Question Everything

I am all about social media. I think it's a fascinating phenomenon and like the telephone, television and Internet, it is completely changing the way we interact locally and globally. It is shortening distances between continents and countries. (There is a flipside to this argument as well, and I'm getting there. Patience, young one.) Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Linkedin, Blogspot, Flickr--all of these sites allow us to instantly share updates with one another on everything from what we ate for breakfast to what we want for lunch. They have reconnected families, helped deployed troops stay in touch and even allowed police to catch criminals. They have spread the word about the good--the recent New York State Senate vote to legalize same sex marriage--and the bad--the devastating Tokyo earthquake. But, and there's always a but, I'm a little worried about this overexposure. Especially in the context of job hunting. Social Means Social Social networking content is, at the h...

In continuing with my theme of job-search related posts, I wanted to take a moment to discuss job descriptions and, more specifically, education and experience requirements. Now, I believe that having a degree in a related subject to what you'd like to have a job doing is a good idea. There are definitely tenets I learned while completing my Bachelor's degree in Public Relations that I needed to know to compete for a job in that industry. The fact that my first job out of college was in advertising and now I work in the advertising and marketing industry is secondary to the fact that what I learned about the basics of these jobs is the same: communication, communication, communication, good writing, the right medium and oh yeah, communication. In the end, the line between advertising, marketing and PR is pretty thin although those industries don't like to admit it. So, could I have applied for and gotten a job in Human Resources with my Public Relations degree? Maybe. There...

How Job Hunting is Just Like Online Dating So, I'm job hunting once again. And every time I do, I'm reminded how painful a process it is--and how maddening. The job seeker has little to no control over much of anything besides what their resume looks like (with proper spelling, we know), and the cover letters they write. Otherwise, every other aspect of the job search is left up to the Interwebs and the recruiters who may or may not be reviewing resumes for positions they posted. And in this way, job hunting is so much like online dating. Once you've posted your profile and a pic or two, what spurs someone else on the site to reach out with an introduction, or hell, even a non-threatening wink, is completely out of your control. And trying to determine why they don't--Is my geekiness showing? Did I expound too much on the glories of ding dongs? Maybe since I'm a girl, I shouldn't like sports.--is the quickest path to insanity. While many in the Human Resources i...

In a recent commentary published on MediaPost , George Simpson of George Simpson Communications, talks about the follies of behavioral targeting and other web-based analytics tools that seem designed to tell us everything, but often fall short of providing advertisers or web publishers with an accurate description of their audience's motives. Simpson points out that while frustration abounds, it is a little short-sighted to dismiss all analytics as the work of snake oil salesmen and keep in mind that the benefits of what we've learned through these tools far outweighs the negatives of what we haven't. And I have to say, I agree. But there is one other piece of the puzzle I believe we should look at and that is expectations. Expectations have changed for your average Internet user as online advertising and behavioral targeting have matured. We no longer accept that our three-year-old playing a Thomas the Tank Engine game might be served an ad with PG or PG-13 rated content. ...

I'm a fairly big sports fan, most of my friends know and accept this about me. After years of disliking professional basketball (go ' Cuse !), for the past two years I have been fascinated by the playoffs and now follow teams like the Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks , and yes, the Miami Heat. I still hate the Lakers . With Game 4 of the NBA Finals tonight between the Mavs and the Heat, and in light of Miami's dominant performance in Game 3, I wanted to reflect a little bit on LeBron and just what precisely his "decision" has done to his career, sports and communication. Yes, communication. I don't know him personally, so I have no idea if the hour-long special on ESPN was LeBron's choice or if he was advised to do it by his entourage. I do know that if his only motivation was to get some donations for the Boys and Girls Clubs, he could just have easily picked up the phone. Instead, his hour-long press conference and his choice to take his talents to...

Let me start by saying, I have not read this book. But, the title alone makes me shudder. No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days - WritersDigestShop.com Not having a plot is a HUGE problem when trying to write a novel. And writing a decent story with good characters in 30 days when you don't know where you're going is almost impossible. I think my bigger beef is related to self-help writing books, similar to this one, which don't do much but delay the actual process of writing. Now, I have quite a few lining my bookshelves, I'm not going to lie, but I long ago learned that, as cliche as it sounds, writers WRITE . Writers also read, but they read strong stories by good writers they aspire to be; not self-help platitudes that imbue you with a false sense of "can-do-it-ness." Of course, every writer needs inspiration, I know I need copious amounts on a daily basis, but I take that inspiration (and support) from othe...