Nicole's Social Media Blog

Image Credit "Number 10" By Classified Clipart

Mother’s Day is every year in May. And every year I try to make sure I get my mom the best Mother’s Day gift I can, just to make sure she knows, even though I’m growing up, I still love her a lot.

U.S. Magazine made a list of the four best Mother’s Day gifts.

1. Bath and Body gift set.

2. Make up sets

3. Barnes and Nobles full-color e-reader

4. Customized Calendar Necklace – this is my absolute favorite because Jessica Alba made one to wear with her daughter’s birthday on it.

Image Credit "The Calendar Necklace" By Dallanonna Jewelry

I am seriously considering getting the necklace for my mom, by ordering from the Dallanonna Jewelry website. Not to put my birthday, but my mom’s of course.

So, everyone, remember your moms this Mother’s Day!!! Make them feel special, I mean, since they did take care of you for a while! 🙂

Image Credit "Valentine" By Soda Head

What is the first thing we should all do before even thinking about pitching a campaign? RESEARCH!  You can’t help a company if you do not know anything about them.

Like, for instance, the gender of their founder. The creator of Digital Dads is automatically signed up for every mommy blogger on the web. So, he’s pretty used to getting pitches from people who assume that he is a woman.

In his article, Social Media Has Made You Lazy, he vents about two particularly “pitchers” who were just way lazy.

One, talked to him as if he were a mother.

Image Credit "Mommy" By C.C. Chapman

The other, could not even take the XXX for where you put the name off.

Image Credit "Dear XXX" By C.C. Chapman

The second guy was just straight lazy. But, the first one didn’t even know the gender. She was assuming he was a mom. Well, remember what assuming does? It makes an “ass” out “me” and “you”.

So, next time, do your research,….idiot.

Image Credit "Number 8" By Westons Signs Inc.

PUBLIC RELATIONS Pros have the second most stressful job in 2011? WHAT?

I figured being in public relations would be difficult since the economy isn’t that great. But the second most stressful? Wow!

According to PRDaily, Public Relations is the second most stressful job of 2011. Each year, CareerCast ranks the best jobs and creates a variety of top 10 lists, including most and least stressful jobs. PR being 2nd on most stressful.

Here’s how CareerCast describes the job of PR pro:

“Public relations officers are responsible for creating and maintaining a positive image with the public for many companies and government agencies. They typically are responsible for giving presentations and making speeches, often in front of large crowds. This highly competitive field and tight deadlines keep stress at high-levels for specialists. Some PR officers, also, are required to interact with potentially hostile members of the media.”

According to CareerCast, the average salary of a PR officer is $90,160, and the average amount of hours logged a day is nine.

Image Credit "Stress" By Technorati

Here’s the full list of stressful jobs:

1. Commercial airline pilot
2. PR officer
3. Corporate executive
4. Photojournalist
5. Newscaster
6. Advertising account executive
7. Architect
8. Stockbroker
9. Emergency medical technician
10. Real estate agent

Image Credit "Jack Daniels Old Number 7" By WM Posters

Why are restaurants serving babies alcohol?! This is outrageous! I understand that the restaurant industry serves about 150 million meals every day, but these two cases are still ridiculous considering that there were babies.

First Applebee’s “mistakingly” give a 15-month-old tequila in his sippy-cup instead of apple juice, in Michigan. The mother had to take him to the hospital for him to be treated. The doctor said if he had the entire sippy-cup he would have died. For the full story, click here.

Then, Olive Garden gives a 2-year-old a sangria. Especially in LAKELAND itself. The baby drank almost the full cup and started acting drunk. It took the restaurant 30 minutes to figure out the mistake. The mother had to take the child to the hospital to be treated through and IV. For the full story, click here.

Image Credit "Sippy-Cup" By PRDaily

Public Relations Pros must be having the hardest time of their lives because these are terrible stories. And they are going to be popular because they have babies, and everyone cares about babies.

Lets just hope they get this mess cleaned up, and quickly. And hopefully the two restaurants will actually correct their mistakes to try to make sure this does not happen again.

Physical fitness is a popular concern for a lot of people around the world. More and more people are trying to become and stay healthier than before.

Physical fitness is also a growing popularity in the workplace. In the article 10 Reasons to Encourage Fitness in the Work Place, it list reasons it is beneficial to companies to have physically fit employees.

Here are the reasons:

1. Fit employees are less likely to get sick. Someone fit will be less likely to get “the bug”. This will cut down on absences and health insurance costs.

2. Fit employees have more energy. With more exercise, we increase our energy throughout the day, making tasks easy to accomplish at our best ability.

3. Have more self confidence. Healthier employees tend to have a higher level of self confidence because they have proven to themselves they can accomplish their goals. This will make them challenge themselves and strive for higher achievement.

4. Inspire confidence. A person who is confident in themselves will also make other people confident in them as well.

5. Tend to take on more leadership roles. They also make good ones too!

Image Credit "Exercise" By ABCs on Good Nutrition

6. Set and achieve goals. Being physically fit makes the person set aggressive goals for themselves in the gym. When they reach that goal, they will naturally bring the aggressiveness into the workplace. This characteristic is a valuable asset to any company.

7. Tend to have better attitudes. They generally “feel good” because of their physical and mental balance.

8. Less stressed. Regular exercise releases physical and mental stress, making a fit employee less stressed than an employee who does not regularly exercise.

9. A fit employee base presents excellent team-building opportunities. Employees can bond and learn to work together in new ways when they cooperate in physical games like baseball or tennis together.

10. Encouraging fitness demonstrates a concern for employee’s well-being, and pays off! Employees notice when employers are concerned for their well being through fitness programs, making the turnover rate significantly lower.

These reasons show that being physically fit is very important, not only for your health, but also for your company.

Image Credit "Movie Number 4" By Antonio Nunes

When people think 80’s, they think off the wall hair styles, crazy, mismatched colors, and ridiculously, for no reason huge sleeves.

Well at Florida Southern College, Founder’s Ball is coming up. The theme is “ Awesome 80’s Prom Founders Ball“. That means, as the ACE Exec this event belongs to, I have to dress 80’s. Great.

I don’t like the sleeves. I don’t like the puffs. I don’t like the hair or make-up, oh my god. How did my mom survive? What do I do? I refuse to look like the following:

Image Credit "Ugly Prom Dress" By Fashion Police

Image Credit "80s Prom Dresses" By Wedding Hots

OMG, HIDEOUS!!!!

Image Credit "Would you ever: Wear Josie Grossie's 80 prom dress" By Buzznet

I don’t want to be stuck like this. I am going to hit the stores in hope of a dress that looks 80’s, but strapless. That way I don’t have to worry about the over sized sleeves. I also want it to be something I could possibly wear again to a nice dinner. SO, strapless and knee length, sounds good. But what color? Neon pink? Dark purple? Black? Wait, I don’t do black, look good in it, but I want to stand out with some color.

So, I am going to shot for something like this:

Image Credit "Miss S 80's Dress" By Catwalk Queen

Not TOO much, still smoking hot and awesome!!!! 🙂 I love it! Now, wish me luck on my shopping adventures to find something similar to this!

Image Credit "Number 3" By Jefferson High School, Calendar

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan today, triggering tsunamis that sent a wave filled with boats and houses toward land. Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast are under a tsunami warning.

The quake hit about 80 miles off the coast of Japan’s most populous island. The wave carries everything in its path inland and people turn to an airport for dry land and wait for rescue.

At an oil refinery near the coast, flames abrupt out of control triggered from the quake.

People in Tokyo, 230 miles away from the quake even felt aftershock. Train stations shut down, while people panicked.

Although quakes are common in Japan, people who live in Japan say this quake is unlike any other they have felt before. Japan quake witness Matt Alt said “My wife and I stood outside and, basically we held on to the outside of our house, you couldn’t even stand up. We have never, ever felt anything on the magnitude, the literal magnitude, of what we experienced today.”

This is one of the most powerful earthquakes in the past 100 years. It is sending aftershock into many other areas and tsunami wave warnings along the Pacific, including Hawaii. At least 137 people were killed, 539 were injured and 351 were missing after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on Friday, according to the Kyodo News Agency, citing police.

[11:07 a.m. ET, 1:07 a.m. Tokyo] Additionally, between 200 and 300 bodies have been found in the coastal city of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture following the subsequent tsunami that struck that area. The death toll is likely to rise as there are few casualty counts yet from the worst-hit areas.

[12:06 p.m. ET, 2:06 a.m. Tokyo] Radiation level rising in Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant turbine building, Kyodo News Agency reports.

Today [12:20 p.m. ET, 2:20 a.m. Tokyo] Maui police have reports of a 9-foot wave hitting Lahaina Harbor, Maui County Civil Defense Agency reports.

Image Credit "Japan 2011 Tsunami" By The Smart Travel Guide

Image Credit "Japan-Earthquake Diagram" By Darkstar Astrology

With all the tragedy happening, it is very important that we keep an eye on the news to one let us know if we may be in danger and two see if there is anyway we can help the victims of this. My thoughts and prayers are with the people who have lost loved ones due to this quake.

Image Credit "Number 2 in light blue rounded square" By Wikimedia

We have all heard the phrase social media, maybe more than we want to. But, now we all know what social media means, how to create social media, and how to mantain it.

But, new information is coming about that shows what skill companies are specifically looking for. In an article brought to my attention by  Regan’s PR Daily, there are specific social media skills that companies are now looking for.

In the Social Media Leadership Series video, Mark Regan, CEO, addresses young and upcoming graduates into the Public Relations workforce and concerns we may have. He interviews two high ranking people in the Public Relations industry and asks them what skills they are now look for in people trying to get into the social media world.

Jon Bellenger, VP Social Media Strategy of Ketchum Inc., says that they are looking for people who are not so much traditional anymore. They are looking more for people who are just from the online culture and who understand what makes an online community work. They want someone who can naturally know the rules of the web and who can use that to form strategic counsel for brands online.

Thomas Fishman, Manager Social Media and Community, MTV Networks, says that they somewhat have to be an amateur psychologist. He goes on to say that social media maintainers need to be creative because they are tasked with starting and engaging in conversations. They also need to be abel to use feed back as a source of business intelligence. He says that MTV has over 70 Facebook pages, one for the main network and one for every show that they air. Because MTV found that the community wanted music, news, etc. from the general MTV page and different pages for specific shows. This shows how using social media can help your fan base grow into a positive community.

If you would like to watch the video here is the link to the  original website.

All of this information is great to know when us new up-comers graduate and try to get into business that use social media as a very vital part of their consumer happiness.

Image Credit By Career Realism

It is amazing how many people see something and instantly take it for face value to be true. But can’t our eyes lie to us? Isn’t that what magic is? With all the illusions and tricks that are pulled on people, mostly their eyes being the reason they were fooled.

In a video found by NPR, Kokichi Sugihara, a teacher at the Meiji Institute for Advanced Study of Mathematical Sciences in Japan, fools our eyes with every trick.

It is amazing how he has managed to create such amazing illusions. The audience would never know without him showing us how he does it. Take a look for yourselves.

My favorite trick from his longer video can be seen in the picture below:

Image Credit By Kokichi Sugihara

I think it is absolutely amazing how our eyes and brain can play such tricks on our selves.

If you would like to see a longer version click here to see. 🙂