krypton

When I searched my name, nothing of interest came up at first. I keep my social media accounts private, so I understand why it happened that way. After adding Villa Maria College to my search, more relevant results came up including a link to the Villa Vibe, a review of the Honors Convocation and the UB Spectrum article that was done on the Vibe. I believe the part of the book that states inactivity is just as bad as inappropriate activity. If there’s no activity for a potential employer to go off of, they can easily assume the worst. They have no idea of who they’re hiring if they can’t see how you act online when you’re not in the presence of an interviewer.

The content I share on all of my social media is very representative of who I am and what my interests are. I post on certain social media sites more often than others, but I’m not overly active on any of them. On Twitter and Tumblr, my posts deal with things I like. More often than not, they have to do with celebrities and pop culture as well as the occasional article on politics. On Instagram, I post more about what I do which is reflective of my life as well. My Tumblr has posts pertaining to things I’ve learned in school, but I’d like to add more to my Wix site and link to them in the future.

I have a website set up on Wordpress, but I have more content posted on my Wix site so far. After using both, I think I’m more fond of Wix, but I want to mess around with Wordpress a little bit more before I decide that.

I have public platforms on Twitter and Snapchat, but my Facebook and Instagram accounts remain private. I’d personally be more inclined to create a public Instagram/Facebook rather than open up my private ones to the public. I have a YouTube account where I subscribe to my favorite creators, but if I have a video to upload, I’m more likely to upload it directly to Tumblr since that’s what best suits my needs right now. I’ve tried creating a uniform handle for myself across my platforms, but I can’t snag the Instagram name that matches my Tumblr and Twitter name as somebody else beat me to it.

I’m still working on creating uniform bios, but I’d like to work off the one I have on my Tumblr account.

I think having a consistent brand across social media makes things easier for both the blogger and the audience. I try to keep all my profiles very clean, neat and simplistic as well as keeping them monotone. I’m currently in the process of learning how to change my Tumblr theme so that photos show up in black and white, but that’s done in the coding, so it’s a learning process that’s well underway.

I like the idea of the 80/20 rule. I try to maintain my Twitter and Tumblr profiles according to that balance, but might sometimes post a little too much about my personal interests. That being said, I think a lot of my personal interests are also professional in one sense or another. Most of what I reblog or retweet has to do with journalism, but there’s a personal aspect to it since I’m a fan of the people I post about in my personal life. I also like the idea of the rule of thirds for social media. I try not to clutter my blog or timeline with content that is either entirely my own or entirely someone else’s, so I’d guess that I’m pretty close to adhering to that rule as well. I’d be interested in adding my commentary to posts to provide context, but right now I’m focusing on hobbies and interests to populate my social media presence.

As communication shifts to being based online, it makes sense that journalism would adopt a social media edge as well. With most sites offering built in analytics and an open forum for the audience to interact with and give feedback to journalists, the change in how news is posted and gathered is beneficial to all involved. The audience these days is more of an active audience than a passive one as we have discussed in previous chapters. They like to engage with the writers of their favorite or last favorite articles and the writers should take advantage of social media and engage with the audience as well.

Catfishing is something that had always interested me. Whenever MTV was playing episodes of Nev Schulman’s documentary series “Catfish,” I’d fill up my DVR with a night’s worth of drama, delusion and deceit.

With the premiere of Netflix’s “Sierra Burgess Is a Loser,” catfishing once again became the center of people’s think pieces posted on Odyssey. Is it a cute plot line worth romanticizing? Or does it have harmful effects that go deeper than what a 60-minute long episode can cover? 

CHAPTER 4 / Unlike most other social media sites, TWITTER allows users to post several tweets one after the other. Given the formerly 140 character limit, now doubled up to a total of 280 characters, users are accustomed to short bursts of information. Theres also plenty of room on this platform to interact with other users. Things such as polls, retweets and likes are all tools that you can use to engage your followers and get an idea of what posts they like as well as what posts they dislike. 

For the average person, FACEBOOK is another social media tool worth utilizing. For journalists, however, it’s a little bit better. Taking advantage of Facebook’s discovery and curation tool designed especially for journalists, Signal, mass it even more powerful for users. In addition, there are plenty ways to add visuals to posts as well as handy features like post scheduling that tie in to concepts similar to that of HootSuite.

INSTAGRAM, another platform heavy on visuals, can also post to your Facebook account for you. It can post to your Twitter account, too. One of the big pluses of Instagram is that you can connect it to your other social media sites and have it publish posts there as well as on the official Instagram app. Additionally, Signal can be used on this site as well, since Facebook owns Instagram.

A little less pretty and a little more professional, LINKEDIN is described as a treasure trove for journalists by Anthony Adornato. Using tools they offer, such as advanced people search, can help a writer find sources to help their stories along. You can teach for experts as well as former and current employees of a certain company. It’s also possible to follow a company page to keep up to date on news that may be related to your beat. 

During our interview with Villa Maria College professor Jesse Walp, he revealed to us plenty about his past, present and his future. Throughout the process, I noticed a connecting thread: nature. He spent his childhood in Mississippi playing in the woods alongside his brother. Rather than busying himself with traditional toys from the aisles of Walmart, Walp fashioned his own entertainment out of sticks and pine needles he found in the woods behind the home his parents built. He’d even built a fort with his brother that the two attempted to sleep in. Following that, he went through life and his first few years of college pursuing engineering degrees only to feel out of place in the classes. Upon seeing another student carrying around their interior design homework, his interest was piqued and Walp made the switch into the interior design major. His furniture all came out very sculptural, along with the lamp he’d made for a competition that won him first place. The realization was a turning point in his life. He continued honing his talent in graduate school, stating it was because he just didn’t know what he wanted to do. But after graduating from RIT, Walp has found great success in sculpture. 

The city of Niagara Falls was looking to spruce up the area surrounding the Falls and decided on commissioning a sculpture from Walp following the recommendation of the Albright Knox. There were many trials and tribulations along the way, but they all served as a learning experience. After a year of planning and a month of sculpting, the piece was placed permanently on Old Falls Street, the place where his father grew up.