why celebrities try to deny such things. First, the couple tried to deny rumors of even DATING, for the longest time. Um hello, it’s kind of hard to deny something like that, when for the past six years we have watched as they have grown closer, snuggled, attended public events together, even vacationing on yachts. I’m not quite sure how they would figure no one will know, or that no one assumes that they’re dating.

And second, if you plan on getting married and don’t want the public or press to know, for privacy reasons, that’s understandable. But to attempt to deny that a wedding, even a small one, took place, come on… that’s ridiculous.

For more on this “rumor,” visit ytsrvinu.

Unknown word

Our marketing class has been given a small homework assignment. It entails finding a word that does not exist in Google’s search engine.

Let’s face it, how many times have you Googled a word, or topic or item, and it hasn’t come through with any results? Probably none.

Well I came up with a word that does not exist… ytsrvinu. It has no meaning of any sort, except the word is university spelt backwards, minus two letters. Who would have thought that there are words that can’t be Googled.

Internet Use-- post #3

Here we are again, another post for my marketing class. Today’s post is regarding teachers and how they are using the internet.

We all know, whether we are, or have been, in school over the past decade, or if we have kids in school, that there are computers in almost every classroom today. But who’s using them more, the teacher or the students? I can’t really answer that question but I can answer how frequently the teachers are using it, whether it is in the classroom for a hands-on lesson or if it is at home to conduct research for a lesson.

On a website that is provided through the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Education Statistics came across some interesting facts.

• About 40% of teachers use computers or the internet a lot to create instructional material for a class
• About 35% use computers for administrative record keeping
• Less than 10% of teachers reported using computers, or the internet, to access model lesson plans or to access research and best practices
• When comparing newer teachers with older teachers: of those who have less than 3 years of teaching experience, 30% use the internet to communicate with colleagues and gather information for lessons; 30% of teachers who have been teaching for 4-9 years use the internet for the above reasons; and about 20% of teachers who have taught for more than 20+ years find that they use the internet to communicate or create lesson plans.

(Click here for more facts)

The only thing that surprises me here is that the numbers of those using the internet, especially the newer teachers, aren’t higher. However, I am not surprised that the newer teachers are using computers and the internet more frequently than older teachers. It’s probably because the older ones use “historic” methods of teaching—before technology came around—whereas the newer ones have adapted to technology and are therefore more prone to use it.

I don’t blame the older teachers, though, because there are some methods of teaching that should be continued to be taught the old-school way without computers; such as writing and reading. But that is a whole different issue on a whole different topic.

JAMIE LYNN SPEARS & BABY

Could it be possible that one of the Spears children is doing something right with her life? Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but I do give her a little credit.

Jamie Lynn has been spotted registering for her baby shower, and not only that but she is now engaged to her boyfriend. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I mean, yea, she should definitely register for baby things, as she is pregnant and regardless of the age, I think a baby shower is most appropriate. But engaged… hmm… that’s another issue.

Sometimes I think that it’s the right thing for a couple to get married if they become pregnant, but they are still so young and immature. Can they actually commit to one another and handle a baby AND a real relationship? Come on kids, this isn’t high school now, we’re talking real life!

DRAMA IN POLITICS!!!

Here we go another sex scandal.

If you haven’t already heard, the Governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, has been recently accused of having sexual relations with a young prostitute nearly a month ago.

It’s funny, though, rather than denying the accusations and trying to make amends, Spitzer resigned his position on Wednesday, and will officially be removed from office on Monday at noon.

I’m not sure who I feel bad for in this situation, or if there really is anyone at all to feel sympathetic for. There is, however, Spitzer’s wife—the innocent person in this case—who we have to sympathize for and feel her pain. For goodness sakes the woman gave up her dreams to help her husband follow his.

As for Eliot and this 22-year-old girl, whose real name is Ashley, not “Kristen,” I’m not sure I feel bad for either one of them. Spitzer made a huge mistake. Hello, the man cheated on his wife! That’s no-no number 1! Number 2 would be that he tried to hide this situation. Did he actually think that he wouldn’t get caught? When you’re in politics, the worst thing that anyone can do, in my opinion, is try to hide anything that may be illegal or hurt one’s reputation, because in the end, it WILL come back and bite you in the ass.

As for this girl Ashley, AKA Kristen, she’s absolutely pathetic. She’s basically blaming her actions on her past personal life; she came from a broken home and did drugs, and lost everything she had, etc. etc. But that’s no excuse because there are ways to straighten yourself up and there are more than enough people who are willing to help people, like Ashley, get back on track financially and mentally.

'It's complicated'"I just don't want to be thought of as a monster," Dupre told the Times. "This has been a very difficult time. It's complicated." (see the full story at MSNBC.com)

I still don’t feel bad for her, not at all. She knew exactly what she was doing. I mean, number 1: she was a prostitute; number 2: she fooled around with the GOVERNOR of NY; and number 3: she’s looking for attention. I’m not sure when or where this whole thing came about or who started the rumor—which isn’t a rumor, it’s a fact. But she’s just like all the other cases that we’ve seen in the past, the ones that deal with young girls—mainly prostitutes or strippers—who get themselves caught up in such scandals with political men or even college students (the Duke case). All of them have either expected to win the case, or they’re in it for attention and then drop the charges, or they’re doing it to get the other party in trouble. Whichever the reason, these cases are stupid. But then again, if these men would keep their hands to themselves and know the difference between right or wrong, we wouldn’t even hear about these speculations.

I’m interested in seeing the end results of this case.

Check back soon for updates.

Internet Use-- another post for my Internet Marketing class

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that this blog was created for an internet marketing class project, and that I would have to put up a few posts regarding a specific topic; internet use.

Well this is the second post regarding internet use, and today’s post is how businesses are using the internet.

A business that I’m sure many viewers are familiar with, Lands End, has added a feature to their website that is to serve as beneficial to its customers. Instant messaging is a popular online past-time with people of various ages, and businesses are trying to incorporate that into their business plans and marketing strategies.

Lands End has a Live Chat option, where customers can chat, LIVE, with a customer service representative in real-time. This means no more waiting on hold for ten minutes to speak with someone about a question you may have regarding a recent purchase or a pending order. Instead, with a click of a button, you are instantly connected to a real person.

Personally, this is more beneficial to both the consumer and the business because the customer feels that they are important and that the company cares about their service. And the business is maintaining their customers, satisfying them with instant gratification by not keeping them on hold forever, which ultimately can lead to loss of sales.

Our world is continuously evolving into this technological society, where everything is done on the internet. Personally, I’d rather chat with a customer service representative online versus the phone, if I know that I’m going to reach a real person right away. It makes me feel that the company cares about its customers and really wants my business.

Have you ever used a live chat option to order or get help with something online? If not, try it; it’s a much better feature than sitting on hold forever. Click here to check it out.

REHAB!

So many celebrities are hitting rehab lately. The latest news, Kirsten Dunst has entered rehab.

The 22 year old actress has checked into rehab at Cirque Lodge Treatment Center in Utah; the same place Lindsay Lohan and Eva Mendes recently checked into.

This is actually a surprise to me because I had no idea she was even a hard-core partier. Apparently I was wrong.

I know everyone has their problems, but it seems that Hollywood isn’t the place to be if it’s causing everyone to put themselves into rehab.

So much for that acting career.

Who’s next on the list?

Click here for more

BRITNEY’S OUT!

Britney is out of the hospital… EARLY!

Apparently the doctors tried to keep her in but the courts didn’t find a just cause for her stay.
What?! No just cause?! The woman’s crazy!

I do feel bad for her, a little bit, but she needs help. She’s refusing help from her family and friends and the only hope anyone ever had of her recovery was in the hospital. Forget that now, that’s been shot to hell.

And it’s also no surprise that she now wants her father out of her life, and in replace of him and the rest of the family, she’s with this loser paparazzi boyfriend; I’m sure he’s bringing a lot to the table and is surely helping her situation. Heck, if he liked he/ loved her/ wants to get her better, wouldn’t one think that he might encourage her to let her family back into her life and help her get better? My goodness, someone strap her down and tranquilize her!

This might sound mean and harsh but I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw reports of Britney’s death in the next month or so. Hey, she’s placing this on herself and it’s stupid how the courts are in denial of this too.

Click here for People's article
Click here for OK!'s article

Answers behind Heath's Death

Internet Use: Post for MK 299 class

The purpose of this blog is not only to get people to visit it and post their comments as well as mine, but it’s a project for my Internet Marketing class. And as a result of this being a project, I have to make a few posts about in-class discussions and assignments. So for this post, it’s going to be related to a topic which I will be teaching, along with my three other groups members, next week in class—Valentine’s Day; Internet Use.

Today’s topic on Internet Use has to deal with teens and how often they use the internet and what they are using it for. The results surprised me a little bit, but then again they didn’t because today’s teens thrive for the internet. My generation is growing with the internet—as we are maturing so is the web, whereas the generations behind me are growing up with it. Meaning, it’s been a hot thing since they were babies. For my generation, the internet got hot around middle school.

Just a few facts from PewResearch Center: 93% of teens are using the internet, using for social interactions; 35% of all teen girls blog and 20% of boys blog; boys post almost nearly twice as many videos than girls at 19% and girls at 10%; 27% of teens maintain their own personal webpage; 28% have created their own online journal or blog; and 55% of teens ages 12-17 have created a profile on some kind of social network, such as Facebook or MySpace.

When I read these statistics, I thought it was interesting to learn how many teens have their own blogs and/ or journals online. Personally, I never even visited a blog before this class, nonetheless create my own. And it’s also no surprise that most of the videos posted online, whether it’s through YouTube or some other website, are from teen boys. Usually, they’re the ones doing the crazy stunts for fun or for attention.

To add to the video comment, this website—PewResearch, noted that teens are posting blogs and videos and journals for attention and to obtain conversations with new and old friends. Again, not a big surprise. Teens today, in my personal opinion, don’t meet too many people outside of school by just meeting them on the street or bumping into them at the store. Instead, they’re meeting them on the internet through friends of friends or just by joining a chat room or, like the article says, through blogs and other posts.

Feel free to read more about these facts of PewResearch’s website, at PewResearch Center Publications

It’ll be interesting to find out more facts about teens and their use of the internet, as well as other uses of the internet by the rest of the population. Keep checking back for more posts related to this Internet Use topic.

Mallory*

Heath's Death is taking it's toll

Poor Michelle Williams. The death of her ex boyfriend, Heath Ledger, obviously isn't easy to handle. It seems like it was just yesterday that Heath passed, but believe it or not, it's already been two weeks since the news was released.

For the first time, Michelle spoke out about Heath's death, asking that the public and the paparazzi give her and her two year old daughter, Matilda, the privacy they need.

This kind of goes back to my post on Britney and how the paparazzi are constantly in the faces of celebrities. I haven't heard too much complaints, yet, about the much needed space from Michelle and Heath's family, so I would like to assume that the press is respecting her wishes. In a time such as this, a far more worse case than Britney's, it's so important that the press respects their wishes.

I feel for her, I do. The couple recently broke it off after their two year relationship, and it's been said that since the breakup, Heath just wasn't himself. No breakup is easy and to add death on top of it, well, there just aren't any words that one could say to make anothe feel better.

And to add to the matters, two TV shows, Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, were scheduled to air a taping of Heath and drug use, prior to his death. Thankfully, Hollywood and many other publicists forcefully and highly encouraged that the two networks drop the video; and they did.

It must be me but I just don’t understand why certain people, the press in particular, have to ruin the lives of so many people. Is it really necessary to air such evidence at this point in time? Heath hasn’t even been buried yet and you have networks rushing to air material that is so irrelevant right now, just so they can gain publicity and money. It’s wrong and tacky and bad practice. This is the kind of stuff that turns people away from gossip like this.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20175416,00.html
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20175486,00.html

Britney, Britney, BRITNEY

She has been everywhere in the news for the past year or so now. Her actions are making headlines almost every day, from her divorce from K-Fed, the wild party nights with Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, to her fight for custody of her two young sons and shaving her head bald. Now we learn for the second time that she has been taken from her home, by ambulance, and escorted by police to the hospital for psychiatric evaluations. What has her life come to?

I’m not sure if I feel sorry for her or if she deserves this. At first, people claimed that her actions were a result of postpartum depression. OK, that’s kind of understandable. But a year later and this is still going on, and she only continues to get worse, there must be a better answer for why. I just don’t understand why someone in her situation is REFUSING help! Her parents tried to lend their support and advice, as well as medical advice from people such as Dr. Phil McGraw.

Now, Britney was taken from her home in the middle of the night, between Wednesday and Thursday of this week, for a second time, to be further evaluated at UCLA Medical Center. I feel really bad for her family and the people who are making the attempts to help her. Her poor mother only wants the best for her daughter, AND her grandkids. You would think that after losing visitation rights Britney might want to clean herself up and seek help. Nope! Her behavior continues to spiral out of control.

Then again, I do kind of feel bad for her, in a sense, when paparazzi are ALWAYS in her face. I know that it is their job to basically stalk celebrities so that people like me and you can read about it, and feed on the gossip. But there comes a point in time when enough is enough. As much as I like to read about celebrity gossip, even though hearing about Britney every day is getting rather old, the paparazzi need to know when to back off. And a here we have Britney’s situation which continually gets worse and personally, I think the paparazzi play a big role in it. If they would only back off a bit and stay out of her face and give her the privacy she needs to get her life together, Britney might pull herself around… eventually.

People strive on attention, AKA Britney Spears, and having the press in her face all the time only feeds the fire. I say, back off and give her the privacy she needs to get better. It would be nice to eventually here that Britney at least gains her visitation rights back to see her two young kids. Kids need their mothers in their lives and I would hate to see Sean Preston and Jayden James loose theirs.

I am getting sick of hearing about Britney, but I would also hate to see her wind up like so many other celebs that have lost their lives to drugs and out of control behavior; Anna Nicole Smith, Marilyn Monroe, and possible Heath Ledger—more gossip on Heath to come.

Mallory*

Welcome to my Celeb Gossip blog!

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this blog at first, but then it hit me; why not talk about something that we hear and see everyday of our lives? Something that surrounds us every night and every day on the newsstands. Something that shoots open in front of us when we log onto the internet. Why not talk about the people who make tons of money for doing absolutely nothing at all? Why not talk about them?

CELEBRITIES! They are constantly in the news, whether it’s good news, bad news, or even plain old boring news, they are always right there. So I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to express my feelings about the day-in and day-out gossip.

Sometimes I get sick of hearing about the same people. “Oh, so and so got their 20th DUI today,” or “so and so broke up him/ her after blank years together and 2 kids later. Admit it, it does get annoying after a while, but at the same time, it’s sooo HARD to isolate ourselves from it.

Often we find it confusing when different tabloids exploit different messages about the celebrities; we aren’t sure what is factual and what is fictitious. No worries though. I’m going to get the gossip from only the best sources.

So enjoy the posts and feel free to share your own opinions… no one’s making judging!

Mallory*