Big City Dreams

While browsing through my Twitter feed this morning I came across a link to a CNN article about job-seeking students hiding their Facebook profiles to make it harder for companies to see the “real” them. I found the article extremely interesting as I too have made some privacy changes to my account, but to only keep strangers away from seeing my most personal information.

As a senior in college I’ve been told countless times how important it is to keep my Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles professional. These social media tactics should merely help me earn a position with a company, not keep me from obtaining one.  I understand employers are using these profiles as a way to get to know potential employees but is it too invasive?

I don’t try to hide that I’m active on the Web. My Tweets aren’t hidden and my Facebook profile is accessible. LinkedIn is definitely open, as I use that site as my way of contact with professionals. Anyone can search for my (real) name on any of the three profiles listed above and they will connect to my personal page. I find it sad that people have to go to these extremes to hide from potential employers. I hope that students realize professionals can find a way to get a hold of your information one way or another… you remember the six degrees of separation, right?

Spartan fans across the world were grinning from ear to ear today as Michigan State beat Tennessee to make continue on in the NCAA Tournament to the Final Four. This year’s journey to Indianapolis, Ind. is the Spartans’ second consecutive trip to the Final Four and the sixth trip for Coach Izzo’s teams in 12 years. As a number five seed in the NCAA tournament, no one expected MSU to make it past the second round let alone Indianapolis.

Last year, as a junior, I was fortunate enough to experience the Final Four feeling as State played in the National Championship Game in Detroit. The experience as a fan was surreal and I never thought I’d be in the same spot again this year. Tonight Spartan fans welcomed the team home to the Breslin Center. Similar to last year, Coach Izzo spoke about his tremendous pleasure with the team and what they’ve overcome to get to the Final Four, and his gratitude with the fans. The two seniors, Isaiah Dalhman and Raymar Morgan, also spoke and were thankful that the fans have stuck by the team through their highs and lows, and wins and losses.

In the spirit of the Spartan victory, here are a few of great Spartan basketball moments throughout the last 10 years. Hopefully this year’s trip to Indy will be as successful as the last Final Four performance there by the 2000 team led by Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson.

The Spartans will take on the Butler Bulldogs on Fri., April 2, 2010 at 6:07 p.m. at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. Good luck, Spartans! Bring home another championship!

And in case you forgot about last year’s performance, here’s a reminder of what the Spartans brought to the Final Four.

Inside the Breslin Center, East Lansing, Mich.

As a Spartan there’s nothing more exciting than watching basketball in late March and early April. Throughout my four years at Michigan State I’ve been fortunate enough to see every single game held at the Breslin Center through my job on the usher staff. Although we don’t hold any March Madness games, the atmosphere at “the Bres” is always cheerful as we root for our team to bring home the big crystal ball.

This weekend wraps up my tenure at the Breslin Student Events Center during the MHSAA boys basketball state tournament. These weekends are always long but entertaining, as we often see future Spartans and other great basketball players in Michigan compete for a state title. It’s been a great place to work and grow as a student and a professional, interacting with patrons on a daily basis and providing them with excellent customer service.  The skills I’ve developed at Breslin will undoubtedly help me in my career in the near future. I’d challenge anyone on campus that says they have a better job than me– I am paid to interact with visitors, help them navigate the building and East Lansing, and see basketball games, family shows, and even concerts. Students would kill for the opportunity I’ve been fortunate enough to have since I was a freshman.

Thanks, Breslin for a great four years!

By now (mostly) everyone knows what the term “social media” means.  “Google” social media and Wikipedia will tell you, “social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many).”

The neat thing about social media is that there are no limits. People are creating new ways of communication daily, allowing millions of people to interact even though they may never meet in person. In my public relations writing course we’re learning about the impact social media can have on our future. After watching “Social Media Revolution” on YouTube (video above), it amazed me how dynamic my career path truly is. We are able to reach millions of people at the click of a mouse and now, more commonly, through our mobile devices. It allows us to share our thoughts, opinions, create awareness for our businesses, and promote our personal brand, just to name a few. In a world where only 14 percent of consumers trust advertisements and more than 78 percent trust peer recommendations, social media opens up new outlets for our industry to focus its efforts and reach a more targeted segmentation of the population. Even if you’re not in a social media-driven industry, take a look at this video. If social media is a step into our future, what else will dominate in 15 years when it’s on the way out?

“Social media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.” -Social Media Revolution

It’s been nearly three weeks since I’ve been back from Italia but have been slacking in the blog department. A lot has been going on since my arrival home. The weekend I got back was the 4th of July– we BBQ’d and went out on the boat. It was nice and relaxing to be home with friends and family.

I moved back up to school just a few days after I returned and got right back to business with Breslin and Big Brothers Big Sisters. I had so much work to get done for the Usher Staff before we had our last event on the 14th. Organized vests, cleaned all three rooms and the office, and even started going through applications for this year’s staff. It’s been a successful few weeks back there! I started back at BBBS last week too, working the Golf For Kids Sake fund raising event. Thank God the weather actually cooperated with us (for once this summer, eh, Michigan?!) The day was beautiful; I don’t think we could have wished for a better day to hold a golf outing! I recently began interning for a company called Bickbot in the PR department. The guys that own the company are MSU alums and create iPhone/iPod Touch apps! I’ve been working on some fact sheets on the company and their newest app, Strokes, the first social scorecard. Currently I’m working on my PR plan for the remainder of my time with them. Hopefully I can get some kinks figured out this evening and have it to them by late tonight.

I’m in Florida with my mom right now redoing our condo in Tequesta, FL. It’s been quite the process… basically anything that could go (semi) wrong has… the fridge they delivered was the wrong one, the blinds got ripped down and then hung up too low, we have to find someone to install the microwave because the installers from Sears didn’t… you get the picture. We’re here til next Thursday and hopefully we’ll get everything completed by the time we leave. Carpet is scheduled to be installed on Monday which will give the place a new feel. The paint looks amazing… the condo, overall, looks 100% better than it did previously. Glad to be down here helping out! Time to work on the PR stuff now before we head to dinner.

Ciao 🙂

Welp… it’s official… I really have to go home. These last six weeks have been the best six weeks of my life and I wouldn’t trade a second of it for the world. This trip has allowed me to grow in so many aspects, academically and personally, I learned so much about myself and the person I want to be. I truly appreciate the opportunity, so thanks Mom & Dad. On a less depressing note, today was an amazing last day. We had exams and class presentations; everything went well… nice to be done with classes though. We went to the Galleria Borghese and saw some amazing Bernini sculptures… I’m not an artsy person but it was seriously sweet. I wish I had pictures to share but they didn’t allow us to bring cameras in the galleria. Boo. We had our final group dinner tonight too; full of Italian appetizers and delicious pastas… a nice way to end the trip. I went to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain for the last time with the roomies and enjoyed their company. We reminisced on the good times we’ve had and how we’re going to miss Italia so much (until creepy Italian dudes nearly ran us over on their vespas and whistled at us– God these people make me love Americans!) My flight leaves at 12:45 p.m. (today, technically) that’s 6:45 a.m. EST. I should be to Detroit around 5:20 and hopefully home by 8 p.m. or so? I’ll update more pictures tomorrow and share any last minute stories we had on our flight home! Ciao Roma, thanks for the good time, I’ll miss you!!

XOXO,
ALZ

As I get older each day, time goes by that much quicker. These last six weeks have flown by (most good, some bad) but I am thankful to have had the opportunity to be here! We haven’t been up to much since we got home from France on Sunday. Class was canceled yesterday because of an Italian holiday but we met up at the shopping mall to do some observational research aka people watching. It was interesting to see how Italian mall-goers differed from what we know of Americans. I went to Trastevere with Alex, Maeve and Liz last night and had dessert… chocolate souffle, delicious! Today we had class all day. I’m working on my campaign project for our international advertising class… our product is the Slurpee from 7-Eleven. It’s a bit of a challenge because not everyone has the same levels of experience in public relations but we’re making it work. We’re heading to karaoke tonight as a group, it should be interesting. Hopefully I’ll have some more fabulous pictures to post tomorrow. See you all on Friday!

XOXO,
ALZ

My weekend on the French Riviera has come to an end. I’m sitting in the hotel lobby waiting for the rest of the group to come down to head to the bus. We’ve got another ten-hour bus ride ahead of us full of homework and naps. This week(end) was awesome, I’ve really enjoyed my time in Nice and Cannes, which by the way, is pronounced like cans. The festival was a once-in-a-lifetime experience I’ll probably never be able to engage in again but I walked away from it learning a bit more about advertising and much more about life in general. Yesterday we spent the day at the beach in Nice. It was cloudy and a bit overcast when the morning first started but by noon it cleared up and the sunshine came out. I left with some good color :). This week will most likely be a bit boring since we have so much schoolwork to do and exams to (study for– unlikely, oops!). Can’t believe this trip is coming to a close so soon; I’m excited to be back in America! See you all on Friday!

XOXO,
ALZ

Yesterday was our first day at the Advertising Festival. It was a neat experience, especially since we were pretty much the only students at the festival. After we registered we received bags full of advertising/pr books, ads, magazines, papers and so much more. We were able to see some of the winning ads and campaigns that impacted this field tremendously throughout the past year. Angela, Kelsey, Justin, Matt and I listened to David Plouffe, President Obama’s campaign manager, speak about the campaign this past fall and how they’re still working with the people to keep a positive image for the president. We also watched some commercials for alcoholic beverages and the best of music. We had lunch at a french restaurant… I had a ham, cheese and egg crepe. It was awesome! Dinner, after a short nap, was at  a Lebanese restaurant. I tried everything and liked most of it. We’re heading to the festival for the second day… we’re looking to hear from some great speakers including Spike Lee, leaders from Google and Nike, and Olgivy!

XOXO,
ALZ