WEEK 3

New Social Media

This quarter in my COMM 308 course, Communication and Fundraising, we have been required to use twitter. I had joined a few years ago for a contest but I never used it. Because the use of twitter has been required for a strong social media presence for our fundraising campaign #WeAreWWU (check it out! we are raising money for scholarships and and making philanthropy accessible to all) I have really had to research how to make the most out of the social media site and how to use it. I have learned a lot over the last few weeks and want to share what I have learned!

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a social media site which allows you to connect with other users through the use of 140 characters, pictures or video in an act called tweeting. What is a tweet? "A Tweet is an expression of a moment or idea. Million of Tweets are shared in real time, every day." Learn more about the story of a tweet at, about.twitter.com. 

Important Lingo

As defined by Twitter;

• Hashtag: assign a topic to a Tweet. So, for example, Tweets that contain #WorldCup are about just that. Click on a hashtag to see Tweets related to a topic.
• Favorite: Favorite a Tweet to let the author know you like it.
• Retweet: Share a Tweet with your followers. You can even add your own thoughts before you share it.
• Reply: Comment on a Tweet and join the conversation.

http://mashable.com/2013/07/19/twitter-lingo-guide/

Advantages

• Easy to use
• Gets to the point 
• Reaches a large group of followers
• Can post visuals

Disadvantages

• You only get 140 characters 
• Not every post is seen
• Not everyone is on Twitter
• The age demographic is older

Helpful Tips

http://blog.tweetsmarter.com/twitter-tips/5-and-a-half-basics-of-twitter-infographic/

My Experience

I have had a lot of fun learning to navigate twitter. Normally on social media sites I just follow and interact with friends but because this assignment has needed to gain awareness I have used Twitter to connect with individuals from all over the Pacific Northwest. I have found that by retweeting and tweeting at people I am gaining connections and followers. My most successful Twiiter moment thus far has been when President Bruce Shepard has favorited and retweeted my tweet. Follow me and check out my Twitter feed @kourtneysand and while you're at it check out #WeAreWWU

InDesign

In the last few weeks we have also been learning how to use InDesign. At the beginning of the quarter we were learning how to use photoshop. InDesign is also an adobe program an dis similar to photoshop in the layout and functions but they are different because InDesign is used for creating things such as, newspapers, newsletters, books, book covers, magazines, etc. The first thing we created in InDesign was a recreation of a magazine cover. Here is my recreation,

The left image is the original, the right image is my recreation.

This was a really fun activity and I was very happy with my end results! We also created a book cover and a two page spread for a our class book. 

As I mentioned earlier photoshop and InDesign are similar but different. There are some functions and shortcuts that work in one program but not the other or the shortcuts perform different actions to help you navigate the program better and to cut the learning curve here is a video,

Once you have learned about the program I would urge you to try recreating a magazine cover of your choice and to check out these tutorials on how to to execute your cover beautifully!

Have fun creating an tweeting!

Kourtney