Social Media Celebrity 101

This semester I have been taking a New Media and Public Relations class (hence the reason for the blog that you are reading). The class focuses on social media, 2-way communications and the growing importance of authenticity and transparency in successful business. All of which, of course, is an onset of the Internet.

I think what strikes me most about the class is the fact that I feel that half of what I am learning is stuff that I should have been learning the past four years in college and half of what I am learning is stuff that I have already learned on my own (i.e. how to use YouTube, Facebook, blogs, etc.)

If PR is really becoming all about new media than why does BU’s communication school only have one class devoted to this? Shouldn’t we learn about blogging and social media news releases in the same classes where we learn about press releases and media advisories? And shouldn’t authenticity, transparency and business as a conversation be themes that are ingrained in us as early as COM 101? It seems strange to me that I am just hearing of many of theses new media PR services for the first time now even though many of them have been around for years now.

And to think I signed up for this class just to fill an elective! I feel like had I decided to pursue a career in PR and not taken this class than I would have been behind some of my more new media savee competition. Also, I feel that BU’s education is a little behind on this integrated social marketing and communications trend. Funny considering we are considered one of the best communication schools in the nation…

Anyways, that’s enough ranting.


One of our recent assignments was to create a podcast about a topic of our choice. My group chose to do “How to Become a New Media Celebrity” (think Obama Girl or the Free Hugs Guy). Check out our Social Media Celebrity 101 podcast here:

http://youtube.com/user/bunewmedia

On The Agenda for Today Is....

Did you ever notice that the occasions you look forward to the most usually end up being the most disappointing? Its as if we build these events up so much in our heads that they cannot possibly live up to our wildly fantastic expectations.

I first remember noticing this at high school prom. Months before prom people started to become anxious. Who will I go with? What will I wear? How am I going to style my hair? We spent hours upon hours planning for prom. What would we do for dinner? How would we get there? What would we do after? And once the infamous night finally arrived, the night we had planned down to the tiniest detail to ensure that we would have an amazing time, it turned out to be nothing more exciting than what it was. A four-hour dance.

As senior year comes to an end this seems to be happening more and more frequently. All the “big” days, i.e. the long awaited 50 Days ‘Til Graduation Party, the last Marathon Monday as a college student, my last sorority formal, etc., are rather dull once the dust settles. Sure, some of them were fun. But they were all about as fun as any other day of the week that you get to party with your friends.

Where are the fireworks? Where is that magical feeling of KNOWING that this very night is something you will remember forever??

In fact, some of my absolute favorite college memories take place on the days that weren’t planned at all. A barbeque on a whim during a beautiful spring day or a random night out at the local bar when everyone there just seems to be in an exceptionally good mood.

Sometimes I think in life we plan too much. We are too organized. Too conventionalized. We live in a society with an extreme paranoia about the unknown.

In class we are given syllabuses on the first day that outline the entire semester to the smallest detail. If a teacher makes a change to the schedule- such as having a guest lecturer come on a different day- the entire class immediately pulls out his/her syllabus to denote this minor change.

I want to live in a world with less structure and more spontaneity. Although I understand that planning social functions ahead of time is often necessary- for example, you obviously cannot just decide you feel like getting married today and expect everyone to be free to come to your wedding- I sometimes think that if we lived life more on the whim we would all have more fun.

For the next few weeks I plan to have no plan.

The Nanny Diaries

In addition to being a full-time B.U. student, I also have a part-time job. I use the word “part-time” loosely because at times it seems as if I am working more than I am doing anything else.

Sometimes I even have to sleep there!

I am a professional babysitter. Nanny? Childcare provider? Tutor, mentor, mother, friend? Whichever you prefer—I do it all.

In fact, before I got a real job for next year, my friends and I used to joke that I was destined to become a babysitter for life. As much as the idea of becoming the real life main character of The Nanny Diaries scared me, I had to admit that my babysitting resume far surpassed my PR one. I was even moving up in the babysitting world—11 dollars an hour for two kids freshman year and 15 dollars an hour for just one this year!

As a babysitter, half of my responsibilities allow me to be a kid again. I don’t know how many other soon-to-be college grads can say that jumping on trampolines, drawing with sidewalk chalk or making green slime are a part of their daily activities.

Not to mention, I am up to date with pretty much every Disney Channel and Nickelodeon television show (some of my favorites include: Zoey 101, The Suite Life of Zac and Cody, and iCarly), Webkinz and Club Penguin are websites that I am all too familiar with, and 8:30 pm does not seem like an unreasonable bedtime hour.

However, for as many times as I get to pretend to be a kid again there are also countless moments where I feel like the ultimate adult. I make dinner, wash dishes, read bedtime stories, give baths, help with homework, pick up from school and supervise playdates. On Fridays I drive the minivan to and from a 45-minute swimming lesson. And sometimes I even pick up the family dog from “Doggy Daycare!”

This is why I strongly believe that my job as a babysitter epitomizes this chapter in my life. At work, as well as in life, I am faced daily with the delicate balance between carefree childhood antics and mature, responsible adult decisions.

Because as much fun as it is to do back-flips off the side of a brick wall on to the trampoline, the fact of the matter is that as a babysitter it is my job to make sure that it simply does not happen.

Being a babysitter makes me realize that although I do want to have a family someday, I am by no means ready yet. While I have grown to love my babysitting charges and various aspects of becoming a permanent part of someone else’s home, I am not ready to spend my afternoons discussing my child’s dietary habits with the other mothers at swimming lessons.

On especially exasperating days I cannot help but look forward to the moment when I finally tuck the little girl into bed. After nearly an hour of nagging and arguing, her teeth are finally brushed, pajamas are on and I am confident that she will very soon drift away into a deep, peaceful sleep. As I begin to leave the room she always calls after me in a way that only a child can, “Goodnight Cristina. Can’t wait for tomorrow!”

I close the door and smile at her sweet, innocent optimism.

And then my smile grows even brighter when I remember that her parents will be home soon :)

Your Life: Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

“Your life is not a movie, Cristina.”

All too often, my high school ex-boyfriend used to utter this sentence in frustration when my idealistic, fairytale notions of how life was suppose to be fell rather short of the real deal.

What he was referring to, of course, was the fact that not everything in my life was going to be picture-perfect and I needed to stop expecting that it would be.

You mean my words and encounters are not scripted, directed and polished by other people in order to ensure that each moment ends in extraordinarily romantic and ultimately flawless bliss?

Darn.

For some reason his words have always stuck with me and recently I found myself contemplating why.

Perhaps, after growing up in the era of Disney Princesses, this was the first time I was hit bluntly with the notion that life doesn’t always have a happy ending?

Or maybe it was the fact that movies provide us with a means to escape the tribulations of our own lives, which in turn makes us want our own lives to be like the movies?

In order to compare real life to movie life it is important to make the distinction that I am referring to the storyline of the movie (i.e. the screenplay rather than the actors, producers, directors, etc)

Screenplays, like lives, have various twists and turns. Some have happy endings, some sad. In my opinion, the three most important features in any successful screenplay are passion, conflict and entertainment

Ironically enough, my views of a successful life aren’t much different.

I have to admit, despite the fact that my ex-boyfriends words have never completely left my head, I often walk down the street listening to my ipod as if it were the soundtrack to my life.

Is it wrong to live every moment with as much passion and emotion as an academy award-winning actor?

And the most important question of all is it immature and foolish to long for that happy ending?

Maybe if people DID believe in happy endings things would be different. Maybe the divorce rate would go down or heartbreak wouldn’t hurt as much. Perhaps once we are faced with the brutal life is not a movie reality we all simply give up. The shock is too intense. The pain is too real.

I like to think that no matter what happens at the end of our lives there is a giant movie screen that replays all of the major highlights. I mean, why not? People believe in crazier things!

Your first day of school to your first day of work, your first kiss to your first love, your lowest low and your highest high each make up a scene in your own personal movie.

Parts of your life-long movie will make you laugh and parts will make you cry.

But no matter what, the most important thing of all is that it is your movie.

You are the star of your own life.

I will live by this motto for the rest of my life, whether my life is a movie or not.

A Reason To Celebrate

The day before I left for spring break my phone rang and I was offered a job at TJX Corporations in their Corporate Merchandise Training Program (PASE).

And with just one simple phone call my entire world was turned upside down.

Ok well maybe it was not that dramatic but it was still extremely exciting. Exciting enough that I temporarily forgot I was speaking to my future employer and accidentally screamed into the phone, "Oh my God! I am so excited!"

Way to be professional. Luckily, I was able to compose myself long enough to accept the offer with a suitable amount of poise.

As of that morning, I was your average, wayward college senior trying desperately not to allow the fact that graduation was fast approaching and I was still job-less enter into my conscious mind.

As of that afternoon, I am now an employed young professional!

I am very happy to already know what I will be doing after graduation and since TJX was by far my first choice, I prepared long and hard for all of my interviews with them. Upon receiving the job offer I was overwhelmed with both relief and a strong sense of accomplishment. I cannot wait to start my career with this company.

That’s why I was surprised to find that along with the feelings of excitement and achievement I was also filled with a temporary sense of uncertainty and anxiety. Thousands of questions whirled through my head: Where am I going to live next year? How am I going to drive to work everyday? Will I be able to support myself? I am a really ready to be an independent adult?

Although I am still worried about all of these things, I have decided that I am going to enjoy my last two months of life as a college student. I have plenty of time to sweat the “small stuff” later and for now the important thing is I have my very first grown-up job. My very first career path!

Day by day my anxiety is morphing into joy. Although my “life in neverland” is now officially NOT going to last forever, I still have a lot of celebrating to do!

I Won't Grow Up... Until May 18th.

I can literally feel the bold, black letters glaring at me from the calendar in my kitchen as I write this post: GRADUATION DAY.

It is written on a single 1" by 1" square and the calendar is not even open to the correct month, yet the words are powerful enough to permeate through the pages and send a shiver up my spine.

I can handle the fact that graduation symbolizes a new chapter in my life. I can handle the fact that many of the friends I have made during my past four years here at Boston University will be scattered across the country next year. I can even handle the challenges and excitement of meeting new people, starting a new job (with any luck!) and living on my own.

The one thing I am NOT handling well is the strictly psychological notion that nowadays graduation from college seems to imply a complete coming of age. A metamorphosis from childhood to adulthood that happens fast enough to make anyone want to fly away with Peter Pan and never come back!

Naturally there are plenty of people who do not share the same viewpoint as me. I have dozens of peers who are dying to graduate. They cannot wait to leave the books behind and enter the work force. Some students are so anxious to graduate that they load up on coursework and finish school early.

I am not one of those people. I realize that graduation from undergraduate school is inevitable and I plan to have a long, prosperous life beyond college, however, until May 18th arrives I am going to make the most out of the end of my college career.

For the next few months I will be living in Neverland.