Podcasting

The origins of podcasting can be traced back to early 2004 when the Guardian journalist, Ben Hammersley observed that all the elements to make podcasting possible were there: MP3 players, iPods, cheap or free audio production, and weblogging. He concluded that this was the beginning of something new that was going to change everything. The real advantages of podcasting are that you listen to shows when you want, where you want, and as you want. Oh, and most importantly, they are portable. Very important for the fast-paced society we live in, where we are always on the go. Wikipedia describes it as, ” A collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet, often using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers.” Where the name originated from is a very controversial subject…these are the real problems of our world, people. Most people believe it is the combination of iPod and broadcasting…podcasting. But we do not always need an iPod to podcast, so other options have been presented. Capsule(pod) + broadcasting(casting) or Portable On Demand(pod) + casting or Personal Optional Digital(pod) + casting. This is a web 2.0 native tool, here we go with the 2.0’s again. Podcasting can be presented on blogs, including mine, except I choose not to do them because I prefer my identity to remain anonymous. 🙂

Businesses Entering the blogsphere?

Since, a lot of the topics brought up in my post have brought up Web 2.0, Journalism 2.0, and other whatever 2.0s, why not bring up Marketing 2.0, because we are living in a 2.0 world. Clearly. 2.0 is always talking about the internet, and the internet is the future for newspapers, business, advertising, and there’s blogging, Facebook, Twiiter, blah, blah, blah. EVERYONE is on the internet or the web. Look, you are now. So what do you think about about corporations entering the blogosphere? Some might think its too unprofessional for businesses to create corporate blogs. Well, I personally would not care for it because I only like to look at blogs on shoes, but perhaps when I am older and have my own my own shoe business, I MAY just want to make a blog out of it. So what is this a corporate blog, anyway? Well is literally, “a blog created by an organization to reach a specific objective.” These types of blogs are usually written by official or semi-official workers or partners of the given corporation. Some people say that blogs are the most important trend in advertising, marketing, and public relations. “Blogs will change your business,” was on the cover of Business Week in May, 2006.  A Study revealed that 25% of European people believe what they read in blogs and 60 millions of this same people prefer to buy something they read about in a blog or in Internet. So that means, 39 million of European people bought something because they read some comment of another customer in Internet. So maybe this is a good idea! This is because people want to be cool and follow the trends, so if they see that other people are buying it or like a certain company, they want to too. Everyone wants to be cool, right? I guess so, since studies prove it.

My reaction to corporate blogs: blah blah and double blah! As I researched more on this topic to find something interesting, I

Starbucks and cute shoes!

made a few observations of the state corporate blogs are in. These bloggers are very tech savvy, which they should be, since they are so far ahead of the world with all that hardware and software stuff. It’s part of their job. Another observation that I made was that there is a gap between the adoption of blogs at large companies and the rest of the world. When I would research a company that claimed to have a blog, I could not find it. Weird. Corporate blogging is still a wide-open area for marketing development, since there are so many proven benefits of blogging. Some good corporate blogs that I found were Starbucks , Whole Foods Market, and Southwest Airlines. You can click on the links and go see for yourself!

Catalunya Radio

Hey guess what, a little fun fact about me is I am currently living in Barcelona! I was able to take a trip down to the public radio in Catalunya, called Catalunya Radio! All thanks to fellow employee of Catalunya Radio and my AMAZING and BEST journalism teacher I have ever had, Pipo Serrano!!! For those of you who are unfamiliar with Catalunya, it is the region of Spain that Barcelona is located in. It broadcasts exclusively to Catalan and is the major Catalan-language network today, so if you want to hear it first hand, you must come to Catalunya in Barcelona. The radio began broadcasting on June 20, 1983 and has expanded into four different stations. The radio station promotes the use and knowledge of the Catalan language and its culture. Catalans are very big on their culture. “One of Cartalunya Radio’s main objectives is to help consolidate and expand the use of the Catalan language, culture and identity, and disseminate knowledge of Catalan culture abroad, while reflecting the diversity of contemporary society.” This is a quote taken from the CCMA website, explaining the Catalunya Radio’s mission.

We were given a tour of the radio station and walked around and all the different departments, while we were explained all the different aspects of it. I have never been to a radio station before, so this was a new exciting experience for me. I was able to see an inside look on what goes on behind the voices that the people of Catalunya hear, which everyone loves to do. As for my observations and what I learned, the radio station was extremely busy. There were constantly people typing and running around, which seemed pretty standard for a broadcasting station. From what I see on T.V. at least. There are different floors inside the building for different purposes: weather, news, sports, etc. Catalunya Radio has all you need such as music, sports, talkshows, among other things, which are all broadcasted 24 hours a day! I think this differs from radio at home because normally stations are all separated. Each individual radio station works its own functions and produces their own shows as opposed to having one company own multiple different types of stations. I think this can be more and less benficial. It is easier to make contacts and find talent. However, I like the radio stations at home that combine all of those aspects into one big radio station. Furthermore, this radio station seemed to be very well-rounded and efficient, and almost anyone can find something of interest from this station. And hey, maybe even one day they will start talking about our favorite topic, shoes! Just an idea…

Multimedia Stories

What is a multimedia story, you may be wondering? A multimedia story or digital storytelling can be defined as a combination of text, video clips, audio, graphics, and interactivity presented on a website with a non-linear format and the information is complimentary and not redundant. Non-linear means that instead of reading a structured single-narrative, the user chooses how to navigate through the elements of the story. You can think of it more as “this part” and “that part” rather than “first part” and “second part.” Having the information complimentary and not redundant means that different parts of the story are told using different types of media, instead of having a text and a picture that just reiterates the story, so to make a good one, they have to be multi-dimensional. It is also important to choose the best form of media that will be the most intriguing for that part of the story. A video might be best to use to illustrate the actual event that you are telling a story about and then there could be a text that provides background information about let’s say, the given place that the event occurred. This may seem like a bunch of mumbo jumbo, but people now-a-days in our generation suffer from news fatigue, meaning they were overloaded with facts and had trouble connecting to more in-depth stories. We want quality and in-depth reporting, but its difficult to access such content quickly. Studies have shown this and also have shown, that teens want background information with the context of the story, as well as visuals like photos and graphics to make the content more compelling. Digital storytelling (multimedia stories) on the internet allows for all of this to happen, making important stories more interesting to read about and fast access to them. It uses new digital tools to help ordinary people tell their own “true stories” in a compelling and emotionally engaging form. I think its beautiful. 

These shoes are anything but non-linear!

Let’s put this in a language you and I would better understand. We want to tell a story about shoes. duh. We attend one of the most important events of the year, New York Fashion Week! We take out our iphones or cameras to record a video, focusing on all the fabulous shoe creations. Lets go to our web page now on the internet, which is our platform for our digital story. We upload the video onto the page to show our viewers about what shoe trends are popular on the runways and with the designers. Another part of our story will then have graphics in the form of pictures that could possibly show the viewers the process of picking the right shoe for them. Whether it be about picking the shoes shown in fashion week or a classic pair. Then we might add some text and content explaining the background information about the designers that showed their collections at fashion week. Voila! I hope putting it into a more familiar context for you helps you understand this more compelling way of reporting on stories!

Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism is one of the hottest buzzwords in the news business these days. The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology. One of the main concepts is that mainstream media reporters and producers are not the exclusive center of knowledge on a subject. For example, you could snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening and write a post about it on your blog.  There is some controversy over the term “citizen journalism” because many professional journalists believe that only trained journalists can understand the rigor and ethics involved in reporting the news. However, others can see it has very helpful. It gives the readers a chance to choose about what they want to be informed about, YOU decide about which topics YOU are interested in. Citizen journalists do it for free, so it is available to anyone and anywhere. Traditional newspapers in a digital form with use of the internet, allows the opportunity for people, like yourself, to contribute with them. Hey, and guess what? YOU can be a citizen journalists. All you need is a desire of communication, investigating, tools to record your investigations, and material with quality information. Blogging, can be a form a citizen journalism with the right layout and good quality of information. The blogosphere is no longer just for the ranters and idealogues. Straight-shooting journalists are increasingly joining online non-profit ventures. This gives them the opportunity to reemerge as news reporters and investigate stories that traditional media cannot and will not cover. By decentralizing the news business, investigative reporters for online non-profits are creating quality coverage of America’s most important issues and making it available to all.

Web 2.0: Online Magazines

The beginning of the internet dates back to September 2,1969 and during this time the internet was only used for small and specialized fields. It wasn’t until the 90’s when the first internet browser was created and the world wide web. The internet became a place to enjoy and present to the whole world! In 2006, there was a change from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. The concept of web 2.0 with a conference between O’Reilly and MediaLive International. Google, Flickr, Napster, Yahoo, Ebay, Wikipedia, Amazon, **blogging**(Yay!), the websites and concepts I have made previous posts about, like microblogging and Diaspora, etc. were all additions in web 2.0. blah blah blah. Enough about the boring stuff. Most importantly, ALL of us are a part of web 2.0 and we are ALL global publishers. Web 2.0 has given us new ways to express ourselves and enjoy the work of others! AND second most importantly, I am able to express my love of shoes with this blog and you are able to read it! A new addition that has graced its way onto the web is online magazines! Being shoe lovers, keeping up on the hottest shoe and fashion trends is the key to our happiness (besides a gigantic walk-in closet full of shoes). Besides from saving the trees, online magazines can convert paper-based media into a digital format, transforming one-dimensional magazines into fully interactive digital dynamite! BOOM. Web magazines allow us to not only replicate but also enhance paper-based content by adding videos, sound and web links, creating a unique and interactive product. The advantages of online magazines for the publishers is: the cost is less than printing, greater circulation and subscription potential, huge advertising potential, bring your content to live with videos, sounds, and interactive features, plus many many more. But what’s in it for you?? You can access the magazine anytime and anywhere, you can download it now-read later, visually appealing, easy to read and clean format, click straight through the advertisements, and you can be interactive with the material, which I think makes it more fun!

Cover of the latest issue of Matchbook Magazine

Matchbook Magazine is an online magazine that a close friend of one of my older sister’s has co-created.  Without web 2.0, this would have never been possible. Click here to see the online magazine. The magazine was launched in January 2011. Their monthly issues cover past and present topics of fashion, decor, the arts, travel, and culture. All necessary things to living a happy and full-filled life. Matchbook seeks to to inspire women around the world to design a life they adore. The website is organized, simple, clean, and easy to read and function. Today I was frolicking through the website and I clicked on the topic: fashion. For spring coming up, the color palette is lavender. You will find shoes in lavender, shirts, nail polish, earrings, among other things. Beautiful! Check it out. Our friends from Matchbook would like to present to you a guide: “From lipstick to letterpress, gelato to grosgrain, and Paris to Peru, consider us your field guide to a charmed life.”

Microblogging: Choice, Ownership, and Simplicity

Microblog with just your besties!

Blogging is an awesome way to write about the things that you love, but it does take a lot of time and effort. In our world today and all of us with our busy schedules, can’t always find time to sit down and write paragraphs about your thoughts and interests. Which brings me to the wonders of Microblogging! It can be classified as a form of blogging that allows people to send or post brief messages to the world. The most common form of microblogging today is Twitter, which I am sure many of you have. It allows you to post short thoughts about your life and things that catch your interest. You can follow other people’s twitters, such as your friends or famous people, which can be beneficial in informing you about the world around you. If you are not a fan of reading the newspaper or watching CNN (like myself), this is an excellent way to keep up your knowledge of all the latest things. This can be especially beneficial so you don’t look like an idiot when discussing current important topics in daily conversation, that you wouldn’t normally be aware of. A common thing that used to happen to me, and I am sure most of you! But thanks to Twitter and other forms of microblogging, we always have something to add to the conversation.

There is an alternative social network in the world of microblogging called Diaspora, similar to Twitter’s style. You may have never heard of this or maybe you have, but it is said to potentially be, “the Facebook killer.” Sound of interest to you? Believe it or not, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook himself, has made some solid donations to this new network. Many people had issues with Facebook’s privacy faults and its transparency, which is when Diaspora took initiative as a decentralized project. Instead of allowing your entire data to be in the hands of a corporation, Diaspora users can host their own pods, or servers. This gives you, as the user, full control of how your privacy is handled. Users are able to control what gets shared and with whom you want to share with, because YOU are the controller of it. In the aesthetics department, the simplicity and minimalism of this network is what I like about it, a clean and organized structure is what makes it appealing. Upon your first arrival to this website’s page, there are three bold words in the center: CHOICE, OWNERSHIP, SIMPLICITY. The phrase “Share what you want, with whom you want,” heads at the top of the page. This gives you the overall ideology the creators seek to achieve and if it is something that interests you, then check it out! https://joindiaspora.com/

A Classic Black Stiletto

Aaaand lastly, just to relate it to the glory of shoes…those three bold words can always be applied to the things you put on your pretty little feet. Choice: You get the choice of what you put on your feet. Whether its a classic flat or an eye-catching platform. You get to choose when you wear them, where you wear them, and who sees what. Meeting your boyfriend’s parents? You might want to CHOOSE, which shoes you wear. You can learn a lot about someone by what shoes they wear, and perhaps the rents would prefer classic styles and colors, such as black, nude, flats, or chic heels. Going out on the town? Choose styles that flatter you most and catch attention, which can be any color you want, but preferably some pumps or platforms, or sexy over-the-knee boots. 🙂 Secondly, we have Ownership: Don’t say you didn’t absolutely LOVEE the feeling of purchasing your own first Christian Louboutin’s! Those babies are YOURS and you own them. You can own one pair or thousands. Not only do you physically own them, but you also better “own” them with your strut and style. Lasly, we have Simplicity: Every girl needs a simple black stiletto, which can be used for pretty much every occasion. Looking for a new pair? Check out the thousands of them on shopstyle: http://www.shopstyle.co.uk/browse?fts=black+stilettos

Social Networking: Espresso and Stilettos

Now, I know my blog is fabulously informative on the wonderful world of shoes, but however, a real shoe lover is constantly surfing the web for new and exciting things about footwear. Google is obviously the go-to when searching for this desirable topic of shoes, but being apart of Facebook and Twitter can open many doors for your obsession. It can connect you with friends and people from all around the world to give you new and different ideas that you would have never thought of yourself. For example, myself being an avid member of Facebook have stumbled across numerous pages on other creative ideas thought up by fellow woman all over the world. For example, one day I was Facebook stalking (we all do it) one of my best friend’s page and I saw one of her recent “likes.” The name certainly caught my attention, as it was, “Espresso and Stilettos.” -Two very important things. I clicked on the page and was greeted by a picture of a classic Christian Louboutin patten leather pump, with its famous red sole. We’re off to a good start, this lady knows her shoes. I quickly scrolled through her page and saw posts about the new studded Valentino Garavani shoes, classic black YSL pumps, as well as, her input on fashion trends and pictures of her favorites. However, I quickly noticed that she also has her own website. Go check it out! She goes far beyond the world of shoes and gives her input on fashion trends, what’s in for the season, and how to put outfits together. Very informative and I may add that she has great style. Soooo to wrap it up here, the importance of my little rant is that being part of social networks can open up a whole new world on topics that interest you. And being that you are reading my blog, you would probably be interested in this awesome website as well! Thanks Facebook!

Social networking and the retail industry can also have a beautiful relationship. You can have a powerful online presence and here are some simple ways to get started. Its not that difficult or expensive, but it does take some time and consideration. You can start a blog, and find a certain way to market yourself and your products based on a certain aspect. If you are an athletic store then you might want to blog about the newest running shoe technology and sports stars, which would appeal to a certain group of people. Which is what you want. You could also make a Facebook or Myspace page, which could appeal to a younger audience. Having some form of online presence gives you a chance to inform customers about what products you sell and provide information about the industry. It is also a good way to promote sales or specials going on in your stores. Viola!

Espresso and Stilettos Facebook Picture