Social Media 101 – Meg Kerr

Who is Meg Kerr?

This week’s presentation was from Meg Kerr, Social Media Integration Manager at Mosaic. Meg Kerr’s job is to manage social media strategies, community management, analyzing, and blogs of various companies. Meg has been with Mosaic since 2006 and full time since 2007. Meg has an undergraduate degree from The University of Western Ontario in Media in Information and Technoculture. She also has a degree in Broadcast Journalism from Fanshawe College.

What is social media and why should we care?

Meg showed us a few quotes on what social media is. One of these quotes is: “Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos, and audio.” – Wikipedia. 

Meg also showed us a video called “Social Media Revolution,” which shows us exactly why we should care about social media.

What are the four social media trends?

Trend One:  Real time and smartphones changes everything

Meg explained how technology allows anyone to share and search for information in real time and from anywhere. It has changed how we get information. It’s traditional word of mouth, but on steroids. Nearly half of Canadians own a smartphone and web traffic on smartphones in Canada grew 193% in the past year. By 2013, mobile phones will overtake personal computers.

An example of real time news is the Tiger Woods scandal. @breakingnews on Twitter was the first outlet to break the story. People are starting to use Twitter for news since they get it quicker. However, there is an issue on speed versus accuracy.

Trend Two: Location based

The increase of GPS enabled smartphones is a driving force behind the rise in popularity of  location based services – they would not exist without this technology. An example of this service is Foursquare, which works by checking you into locations from your phone. Your Foursquare friends are pinged when you check into a location. You can get points for checking into different locations, can unlock badges, and even be named “Mayor” if you’re checked into a location more than anymore else. Friends can find out when you went into a restaurant and give you tips, such as to order the nachos or to leave because of bad service.

More facts on location based services:

• Foursquare currently has 3 million users (1 million in March)
• Twitter took 2 years to hit 1 million
• Foursquare took ½ this time
• Last November, Twitter added the ability to Geotag
• In the past month Facebook rolled out Facebook places
• Facebook places should arrive in Canada in the next year since it’s currently only available in the USA
• To be determined what effect Facebook places will have on Foursquare
• Location based services are in the mainstream 

Trend Three: Privacy

In order to attract users, the sites must restrict information:

• Twitter is the least private and is nearly completely open
• You can read anyone’s tweets, whether following them or not
• Tweets are indexed in Google
• People often link their Foursquare to their Twitter account, which can show the whole entire world where you are in real time

A site the helps you be aware of the safety of location based services is pleaserobme.com. In this website you can search Toronto and find out people who are not in their homes because of their tweets. This website gives awareness to be selective to where you post your Foursquare and who your friends are on the site. The main point is to never link Foursquare to your Twitter.

Trend Four: Social media gets less social

Meg explained how first and second generations of social networking portals were about opening up to the world. However, the third generation is about closing it again. For example, exclusive niche networks are becoming more popular. Examples include Blue Chip Expert where you have to submit a resume and be selected to become a member. Another example is A Private Club which is a social networking website that is for popular and successful New Yorkers. The top seven countries that use Facebook are actually declining in overall number of users. The novelty of first and second-generation social networking websites is dying off.

A site I found interesting that Meg talked about was Web 2.0 Suicide Machine. This website allows you to permanently delete several networking sites, such as your Facebook and Twitter, in a quick and easy way. Some of the stats of this site include:

• 1,176,563 friends have been unfriended
• 504,978 tweets have been removed since launching
• 4,344 people went before you!

Other information I found interesting in the presentation includes how if you are paid to blog, you will be fined if you don’t disclosure the information. As well, one in eight couples met online in North America. Overall the presentation was very interesting and taught me a lot of interesting facts about social media.

Meg Kerr’s Contact information:
Mississauga, Ontario L4W 4V9
Phone: 905-238-8422
Twitter: @meg_kerr

To find out more about Mosaic, visit their website.

Jay Schacher - Senior Designer at Henderson Bas

This week’s presentation was from Jay Schacher, Senior Designer at the most awarded digital design agency, Henderson Bas. The presentation was very informative. I saw a speaker from Henderson Bas last spring, so I was excited to learn more about this company.

Jay is an interactive designer who has graduated from York University for Visual Arts and Multimedia. As well, he has graduated from the Web Design program at Sheridan College in 2006. After graduating he entered into the Toronto design agency two weeks after school at an agency called Organic. His first big website in the field was for Jamieson.

Jay specializes in interactive web experiences, online advertisements, mobile, and print. Jay is passionate about talking about Henderson Bas and explains that there are around 80 employees. He says one of the best parts of the atmosphere is the culture, which is both fun and exciting to him.  In the creative department there are 4 juniors, 3 seniors, 3 art directors, 1 associate creative director, and 1 creative director.

Jay’s roles and responsibilities include brainstorming, making concepts, designing, overseeing work, and meeting timelines. Some brands he has worked on include Coco Cola, Nintendo, Tim Hortons, Kraft Dinner, Dillions, Infusion, Timex, and LG.

He explains that he reports directly to the art director, and once the art director approves the work, they go to the creative director. After approval, the project is submitted to the account manager to ensure that it is ready to show the client. The client then will be allowed to ask questions and have input for a round of review. I found this process really interesting since each design firm does the process a little differently.

When asked about how many hours he works, he explains hours are based on a value system. He gets a set number of projects per week, and it’s up to him to set the hours so he can get everything completed. For example, he could get one large e-commence site or various projects on the go at once. This is not a typical 9 to 5 job, since it is a company where you work extra hours to build up an amazing portfolio and win awards. If you are not done your work at 5, you are expected to stay and finish. Jay enjoys this since he likes being challenged and likes winning awards and creating an amazing portfolio.

Jay then starts showing us examples. He showed us LG Shrine Plus. He also talks about the website Get Connected. At this point in the presentation I was so excited since I have come across both of these websites before and I loved the design and usability in them! He also talks about how the company stays away from stock photography, which I find interesting.

Jay also explains how they design these projects. They first brainstorm, sketch the concept, present, design, build, and then revise. He shows us a great example of the whole entire process with a Mercedes Brenz project. He showed us examples of the concept, the brainstorming, and the idea behind the website. This process moves fast. The company usually spends two days on concept, two days on design, and finish the design in a week and a half while working on various other projects. He explains, sometimes the deadlines are shorter or longer depending on the project.

He also expands on the subject by showing us how many revisions he has to do on a simple navigation bar. Sometimes a few hours of work turns into days of work because of revisions that the client wants you to complete. For this reason, he explains how we should cherish our student work and enjoy projects that we can be creative with.

A job he has really enjoyed was TIMEX because he got to be completely creative and incorporate his own creative freedom since there was not many guidelines or rules. He is also not a fan of site maintenance since he really enjoys being creative.

His advice that works include:
1.)    Stay close with classmates.
2.)    Network a lot and use online networking, such as LinkedIn.
        (Networking is how he got a job at Henderson Bas.)
3.)    Be a team player, not a hero. As well, don’t have an ego!

When he was asked about how much he makes, he didn’t give an amount but he did say he makes double the amount he started off with and gets great benefits, such as a drug plan, dental, and RSPs. He also explains side jobs, such as contracting can be more high paying, but shorter termed. He also explains to us that when we start off as junior designers, we should ask for 35,000 to 55,000 for our yearly salary. He also explains how Creative Niche is very helpful.

When Jay finished college, his 5-year plan was to be an art director, which he has almost succeeded on. He plans on staying in Toronto since he loves the culture, the industry, and it is the third largest location for design in North America. He wants to eventually become a creative director and one-day (in the far future) start up his own company.

Some things he would approach differently if he took the Sheridan Web Design course again include focusing on typography a lot more. As well, networking more outside of class and to go on more tours.

To learn more about Jay’s work and for contact information, you can visit his portfolio.

Henderson Bas:

Website 
Twitter
Facebook

479 Wellington St. W.
Toronto, ON
M5V 1E7
416-977-6660

My first week at Sheridan

I had a great first week at Sheridan. Some highlights of the week include:

1.) Meeting my classmates and the teachers was a great experience. I was so pleased to know how amazing and friendly both the other students and teachers are. I can just tell these teachers will be great and helpful. I am looking forward to starting three new classes next week and learning more in classes that have already been started.

2.) I was so excited to find out we were all given a copy of CS5 creative suite. To make it even better, Colin Smith from Adobe came to show us new features. I have already heard of all these features from articles on the web, but seeing these features in a real life presentation brought them to a new level and helped me understand how to use them.

3.) Moving into my new home that I am renting was a good experience. I was pleased to know that both my roommates are great people and both are very talented artists.

Overall, I have been very pleased with my first week at Sheridan College and I am looking forward to the weeks and months to come. I feel like my design skills and knowledge of the industry and marketing are going to improve another one hundred percent!