What Twitter Can Teach Us

Welcome to the Twitterverse!

According to an article titled "10 Great Uses for Twitter" by Daniel Nations (FOUND HERE: http://webtrends.about.com/od/twitter/a/why_twitter_uses_for_twitter.htm) we can accomplish great things via the rapid paced social media platform.


These include:

1. Microblogging
2. Quick Answers
3. Finding a job
4. Keeping up with the news
5. Arranging lunch with friends
6. Helpful outbursts, or in other words, screaming your rage

7. Keeping up with your team

8. Finding out what people think about the latest movies

9. Becoming involved with politics

... and last but not least

10. Fun and games

The Media Writing class I am taking at Marquette this semester required us to create twitter accounts (which I had already done previously), follow each other, and have tweeting interactions. We all used the same hash tag at the end of our tweets (#MWrSp141) so that we could easily identify the people from class and respond to them.

A number of the great uses for Twitter put forward by Daniel Nations applied to the tweets from our class. We talked about sports, movies, daily activities, happiness, frustration, and news (to name a few). Required to tweet a couple times a day, we really had to think about what we wanted to share and converse about. I noticed a lot of random thoughts. Twitter seems to be an extension of someones mind. There doesn't have to be a context or reason for a statement. I would say this is one of my favorite things about Twitter. You can say what you think whenever you want. Then it's out there. Everyone is connected and has the ability to interact and respond to each other.

Occasionally, opinions can become very aggressive. There is such a thing as "twitter fights". I didn't notice any hostility in our class tweets. Spending more time on Twitter over the past couple of weeks did, however, open my eyes to the craziness and intensity of opinions over the internet. I think some people become a more extreme version of themselves on the internet, if not an entirely different person. People can tweet whatever they want. Sometimes what they include in the 140 characters is a thought they would never dare to share in real life, as their "real" self.

The internet, and Twitter, is a sphere of competition for attention.
Why do we tweet? What is the purpose of Twitter?
We want people to know what we think because, to us, it's important. Everyone wants to appear to be more funny, intelligent, or insightful than the person next to them on their twitter feed. It's a never ending cycle of word wars. We want to be noticed and "heard" online. Other forms of social media, such as Facebook, instagram, and tumblr, have the same purpose; to share and be seen.

Real life interactions aren't enough anymore. Especially in our generation (the Millenials), we are increasingly expecting more from the internet and technology, and less from human interaction with each other.

My favorite aspect of twitter is being able to connect with professors, students, inventors, activists, writers, photographers, or anyone I'm interested in hearing from on a daily basis. Twitter is a great tool for networking and sharing ideas. Overall, I believe it is an interesting and growing platform for useful discussion and learning.

... and the occasional random, angry, or goofy tweet is always ok.

Greetings!

Hi ladies and gentlemen!

My name is Emma Petit and I am an Advertising Major / Photography minor / Peace Studies minor at Marquette University.

My plan is to use this blog as (yet another) social media platform to spread my thoughts and opinions to the minds of others!

I will most likely be writing about experiences living abroad, my love/ hate relationship with the advertising industry, issues of global importance, good coffee, inspirational people, and other things that happen to enter my brain on a day to day basis.

Here is a brief autobiography:

• born in Illinois
• have three younger siblings and two parents who are all wonderful human beings
• moved to London, England and leaned to love the rain
• moved to Akron, Ohio and went to Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts
• moved to Sydney, Australia and went to Ravenswood School for Girls
• graduated with an International Baccalaureate Diploma! 
• moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for college and experienced severe climate shock
• moved to Rome, Italy for a semester and spoke Italian to Italians 
• moved back to Milwaukee and continued speaking Italian to confuse people
• here I am
• who knows where I'll end up after I graduate! 

I am a global citizen who is passionate about improving, learning, writing, photographing, documenting, seeing, traveling, reading, thinking, and enjoying! My eyes are always open to seeing the world with new and interesting perspectives (except when I sleep my eyes are usually closed). 

I hope all of you lovely humans out there in the wide world of the Internet enjoy and learn from my posts! Please share your ideas, reactions, and opinions with me in return!

Emma

Advertising Research: The New Trends

Advertising research is so important because now, more than ever before, the influence of technology and the internet is making significant changes to the way consumers buy. Advertisers continually seek and develop new ways to reach out to people. In this age of technological supremacy, such outreach has become faster, but also more competitive. The primary methods of advertising in the past are no longer currently in the lead. People spend a large amount of time on the internet and interacting on social media, rather than reading magazines and listening to the radio. This means that the Advertising industry is facing new challenges and opportunities with the increase of internet use and the explosion of new media choices. So we need more RESEARCH!

Advertising research is completely essential because of:

1. Competition! Managers have to find a way to position their business to be successful among such a multitude of changes (technology is accelerating this dynamic!)
2. The Internet! Web analytics and Behavioral research can measure and evaluate consumer use of specific websites. 
3. Parity Products! Marketers and Advertisers need to build a brand image to put their product above other parity products 
4. The explosion of media choices! So many choices, so little time
5. Changing consumer markets! Resulted in a need to conduct frequent population audits and understand the mindsets of different groups. 

The BAD vs. the GOOD of Ad Research:

WEAKNESS: 
Advertising research can run into some ethical issues, especially with new  developments in behavioral targeting online. The idea that individual consumer movements can be monitored is alarming and concerning for some people. 
Also... research measuring advertising effectiveness relies on responses to questions about what consumers think and feel. Yet, these responses are sometimes swayed by the consumers opinion of what the research wants/ is looking to hear from them. 
#bad

STRENGTH: 
The future looks bright! many new and developing online research tools are increasing the breadth and depth of information available. Advertisers are now coming up with new ways to really understand the emotions and personal insights of the consumer (which is essential!) Ethnographic methods, in particular, help researchers gain a deeper understanding of people and culture.. and what they need. This is what advertising/ marketing/ communication is all about!! 
#good