Take It Face To Face

So, it is my last day with FaceTime. It is a bittersweet day because as great as it has been working here and as sad as I am to leave, I am also excited to graduate and start the next chapter of my life.

I have learned a great deal about marketing and public relations while working here, and would like to take a minute and share that with all of you. It was nerve wracking calling journalists and pitching them ideas, but after the 20th time it wasn’t so bad. I enjoyed writing blogs, sharing my thoughts and inspiring people to question and think about my topics. Yes, press releases and media lists are not the most glamorous tasks, but they are important and I was happy to learn and contribute wherever I was needed.

I learned the ropes of how a marketing and PR firm function and formed great relationships with co-workers. It is nice working somewhere that is both task and relationship oriented, where the people work hard and still find time to chat about their lives.

FaceTime is a great place to work, filled with great people, who are smart and kind. I hope that wherever my life takes me, I end up in an environment similar to this one.

How are all of your work environments? Are there things you would change, or things that you wouldn’t want to do without?

When the video dropped last fall for Beyonce’s hit “Single Ladies” the response was resounding. The choreography, the song, and the black leotard with heels all became instantly iconic.

The months that followed spawned innumerable recreations, from a Saturday Night Live skit starring Justin Timberlake to YouTube videos starring just about everyone. The hype prompted Beyonce to hold a video competition, in which the winning entry would be shown during her 2009 world tour.

But six months is a long time in the viral video universe. How much longer can the wave of success be ridden?

Trident, for one, aims to find out. Earlier this week, they staged a reenactment of Beyonce’s video with 100 dancers (as opposed to the original three) in London’s Piccadilly Circus.

To the surprise of the unsuspecting passersby, droves of women began ripping off their trench coats to reveal the familiar black leotard hidden underneath. Cameras positioned at every angle captured the intricate and painstakingly executed four minute performance.

The event serves as a launch for Trident’s sponsorship of Beyonces “I Am…” tour, and their new sweepstakes that offers up tickets to her November London show.

Several things about the performance are clear. These women are professional dancers. They’re too good not to be. And the outrageous synchronization of their choreography suggests mind boggling amounts of practice. Someone must’ve shelled out to make it worth their while.

But was it worth it for one fleeting event? Of course not. That’s where viral video comes in. Both professional recordings of the event and clips snagged by bystanders took off on YouTube and other video sharing sites, despite the recent lull in the routine’s intrigue.

No matter what, the effort is impressive. But will it be enough to bring press to Trident? Or did the potential for such a campaign to pack a real punch shimmy away months ago? Tell us your thoughts.

The witty conversation of organic foods and the dazzling personality of local produce haven’t swayed the world too far. People are still heading to McDonald’s to have their morning coffee and dollar burger, especially now.

If there is one thing you can count on in a down economy, it’s the increase in sales of fast food. McDonald’s sales, for example, have gone up, as opposed to the any businesses suffering to sell their products. Is it because of the dollar menu?

What you can get for a dollar:

*Double Cheeseburger
*4 piece McNuggets
*Small fries
*2 pies
*Parfait
*McChicken
*Side salad
*Small soft drink
*Sundae
*2 Hash browns

McDonald’s is weathering the economic challenges with their appealing products at great prices. So, move over organic, free of artificial additives, non-chemically enhanced beef, because in this economy, you are at the bottom of the food chain.

How many of you are switching to fast food or are continuing to eat it?

For the last three or four years, the way I listen to music at home has undergone an overhaul. I don’t own a radio, radios are for cars. So when I get bored of my iTunes collection, I start fishing around for online radio sites.

Needless to say, there are hundreds, some better than others, most I’ve never explored. I don’t purport to know which are best. Take this, instead, as one humble listener’s journey through the mire on the quest for the perfect radio experience.

It started about three years ago with Pandora. Pick an artist you like and they’ll play similar stuff. Ban whatever you don’t like. It was great for a while, but the same hundred or so songs do, believe it or not, eventually get tiresome.

And no matter which artist I input, it always tried to make me listen to Jack Johnson. No, Pandora. Stop! I do not want to listen to Jack Johnson anymore! I could ban his songs til kingdom come, but they always came back. It was time to move on.

Enter Last.fm. You can choose the specific song you want to hear, or search for a radio station based on any key word that suits you, as users can tag songs however they see fit. Snazzy. And though it was a great way for discovering new things, it was a tad too eclectic and unfocused. Though I still head back there sometimes, the unusual offerings can be enough to make your head spin.

Next in my travels came Musicovery. Not only can you select or omit entire genres (no gospel today, thank you), but you can pick what decade you’re feeling, whether you want familiar or offbeat selections, and what mood you’re in (because heaven knows energetic, positive, rock is a far cry from calm, dark rock.)

Best of all, it draws a colorful roadmap detailing the play list to come. This computerized selection, though, too came a little bit repetitive. The program is all but convinced that Kelly Clarkson is the only dark pop artist to ever walk the earth.

Innumerable accolades to Blip.fm for reviving me as a consumer of online music. This combination social media site lets users “blip” whatever song strikes them onto their own radio station. The twitter-like setup allows new djs to add commentary to their plays or chat with others. Others, user or not, can listen to you in real time or whenever else it’s convenient.

Find a dj, or 50, whose style you like on Blip.fm, and you’ll never be bored again. And really, it’s just a lot of fun, putting your favorite songs out there for others to pick up on.

So yeah, those computerized radio programs of the past were great and all. But social media, it’s the wave of the future.

Have you checked out Blip.fm? How does is compare to these other sites? Which do you like to use? Tell us your thoughts.

Everyday we use Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). At the office, in school, at home, you name it. We use email, text messages, blogs, videoconferencing, audio conferencing, instant messaging and blackberry messaging. With all of these different mediums, not to mention face-to-face (F2F) communication, are we choosing the best medium for the tasks at hand?

When using a CMC medium, you produce fewer remarks over a period of time, it takes longer to complete a task, less relationships form, but there is greater equality in participation, reduced normative social pressures, and less attitude change.

I wonder how many people could benefit from thinking about the advantages and disadvantages to using certain mediums. I recently started learning about this, and how much of a difference choosing the right medium makes.

Think about all of the new social media tools at our disposal. We have YouTube, Podcasts, Flickr, Blogs, social networking sites, like Facebook, and so much more. All of these advancements are more ways of helping us communicate, but are they distracting us from choosing the correct medium to get the job done in the most efficient way?

What do you think? What mediums work best for you, your company, or your group members?