Over the past few months as a member of this class, I have learned a lot about media and its role in our lives. The complexity of all the different types of mediums and the number of possible topics that are related to each of them is remarkable. I think what will stick with me most from the class is remembering to be conscious of my personal social media brand and how I portray myself on social media, my individual relationship with media and how it can be both a good and bad thing, and how media will play a role in my life for the rest of it, including in my career field.

Some subjects from class I think I’ll definitely follow up on in the future are how media (social media in particular) will most likely be very present in my future as a part of my profession, since I will have a  background/degree in marketing and I plan on looking for job opportunities related to marketing/pr/advertising, which are all closely related.  Additionally, I know I will always have a love for forms of media that are going “out of style” or that are old, like letters and physical hard copy books, so that will definitely be a topic I revisit as I work to keep it as a present aspect of my life.

I think we covered a good amount of material in class and I really liked the pace at which we covered topics the entire semester. If there is anything I wish we looked into with more detail it would be the earlier history of media. I personally find the topic of legacy media very interesting, so I would have liked to learn/hear even more about the most popular forms of media in past decades, and the process of media evolution over time. At the same time, however, I do understand there are only so many topics we can cover in a semester.

For future versions of the class, I would perhaps add a few more modern issues/articles into the mix of things we discuss, but in a way that still accounts for and includes topics and articles from the past. Other than that, I really enjoyed the class and can’t think of any additional things I would add to it. A big thanks to Dr. Menke for a great semester and an eye-opening class that allowed me to learn and become more passionate about one of my biggest interests, media.

As a Public Relations major, I learned so much in this class that I can use in my future career. Researching how media is incorporated into PR and what skills are needed in order to succeed in the field undoubtedly better prepared me for the “real world.”

In addition to learning about media in the workforce, I learned a great deal about how media affects my personal life. I realized how dependent I can be on media at times, from Netflix binge watching to simply using my phone as a GPS.

Discussing legacy media was also really interesting, because some of the media we talked about I had never even thought of as a thing of the past. I had just forgotten about them entirely. That discussion brought back the childhood days of computer game discs and iPod shuffles.

For your final posting, please reflect briefly (a few sentences or short paragraph would be fine) on your past few months as a member of the class. You may wish to consider topics such as these:

• What (if anything) do you think you’re likely to take away from the class? What will stick with you?
• Are there subjects from the class you think you’ll follow up on?
• Are there things that you wanted to cover in the class that we missed (or things that you wish we had covered in more detail)?
• Are there materials, resources, or exercises that you’d add to a future version of the class?

Thanks to all of you for a great semester!

I chose to focus on the strong relationship and correlation that exists between media and marketing. Marketing, under Terry College of Business, is my chosen degree and I will most likely also get a job related  to this field once I have graduated. As today’s world continues to advance in technology, the field of marketing will advance along with the changes that occur in the process of technological advancement.

In one of the articles I looked at, it is very evident that the world of marketing has completely changed, is still changing, and will continue to change in the future and beyond. Named simply, “How Technology is Changing Marketing,” it comments on the fact that new opportunities and markets for sellers will arise with a shift towards higher media usage.

In their words: “The challenge for brands is to connect with customers through all these devices in real time and create campaigns that work across social media, display advertising and e-commerce.” Therefore, now is the perfect time to truly realize the significance of a every aspect of an ad or an image, while keeping new complexities in mind. Very logical and intuitive, I agree wholeheartedly that sometimes media is one of the only ways to capture the attention of potential buyers across the country.

As I continue studying this subject, and when I eventually get a job that utilizes the skills I will have learned in the process of getting a degree, media will continue to play an ever-present and important role in both my life and my career.

Link to “How Technology is Changing Marketing”: https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/sep/29/technology-changing-marketing-digital-media

As a Public Relations major, I’ve become really interested in incorporating Social Media Management into my future career. During my junior year, I began managing the Instagram account for a humane society in my area, and I absolutely love it. Getting to interact with people interested in what I’m publishing while helping an organization continue to grow  and establishing a reputation for them is a great feeling.

I researched the basic qualities that a Social Media Manager must have, and thunderactive.com lists them as: Passionate, authentic, communicative, connected, personable, and being able to multitask. A pivotal thing to remember when managing social media for clients is to stay connected with all aspects of social media. You must be up-to-date with trends and the hot topics of the moment. When it comes to multitasking, a lot of Social Media Managers use account managing programs, like Hootsuite as well as collaboration tools, like Basecamp. But, personality and interaction with your audience are arguably the most important parts of Social Media Management.  People involved in digital management have huge personalities, and are required to convey a positive message to their viewers.

Postplanner.com outlines the steps that need to be taken to become a Social Media Manager.  First, you often must establish a social media presence of your own and gain a relatively large following. This includes scheduling posts, writing often, and interacting with followers. You must also have a firm knowledge of marketing skills, find clients through networking events and your online presence (website, business card, etc.), and learn to manage your time efficiently over several different social media platforms.

A lot of people try to enter into this field, and most will fail. It’s extremely difficult to make a name for yourself in the social media industry, and I need to start thinking about how to kickstart my future in Social Media Management. This could be by learning how to use each social media platform most efficiently and more actively keeping up with the top topics of interest.

Do a little research on media in an academic discipline (program, major, etc.) and/or a profession, career, or field that appeals to you.

You might consider how media (new media? electronic ones? social media? legacy media?) are used, incorporated, studied—or are changing—the field you choose.

You can read around online (give links!), talk to experts (give quotes!). Use any relevant sources you can find to get a sense of the “media ecology” of the field, and then share it with us.

After graphing the data I collected on my media usage last week, I confirmed the fact that I use media the most in my down time when I want to relax. When I’m with friends, I try not to use it as much, but when I’m alone, I can spend two + hours just mindlessly watching Netflix. The periods of time where I clearly spent the most time using some form of media were either times that I had class and needed to use my laptop, or I had a few hours to relax and chose to use media; whether it was watching Netflix or just scrolling through Instagram or Twitter. I don’t think that this is a bad thing in moderation, but I do want to try and use my free time to do other things besides scrolling through social media or watching TV.  Reading, drawing, journaling, may be a better use of my time.

Surprisingly, I also noticed that I use less social media on weekends than on weekdays. I think this might be because social media is such and easy way to fill in the little increments of time you have in between classes, whereas your day is wide open on the weekends. On the weekends, however, when I did use a form of media, it was for an extended amount of time. This also may have to do with the fact that my day was wide open, so it can go both ways.

This past weekend, my goal was to stay off my phone when with friends. At the football game on Saturday, I admittedly did take a few  photos and Snapchat some, but I didn’t let social media get in the way of spending time with my friends. My family also came up for the game, so I spent time with them instead of checking up on social media.

Friday, however, was my by far my most successful day, as I didn’t even pick up my phone once when I went to a dance with some friends. Not worrying about Snapchat or Instagram made it so much easier to just have fun and live in the moment. I saw a lot of people taking Snapchat videos and updating their feeds, but not caring about all of that really does take a very heavy load off of your shoulders.

After logging my social media usage for two days, I did have some realizations about my daily media habits. Overall, the biggest problem I have is not an addiction to social media as much as a tendency to use it as a tool to procrastinate … a lot. It doesn’t distract me when I’m with my friends, but I do tend to gravitate towards my phone when I’m bored.

Friday morning before class, I spent a pretty large chunk of time scrolling through social media: Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Buzzfeed, Youtube, etc. I do this almost every morning, procrastinating on getting up and actually starting the day and going to class. I finally went to class at 10 a.m., and I use my laptop to take notes in both of my Friday classes. Also, both of these professors use PowerPoints, videos, and photos in their lessons. It was interesting thinking back to the beginning of college when I was really hesitant to take notes on a laptop. I thought it would just make it harder to remember the material, but now I love typing notes.

Later that day, I ran errands with my roommate and had to use my phone as a GPS. Logging my social media activity made me realize how often I do this. I’m slowly learning my way around Athens but would be very lost without my phone telling me where to go.  I also noticed that whenever I’m doing a mundane task, like getting ready, I usually either play music or turn on Netflix. It’s kind of scary to think that I may need to have my mind occupied at all times.

Saturday was an extremely busy day, and I spent a lot of time scrolling through social media in the morning, since I didn’t have any classes. I went to breakfast then, again, listened to music and watched Netflix as I got ready for the day. Then, I went to the art museum with a few friends and had to take photos for an art project. We went to lunch, and were pretty much all scrolling and showing each other random posts on Twitter and Instagram.

A lot of conversations seem to be enhanced by social media. Like, if you were telling a someone about something your friend did, you may show them a video or a picture of the friend if they don’t know them. A group of friends and I went to the Athens Botanical Gardens and the Iron Horse, and just hung out in one of our dorms. Some of us hadn’t met before, and a lot of the conversation incorporated social media in that way.

I think that I do need to find other things to when I’m bored besides scrolling through social media. It’s almost as if I have an instinct to reach for my phone or laptop when there’s nothing to do. I always complain that I don’t have time to do other things, like drawing or reading, but I may have the time if I stop automatically picking up my phone.