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10 Quotes Every Divorcé Needs To Learn By Heart 

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Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince 

I remember reading this and it was my favourite part of the story

(via yball)

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Integrated Marekting Communications - The Hall of Fame

This assignment was created for a class called Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) in my fourth year in Marketing Management. The purpose of the assignment was to analyze five different types of ads or marketing campaigns that I personally thought was a great example of marketing communications.

With careful consideration, I have picked five companies that displayed great marketing campaigns which excelled in the various media categories: print, electronic, internet, outdoor and alternative marketing categories.

PRINT – H&M “DAVID BECKHAM” CAMPAIGN

Target Market

-       Men

-       Women who shop for men-partners

-       18-30 year old

-       Men who want to feel manlier

-       Athletes

Positioning Strategy

-       Provide a simple, attractive, desirable product for an affordable price

Message Objectives

-       Purchase H&M David Beckham body wear to be perceived as attractive, manly, athletic, stylish

Appeal Technique

-       Sex appeal, displaying David Beckham in just underwear

-       Black and white (monochrome) images that is consistently used throughout the campaign

Execution

-       Celebrity endorsements – fit, athletic, considered a “sex symbol” among the masses

-       Black and white images to depict neutral racial profiling; consumers can picture themselves wearing these articles of clothing rather than seeing it on someone else

Evaluation

-       Was the message conveyed?

Use of celebrity endorsement for a sustainability conscious product was not as effective to deliver the message

-       Was the campaign long enough to get the message across?

Campaign ran for a few months for the product line launch, declined in the amount of promotion efforts following months after launch

-       Were all communication channels used to support the message

Uses in-store posters, promotional print material, online sales channels

-       Did the campaign have a lasting impact on consumers?

Without sales numbers, consumers tend to look past the product line and instead purchase the lower price, as H&M is a retail company that provides lower prices

  ELECTRONIC – KOODO “EL TABADOR” CAMPAIGN

Target Market

-       Gen Y consumers, typically between the ages of 15-25

-       Low/middle income families

-       Current cellphone subscribers that want a more affordable product bundling

Positioning Strategy

-       Introduce Koodo Mobile as a cellphone company with a brand personality, which caters to the target market

Message Objectives

-       Rebrand Koodo as a young brand personality that is relatable and memorable to the target audience, whilst promoting new cellphone plan features such as the tab

Appeal Technique

-       Humor was used through a miniature Mexican wrestler, El Tabador

-       Bright colors, correlated to the company branding, were used to signify consistency throughout the campaign

Execution

-       TV commercials were used to display El Tabador, including unique situations in which the wrestler was a part of

Evaluation

-       Was the message conveyed?

The rebranding of Koodo was successful, shifting from 80’s, hip cellphone company to a humorous, young brand

-       Was the campaign long enough to get the message across?

The initial launch of El Tabador is currently on, Koodo using the El Tabador as a spokesperson for the company

-       Were all communication channels used to support the message?

Channels such as banner ads on websites, in-store marketing, and social media marketing were used throughout the campaign

-       Did the campaign have a lasting impact on consumers?

Due to the change in branding, the El Tabador is still being used to communicate the brand to consumers

  INTERNET – STARBUCKS “MAPLE MACCHIATO” CAMPAIGN

Target Market

-       Men and women, between 15-60 years old, who prefers to drink specialty beverages like coffee, blended iced drinks, and espresso beverages

-       Individuals with discretionary income, due to the high prices of products

Positioning Strategy

-       To be the coffee shop that everyone goes to for personalized beverages catered to the individual

-       Provide excellent products and customer service

-       New product offering which caters to the Canadian market

Message Objectives

-       Upsell/introduce a new traditional beverage made for Canadians (Maple Macchiato)

Appeal Technique

-       Taste appeal to consumers which like maple flavored products (Canadian heritage flavor)

-       Lifestyle to attract customers with unique tastes and a luxurious image of drinking Starbucks beverages

  Execution

-       Social media blasts promoting the beverage through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

-       Email advertising through the loyalty card program “My Starbucks Rewards”

Evaluation

-       How was the message conveyed?

Using social media tactics to support the launch, as well as emails to further the message of the new drink

-       Was the campaign long enough to get the message across?

Initial launch day generated buzz and shortly died down after the first couple days

-       Were all communication channels used to support the message

Print media, online media, in-store sales promotion were used for the launch campaign

-       Did the campaign have a lasting impact on consumers?

The introduction of the Maple Macchiato was not as big compared to other product offerings, however over time, the drink became popular

  OUTDOOR – KPU “TAG YOURSELF” CAMPAIGN

Target Market

-       Potential students looking for a post-secondary education, most likely students currently or graduating from high school

-       Current students that do not know where to go for post-secondary that are already attending university/college

Positioning Strategy

-       Attractive university that students should attend

-       Launch the rebranding of KPU

Message Objectives

-       KPU is the university to start your career

-       KPU is a new university in BC

Appeal Technique

-       Slice of life, advertising shows a picture of students in university life

-       Assimilating what you would see on Facebook: “Tag yourself here”, with a white box around the face of the student

Execution

-       Bus print ads on various busses that can travel in any geographic location

-       Transit print ads found on skytrain platforms, as well as skytrains, which are frequented by students

Evaluation

-       How was the message conveyed?

Displaying ads through a mental connection to social media outlets and

-       Was the campaign long enough to get the message across?

The campaign is ongoing, as the outdoor ads are still present

  -       Were all communication channels used to support the message

Aside from outdoor ads, KPU uses it’s website to correlate the rebranding of the university

-       Did the campaign have a lasting impact on consumers?

It is hard to say that this campaign drove results for enrolment, however the results should show in the Fall semester where a majority of the enrolments occur

  ALTERNATIVE MARKETING – APPLE “IPAD” CAMPAIGN

Target Market

-       Technology enthusiasts, product innovators

-       Students in university/high school and professionals in certain jobs

-       Parents who like to use technology in their homes

-       Travellers that want to use a single, multi-functional product

Positioning Strategy

-       High-end technology company that provides great products for consumers with discretionary income

Message Objectives

-       Highlight the simplicity of a sophisticatedly designed product for everyday use

-       Multifunctional product that can replace singular purpose products such as camcorders and cameras, music players, laptops, etc.

Appeal Technique

-       Slice of life

Showcasing the uses of iPad in everyday life, how it is useful

-       Lifestyle marketing

Applications to download on Apple products catered to music enthusiasts, business professionals, students, etc.

Displaying scenarios that these apps can be used for: cooking, travelling, video editing, photo sharing

-       In-store marketing

Products for display/use by the consumers who walk in-store

Clean space in retail stores using white colors to depict simplicity, cleanliness, slick

Execution

-       In-store marketing

Products for display/use

Clean space in retail stores

-       Buzz Marketing

Company-generated buzz through loyal brand advocates

Strong internet buzz marketing via bloggers, internet websites, social media

Event marketing through developers conferences and product unveilings 

    Evaluation

-       How was the message conveyed?

Videos were produced to highlight the ease of use and versatility of iPads; these are present on the Apple website and on YouTube

-       Was the campaign long enough to get the message across?

The message has been upfront, showing clips and situations in which the iPad is being used in everyday life

-       Were all communication channels used to support the message

Apple restricted the ways to view this campaign on their company website, with YouTube videos from amateur users that have the video

-       Did the campaign have a lasting impact on consumers?

The iPad is in it’s maturity stage and consumers are slowly realizing the capacity of the iPad in their homes, offices, workplace, schools, etc. through the thousands of applications that can be downloaded and used on the device

  OVERALL CAMPAIGN ASSESSMENT

  PRINT – H&M “DAVID BECKHAM” CAMPAIGN – 7/10

The H&M campaign for David Beckham did introduce a new, familiar face to the H&M model line. An assessment of 7/10 was given due to the consistency of H&M marketing campaigns, using black and white images to portray the image of “you can be wearing this”. Through sex appeal, David Beckham is an attractive, well-known individual that would raise awareness of the product. H&M thrives to provide the best quality in products at an affordable price. This product line was a success, however it does not continue in the long run due to the already reduced price of current product lines. This campaign would be more successful if other media outlets were used.

  ELECTRONIC – KOODO “EL TABADOR” CAMPAIGN – 7/10

Koodo is a relatively new cellphone company competing against tenure companies in the country. The company initially launched an 80’s persona that catered to the Gen Y consumers. However with the need to promote the Tab feature that Koodo introduced in the market, El Tabador did an excellent job doing that. Through humor, the Mexican wrestler created a new brand personality for Koodo. The campaign does lack some information related to company offerrings, thus receiving a 7/10.

INTERNET – STARBUCKS “MAPLE MACCHIATO” CAMPAIGN – 8/10

Coffee drinkers in Canada got a taste of the “True North Blend”, which is the lightest roast coffee Starbucks offered. With the introduction of the Maple Macchiato, Canadians get a more heritage taste at Starbucks. The campaign launch was well received, however restricted the promotion through online and mailed coupons. An 8/10 was given for the lack of depth of the promotion. Free samples would heighten the launch or even a free drink for those who are a part of the loyalty program.

  OUTDOOR – KPU “TAG YOURSELF” CAMPAIGN – 7/10

KPU has been struggling with the image it has in the community. Through this campaign, it combined student life aspects at KPU with commonly seen social media aspects such as Facebook’s “Tag yourself.” The communication outlets were small, staying mainly on print and outdoor advertising but to further improve on a 7/10, experimenting on other outlets such as Facebook and Twitter to assist in the messaging of the campaign may drive it more successful.

  ALTERNATIVE MARKETING – APPLE “IPAD” CAMPAIGN – 9/10

The tech company Apple has been a relentless marketer since the launch of their iPods. This legacy has continued on with other product lines that were introduced. iPads have been around for some time and to now showcase the many uses and functionality of the device led to the campaign a solid 9/10. The videos and messaging used in said videos were remarkably personal and hits the heart at a good spot, something that Apple consistently does. Through the website, it is hard for regular consumers to view the iPad’s many usefulness and benefits, as not everyone will be willing to go to the website. In-store, however, the retail marketing aspects by having the devices displayed increases the relationship consumers have with the iPad, thus creating a more rich and longer-lasting impact with the consumer.

[jbmrkt]

The flagship of Ideas: Apple Computers

Apple Computers (Apple) has gotten through some rough times in the past. The former Steve Jobs as their CEO, turned that gloomy moment in time into a beacon of light and hope for the company. How exactly did Jobs do all this? Support from his team and his innovative mind has forced him to create new concepts and changed the standards of the tech world today.

There are several ways that Apple continue to pave its way into the industry of technology. It first started as a small computer company creating the Macintosh (Mac) computers back in the 80's. Microsoft was the leader in personal computing at the time, and the lack of innovation and technological input resulted in Apple's loss of market. In 1998, Steve Jobs changed the way consumers would look at the new Mac computers. From then on, the company kept creating and producing new products that consumers have never seen before. So how did the company become one of the most successful companies of the century?

This is a two-part post that examines three types of communication process. This includes how Apple uses the consumer behavior tactics to its advantage and their different types of media: paid, owned and earned.

To summarize the posts, Apple simply creates a strong desire from their customer base by meeting the needs of consumers through their products. This was done through product innovation, simplicity of design and architecture, and user friendly interfaces. Apple carefully assessed their consumer's needs and acted accordingly.

Another point to summarize is how Apple, currently, uses the different types of media at their disposal, to continue reaching more customers and communicate with them. A majority of their success is due to earned media that was created by a following or critics. This is how Apple gained momentum and eventually was renowned as one of the top tech companies in the world. Other methods such as their personal website, retail stores, and print and video advertisements all contributed to the success of the company.

[jbmrkt]

Apple Computers: Be the Consumer

Apple consistently achieves the loyalty of their consumers and continues to attract more to purchase their products. But how exactly does the company do this successfully that no other tech company currently does? Apple understands the market they are in an constantly explains their rationale behind every new product development: innovation.

Apple recognizes and acknowledges six key questions which assists them in creating such a demand.

What will our product be?

Who will buy our product?

How will they buy our product?

When will they buy our product?

Why will they buy our product?

Through Apple's actions they successfully answered these questions through different methods. The company also changed the behavior of how consumers buy; "capture the heart and the mind will follow."

Apple crafted a computer that uses similar technology as the current computers. After creating such a product, the company started offering other types of products such as the iPod, iPhone, iPad, while refining and refurbishing the current Macintosh computer line. These products employ simplicity, which is Apple's niche in their products. Each year, however, the company creates updated models for each of the product type for consumers to continue buying. This is key in Apple's strategy as to what to sell to consumers. They create excitement and anticipation for consumers every year for new product revealings.

Apple does not directly target a specific type of consumer. What Apple did is to create a type of consumer to purchase their products. Apple crafted a specific type of consumer, which would include (pardon the colloquial terms); tech geeks/nerds, wealthy individuals, consumers who desire branded products, teens, preteens, young adults, students, and the list goes on. This is a partial list which can be considered a different name to some. But the idea here is that there are many consumers out there that Apple is attracting, not targeting. This is mainly due to the fact that Apple's products can be crafted and used by different types of users, a big selling point for Apple products.

In the blog post titled "Apple Computers - Media", outlines how the company effectively use their website and retail stores to make it easier for consumers to purchase their products. To summarize that post, Apple simply creates relationships with various suppliers to distribute their products, alongside the website and Apple retail stores found throughout main cities in the world. Essentially, Apple wants consumers to purchase their products virtually and physically anywhere. In major retail stores, online and the like. This will create more of a desire for the product when it is easily accessible for purchase.

As mentioned before, Apple creates new version of its products nearly every year. With the recent release of the iPhone 5S and 5C, iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air, Apple is creating desire from the consumers to continually purchase new and upgraded products. This is a risk that Apple took. The company could easily  release the iPhone with all the features it currently has in one time. But like said in the paragraph above, Apple wants to create a desire for wanting the latest in technology. This strategy has been employed since the launch of the original iPhone.  Apple is carrying this strategy over to other product lines such as the iPod, iPad, and Mac computers and laptops and it has proven successful over time.

Lastly, Apple products are bought because they are simply made by Apple. The company thrives itself to be the front-runner in technological innovation and creator. The company values simplicity, easy user interfaces, advanced technology, and attractive design. This is the reason why consumers purchase Apple products. By combining all these characteristics, Apple used this to their advantage by pointing out that these are the basic human needs from a technological aspect. Apple has been successful in displaying their product and positioning it perfectly to deem it attractive and desirable for the consumers.

By answering key questions, Apple gained the attention from consumers, created interest and desire to purchase the product, and made it simple for them to purchase it. This was done by becoming the consumer. They analyzed the market and asked themselves, what is everyone looking for? Apple answered it by creating innovative products and successfully meeting those needs.

The key learning outcome here is to assess what the consumer wants, needs and what they are looking for. It is difficult for a company to sell a product without knowing who to sell it to. Apple conveys a simple tactic by becoming their desired consumer. Other companies should look to Apple's success for their own inspiration as to how to attract and create consumers and ultimately change their behavior towards their own products and the competitors.

[jbmrkt]

Apple Computers - Own your Media

Everyone knows what Apple Computers (Apple) is all about. How did that happen?

A part of any company's marketing strategy is promotion, alongside product, pricing and placement. However these are all interrelated with one another and must be displayed simultaneously. Apple considers all aspects of this marketing mix strategically.

There are three types of media available for use. These are earned, paid and owned media. This post will mainly focus on the owned media of Apple.

So what exactly is owned media? Well as the name implies, any type of media that is owned by the company. This can include, but not limited to, the facilities of the company, any type of internal and external communication methods the company may have to communicate with their employees and consumers. 

Apple's facilities is an important aspect for the company's marketing strategy. An example of what facilities are is the company website. It is sleek, simple, clean-looking, and easy to navigate through. Like mentioned in the post regarding consumer behavior, this greatly correlates to the consumer's needs. Apple kept in mind the user friendliness of their products and translated that to their website. The website is highly important because this is a direct communication tool between the consumers and Apple. The company uses the website to sell their products, create a discussion forum for technological support and guidelines, and simply to display their product in an attractive manner.

Another example of facilities is the Apple retail stores found throughout major cities in the world. Like any Apple products, it is simple, sleek, and the layout is easy for the consumer to navigate through. Upon entering the store, present are several wooden tables, on top products such as the iPad, iPhone, iPod, and Mac computers. The rear of the store is what Apple calls the "Genius Bar", where consumers can schedule appointments to get assistance with their Apple products. Employees collectively wear a blue polo shirt with the Apple logo (a silhouette of a bitten apple) on the left-hand side. The consistency of the layout and uniform is universal across all retail stores. Another concept to consider is the equipment that is used in the retail stores. Apple employees only use Apple products for retail and sales needs. iPhones, along with an attachment, are used as bar code scanners for products for sale. Mac computers are used to research and show inventory and other type of retail information for both the customer and the store itself. iPads are used to display information regarding the product on the wooden tables. Virtually any Apple product is, or will be, used within the retail store. This is key in Apple's strategy. When consumers notice that Apple products are so diverse, it will make the customer thing "Wow, this is such a great product. It has so many uses."

Internal and external communication methods used by Apple are fairly simple. Apple has an internal intranet that employees use to communicate with each other, as well as externally with consumers. Like mentioned above, Apple technology is also used for communication within and between retail stores and corporate wide as well. Although part of external communication and facilities is the website, Apple lists out various media and press releases on the website, publications, shareholder information and a link for career opportunities with the company. There is a lot of information available on the website and Apple maintained its standards of creating a clean, simple and creative website that is easy for consumers to navigate through.

Apple is successful in employing their values in everything they create. Businesses can learn from Apple by adopting simple methods such as consistency of the brand. Apple's brand is dedicated to be simple, innovative, and ease of use. This is evident in all of the products. By utilizing owned media alone, Apple kept this standard consistent. From their website, store layout, and products. Companies should evaluate their own standards and analyze where company values should be showcased and how it should be shown.

[jbmrkt]

The All-in-One Pheed

Pheed is the newest social media app on the block, being released at October 2012. I stumbled upon this little app while reading an article on USA today by Jon Swartz. He claims that this is the new app that will take high school student's by storm. But is he right about this claim?

I've taken the opportunity to download it on my iPhone. And can I just say, I'm already impressed within minutes of using the app. User interface is similar to that of Instagram, where the bottom column lists the actions you can take (creating a post, search tags/users, profile, and the home page). 

Pheed has various users, which proved popular for musicians, photographers and filmmakers. Artists such as Miley Cyrus, David Guetta, Paris Hilton, just to name a few, have taken advantage of this social network. But what makes Pheed special? It is an opportunity for monetization of the creative individuals, which enables susbribers to pay for services such as live streaming videos, pay-per-view content and the like.

So how can businesses tap into this social network? Pheed is a subscription based social network. Businesses, mainly the music industry, can charge users to be connected with the businesses' content online. One good use is to upload music or video content onto Pheed. Subscribers can pay a per-use, monthly, or yearly fee to access the content for personal use.

This is a pretty awesome social network if you ask me. What do you think?

[jbmrkt]

Companies and Negative Social Media

Have you ever had the worst encounter with a product or service somewhere? Have you told your friends about it? Have you blogged, tweeted, instagramed, or pinned it?

The power of social media has revolutionized customer relations, with public relations specialists in more demand. We as consumers see companies promoting their goodwill and amazing company standards but what happens when a customer experiences the worst from the company? Who is their go to person?

Social media has allowed consumers to open up  and speak their mind with little to no judgement from others. It has created a portal that enables constant connectivity and connection to others on the web. Seems great and all, and if you're a marketer social media would be on the top of your list because your target market is on it, but what if one person says something negative about your company?

There are various reasons why social media can negatively impact a business through word-of-mouth (WOM) online marketing. I'll talk about one big reason that we can all relate to.

Bought my mom a BRAND NEW toaster oven from @canadiantire. She opened it up today and voila... #disgusting! twitter.com/KimmieElle/sta…

December 27, 2012

Let's examine this tweet. She tagged the company, created an interesting hashtag, and took a picture. This complaint was done correctly. Now let's look at what Canadian Tire did.

@kimmieelle could you please contact customerservice@canadiantire.com with your contact info about this? We will be in touch.

December 27, 2012

Canadian Tire did the right thing. They responded to her tweet the  same day. She tweeted on Boxing Day, and the company tweeted back the next day, at 3:45AM. This shows that the company is really vigilant with  negative comments about the company. So how did Canadian Tire fix the problem? They gave her a refunded the product, offered a half-price on another product and gave her a gift card to their stores.

This just shows how one small tweet, during one of the busiest times of retail, can negatively impact the company's reputation online. Canadian Tire was well aware of its social media strategy and their contingency plans were in place.

Now let's look at the other side of social media. Instead of tweets, pseudo accounts could still be impactful than tweets here and there. For example, everyone loves Starbucks. Everyone knows Starbucks. People hate Starbucks.

Tweets by @SbuxProblems // <![CDATA[ !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); // ]]>

This is a profile, ran by a Starbucks barista, and tweets regarding their problems with customers are blasted on a daily basis. But this isn't just one barista, it's several hundreds out there that can contribute to this profile by using tagging the profile. Long story short, everyone (mainly baristas) bash about working there. But does Starbucks do anything about it? Not really.

That's a big problem. A multinational company SHOULD care about their online presence. Any misrepresentation of the brand should be dealt with. But that's the deal with social media, a well-known company is powerless with fake accounts or the online community bashing the company. Solution: not care. That's exactly what the company is doing. Is it right though?

What do you think Starbucks should be doing in this situation?

[jbmrkt]

Dating in an Online World

This is it. The end of all things old-fashioned. Social media has overtaken the typical dating scene, where they introduce friends to each other, meet at events, or running into a local coffee shop. Yes, all these things DO occur, but not often enough. Social networks are a great way to meet new people, to be honest. I think it does offer the same benefits of dating in person, but I'll outline why it's ruining it at the same time.

Not enough verbal communication

Yes, phone calls still exists, but let's be honest. You'd prefer to text someone instead of calling them for three minutes to chat. But you still have those hopeless romantics that will call you for hours and never get tired. Those are the people you want to meet. But that's all gone now. With online tools, there's ways to bypass the charm and verbal barriers that is required to woo the other person.

  Texting is the new talking

Similar to my point above, the newest way to communicate is by texting. But that can only go so far. Like a letter in the olden days, reading something can be interpreted in SO many ways that it's considerably hard to decipher how exactly the sender meant the message.

For example, a simple "Hey!" could be either enthusiastic or aggressive. But how did I come up with these conclusions? Because of that one punctuation mark. This is an example of what's wrong with online dating and the use of texting: we are now supposed to figure out what the text means, how it's said, what it's supposed to mean, and a bunch of other things that it's led us to think more than we should when talking to someone.

A friend of mine discussed how we should deal with someone who is like this. Then that lead to another argument of texting etiquette. "Sup","nm" and other instant messaging acronyms has dominated the online dating scene, where users are abbreviating everything and shortening their text to get their message across. What's wrong with this picture? Either the person is completely uneducated with their grammar or they're just lazy talkers.

This is what texting does. This is what online daters have to deal with. Chatrooms are full of these messages, texting has this happening all the time, but you can't really blame these users. It's just more efficient to do this. Or so they say.

Finding a date online is like finding a new job

PlentyofFish.com, eHarmony.com, match.com, and plenty of others exist to "help with finding your soulmate." While that is true, and I commend the administrators of these websites for doing a good thing, online daters are expected to have a full profile of themselves or else no one else will read their offerings. It's like a job: apply online, submit your resume, and if the reviewer likes what they see they'll contact you.

These websites allow a screening process for users to find their perfect match. But that takes out all the fun of dating. You are expected to tell all, bare all on these websites, so what else is expected from you when the date actually happens? Don't get me wrong, physical dates are great to know about a person, (looks, personality, behaviors, demeanor, etc.) but if there's nothing left to talk about because you read it online already, what's the point of meeting them in person? 

Your online presence follows you anywhere you go

And not just those dating sites that you signed up with. Believe me, you have more than one. I'm talking about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and all those online public sites. Your date, for example, will KNOW you have at least one of those accounts and will undoubtedly. But let's pick on Facebook, everyone has that.

On Facebook, everything, or most things unless you do nothing with your privacy settings, is on there. Your networks, previous work experience, and let's not forget those pictures you don't want your parents to see. Getting to know someone usually happens on the first date. Not anymore. Facebook changes all that. All you need is a last name, and your profile picture and that's it. The other person will know you right off the bat and begin to question you..even before the date. Is it just me or am I the only one who doesn't want to explore this person from social media? I'll be honest, I'm guilty of doing that, and probably you too.

There's just too many ways to meet someone

I listed some of these options above in the previous points, but I assure you there's a lot more. And odds are, there's the same people on each one. Especially if your location or preferences are the same for each one, you're bound to run into someone who has several profiles. These social networks are so small because they all share the single life. Yes, people have found someone they like on there, but it defeats the whole purpose of meeting someone for the first time, knowing very little about them, instead of screening them, literally.

So there you have it, online social networks have slowly deteriorated the dating scene. I'd like to meet people without a screen in front of me. But I guess that's up to the individual right?

[jbmrkt]

Baby, Baby, Baby, Ohhh.....Oppa Gangnam Style!

YouTube is the essential tool for artists to become internationally known, through the medium of video, and has become a stepping stone in entertainment. YouTube has catapulted the careers of celebrities like Justin Bieber and Korean pop star Psy. These two celebrities went viral with social media outlets. Memes were created, parody videos were produced, and popularity of these two artists exploded on the World Wide Web.

How does YouTube really work to make someone popular? The fact that this online medium is viral, easily shareable, and the fact that it's just so entertaining to watch videos for hours on end can really hook a viewer by staying on the website for hours.

So the real question is, which one of these two highly known celebrities received the approval of millions online? Forbes.com published an infographic of their findings on which celebrity, Justin Bieber or Psy, made the best of YouTube. Instead of who did it best, I'll examine what exactly happened on the Internet.

First of, Justin Bieber. What did he do? Or what happened with him? Baby was his international hit with 834 million views on YouTube. But how many likes and dislikes did he get with this video? 1.5 million likes vs. 3.3 million dislikes. What does this mean though? No one really likes Bieber. But those 1.5 million likes he did get shows that there are people out there that care, which also means that this was the most disliked video of all time. But why didn't the masses like his video? Various reasons: Bieber's popularity, the song choice, music video, and the list goes on.

He actually received the title of YouTube's Top Video for 2012. Then, Psy came in the picture...

Psy is a South Korean pop star that received international glory in mid-2012. His popular Gangnam Style video was a massive hit, which led to hundreds of parody videos. These videos that made the song popular led to the real music video, which then earned 1 billion views by the end of 2012! THAT IS RIDICULOUS! Compared to Bieber's Likes vs. Dislikes, Psy defeated him by a long shot with 94% of it being likes. So why did viewers like Psy? Catchy, yet annoying music, hilarious dance moves, and great parodies that come along. Oh, and the fact that he's not Justin Bieber.

This is just one of many examples of how powerful YouTube is. It can either make or break a career of an artist by just one video. Social media is now essential to be a part of anyone's marketing strategy. Have good social media presence and the rest will follow. Have considerably horrible presence and the followers will decide whether or not to follow.

So did it best? Neither of these artists had control on who likes or dislikes their videos, so it ultimately falls on their fanbase.

This is the  infographic that is shown below talks which shows the popularity of the two artists on social media. You be the judge on who did it better.

Source: forbes.com via Dams on Pinterest

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