Give me “The Dirty”

Has anyone else heard about the website “The Dirty” or have I been the only one living under a rock the last few years? This website came to my attention the other day when I was casually talking to my co-workers about relationships, and they mentioned the website, out of pure curiosity I checked it out. And all I can say is WOW!

For those of you who were living under a rock like me, “The Dirty” is a website for people to go and post things about other people in Ottawa, or lots of other cities, but I focused on the Ottawa website. It could be an ex-girlfriend posting about her ex-boyfriend cheating on her and how he is an awful human being, or it could be a friend of someone who has gotten screwed over one too many times. Either way this website is pretty interesting to me. How can this website stay running, when everything is libel. You can see some of the interesting news articles on the site, all over the web.

I can see both sides of “The Dirty” so here is my Pro and Con list of the website:

• Pro List
  • Dating a new person, check to see what their last relationship had to say about them, maybe a little research before you jump in.
  • It’s super hilarious! Just to read the reviews and comments it’s purely entertaining. This website may be my new favourite guilty pleasure
  • Check out to see if something is a scam, one of the posts I read was about a guy who claims to rescue dogs, but actually turns around and sells them for drug money (again this is what one of the posts said, I have done no fact checking on this)
• Con List
  • Everyone out there has a negative opinion about someone else. I am sure I could go on a huge rant about my ex, and I am sure he could go on a rant about me, hence why we are no longer together. So how do you take the word from a disgruntled ex?
  • There is no fact checking, yes I suppose other people can comment on the post, and put their two cents in, but there is never any actual facts about any of the post. I could go on and comment on every post if I wanted to agreeing to everything they were saying, and no one could stop me.
  • Has the potential to seriously impact someone’s reputation. What if somehow your boss was going through it (remember above I said my new guilty pleasure, once you start you just can’t stop) and sees something about you that goes against what they know of you. Will your employer now see you in a different light and start questioning your character at work.
  • You only know one side of the story!

Overall, I think this website is hilarious, if not lowbrow and a bit beneath me, still an enjoyable light read. When I look at the people that are being posted about, I have to stop and think, am I judging a book by the cover here, because if I met this person on the street, I would certainly believe everything they are saying!

Check out The Dirty and let me know your thoughts in the comments, happy creeping! 

EMMA!

I am not sure if this amazing video crossed anyone’s path this last week on Facebook, but I have to say, after seeing this commercial I absolutely died! I love the whole idea about this commercial. I think I like the fact that the women in this commercial is not giving up on the idea of paper. I wouldn’t say it is just about paper, but about the whole idea of not giving up on the more concrete things.

My mother is a librarian, and it took forever for me to convince her to use a kindle. She always would say, that she loved the way the books felt in her hands, and the way the books smelt, that you really became more engaged in the book when you have to flip the pages. However, after many trips, and many books being packed in suitcases, she discovered the convenience of having a kindle. However, still to this day my mother has now owned a kindle for many years. She still buys hard copies of books and still has a stack beside her bed, but uses her kindle for more when she travels.  I believe my mother is moving forward with the changes in technology, but is keeping herself grounded with her hard copies still.

I am not sure if I loved this commercial so much, because it really hits home with me. I think the guy is so attached to his iPad/tablet and just thinks everything his wife is doing by hand on paper is her not getting with the times. After watching it a few times I stopped and realized I hugely depend on my cellphone, and laptop daily!

Am I like the man in this video?

I am the first one in my group of friends to stop everything and look something up on my phone when a debate breaks out and we need an answer. I also have a note section full on my phone of grocery lists, to-dos, Christmas lists etc. Have I become too much with the times? Have I forgotten what it is like to simple play sudoku with a pen?  Is this commercial showing us what our future children will grow up like?

Are we placing to high of a value on technology? I often find it crazy when my nieces and nephews (please note all of them are under the age of 4) can use my phone better than me! It is crazy that already, this young generation is adapting to technology more than they are adapting to colouring on a piece of paper. Many toy companies are now including the iPad version of the toy as well. For example, the Furby: when I was 9 it was a fun toy you played with and had to teach how to speak, and you took care of it, all with your own hand…. NOW the Furby is a toy you place in front of your iPad and interact with it via the iPad.

I truly believe this commerical is showing us how much paper is dying. I truly commend the toilet paper company Le Trèfle on this amazing display of technology vs. paper, in such a fun and witty manner. Are there any other commercials out there right now, that push the boundaries of technology?

Find your Blogging Voice

A blog “is the best bet for a voice among the online crowd. It’s a personal website, packed with features, as easy to use as your e-mail”(What’s your story). 

I seemed to have made myself a little theme with my last few blog posts so I decided I was going to do a blog about blogging.

I have my own personal blog, along with the blog posts I put on this site. I must say, my blog has taken the back burner since I started this program, as I have just gotten too busy. My blog was started last January, it was started with a co-worker of mine, and we did it as a challenge. We had decided that we were going to be trapped in our closets for 2015, that we were not allowed to shop for the year, and that we must wear all of our clothes in our closets. In my business, I have many events that I attend in a week, from store-openings, to charity events, to gala’s and I seemed to buy a new outfit for every event. The blog gave me a reason not to shop. It gave me a purpose! So I completely understand why people are bloggers, and why it is so enjoyable. But I often wonder…

Where do people find the time!

Now there is nothing wrong with being a blogger and spending time on your blog; however I couldn’t make my blog work, because I couldn’t spend enough time on it. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked blogging, but I felt let down when I wasn’t getting a lot of views on my blog, and I wasn’t getting the followers I wanted. It made me feel that I was writing for no reason. So I am here today to discuss how you can write and manage a successful blog.

Some questions came to mind when I first started writing this blog post, that made me stop and re-evaluate my own blog. I suggest you ask yourself the following questions as well about blogging before you put more time into your blog:  what do you want to achieve with your blog? More followers? PR opportunities? Just sharing your thoughts, opinions and tips? Once you have answered all of these questions, you can best plan out the next few moves on your blog. Here are a few tips on how to make your blog better:

1. Find your Niche; writing a blog about an idea or concept that no other blog is writing about is going to be key. You want your blog to be different. You want your readers to come back to your blog everyday, and choose to read your blog over another blog.
2. Be original; as mentioned above, you want your blog to bring in the traffic, so you need to be original. It is going to be hard to find something to write about when everyone is writing blogs nowadays however if you are original; with your pictures, with your attitude, with your writing style, you will bring the readers to your blog, even if your subject matter is the same as other bloggers.
3. Social Media; each time you post something, post it on your blog’s Facebook page, Twitter, and Instagram and ask readers to check out your new blog post.
4. Google+; Create a Google+ account for your blog, the more you post on google+ the higher your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rank goes up. Every time someone searches on google something that links to your blog, the higher the chances are your blog will be seen. Also don’t forget to add those tags to your blog!
5. Photography; Make sure any pictures you post on your blog are well-lit, clear, and feature your picture in the best light. Readers want to understand what you are talking about and adding more pictures will help. However they don’t want to see photos that are blurry and that they can’t make out.
6. Contact me; make sure your blog has a contact me button. The easier it is to get in touch with you the easier collaboration will other bloggers will be. The great thing about collaborations, is that the other bloggers’ followers will go to your blog because you have collaborated with one of their bloggers they follow.
7. Keep it simple; don’t make your blog complicated. I believe people read blogs to escape reality, and when your blog is too confusing, you are going to lose followers/readers, because the reader can’t escape reality.
8. Comments; make questions in your blogs, so that readers want to comment on your blog. You can leave an open-ended question, or ask readers to post their opinion in the comments, this creates a sense of unity to the reader, and they will come back to your blog. You are creating a community!
9. Add new content; remember to post regularly. As with any social media, you are going to lose readers if they have nothing to read. Readers are not going to come back to your blog, if there is never any new content. Try making yourself a schedule, plan out your post on a calendar and stick to it.
10. Headlines; remember to make your titles of your blog catchy. People will be intrigued to read your blog if your title triggers something in them.

So the question is are you going “to blog or not to blog”. I think in our social media driven society, that everyone should have a blog, as it is a way to share your experiences with friends, family and random strangers on the internet. Please post any other ideas or suggests in the comment section on how to run a more successful blog 🙂

Lets Chat… or Shall we Snap(chat)?

Snapchat, is this a new trend for young and up-comers in the industry? Is it simple to use or am I just too old for Snapchat? Is that an odd thing to ask at 26? 

With all the different types of Social media platforms out there it is hard for every business to be the best in every platform, however Snapchat is the number one way to reach the younger generation. This generation ranges from 13 to 34 years of age.

Snapchat defined by the atlantic “is a photo-sharing service with one key distinguishing feature: the photos you send disappear. Seconds after opening “snaps,” users can no longer access them and the images are deleted from the company’s servers.”

Snapchat was first made to send nude photos of yourself to others, since the photos could not be saved, it was a “safe” way of making sure those nudes didn’t end up in the wrong hands. However Snapchat quickly evolved and is now one of the fastest growing apps out there. The company tapped into a desire among younger internet users to be able to share photos without having it logged. It is stated that almost 350 million photos are shared on this device daily, that is a little less than seven times the number of pictures that instagram users post.

My question is, how does an app that was made to send nudes, help businesses?

Here are 7 ways that snapchat can help businesses and why your business needs to be using snapchat:

1. Provide Access to Live Events; real-time social media marketing is key. It can give audience members direct access to live events, this can be anything from trade shows, to product launches to one of a kind events. With live access it gets your audience more excited as they have a different, more unique view of the event.
2. Deliver Private Content; with snapchat you can show your audience special content that they might not be able to see on any other social media sites.  Certain brands will often use snapchat to show a sneak peek of the line before it is released.
3. Offer promos and coupons; You can release contest on snapchat and have special promos that are only done through snapchat, this creates a buzz around your brand and that of your social media. Some contest you could do is take a snap of them using your product, chances are they will put that in their story and you will receive free advertisement.
4. Its popular; Snapchat is one of the most used apps at the moment, you need to get your marketing in where you can. If people are using it now they will continue to use it in the future.
5. Behind the scenes; by showing the audience a behind the scenes look into your company, makes you a little more human and less a big company. The audience wants to see how products are made, and the people working for the company, Snapchat can help make that happen for you.
6. Quick tips; if you show quick tips on how to use your products, your audience is going to quickly grow, as they will be excited to see what else you can use your product for and any knowledge that you have. By showing this on social media, it makes the consumer feel like an insider on your product.
7. Snapchat stories; Small business trends website states that snapchat stories are “One of the strongest tools for marketing on Snapchat is a story. These series of images and/or videos can be used to lay out a sequential campaign that sticks around for 24 hours.”

In conclusion, Snapchat is widely used by members aged 13-34. If you sell to the under 34 demographic, then snapchat is worth a serious look. Social media is key nowadays to market to the younger generation. Snapchat is the new thing, and to keep with the times, businesses need to jump on the Snapchat train and hold on until Snapchat makes it final trip.

 

500 Followers

I work for Models International Management (MIM) here in Ottawa. This work environment is hugely based around image and branding, not only of our company, but our models within our company. One of my main roles at MIM is to control the social media accounts. Out of all the different kinds of social media out there, the best one we find for our company is Instagram! By being able to share photos of our models and jobs that they are doing we are able to promote our business and drive in new clientele. However, what I am finding is that I can’t balance my work Instagram (@mimmodels) and my personal Instagram (@megfuger) accounts. I spend hours a day on MIM’s Instagram account, increasing its followers, promoting it, making sure each picture is getting enough likes, and that our branding is on point. And at the end of every day, I get home and I am exhausted, and I can’t even begin to think about my own personal Instagram account!

I have decided this year of 2016 that I will increase my personal following base! This number may seem low to many people, but I would love to get my followers up to 500! Baby steps folks, baby steps… today 500 tomorrow 1000. Currently I am sitting at a comfortable 420 followers.  My job is to talk to my models about the importance of social media and how it brands you, (for them, they are their own brand), however I do not practice what I preach… So I thought I would share knowledge that I have come across by researching on the internet, and hopefully actually putting these into place in my own accounts:

1. Make sure your Instagram and Facebook accounts are connected; by doing this you will increase your followers, also make sure your followers know what they can expect by following you.
2. Like 100’s of random pictures from people in your target audience; the more you like and the more you comment, the higher your chances are of getting more followers. Neil Patel, found that for every 100 photos he liked, he generated 21.7 more likes on his photos, and 6.1 more followers. Also he didn’t have to follow the user back, by also liking photos outside of your general circle of friends, you will increase your outside followers.
3. Use popular hashtags; Some of the tags that I like, and are trending at the moment are (picked my favourite hashtags from this site):
   1. #love
   2. #instagood
   3. #me
   4. #tbt
   5. #photooftheday
   6. #happy
   7. #selfie
4. Post at the correct time; Damon Beres shows us that the best time to post is 2am, 5pm and 11pm. Why? Because most Instagram users are on Instagram at that time and are engaged. I believe 2am is important because for me one of the first things I do in the morning when I wake up is check all my social media sites, so of course the person who posted at 2am is in my feed and getting a like or a follow.
5. Make your post more personal and about your lifestyle; people want to live through everyone else, you know what they say the grass is always greener on the other side. Well I feel that is the same for Instagram, you want to live like everyone else, so I enjoy seeing a meaningful post then anything else.
6. Edit your account to leave only the best images; probably once a month I go through my Instagram and delete any images that didn’t get many likes, or aren’t true to my personal branding.
7. Make sure your bio is complete; make sure to use relevant keywords, hashtags, a bit about what they will see in your Instagram account.
8. Try to post daily; this is important so you don’t lose your followers, that they stay engaged and interested. I find this is hard, but I also notice that my followers will increase for a day, then if I don’t post for two or three days, they stop following me.
9. Use Geotagging; Geotagging is important, because people want to live through you, if you post a super cool picture of a coffee shop, but don’t let anyone know where it is people will become frustrated and unfollow you. Also when you geotag other people in the same location will see your tag and either like your photo or follow you, if your page interest them.
10. Engage; be engaging, not only on your account, but on other Instagram users as well, comment on photos, comment back on your own photos, when you comment on someone else’s photo, they will often (or at least I do) click on the person username, see who they are an either follow them back or not, however I always (or I try too) comment back in my own post.

I know for many this may seem like such a small little thing, and I often think to myself why do I need more followers? Maybe it my own personal narcissism, that drives me to increase my followers and my likes on my photos. Then I stop and realize, if I am selling myself as being social media savvy, shouldn’t my own social media be #onpoint.

I hope that my tips will help you reach any goal that you may have with your own personal branding! Leave a comment if you have any more tips on how to increase your followers 🙂 

COM-0011: Let Me Take a Selfie: The Selfie Epidemic

I am a 26 year old female, I am no stranger to the selfie, I have not one by two beloved selfie-sticks.

Have I fallen mercy to the selfie-epidemic? Am I leading the charge for the popularity of the selfie? Am I helping society, but posting that #iwokeuplikethis selfie?

I am Megan Fuger and I am a selfie addict! 

The online oxford dictionary defines a Selfie “as a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media“. I believe that the act of posting a selfie has truly become an epidemic. The band The Chainsmokers, really hit the nail on the head, with their popular song “#selfie“. Bringing into the eyes of main how silly selfies are. However the song become pretty popular, and actually encouraged more and more people to take selfies. It became more of a joke, something fun to do when the song came on.

It is rare now a days to go to a concert, or a museum, or party, and not see at least two or more people taking selfies. When I scroll through my personal Instagram account, the majority of the photos that appear on my feed are of my friends beautiful smiling faces, me however knowing very well, that probably 30 photos were taken to get that perfect selfie. These perfect selfies taking time and energy that could have probably been spent on something else that holds more value. Not only do you take the time to get the perfect selfie, but you then spend time editing that selfie before posting it to your social media. Many people choose to edit their selfies with filters, or through apps such as VSCO, or Visage Lab. These apps are used to enhance the selfie, by either editing the lighting, or by fixing make-up, skin blemishes and the colour of your teeth. See from the chorus of the #selfie song, what happens before you post a selfie:

Can you guys help me pick a filter?
I don’t know if I should go with XX Pro or Valencia
I wanna look tan
What should my caption be?
I want it to be clever
How about “Livin’ with my bitches, hash tag LIVE”
I only got 10 likes in the last 5 minutes
Do you think I should take it down?
Let me take another selfie

Not only are selfies occurring more and more on social media, they are starting to trend more in other aspects, then just a good-looking selfie. Take for example the recent Dolce & Gabbana mens fashion show where many male models walked down the runway with a mini-iPad and at the end, took selfies with them. You can see model Adonis Bosso on your right, working his best selfie face on the runway. Selfies are not just trending in the fashion industry, they are also very trendy amongst celebrities, musicians, talk show hosts, and many others. Musicians at concerts are now stopping the concert to take a selfie with
the audience, later posting on their social media.  One of the most talked about selfies was the one by Ellen DeGeneres at the Oscars. 

It was one of the most retweeted entertainment tweets of 2014.

My new favourite thing to help this selfie epidemic is the selfie-stick. A selfie-stick again defined by the oxford dictionary is “a device in the form of a rod on which a camera or smartphone may be mounted, enabling the person holding it to take a photograph of themselves from a wider angle than if holding the camera or smartphone in their hand”. As I travelled across Europe this past summer (please note the picture to the left is taken from google, it is not a picture of myself), I have to say I joined the selfie-epidemic, an even

worse had a selfie-stick. I felt the stick was very beneficial as my friend and I both wanted to be in the pictures all the time, and there was no one around to take them for us. The stick helped us capture our many adventures, however did we take too many selfies? Were we too involved in our phone, and the idea of capturing the amazing things we were seeing, to really take in, what we were seeing?

Many studies are coming out linking selfies to narcissism. psychopathy and self-objectification. If we do not put down our phones and start embracing the world around us, is this the path we are headed? Are the future generations going to go down the selfie rabbit hole, are they going to view concerts from the screens of their phones, instead of looking up and enjoying them? Do we really look back at the pictures we took, and remember what happened, or do we remember them by sharing the stories with others when we are out an about in a group?

Do you feel that the selfie-epidemic is slowly destroying our society? Should we all go to selfie-rehab?