Totally blogalicious? Are college students reading blogs?

This semester I completed a research project for my COM research class. My group project was centered around one main question:
Are College Students Reading Blogs?

The answer, my friends, is very simple.
And scary.
NO.

Out of the 105 students we surveyed, only 27 said that they read blogs!

We surveyed 25 students at BU's student center and the results we found were very interesting.

• significantly more males were reading blogs. (64%)
• it seems like female students can't actually identify what sites are blogs..."is like Perez Hilton a blog?"
• NO ONE (we surveyed) read more then 10 blogs! (SERIOUSLY!)
• While 74% of respondents spent 10-30 hours on the internet a week, 75% of respondents spent less than 5 hours a week reading blogs.
• Word Of Mouth is an incredibly powerful medium in college circles

These statistics really surprised me. Sure our sample was made up of students from the different colleges at BU. But it really seems that college students either don't want to, or don't have time to emerge themselves in the blogosphere. Although it doesn't surprise me that there aren't students from the health sciences school represented in our survey, I would think that more students from our College of Communication were reading blogs.

My question is how are communications students gonna keep up today's fast paced media landscape?

Sure, I do know some students that keep blogs. But these students are RARE! Most people who know me as a blogger think I'm slightly crazy. Blogs, seriously Danielle?

It's true!

Don't get me started on what they think of Twitter. I explained twitter to my interactive marketing class and people thought that I was nuts!


Should more colleges push students to be active online? Should they introduce students to different social media sites? Should it be integrated into everyone's education?

Are you a college students who reads blogs? What do your friends think?

Social Networking Goes Shopping @ Wetseal.

Have you read this?

Wetseal has started an online community.

In the spirit of Cher Horowitz from Clueless... AS IF!



How hilarious... now we can go and create, share and buy our favorite wet seal outfits!

What a great way to get all the Miley fans out there to spend some time online & spending money.

How GOOGLE and APPLE saved my life... this week

There is less then one month till graduation.
ONE MONTH.

How and when did that happen ?

Everyone I speak to asks me the same question.. " Can you believe it's your last semester already?"

I always answer this question the same way... "I know, it's absolutely crazy... time is flying."

The truth is.. TIME IS FLYING.
EXCEPT WHEN I GOT A BIG PUSH BACKWARDS LAST WEEK.

This past weekend I was in florida for my grandma's birthday and my computer crashed. Specifically, my hard drive failed... MACBOOK users: beware! This IS an epidemic.

God forbid my life should be easy, right?
But this catastrophe was not a complete disaster for a few reasons: aside from my external drive - Mainly I have been saved by GOOGLE & APPLE.



*this is the story of the past 2 weeks of my life and how I have been putting my computer, semester and life back together. piece by piece. document by document.

1. Thank god for Google. Well, google and the fact that my piece of sh*t printer doesn't work. Let me preface this with the fact that for the last YEAR I have had to basically email myself every document that I wanted to print... SO ALL MY WORK IS ONLINE.. very interesting...

With all this talk of earth day and a Steve Rubel's paperless office and the macbook air, this week I really valued having all of my documents online because surprise surprise, all my stuff was easy to find.

In all honesty, I never thought of all my stuff being on gmail/googledocs as something I did for a purpose or something that would ever help me.. I believe that this move was simply evolution. No one said to me, "Danielle, use googledocs... or email EVERYTHING to yourself." I just did it, because it was natural and because it was easy... ANOTHER PERK TO BEING A DIGITAL NATIVE?

In the old days (as my father always reminds me) we (he) was afraid to keep important documents, calendars and emails online because he was afraid of servers crashing and loosing everything. Today, as our technology continues to pave the way for keeping local and network copies of our documents, it seems that this fear will soon be erased. Just as we looked at floppy disks as crucial revolutionary devices, maybe soon our harddrive, as we know it today, will be a clunky waste of space since everything will be online?

Just a thought.

Google isnt the only thing that saved me during this recent episode.
THANK YOU APPLE.

What I have learned throughout my history as an Apple customer is that when apple is good, they're REALLY REALLY good!

Say what you want about their culture, their brand, their products: I don't care.
In my opinion Apple's fabulous in store customer service amazes me. over and over.

Sure, first I got an idiot to help me... which really rather annoyed me. But the MAC Genius that handled my computer was AMAZING.

These people know what they are talking about and that makes me happy and VERY IMPRESSED.

They loaded my computer with Leopard, which I had been holding out for. I am getting used to spaces and all the other cute new programs. Yes, I am the loser who took the guided tour and then watched it again with my dad when I showed him the cool new features, which he thought were great.. (like father like daughter)

My story ends here: But my suggestion is to mess around on the APPLE MUSEUM WEBSITE. A very cool site to play... even though it kinda stops around 2004 or 2006 ... but for a cool girl like me, its a fun resource.

Bloggers: What are you listening to? How are you feeling?

For my Mass Communication Research class, my final project is focused on college-age student's blog readership habits.
My group has started doing a lot of research and the results we are finding are startling and scary. (but more on that later)

However, what we have quickly learned is that our generation used to blog before they even knew what blogging was.
cue the music please: ENTER LIVEJOURNAL



Live journal was this great tool that many high school and middle school students were using (circa 2002!) to stay connected to friends and update them on cool things going on. Not only did it serve as a micro community, where you could connect to your friends, and see what other people were doing, but for a melo-dramatic HS student (as so many are) it was an awesome place just to vent.

My friend and I were talking about livejournal the other day and she reminded me of a cool feature called "Current Mood Current Music?"

At first we laughed at this idea because seriously, Is there anything more childish than listing your mood on a blog? Like how much more punk'ed out, melodramatic could this idea be? But then we thought about the idea of sharing your feelings. Sure we share ideas and feelings on our blogs today, but LJ gives us a a medium to spread an EXACT message.

What I remember being obsessed with was the music choices.
I loved starting posts with the following musical-theater-obsessed album art: some popular shows and rare geeky gems.



Sure, this might seem childish.. but its kind of a cute idea...
Oh and what I'm listening to / watching right now: ( I guess I've sort of grown up!)

Interior Design Goes Digital... sort of

This is a Pixel Couch.
How awesome / hideous!

Only a trendy geek of a certain magnitude would dare incorporate this into their home decor.





To me it seems like the type of thing you love to hate.. But I have to admit: It's kinda awesome!

PRSSA goes 2.0: BU New Media Conference

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending: PR advanced: PRSSA goes 2.0.

What a fabulous, thought-provoking and busy day it was!

Since I always love the chance to emerge myself in all things PR and New media related, I was very excited to chat with some wonderful peers, alumni and new media superstars!

Truthfully, the conference was a bit repetitive and I would have enjoyed a few more case studies and a little more application of these tools in PR... but the day reminded me of why I love this new arena.

So here (in no particular order) are the 5 new, interesting, relevant, and amusing things I learned yesterday:

1. Blendtec.com video: Although I was horrified at the thought of blending up an iPhone, the PR value of this video and its over 4 MILLION views proves to me that these interactive channels are here to stay!



I love the fact that this company took their blenders for a spin and used social media to its full advantage. Youtube is great + hilarious. I love people that are creative and think outside of the box... I mean, I do have a leopard business card after all.

Thank you David Meerman Scott for showing us this video.

2. Change is awesome, but scary.
While this industry seems to be changing everyday, I do often feel overwhelmed as a college student who is trying to understand and use these tools in my own life. Facebook, please. That's a no brainer. Twitter, really pretty cool. Flickr, Yeah sure. OoVoo, gotta get checking this out. For now, I just want to find a balance and really incorporate these tools more into my school work. Which I am doing... but more on that later...


3. Geeksugar.com AND Popsugar.com/
Obviously, I am instantly addicted to any site that can combine fashion, entertainment and a taste of technology trends. I have added these to my reader.. hopefully they have some cool content and fun, interesting reading material. A favorite recent post: Do you like being disconnected? I love this question because I think about it all the time... Although being disconnected is scary (and I will be basically disconnected this summer) .. it's kinda nice to take a break once in a while... (but I might go crazy!)

4. I remembered what I love so much about PR... making FRIENDS/ creating RELATIONSHIPS. While this certainly seemed to be the theme of the day, I was reminded that these relationships are incredibly important. Weather we are chatting with bloggers, journalists, reporters, fellow PR ppl, or consumers - everyone is important and most likely has something interesting to say.

5. Networking in person is exhausting but exciting! No wonder we are doing this online these days! But to be honest: I do like a little face time with people. I had the chance to meet some great people from some PR firms I would love to work for and speak to some really cool people!

Where are college bloggers? HERE I AM!

I have been inspired.

While there are seriously a million (or about 10) other things that I should be doing right now, there is one thing that has caught my attention.

In Julia Roy's latest post titled "Dear Marketing and Communications Students," she wonders where college aged bloggers are...


And well, here I am... but this is a question that Julia is not the only blogger to ask. I have been wondering the very same question. Not only for myself, but for my communications research class project. See, I am keeping my social media obsession very much alive! 

Blogs are such valuable tools for soon-to-be grads for a few simple reasons:
1. we can learn about / get in touch with industry trends
2. we can meet people.
3. its impressive to employers (or at least that is what I am hoping ) (ill get back to you on this!)
4. and once again, we can meet people!

So where are my fellow bloggers?
1. are we too busy? I do have trouble finding time to pursue my SM, but I am always thinking about it. I had a show, midterms and break in the month of March -- but I'm a loyal blogger... back for more! 
2. are we not being taught to do this? Just because it isnt assigned, why can't we do some extra writing? It certainly wouldn't hurt!
3. If I am intrigued by your thoughts/opinions in class, couldn't we all benefit from sharing ideas online too?

more on this later.

iphone + facebook... how much cooler can one commercial get?

You might have seen this apple commercial recently.



I find it very interesting for a few reasons.

1. Clearly, they are targeting active facebook users. As facebook continues to evolve (on what feels like a daily basis,) it seems that users are spending less time using this social network. I think its particularly interesting that this commercial is all about facebook, and more specifically, the need to "check facebook" everywhere you go, all the time. I'll admit it, I am one of these people. Apple does a great job reaching out to high school and college students. But, why is this commercial being aired after the holiday season? Didn't students just buy (or get) their expensive gifts of the season? With no drop in price, why is this demographic being targeted? and are people being swayed by this commercial? Is anyone sitting, watching TV and suddenly they realize that because they can check FB they are gonna go and buy this product?

2. Here is my big big big question. NOW, DON'T HATE ME...but I've been troubled by this idea.

DO WE NEED TO CONSTANTLY BE IN CONTACT?

This is something that has really been plaguing me recently.
My dad has decided that he no longer needs to be attached to his PDA.
I had a blackberry for approx. a month and returned it because when push came to shove, I just didn't need it! (GASP!)
The thing is, do we need to be so damn connected?

When I am home I always have my computer handy. Weather I am playing online, facebooking, etc. But, do I need to do that when I am away from my computer?
Can't we survive without facebook and email for an hour?

*Note: I do plan on getting an iPhone soon. Clearly, I am obsessed. I have been waiting for the second generation waiting for them to get all the kinks out. If anyone can tell me when it will be out, I will be forever grateful.

thank you.

I am a WOMAN -- a young, modern 2008 outlook to being a W - O - M - A - N

There has been a lot on my mind recently.
Unfortunately, I have been so busy with work and school and rehearsing for my show, that I have had little time to post.
But, rest assured... I have plenty to say.

I have been thinking a lot about how women are being marketed to both online and offline. Yes, there was the superbowl a few weeks ago (see, I really have been busy). Sure, there were some cute commercials with some interesting messages... thank you Victoria's Secret. Thank you Sun Silk ... Whatever. But what I have been thinking about is the messages that TV has been sending me. There are 2 new TV shows that I have been checking out, Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Jungle. Both shows similarly portray powerful, successful women. Great message, right!? But, these women also face major struggles due to their inability to balance their crazy, chaotic lives. (honestly, now that the writers have their jobs back, lets twist these shows around and give these girls some substance. Ok, thanks. ) Sure they can afford fabulous clothing and an extravagant lifestyle.. but this show seems to suggest that's not enough. With viewers tuning in to check out where they go, what they are wearing and what bag they are carrying (not to mention the iphones in last week's episode), is that all this show really is? Sadly, it seems that not one of the women on these shows is strong enough to handle their social lives/family ties and their businesses which is inevitably leading charactors to have affairs, divorce and inner turmoil - which of course can always be healed with a hug from a close friend or a drink.

Is this what my generation has to look forward to? Are you saying that we really can't have fabulous shoes, a great job and blissful married life? Was Carrie Bradshaw right? Can we ever really have it all? Sure maybe one day we will get to be president... but will that be enough?