tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19558019871499736582024-03-14T12:18:16.828-06:00The Sticky Note ChroniclesA Businessgirl's Guide to Growing Up (or at least pretending to)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-18547716684397198292013-08-06T10:05:00.000-06:002013-08-06T10:05:16.995-06:00What do resumes and tattoos have in common?I recently got a new tattoo. It's a Doctor Who quote, in case you were wondering. On my arm. Where people can see it. Where interviewers and potential employers can see it. My mom expressed concern in that direction, with a mother's worry that I was compromising my ability to some day get a job with a company that frowned upon tattoos. But I'd already thought about that possibility, and it was a discussion in one of my marketing classes about resumes of all things that convinced me that I wouldn't fall off the job-market cliff if I got a tattoo where people could see it.<br />
<a href="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4e305685eab8ea571c000002-1200/this-person-made-his-rsum-into-a-missing-persons-milk-carton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4e305685eab8ea571c000002-1200/this-person-made-his-rsum-into-a-missing-persons-milk-carton.jpg" width="320" /></a>You see, we were talking about those <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/coolest-resumes-2011-7?op=1">really cool resumes</a>. Infographics, flow charts, milk cartons, legos—you know, cool stuff. And someone asked, "What if an employer doesn't like those kind of resumes?" The answer was simple: if the company doesn't like your creativity, it might not be a good fit. If they don't like your personal brand, why would you <i>want</i> to work for them?<br />
The same goes for tattoos. Unless you got it while drunk and really wished someone had stopped you, chances are a tattoo says something about your personality. It's just a part of your brand.<br />
I came across this article on <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130806042830-52594-how-to-quit-like-a-boss?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0">how to quit like a boss</a> that summed it up pretty well:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"The people who don't get you don't deserve you."</span></blockquote>
The article goes on to elaborate how the old branding rules are just that—old and outdated. Welcome to the time where personal branding trumps company branding. So here's to milk carton resumes and tattoos.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-91267948815227103012013-06-18T08:55:00.000-06:002013-06-18T08:55:34.926-06:00I Aten't DeadHello again. It's been a while, hasn't it? Remember that thing I wrote on <a href="http://blog.jackimasson.com/2012/11/posting-regularly.html">posting regularly</a>? Yeah, me neither. I'm still trying to figure out how it's June already. Another school year down. I start summer classes today, though, so I'm missing that nice definitive break that lends itself to the feeling that something has ended and something else is starting. Instead it just feels like more of the same (but the continuity is kind of nice).<br />
But here are some updates anyway:<br />
<ul>
<li>I'll be studying abroad in <a href="http://www.lancs.ac.uk/">Lancaster</a> (the one not in Pennsylvania) in the fall and I think I'll apply to be a vlogger for DU. Because vlogging sounds cool and new, and I like cool and new.</li>
<li>I'm still interning at the same place, so I guess that's more of a non-update.</li>
<li>I'm working on building my website, which is why you'll now find this blog at <a href="http://blog.jackimasson.com/">blog.jackimasson.com</a> rather than just jackimasson.com, which doesn't lead to much of anything at this point.</li>
<li>My new favorite Pandora playlist is<a href="http://www.pandora.com/station/play/1444281623670954428"> Calm Meditation Radio</a>, because everyone could use a little more calm meditation in their lives.</li>
<li>Netflix show of the summer: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_(NBC_TV_series)">Life</a>. Because it's fantastic.</li>
</ul>
<div>
<a href="http://www.ragan.com/Resource.ashx?sn=procrastination" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.ragan.com/Resource.ashx?sn=procrastination" width="194" /></a>And that's pretty much it. Don't worry, though, I'm sure I'll be back soon with something a little more interesting, but I've noticed that if I wait for inspiration to strike I never feel quite inspirational enough to actually do anything. You know what they say: "Never do today what can be put off 'til tomorrow."</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-29068450794620483942013-01-25T09:43:00.001-07:002013-01-25T09:44:00.297-07:00Excel Tip of the Day...?Excel Tip of the <strike>Day</strike> <strike>Week</strike> Whenever<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaM6pnrvtXq3bSgGeCRSK_W2DlqIS7WqHJpG7Ph4y5JbI9GV72QosPDIIrJH1USN1N91Is21EhnbEPEIfDYtt_UI6tQ7QZ3KmwL7Su6b8mIT9cRlzdUAoDM5jkOqhuUvYf607Eb_Y5cY/s1600/ExcelTipsHeader_Fit+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaM6pnrvtXq3bSgGeCRSK_W2DlqIS7WqHJpG7Ph4y5JbI9GV72QosPDIIrJH1USN1N91Is21EhnbEPEIfDYtt_UI6tQ7QZ3KmwL7Su6b8mIT9cRlzdUAoDM5jkOqhuUvYf607Eb_Y5cY/s320/ExcelTipsHeader_Fit+copy.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Quick tip of the day... I just found this out because I'm so used to using Excel on a PC, and it'll really help out everyone with Microsoft on a Mac.<br />
To clear contents of a group of cells without having to go through that right click nonsense, select your cells, hold the fn key, and then hit delete.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-61863970231799999442012-12-12T10:33:00.000-07:002012-12-12T10:42:40.562-07:00Locus of Control and Cheerleading<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLAke1dGbnQgtga8eGrm25BSSkmfixkOzI5LQ1hOWCVS043HZOGxA1J7KANwMTken950E2p_EZ1Q62UVYw-huzPN9wLc1zc-scL4lpVaoWKNxtbMEwA2EsC0px_-2UP6c35eAz-vqMSus/s1600/154625_10151563486803957_62421721_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLAke1dGbnQgtga8eGrm25BSSkmfixkOzI5LQ1hOWCVS043HZOGxA1J7KANwMTken950E2p_EZ1Q62UVYw-huzPN9wLc1zc-scL4lpVaoWKNxtbMEwA2EsC0px_-2UP6c35eAz-vqMSus/s320/154625_10151563486803957_62421721_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and some of my teammates :)</td></tr>
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I spent the weekend before last on stage covered in glitter. At my team's first cheerleading competition of the season. If you don't know anything about competitive cheerleading, the concept is really simple: you and your team spend two minutes and thirty seconds doing a whole bunch of tricks that have to be cooler than all of the other teams' tricks, and you have to look cool doing them (read: you can't fall on your face). Whoever has scored the highest (and messed up the least) wins. There is a lot of glitter involved.<br />
That aside, it's a great place to see the theory of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_of_control">locus of control</a> in action. A person's locus of control answers the question "whose fault is it if we lose?" A person with a high internal locus will place blame on themselves; they'll say that they should have practiced harder. Someone with a high external locus believes more in external forces; they might say that it was an off day or that the judges were being tough.<br />
Cheerleaders can be a <a href="http://fierceboard.com/threads/cheer-superstitions.6080/">highly superstitious group</a>, an indicator of a high external locus of control -- common rituals are having to eat the same thing both days of a two-day competition, wearing lucky socks, having to high-five the same person before walking onto the stage, or wearing large amounts of glitter spray. On the other side, some teams (mine included), have a policy that if you mess up on something, you have to do it a certain number of times the next practice so that it doesn't happen again, which caters to an internal locus of control. The girl who walks off the floor crying because her stunt fell out from under her probably is blaming herself -- even though it was a group effort. She probably has an internal locus of control.<br />
So what does this have to do with anything? Simple -- when working with any kind of team, sports or business, it's important to know where your teammates (or employees) stand. The teammate with a high external locus might be less willing to put in extra practice hours for something they see as a fluke, while the teammate with an internal locus might feel defeated more quickly because they place all the blame on themselves. The best way to get along with people is to know where they're coming from and understand why they might act in certain ways.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-86782496419076824932012-11-06T15:53:00.004-07:002012-11-06T15:53:49.239-07:00An Argument for Emoticons<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/9/18/1253287439918/Emoticon-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="120" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/9/18/1253287439918/Emoticon-001.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Make Any Conversation Creepier!<br />Image found via Google :) </td></tr>
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I use a lot of smileys. All the time. Sure, I hold back when I'm writing to someone I don't know and want to make it sound official, but most of the time, it's emoticon central. And I think that it should be okay.<br />
Around 90% of communication (<a href="http://www.nonverbalgroup.com/2011/08/how-much-of-communication-is-really-nonverbal/">ish</a>) is nonverbal. We've created these tools to help compensate for the loss of facial expressions over text communication such as instant messaging, texts, and emails. Consider the difference when you read...<br />
<br />
Yeah.<br />
Yeah :)<br />
Yeah ;)<br />
Yeah :(<br />
Yeah -_-<br />
<br />
I don't know about you, but I read those all differently -- something is lost without emoticons.<br />
It's also a matter of efficiency. Why should I have to say, "This looks like a fun project and I'll get started right away," when I could say, "I'll start on this right away :)". Same point, more efficient. And business (and Generation X in general) is all about efficiency.<br />
As a writer, I'm not saying you should depend on emoticons. If you have the time to effectively and efficiently convey your emotions and your tone through words, you should. However, I know that I hate receiving novel-length emails, and I especially dislike overly lengthy texts when a point could have been made in a few sentences.<br />
I think we all know enough to avoid these shenanigans: "send pix of ur car!! :) :)" My mom texts like that sometimes, no joke. So aim for the happy medium -- emoticons can add meaning to conversations just like smiling while you're talking can.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-85317451834388049522012-11-02T16:33:00.001-06:002012-11-27T09:32:28.722-07:00Posting RegularlySo, one of the biggest tips for bloggers is to post regularly (or <a href="http://www.blogtyrant.com/why-i-dont-post-regularly-and-why-you-shouldnt-either/">not</a>, depending on who you ask).<br />
<br />
Posting regularly here is a bit harder than I thought it would be (although I'm not sure I really gave it a whole lot of thought), so I'm going to do a bit of an experiment to try and find the best way to get me to post once a week. I have 3 weeks of school left, so this part will have to be short term to account for variability in my busyness. I can repeat it after finals/Thanksgiving week with the attempt to make it more long term and a little more accurate.<br />
<br />
Strategy #1: Have a set time to post<br />
Monday and Wednesday nights after school/cheer practice, so around 5 and 8 respectively.<br />
<br />
Strategy #2: Post whenever I feel like I have time/when inspiration hits.<br />
(Or in between episodes of Torchwood, more likely).<br />
<br />
Strategy #3: ...Yeah, I can't think of a 3rd strategy. I'll update when I think of one (or on Monday or Wednesday, depending).<br />
<br />
In the mean time, here are some articles I found on the subject!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://neobluepanther.com/2012/05/why-you-cant-post-regularly-on-your-blog/">How to Post Regularly on your Blog…</a><br />
<a href="http://www.probloggingsuccess.com/how-often-shoulddo-you-update-your-blog-2/">How Often Should You Update Your Blog?</a><br />
<a href="http://www.smartbloggerz.com/2010/01/why-should-you-blog-regularly/">Why Should You Blog Regularly?</a><br />
<br />
UPDATE<br />
Strangely enough, so far Strategy #2 seems to work better for me, mainly because the week I tried #1, I seemed to be doing stuff during the scheduled time and then felt like I missed my opportunity to post... That being said, it was an inordinately busy week (week 10 at DU, the week before finals, the week everything is due, week of death, etc, etc). More than that though, I don't think I like having a scheduled time. Most of my day is very scheduled, so it's nice to have something that's not, and I think adhering to a strict schedule stifles my creativity (or maybe I'm just not all that inspired most of the time, so the chances of inspiration hitting at any given moment are kind of slim).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-14467646640966539982012-10-12T14:23:00.003-06:002012-10-12T14:23:57.658-06:00Stressed? Me too.Ever have that feeling that you're trying to do six things at once and they all had to be done yesterday? Hint: that was a rhetorical question. Everyone's felt stressed because they were overloaded. Some advice I've gotten is to drop some things -- but I can't. Can't quit working, have to pay rent; can't quit school, it's school; can't quit cheering, I made a commitment to my teams. We've all been there, so here's some helpful advice I've found...<br />
<br />
<h4>
1. Take some time for yourself.</h4>
<div>
Make sure you're not giving up your "me time". If you're extroverted (you gain energy from being with people), hang out with some good friends or talk on the phone with someone (who won't add to your stress). If you're introverted, like me, and you have to recharge by being alone, take some time to step back from what you're doing and watch some TV or read a book (or some comics)... Take some time and relax. Find something that makes you laugh (laughing makes you healthier, right?).</div>
<div>
You could also try<a href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/relaxation-technique/SR00007"> these relaxation techniques</a> from the Mayo Clinic. I'm terrible at meditating, so do what works for you.</div>
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<br /></div>
<h4>
2. Have a Game Plan</h4>
<div>
Prioritize which things need to get done when, and when you're going to have time to do them. I procrastinate like crazy, so at 2:00 in the morning when I'm trying to write three different papers I should have started ages ago, I'm really stressed (surprising, right?). Avoid that all together by spacing projects out as much as possible. Easier said than done, I know, but worth it in the end. And, since you have time because you didn't wait until the last minute, you can try the <a href="http://www.jackimasson.com/2012/09/the-pomodoro-technique.html">Pomodoro technique </a>so you don't burnt out as fast. You could also check out <a href="http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/top-50-apps-for-time-management.html">this list of the top 50 apps for time management</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
3. Get help</h4>
<div>
Professors can be pretty cool people. If you're overbooked and need an extension on something, most of the time it doesn't hurt to ask (as long as you ask reeeaaally nicely and ahead of time).</div>
<div>
Because of the way my class schedule is this quarter, I'm supposed to take three finals on the same day. That just wouldn't work out super well, so I'm going to cut myself a break and get one of them moved.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Hope this helps! I'll try to post more tips as I find them.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-55600879981684334102012-10-07T21:15:00.000-06:002012-10-11T15:04:26.428-06:00Think Before You TweetThis past weekend at DU, all of the students taking Intro to Business Law and Ethics had Ethics Boot Camp an event that takes place Friday night and most of Saturday. There are speakers and activities to promote teamwork and integrity (like building a bicycle that one of your teammates races on and then it's donated to charity).<br />
It just so happened that one of the professors was also a speaker (his name is <a href="http://www.coreyspeaks.com/coreysbio.html">Corey Ciocchetti</a>), and on Saturday morning he was talking about excellent decisions. He proceeded to put up a list of tweets about Ethics Bootcamp that were less than flattering. Here's what he said: "It's your first amendment right to tweet what you want. It's my right to print them out and send them to admissions [to the business college]".<br />
And to think, all of that could have been avoided by asking a simple question: "Who might read this?" You can tweet, post, and blog about what you want, but never assume that it is private.<br />
Remember in kindergarden when you learned not to talk about people behind their backs, because everyone always finds out? At least when that happens you could try to deny what you said. On social media, there is a (mostly) public record of what has been said (<a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/06/facebook-your-privacy/index.htm">13 million users said they had never set, or didn’t know about, Facebook’s privacy tools</a>). You can't blame it on a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-has-a-festering-global-problem-with-no-solution-2012-9">glitch in your privacy settings</a>, either.<br />
Advice here? Keep it positive, vent to your friends and not to your followers, and think before you tweet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrZuXPMN3klsJuy6ukuZcUJnUE7UALmPWQr4s2EawIDgXrmj7ohLfMzQBm7tJ5RATJT-UeviOvucMcCBnm1PHMbrxXbVEuFiTt-RWi_VjuB5-DprdUbVflsWQXGaePlLr0a8G7Um2A9W4/s1600/ThinkBeforeYouTweet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Think Before You Tweet" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrZuXPMN3klsJuy6ukuZcUJnUE7UALmPWQr4s2EawIDgXrmj7ohLfMzQBm7tJ5RATJT-UeviOvucMcCBnm1PHMbrxXbVEuFiTt-RWi_VjuB5-DprdUbVflsWQXGaePlLr0a8G7Um2A9W4/s320/ThinkBeforeYouTweet.png" title="Think Before You Tweet" width="320" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-26450536810583726432012-09-27T14:04:00.000-06:002012-09-27T14:04:16.880-06:00Excel Tip of the Week 9/27<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPfEDm6TmPEZMgIk55XAUoHGsWLDTTesse15dBWmMJfPyAor0PQa01-59751oSV91vvELEsy6Mph4FJ4euJCrX8M-MQZW21RC4kZGdu5ScDktAA6a6Bq2XZ3kfRYM63kDJsifPCUHwJRo/s1600/Photo+2012-09-27+12.02.33+PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPfEDm6TmPEZMgIk55XAUoHGsWLDTTesse15dBWmMJfPyAor0PQa01-59751oSV91vvELEsy6Mph4FJ4euJCrX8M-MQZW21RC4kZGdu5ScDktAA6a6Bq2XZ3kfRYM63kDJsifPCUHwJRo/s200/Photo+2012-09-27+12.02.33+PM.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Sorry I missed last week's tip -- it's been a bit of a crazy week. Well, crazy month.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This week's tip is more of a guideline... if your computer is kind of old and doesn't have extra memory just hanging around, try and close as many applications and windows as possible before opening a big spreadsheet. From what I've heard, bigger than 10,000 rows is big. The one I was trying to open was 400,000 rows (hint: Excel really doesn't like spreadsheets that big), and I drew that Excel logo sticky note art while it was opening. The main guideline is actually to try and avoid really big spreadsheets; they're not a lot of fun and sometimes they send you nice error messages.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU31hbNUOX8CH2ES6hFV5qRQwhODLDKCDL1IwxhOIbjt3VS2WT5eNyGvbD6UQUDnes2QaNs2EImCWULpj_omUqcH9SAdkbS8wCyJ0H-LwT6lVM8MESNJ7axw113MUwz3_cKpIkD7_qFpg/s1600/error_marketinglist.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU31hbNUOX8CH2ES6hFV5qRQwhODLDKCDL1IwxhOIbjt3VS2WT5eNyGvbD6UQUDnes2QaNs2EImCWULpj_omUqcH9SAdkbS8wCyJ0H-LwT6lVM8MESNJ7axw113MUwz3_cKpIkD7_qFpg/s640/error_marketinglist.png" width="640" /></a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-40291970028865805742012-09-21T12:53:00.003-06:002012-09-21T12:53:59.529-06:00Networking is important, connecting is better.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.inc.com/uploaded_files/image/575x270/071212_Impression_1725x810-PAN_18737.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.inc.com/uploaded_files/image/575x270/071212_Impression_1725x810-PAN_18737.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pic from the article -- generic, but it gets the point across.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I found this cool article <a href="http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/a-great-way-to-introduce-yourself.html">Best Way to Introduce Yourself</a> that I thought fit nicely with <a href="http://www.jackimasson.com/2012/09/your-first-day-of-classes.html">my post</a> on meeting people on your first day of classes.<br />
If you don't feel like reading it, the gist of it is that you don't want to introduce yourself with "Hi I'm Jacki, and this is why I'm awesome." It's better to keep it short, keep it in context, and "embrace understatement" -- as in be humble and focus on the other person. It's more fun to learn about people through having a conversation, so don't say everything about yourself upfront. Save that for your blog.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-35608092733867781362012-09-14T14:12:00.000-06:002012-09-14T16:32:12.221-06:00What's up with the new title?<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like the little description thing says, this blog is still under construction -- and I'm not gonna lie, its main purpose is to hold the domain name jackimasson.com until I really need it. Well, that and so I don't have to put a free email address on my fancy awesome business cards (<a href="http://www.dailyblogtips.com/dont-use-gmailyahoohotmail-for-business-emails/">it looks unprofessional</a>).</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSDuuTljTKKeC0eepnYjI82c6VRzfBUz0cSK2jX8AihnrmMolswQqvgN8GbcxtBNB-mTd6bVo4OhBRAY4W7KoJJS-AoLzV-47YjGtsd1B97Kit3OPg8KR89yEfjuZTDW0WjGBmmFg3Pc/s1600/stickynotes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvSDuuTljTKKeC0eepnYjI82c6VRzfBUz0cSK2jX8AihnrmMolswQqvgN8GbcxtBNB-mTd6bVo4OhBRAY4W7KoJJS-AoLzV-47YjGtsd1B97Kit3OPg8KR89yEfjuZTDW0WjGBmmFg3Pc/s320/stickynotes.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I hadn't decided on a title that I'd intended to stick with (bad pun, sorry), and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was looking around my desk/cube at work, and I took a second to wonder just how many sticky notes and junior legal pads I've gone through. I'm the sort of person who makes lists, and writes down everything that I don't want to forget. In addition to that, I use sticky notes as little doodle pads. They've become decoration to personalize this little space that I call my own. I write on them. I draw on them. I cover them with bright highlighter colors. They represent a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">coalescence of creativity and practicality, of the organized and the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">imaginative, of the right brain and the left</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Am I reading too much into this? Probably, but there you have it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fact of the day: Post-it notes were invented by </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Fry" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Art Fry</a>.<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-59456381346292388922012-09-13T09:58:00.001-06:002012-09-13T09:58:19.914-06:00Excel Tip of the Week 9/13<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaM6pnrvtXq3bSgGeCRSK_W2DlqIS7WqHJpG7Ph4y5JbI9GV72QosPDIIrJH1USN1N91Is21EhnbEPEIfDYtt_UI6tQ7QZ3KmwL7Su6b8mIT9cRlzdUAoDM5jkOqhuUvYf607Eb_Y5cY/s1600/ExcelTipsHeader_Fit+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Excel Tips & Tricks" border="0" height="89" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaM6pnrvtXq3bSgGeCRSK_W2DlqIS7WqHJpG7Ph4y5JbI9GV72QosPDIIrJH1USN1N91Is21EhnbEPEIfDYtt_UI6tQ7QZ3KmwL7Su6b8mIT9cRlzdUAoDM5jkOqhuUvYf607Eb_Y5cY/s200/ExcelTipsHeader_Fit+copy.png" title="Excel Tips & Tricks" width="200" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Quick tip: to adjust the size of a sell to fit the text, double click the right edge of the column label letter or the bottom of the row label number (your mouse should look like a little + with arrows).</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOo7R-A8OLStpvp5TxjmjM32LwjLyfhk0S9GJ-itA8FPqHdxNiBHQ0hVUjicaEL-3KrtXgveW7Z3XjXEbaxWV7ZxGh-WZZ7xlzTuNaTYhGDYhaIFnb3QB235n27eW4QI_w-90sa5_yhM/s1600/excel3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="43" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhOo7R-A8OLStpvp5TxjmjM32LwjLyfhk0S9GJ-itA8FPqHdxNiBHQ0hVUjicaEL-3KrtXgveW7Z3XjXEbaxWV7ZxGh-WZZ7xlzTuNaTYhGDYhaIFnb3QB235n27eW4QI_w-90sa5_yhM/s400/excel3.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-63100903086441645322012-09-11T13:47:00.001-06:002012-09-18T20:57:21.025-06:00Your First Day of Classes...Meeting new people on the first day of school is always a trying experience... here are some tips on how to avoid talking to anyone on those first days of classes to ensure that no one bothers you for the rest of the term!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/7/2009/06/504x_collegkids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="It's okay, these aren't real college kids anyway." border="0" height="216" src="http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/7/2009/06/504x_collegkids.jpg" title="It's okay, these aren't real college kids anyway." width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fraternizing: to be avoided at all costs.<br />
(photo found by googling)</td></tr>
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1. Stare intently at your laptop screen before class starts. Whenever anyone comes near, close it slightly so that no one can tell that you're really on Facebook. Shifty eyes are recommended but optional.<br />
2. Sit at the end of the row and put your bag in the seat next to you. If you're in a lecture hall, make sure to give dirty looks to anyone who tries to move past you.<br />
3. Sit in the back corner and avoid eye contact at all costs. Using the aforementioned computer technique can be substituted for texting everyone on your contact list how bored you are or playing Angry Birds.<br />
4. Make sure to never raise your hand. The professor might get the mistaken impression that you enjoy their class.<br />
5. Make sure to not even look like you're raising your hand -- fixing your hair or stretching can easily be mistaken for wanting to communicate.<br />
<br />
...<br />
But seriously, one of the best things about college is meeting new people and making friends from different places. If you don't like meeting people for the sake of meeting people, think about the benefits. Networking in class might help you get a job someday, and it will certainly help you find people to study (or take group exams) with. Studies show that <a href="http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/11/07/the-benefit-of-study-groups/">students tend to retain material more effectively</a> when surrounded by peers, and <a href="http://www.debtfreescholar.com/2010/02/6-benefits-of-study-groups/">here</a> are 6 benefits of study groups. Plus, finding out that you have a group project due mid-quarter and realizing that you have no one to do it with is not fun.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkwoXRSVKuVpWGVP3ldW0rTuJCNsmU4HCzUqiKKc1X3yvosjsE53iR8L2E495h7ftlA2uHj8bY2oMoTGysNnzoRi3OKHNT7QvKEVDV8TTXL3q7isoArU6KiNPjB5W9xHWhIlueiBx9uSg/s1600/253698_10150217928941358_7196212_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="mmmm coffee" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkwoXRSVKuVpWGVP3ldW0rTuJCNsmU4HCzUqiKKc1X3yvosjsE53iR8L2E495h7ftlA2uHj8bY2oMoTGysNnzoRi3OKHNT7QvKEVDV8TTXL3q7isoArU6KiNPjB5W9xHWhIlueiBx9uSg/s320/253698_10150217928941358_7196212_n.jpg" title="mmmm coffee" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My solution for everything</td></tr>
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Start with not doing any of those 5 things above (except playing Angry Birds is okay). I like to wear something that says something about me -- "I love your Batman shirt/backpack/hat/merch" is a great conversation starter because I either learn something about the other person or share something about myself. (Well, that and I happen to own large quantities of Batman shirts and sometimes it's harder if I <i>don't </i>want to wear one). If you don't end up becoming BFFs with your new acquaintance, at least you had a great conversation about the new episode of Doctor Who, right?<br />
If you're like me and you're not a morning person but have early morning classes, I recommend coffee (lots and lots of coffee). And who knows, you might meet someone to complain about Monday mornings with.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-72335738438246174582012-09-05T12:04:00.004-06:002012-09-05T16:30:35.314-06:00Excel Tip of the Week - 9/5<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaM6pnrvtXq3bSgGeCRSK_W2DlqIS7WqHJpG7Ph4y5JbI9GV72QosPDIIrJH1USN1N91Is21EhnbEPEIfDYtt_UI6tQ7QZ3KmwL7Su6b8mIT9cRlzdUAoDM5jkOqhuUvYf607Eb_Y5cY/s1600/ExcelTipsHeader_Fit+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a></div>
I've noticed that a lot of people have some difficulties with Excel, and even people who have been using it for a while don't know everything about it (myself included). I have a nice little certificate that says I'm certified in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, but mostly I've just picked up a few things that I think are worth sharing.<br />
Most of the time when I'm using Excel, I'm at work, and my work computer runs Windows (super up-to-date... Windows XP) that has Excel 2007. Most things carry over to Excel 2010, which is the version I used for my Excel certification test, and I'll try and include tips for the Mac version because that's what I use at home.<br />
Today's tip is a short and easy one that I use all the time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaM6pnrvtXq3bSgGeCRSK_W2DlqIS7WqHJpG7Ph4y5JbI9GV72QosPDIIrJH1USN1N91Is21EhnbEPEIfDYtt_UI6tQ7QZ3KmwL7Su6b8mIT9cRlzdUAoDM5jkOqhuUvYf607Eb_Y5cY/s1600/ExcelTipsHeader_Fit+copy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Excel Tips & Tricks" border="0" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMaM6pnrvtXq3bSgGeCRSK_W2DlqIS7WqHJpG7Ph4y5JbI9GV72QosPDIIrJH1USN1N91Is21EhnbEPEIfDYtt_UI6tQ7QZ3KmwL7Su6b8mIT9cRlzdUAoDM5jkOqhuUvYf607Eb_Y5cY/s320/ExcelTipsHeader_Fit+copy.png" title="Excel Tips & Tricks" width="320" /></a></div>
To select consecutive cells that have data in them, start at one side and use the keyboard shortcut ctrl, shift, arrow key (in whichever direction the rest of the text is). On a Mac, I think it's command, shift, arrow. It will select everything in that row or column until it comes to a blank cell.<br />
I also found this cool site that's like a wiki for keyboard shortcuts, <a href="http://www.shortcutworld.com/">ShortcutWorld.com</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-49054343503658353362012-09-04T13:53:00.002-06:002012-09-18T20:57:48.231-06:00The Pomodoro Technique<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://letsbehumanbeings.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83454b21e69e2017743ac59f5970d-800wi" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pomodoro Timer" border="0" height="200" src="http://letsbehumanbeings.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83454b21e69e2017743ac59f5970d-800wi" title="Pomodoro Timer" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(photo found by googling)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm testing out the Pomodoro Technique today in an effort to be more efficient... which seems counter-intuitive, because the technique is to work for 25 minutes (a "pomodoro") and then take a 5 minute break. Every four pomodoros you take a 15 minute break. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's this </span><a href="http://www.pomodoro.me/" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">great timer</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> that I've been using (and it works well with Chrome, always an added bonus). The idea is that you're </span><a href="http://mashable.com/2012/08/10/goofing-off-google-doodle/" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">more productive when you get breaks</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, which is why the reports that things like Google's </span><a href="http://www.google.com/pacman/" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Pac-Man doodle</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> wasted </span><a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364143,00.asp" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">4.7 billion hours</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> aren't super accurate. And that Pac-Man doodle is fantastic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique">Wikipedia</a>, the technique is named for the Italian word for tomato because of the shape of creator </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Francesco Cirillo's </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">timer</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19.200000762939453px;">. (Why would anyone have a tomato-shaped timer? My best guess is that it was because it was the eighties.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So far, it's been kind of difficult sticking to the timer. It's not that I just want the breaks longer; I have a hard time stopping in the middle of whatever Excel spreadsheet or report I'm doing. I really just like to finish what I'm doing before I move on to something else. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, it's almost 2:00 and I have to say, I think I'm a little less burned out than I usually am by this time. (You know that 2:30 feeling?)</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmVG6BGltdauJ3ylQnecjFhIlSd_FLxiffONEsPmWx5j7LwJuUuNi3LaaWq6shyphenhyphenqBFhBXEwiU_u2MzUrwZ4j746b5E2R78DbdBbNRlYFidfNulSs2Ye0_rsH6q0Pio2kET5Xwn_bNbr8c/s1600/dinosaur.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Fred the Dinosaur" border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmVG6BGltdauJ3ylQnecjFhIlSd_FLxiffONEsPmWx5j7LwJuUuNi3LaaWq6shyphenhyphenqBFhBXEwiU_u2MzUrwZ4j746b5E2R78DbdBbNRlYFidfNulSs2Ye0_rsH6q0Pio2kET5Xwn_bNbr8c/s320/dinosaur.JPG" title="Fred the Dinosaur" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I also drew a dinosaur. I think I'll name him Fred.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What did I do for my 5 minute breaks? Well, I was trying to use Google's Web Lab because it seemed pretty cool, but the loading time used up like half of my 5 minutes. So instead, I checked my news feed on Facebook, wrote this, played Pac-Man, read a few articles, w</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">atched </span><a href="http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6817857/the-dark-knight-meets-the-avengers" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Dark Knight Meets the Avengers</a>,<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and checked out what </span><a href="http://www.themarysue.com/cats-in-shakespeare/#0" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Shakespeare's plays would look like with cats instead of people</a> <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(which is just what you'd expect). And some other stuff, but it must have been pretty mindless because I don't remember exactly what it was.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And, in case you were wondering, I got through my entire to-do list.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Update: I definitely just had one of those "Whoa, it's already 4:45?" moments. I'd call today a success.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-11084300557649121632012-08-24T14:15:00.000-06:002012-09-04T16:55:53.650-06:0011 Reasons a 19-Year-Old Intern Can Run Your Social Media<h2>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, as I mentioned in my "About Me" post, I'm an intern. Specifically an e-marketing intern at a B2B company. I run their corporate social media accounts, so when I came across </span><a href="http://www.inc.com/hollis-thomases/social-media-dont-put-intern-in-charge.html" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this article</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> on </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Inc.com</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, titled “11 Reasons a 23-Year-Old Shouldn't Run Your Social Media”, I was a little cross. It makes some good points – for instance, putting your “best friend’s sister-in-law’s kid” in charge of branding your company just because they can use Instagram is probably not a good idea. The author even took the time to point out that there are young people out there capable of managing social media responsibilities. But I think she might have missed a couple good things, so here's my response to people who are thinking about putting an intern in charge of their pages.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />
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<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“They’re not mature enough.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This one is on you, I have to say… If you think that your intern is too immature to handle your social media, perhaps you hired the wrong intern. Sure, young people would “rather explore who they are and how they can transform their lives,” but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be interested in your business, too. Find someone mature who you think can understand what it is that you’re looking for, is invested enough to figure out who your audience is and what makes them tick, and is focused enough to do it right.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“They may be focused on their own social-media activity.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’m going to refer you back to #1 on this one, specifically the part about finding a focused intern. However, you can’t expect an intern not to check their own Facebook or Twitter once in a while, but this applies to any age of employee. And remember, studies show that employees who are allowed to take breaks to check social feeds and be online actually <a href="http://www.webpronews.com/facebook-is-good-for-productivity-infographic-2012-04">perform better on subsequent tasks</a>.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKGk9VSYfGinHil2Pj7TSwvqI1jiS_-A4vSKQqEKkNtwktbILz91X-FMXsLsTU7YsSQRhQE1SxbML1_POggD7N-mFmeQO-e1j5y5dGaJ-lLoPEmN2-h9FzETbyxNoHblLp8_bYLCS-PQ/s1600/IMG_0849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Check your Twitter" border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKGk9VSYfGinHil2Pj7TSwvqI1jiS_-A4vSKQqEKkNtwktbILz91X-FMXsLsTU7YsSQRhQE1SxbML1_POggD7N-mFmeQO-e1j5y5dGaJ-lLoPEmN2-h9FzETbyxNoHblLp8_bYLCS-PQ/s200/IMG_0849.JPG" title="Check your Twitter" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one's still important.</td></tr>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“They may not have the same etiquette--or experience.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is true – interns may not have the same etiquette and or experience – which is why they’re interns. They’re working to learn that proper etiquette and gain experience. It’s probably not a good idea to give them free reign over your face on the internet on their first day. Start by having them write proofs of their posts and send them to you for approval. Correct their mistakes. Give them advice. Make sure the posts say what you want to convey. Soon, you intern will figure out what you want and you can stop looking over their shoulder.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“You can't control their friends.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was a little confused about this one. The argument was to make sure your intern’s friends “won't post inappropriate content to your company's social-media accounts.” You can’t stop your intern’s friends from commenting/posting inappropriate content to your company’s social media pages. I’m not sure why your intern’s friends would want to post inappropriate content to your accounts, but you couldn’t stop them if they did. That’s why they make it so you can delete comments. If the author meant that the intern’s friends would use a logged-in account to post something inappropriate, you can just ask your intern to logout of your accounts when they aren’t posting on them. Or better yet, advise them that if they have friends who will take advantage of a logged-in account like that, they might want to password-protect their computers to keep their personal accounts safe too.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">5.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“No class can replace on-the-job training.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Again, they’re interning to get experience and on-the-job training. Understanding that up front is very important.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">6.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“They may not understand <i>your</i> business.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A good way to make sure that your intern is representing your company well is to have them look at other marketing you have going on. Do you send out emails? What does your website look like? If you have a physical location, how do you get people in the door? Talk to them about how you like to handle customers when you interact with them and see if they can take that and translate it to social media.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">7.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“Communication skills are critical.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Simple solutions here: make sure any potential intern who might be working with social media can write, and that they can write well. Look at their personal posts and see if they’re remotely understandable, have them submit an example of their writing, or find someone who is majoring or minoring in English.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">8.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“Humor is tricky business.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The argument here is that a young hire might not understand where to draw the line. Do you remember #1 about hiring a mature intern? Yeah. General guideline: tell them that if they wouldn’t say it to someone in person, and that someone was either their grandmother or you, then they shouldn’t post it.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">9.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“Social-media savvy is not the same as technical savvy.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The analytical side of social media can be difficult… or it can be really easy. I would recommend having your intern use Hootsuite to schedule posts and use their simple click reports. I like it because I can see what people click on and what people ignore. In the future, I’ll try and post more of what people click on. Simple, right? It’s pretty great, even if you only use the free version like I do. </span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">10.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“Social-media management can become crisis management.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This one is tricky. It’s definitely true, but there are ways you can help avoid a social media crisis (like not being McDonalds). <a href="http://www.inc.com/hollis-thomases/mcdonalds-mcdstories-twitter-mess.html">This article</a> has a few pointers. On top of that, planning ahead is important. Discuss with your intern ways that both of you can deflect a crisis, and have them do their homework first – there are a lot of articles on how to handle negative social media feedback.</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">11.<span style="font-size: 7pt;"> </span><!--[endif]-->“You need to keep the keys”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally, something we agree on. Passwords are important. Emails are too. For Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn, you can be the owner of your site page and have your intern be a manager. That way, they can post content and do everything they need to do, but it’s still <i>your page</i>. For Twitter, it’s important to have the account connected to an email that the intern can check regularly so that they can thank new followers, see who is retweeting their posts, and so on. Hire someone you trust with that responsibility. Put the passwords and emails associated with each account in a spreadsheet and keep them so that if you or your intern forgets them they’re saved somewhere for easy access.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So remember, there are young people out there capable of managing social media responsibilities, and it’s your job to find them. If you can’t do that and you don’t trust your interns, you can always go to plan B</span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> – </span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">learn how to use social media sites and do it yourself. I’m just sayin’.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1955801987149973658.post-35330602672743740472012-08-22T19:46:00.001-06:002013-09-04T08:58:01.315-06:00About Me<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My twitter bio says</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #5b5b5b; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Cheerleader, nerd, marketing major, batman fanatic.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If that doesn't sum me up in 160 characters or less, nothing will.</span></div>
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<span style="clear: left; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8XHBKDFichfFKdr10OsOJu_Fa7909o2N2mhb6jgTYL-YgAdKzMERfTPTXR1pFIBM5LXqmzAfa2xu-BdYrcy6dLI9z3zNjDTbfgWNWoxpL7sLkCzJ2xEecPZLs0PfQRQkJckBzY6DptZE/s1600/525559_10150877754986358_1215536712_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="The Bat-tat." border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8XHBKDFichfFKdr10OsOJu_Fa7909o2N2mhb6jgTYL-YgAdKzMERfTPTXR1pFIBM5LXqmzAfa2xu-BdYrcy6dLI9z3zNjDTbfgWNWoxpL7sLkCzJ2xEecPZLs0PfQRQkJckBzY6DptZE/s320/525559_10150877754986358_1215536712_n.jpg" title="The Bat-tat." width="239" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have a Batman tattoo. I regret nothing.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I've never really had a blog before, and I have to say, I'm kind of excited about it. And, because becoming a blogging sensation overnight seems grotesquely optimistic, I look forward to the two of you out there reading this. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I read somewhere that blogs should have a purpose, something focused on one particular subject, same as tweeting about only one or two subjects so you will increase your <a href="http://klout.com/#/JackiMasson">Klout score</a>. It would so happen, however, that I don't really care all that much, and I will probably have the rest of my life to write about one particular focused thing. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, here's the plan. I'm going to write what comes to mind. Hopefully they are helpful tips or funny stories or cool things I've discovered that I think someone somewhere would be better off knowing. Probably tips that I think of for other marketing interns, because I think of a lot of those while I'm working. That being said, this could devolve quickly into random thoughts, ideas, and glimpses into my mind, which is probably more similar to the average 19-year-old girl's than I would care to admit.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here's a bit about me. With a couple pictures, because while I'm not on total agreement that a picture is worth 1000 words, I'm kinda a visual person. And I like pictures.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKGk9VSYfGinHil2Pj7TSwvqI1jiS_-A4vSKQqEKkNtwktbILz91X-FMXsLsTU7YsSQRhQE1SxbML1_POggD7N-mFmeQO-e1j5y5dGaJ-lLoPEmN2-h9FzETbyxNoHblLp8_bYLCS-PQ/s1600/IMG_0849.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Twitter Reminder" border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKGk9VSYfGinHil2Pj7TSwvqI1jiS_-A4vSKQqEKkNtwktbILz91X-FMXsLsTU7YsSQRhQE1SxbML1_POggD7N-mFmeQO-e1j5y5dGaJ-lLoPEmN2-h9FzETbyxNoHblLp8_bYLCS-PQ/s320/IMG_0849.JPG" title="It's a good idea. Trust me." width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don't have any pictures of me at work. Just pictures of sticky notes that I write for myself. That might say something about how I work, but I'm not entirely sure what.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This particular one is because I do some of the social media for my internship, and I have this bad habit of getting an email from Twitter telling me that someone new is following me and being in a different twitter account when I thank them. Then I have to quickly delete that post, log out, log in, and then thank them in an account they're actually following.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6fX9OAZXHiOQnsMWOE1Uf9Smeuk6f95ONCvGenjbF3-HIQyh7jDmK-9oY7W2URccuep532msJOr26j0r8PxojY8b1mjebwqRFzFWiOJXuGWtF5Kick4XGAiWmWf5DHHK1kegS-4eErM/s1600/IMG_0598.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Me and Vader" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6fX9OAZXHiOQnsMWOE1Uf9Smeuk6f95ONCvGenjbF3-HIQyh7jDmK-9oY7W2URccuep532msJOr26j0r8PxojY8b1mjebwqRFzFWiOJXuGWtF5Kick4XGAiWmWf5DHHK1kegS-4eErM/s320/IMG_0598.jpg" title="My geekery isn't exclusively batman." width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Me n' Vader.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh look! A picture of me and my favorite dark lord. He's more fun than Darkseid and Voldy in a room full of kittens!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On a side note, whoever thinks Walmart is pure evil doesn't fully appreciate the fact that they sell Darth Vader plushies. They had a Mario one too. I'm just saying.</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17372184032531546475noreply@blogger.com0