Dawnsmi's Blog

The Maybe Not Me…Valentine’s Day Poem!

I tried a relationship once….I called it marriage, but to my discontent it created a life that was overwhelmed with resentment and kept me discouraged.

He was cruel, a cheater, and unable to commit to the ring, but if I can be thankful to a Goddess – this caused a divorce sort of thing.

Misery and loneliness, was all the wedding brought to me, and with a slight appeal of happiness, never again will a wedding dress I see.

I am not bitter, but rather I am content – because for me, marriage was never meant.

I used my pain to graduate with distinction and obtain a Bachelor’s degree, and now starting on January 17th, 2010 – a great new job waits for me.

This poetry I write is to reveal that being alone has brought me no shame – it was being part of the “couple” with black eyes and bruises that would have left me to never be the same.

Sorrow then and sometimes now has always been the way, but with a grin all of this I wrote to tell the pursuer – PLEASE GO AWAY!

(Just in Case anyone is wondering…I had to blog to see if a guy who does not understand no – would get the message)

P.S. I’d rather be fit,working, healthy happy and financially complete – then molded by partner whose only interest is lies and deceit!!!!

*DAWN*

2011: 01/16
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
TAGS: Valentine's Day
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Identity Theft Blues

If you are anything like me, then your not perfect in every way, but you pay your bills on time, yet your credit score never seems to sway. You try this and you try that, and yet the score is UGLY as can be…no matter how many bills you pay off, it effects your identity. So you check, you write letters, and yet in despair, no matter what you seem to try, there is no solution for your credit repair. – and you cry!

Then one day by chance, a prettier person you see, the only problem with her pretty self, is she is the pretty of what I should be. She seems to lurk and watch, and you become quite curious and concerned. What is a pretty perfect person – from my average self , trying to learn.

So, you pay attention and again on another day this person you see, it occurs to you, you say ” she is the pretty credit person that I should be.” Amazingly enough, you find that you are right, she takes advantage of your borishness, with credit cards to her delight. IDENTITY THEFT – her, no way- it cannot be that a pretty snoot, just took advantage of my identity. So I think: Call the cops, call FBI, but wait, I finally say; just walk by, and softly say – you’ll get caught – one fine day.

Her eyes – large as circles – show guilt, as if it was written on her face, and the best part of it all, as pretty as she is, she is the one in disgrace. For my UGLY credit, the answer I have now found. Hopefully She’ll go away now, and my credit score will start to gain some ground. I’ll be DAWN the pretty credit person again, is the first thing I think, but first what did I do with that FCC identity theft link. After all, better safe than sorry, better credit now I need. After all, I spent an average life trying to be credit righteous , and I am not going to let her, get the best of my IDENTITY!!!!

I’m Dawn Miller – just blowing off steam about my constant changing credit score!

2011: 05/13
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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Impromptu Holiday Grad Poetry

I graduated today, in 2010, I finished all I had to do to get the BA and defend….It is my defense to be a woman intellectually complete…

I approach the holiday, I approach the new year, now I am equipped with an intellectually stimulating award, so what do I have to fear….

I guess nothing really – except I have to find a job – apparently the fight doesn’t end to complete myself, so for this frustration, I needed to blog…

I really am writing this, on the spur of the second …. no holiday bliss, bored and not decadent …

Onto another lonely holiday… this is something a degree could not cure … even with a plaque on the wall, 2010 is just a blur…

Oh well, maybe next year… the holiday will have more to offer … but until then, this lonely gal … says happy holidays…. hope all is well!

I’m Dawn S Miller

BA – Communication Studies (public and professional concentration)

minor in Criminal Justice
Dean’s List
With Distinction (3 credits shy ofPace Magna Cum Laude)
Alpha Chi Lambda National Collegiate Honor Society
Lambda Pi Eta Communications Honor Society
Criminal Justice Society

Well it’s not much of list before the holidays, but at least it was something. “LOL” HAPPY 2011!

2010: 12/23
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
TAGS: Grad
holiday
lonely
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Should I Social Media or Shouldn’t I?

I have been endorsing social media quite a bit on my blog space, because I really believe that it is essential for college students to be a part of the social media revolution. Students and other potential job seekers need social media skills, if they are going to enter the modern marketplace. A question came up in one of the comments to my blog, “Is Social Media all it is cracked up to be,” and in my opinion, yes it is, but the thought crossed my mind that maybe it is necessary for me to see both sides of the coin.

: flip side of the coin

This past summer I took a job (internship), selling webinars for a technology company, and during training, which we did over the phone via webinar, the manager of the company asked me if I would want to pick up any commissions I make at the office. Well, the job was telecommuting, and I was in shock that I would have to go to Brooklyn from New Jersey to pick up my check. My immediate reply was “Can’t you just PayPal me?” Now an even bigger shock hit me, when this V.P. of a technology company responded saying, “I don’t know how to do that!” Wow, really! So I went on PayPal copied and pasted the information into an e-mail and sent it to him. He said that would work, and if I succeed at this, then he will PayPal my payments, but his last comment has stuck with me since that day, he said “Wow, life is so impersonal now, isn’t it – we don’t even meet people we work with anymore.”

I wanted to say, but isn’t a webinar impersonal, but obviously I wanted the job, so I kept that particular opinion to myself. He showed me the webinar through Cisco’s Web-ex, which is an interactive way to give a presentation with video or PowerPoint: It allows the prospect to participate from anywhere in the world, they just have to have access to a computer and a phone. When they log on with the information that I send them via e-mail, they plug in the passcode, and their phone number, the web-ex calls them back and they have the opportunity to listen to a presentation and see how the system that the company is selling works. It is extremely interactive, the prospect can ask questions, but they cannot try the system hands-on for themselves, they lose the interpersonal sales touch that has made sales so great, and that has created some of the longest lasting friendships in history.

Obviously, I applaud social media, and I love chatting with people I do not know from around the globe – I think globalization is a terrific concept, but I have spent my career (before I went back to college), being a power closing – hunter mentality-sales professional. Although, it has just occurred to me – when I graduate, if I get a great job in sales – will I be as successful and as effective if I can’t watch for non-verbal cues that tell me it’s time to close the deal. That chance of a lifetime, when you see it in the prospects eyes that pulling out your pen and contract – at that very moment, will get you a “new BMW” down payment.”

You know I just remembered that one of the most successful sales practices in the world – is phone sales – and even though it involves the internet, the calls still have to be done by phone, even if the phone call is made using Skype. Oh yeah, I also just remembered that selling webinars this summer, I closed ten webinars a week, without leaving my apartment. So the bottom line is, journalists who oppose social media – cannot convince me that it is too impersonal.

It is about the bottom line in business, (money), and if you are dealing with secured internet transactions, it is still (in my opinion) the best bet for business. Twitter says that “Best Buy and their Twitter Twelp force swear by social media, and they have had incredible success at it.” – (read about it) http://www.business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_bestbuy

I know that Edelman’s Annual Trust Barometer (2010) survey says, “It was revealed that consumers are losing trust in each other when it comes to providing credible information about products or companies. Confidence has dropped by nearly half since 2008 leading to only about 25% of people trusting their peers and friends online for information.”(Read the complete article) at. http://searchengineland.com/is-trust-in-social-media-dying-39340, but once again, the bottom line is that social media has opened up a world of opportunities and discussions that would neverhave been possible before, and people are making money at it, so maybe the skeptics need to ease up, and make nice with this hot-new trend.

After all, if you can’t beat em’ you can just blog them until their nuts! By the way, it is funny that skeptics always give their negative social media opinions on blog sites.

: Hmmmm – I wonder why?

I am DawnSMi and that is a rap on my three social media reports and commentary!

National Collegiate Honor Society

National Communications Honor Society

2010: 10/29
CATEGORY: Social Media
TAGS: Social Network
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Every Day is an Opportunity in Social Media – Part II

Columbia Pictures is airing a new movie called “Social Network- The Accidental Billionaire,” (2010), and if you’re into education, marketing or social media, you really should see this movie. The beginning of the movie is an introduction to the world of blogging, and the impact that blogging makes on a person’s life. In this particular movie, a jilted Harvard student decides to use blogging as a means of revenge. His vengeful blog catapults into an illegal code of derogatory comparisons of all Harvard campus females. His girlfriend is humiliated, but he feels justified in his actions and after a series of events, he uses the type of attention that his blog created – to motivate himself into embarking on the “social media,” money – maker of a lifetime (FaceBook).

If you have seen the movie, but you are not quite up to par on the social media movement, then you are probably wondering what blogging entails. Well, as you have probably guessed from the movie, the obvious answer is that blogging is a writing venue, which involves expressing personal ideas on the internet. A more definitive definition, which is given by MarketingTerms.com, is that blogging is “A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links, which includes a mixture of what is happening in a person’s life and on the web … A kind of hybrid diary/guide site.” I would add that besides publicizing the happenings of one’s personal life, it is also a means of communicating social issues, personal opinions, or a varied amount of information that may be of interest to the blogger. What you choose to blog about is really up to you; I recommend that you check out the topics available to you, by logging on to www.blogsites.com.

Before we get into the lucrative benefits of blogging, you should know that there is a less intense version of blogging, known as micro blogging. Micro blogging is another means of publicizing information or personal thoughts, but micro blogging differs from a traditional blog, because its content is smaller, it could be a line or a sentence. Some micro blogging can be done in the form of text messaging or e-mail or instant messaging or digital audio. WiseGeek.com, states “Micro blogging is a networking service that allows mobile users of cell phones and other Internet connected devices to stay abreast of activities within a group by receiving frequent published updates, typically of 140 characters or less. Text messages are uploaded to a micro blogging service such as Twitter, Jaiku and others, and then distributed to group members. All parties subscribed in the targeted group are instantly notified of the micro blog, enabling groups to keep tabs on one another’s activities in real time.”

For a list of micro blogging cites visit: www.microblogging.com.

You should be aware that a good blogging or micro blogging – site, will include a blog site dashboard. If you have ever taken a marketing or business class, then you are probably familiar with dashboard analytics. The website www.slideshare.net explains that, “A dashboard is a visual display of the most important information needed to achieve one or more objectives, which fits entirely on a single computer screen so it can be monitored at a glance. Great dashboards include:

Lots of important data
Few colors
Smart graphics
A nice design

and

Time overview (Sparkline).”

Similar to the excel dashboard image shown in Table A1.

Table A1

To learn more about blog site dashboards, visit www.whatis.com/dashboard

Does it pay to blog

As in the previous blog, I advocate for social media careers, and found a few social media upcoming career opportunities – by logging onto www.craigslist.com, and linking under jobs, and then inputting “blogging,” and “social media,” in the search for terms – space, which is is provided.

Table A2.

Table A2– Two career opportunities are shown, which is just two out of a list of hundreds of career opportunities that provide financial compensation for what some people find to be a fun and entertaining way to spend an afternoon. Both jobs require you to enhance your social media skills and to keep abreast of alternative media sources; the pay is undisclosed, but some of the other opportunities that are listed on Craigslist.com, pay up to $25.00 per hour for blogging, and most of the positions offer a work-at-home incentive.

To conclude this blog about blogs, I would like to mention two things:

Blogs are often written by individuals with computer access and most bloggers do not possess expertise about their blog topic.
Blogging and Micro blogging are not always free; most blogging and micro blogging services charge a monthly or per blog fee.

Make sure to check out any of the links above to find out more about the blogging revolution.

DawnSMi

National Collegiate Honor Society

Member:Communications Honor Society

2010: 10/08
CATEGORY: Social Media
Uncategorized
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Let’s Talk Trash!

Saturday morning, and let’s talk trash! I know the weekends are supposed to fun, with no cares, just frivolous times. The problem with frivolous fun times, is that sometimes we lose sight of environmental responsibility. Please don’t get me wrong, I understand that not all of us feel a responsibility to the environment and that is an individual choice, but maybe, for the sake of those around us; if you care even a little bit, why not try to make an effort to put trash in the right place. Take a look at these pictures and ask yourself; would it have been such a venture to find a trash bin? Maybe we should care – just a little…social responsibility…what a concept!

37th and Fashion Ave.

Broadway and Park

Between 37th and 38th on 7th Avenue

42nd and Broadway

In front of Door Entrance to Champs on 42nd and Broadway

Irony...in front of the Trash can on 42nd st. near McDonald's

37th and 7th

Between 36th and 37th on 7th Ave.

7th Ave and 40th

Every Day is an Opportunity in Social Media

Social Media has become one of the most effective marketing and public relations tools in the World today. Becoming an educated internet savvy user is in the best interest of all currently employed persons, job-seekers, and soon to be job seekers-also known as (college students). The majority of web sites on the internet expose their viewers to some form of social media, sometimes with social media tagging or links to social media websites. For those of you who are wondering what “Social Media” is exactly, according to Wikimedia’s page on Social Media, dated September 24^th 2010, Social Media is Media for Social Interaction, also known as Consumer – Generated- Marketing. This web- based technology is the Mass Communications modern marketplace, which spans the globe through various identities; two such identities are:

Social Networking- an individual based social media,

and

Online Communities- which are group based – social media platforms.

Now the next question that should be stirring in your mind is…What are some examples of a Social Networking or Online Community based platforms? The answer given by Wikimedia’s Social Networking page, also dated September 24^th, 2010 is that they are platforms that allow the user to input personal profiles of information that may seek their high school background, for connecting with old acquaintances. This might include acquaintances from high school, college, membership organizations, or even military affiliations. Two of the most popular Social Networking platforms are Facebook, and MySpace, these websites allow for pictures, correspondence, links, and e-mail invitations that can be accessed via text-messaging, e-mail, and digital audio. Examples of Online Communities that are very popular in today’s media market are: Twitter, Yahoo messenger, Skype, and there are many more. With the online community platform, there is the option of live chatting, which is a medium that is as personal as a phone call, but will also give you the option of voice and stream video. Online communities tend to be popular with corporations that want their employees to build their own personality profiles into the company website, which makes the employee feel as if they have more of a vested interest in the organization. Another benefit is that it gives the employees a virtual opportunity to know their colleagues and internal business contacts, even if they are not working from different geographic locations. One company, “Best Buy,” said in their Twitter blog, that companies that use Twitter give their future and existing clients a chance to feel the personal touch as if they know the sales or executive contact that they are dealing with personally, but this time it is via online or phone interactions, which makes spending money on wholesale goods a lot more comfortable for their clients. It would seem like a downside, to lose that face-to-face contact that has made many sales organizations successful, but time is money, and the most efficient use of time, would definitely favor the social media interaction.

Another great thing about social networking and online communities is that it has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for people seeking employment. Telecommuting, which was once considered employment for housewives that wanted to do at-home data entry or phone call telemarketing, is now for the avid college educated professional, and the pay rates are as lucrative on the virtual office front, as it is in the corporate office. In-fact, craigslist hosts an array of job opportunities listed by potential employers that has a telecommute category, which defines for the job-seeker only those jobs which would allow the work to be done from their own home office.

Speaking from experience, telecommute is a very easy and private way to earn an income and still feel all of the perks that go along with corporate culture. Utilizing SKYPE and headsets to place calls, utilizing PAYPAL and/or direct deposit for paychecks, utilizing GOOGLE DOCS and OUTLOOK FOR BUSINESS, telecommuting is the opportunity of a lifetime, and can open up business opportunities that have not previously been available to college graduates; it is also a corporate gift of entrepreneurship for college graduates with disabilities.

Besides telecommuting, social media has opened up a wealth of job opportunities for current and former college graduates that slightly resemble their daily social media activities, which they have been engaging in-on and off their college campuses for years. Only now there is a significant difference- they will get paid in upwards of $60,000 to $90,000 per year for the same communication habits, acquired through personal social networking.

To give a more visual picture of the future of Social Media, I scrolled through the job opportunities on Craigslist, (as I often do), and on the morning of September 25^th, 2010, there were already over 25 opportunities listed in the social media field. Some of the social media expert titles that were available: Blog assistant, Social Media Presenters, Community Producer: Engage On-line Communities at Live Chat Leader, Data Strategist and more. Each listing specifically wanted college graduates with certain social media

skills. Two such job listings that were especially noticeable in the field of social media are shown in text boxes below:

Craigslist.com-Jobs/Social Media

One position offers a full-time corporate office location job in New York, while the other offers a $12.00 an hour paid internship (great way to learn-how to be in a social media career) also located in New York.

The language of the job opportunities and of social media is quite clear to the avid consumer, simply put…get yourself a laptop, register yourself with an online community, learn how to blog, and get ready for the current and powerful future of opportunity building…aka…SOCIAL MEDIA!

Check out these links for more information on Social Media:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network_service

http://newyork.craigslist.org/search/jjj?query=social+media&srchType=A

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home

http://twitter.com/

http://www.facebook.com/

More Social Media Commentary on Blogging and Microblogging in my next….BLOG! BY DAWNSMI

Member

Member since 2009

2010: 09/26
CATEGORY: Social Media
Uncategorized
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Social Media and the Graduate

DawnSMi is my handle; the first thing I want to say is that I am graduating…finally! I tried college, then I did the corporate sales thing, and now after a short time away from the halls of education, I am back in college with only 3 months to go. A Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies with an emphasis in Public and Professional Studies and a minor in Communications. Whew!!! I never thought it would end, but time is short and the last hoorah is upon me.

I want to spend most of my time blogging on a subject that I think is so vital to not only the American public, but to the college public and to the world at large. The subject is Social Media! I think it is such an important topic, because it has changed the way we communicate in today’s society. It has made communication more evident for the general public, and has opened doors to even the shyest of individuals. For future college graduates, a job is now a button and a password away. I’m a little bit older than the generation X group, and I can remember when finding a job, meant door-to-door – knocking and excessive copies of resumes. Today, you can post your resume with dozens of career sites, get helpful hints for cover letters online, and network for professional positions, while sitting on your couch, drinking a glass of wine, and smoking a cigarette – or in my case – a clove cigar. The possibilities are endless! Order Pizza from one browser tab, and while it is giving you the data for ingredients and toppings, you Skype chat to your future boss, and if you have the skills to media multi-task, e-mail your best friend that pizza will be here in 20 minutes. It’s amazing what technology has done to make our lives so uncomplicated. Of course, there are drawbacks as well; we have lost personal contact with the outside world, and we are in such a texting frenzy, that we don’t take time to smell the flowers, or to taste the Hazelnut latte. We order oblivious to what we are drinking, but why should we pay attention, if we don’t like it, or the order is wrong, we can always look up their companies twitter and complain. Anyway, this is the future of DawnSMi….and I’m blogging.

2010: 09/09
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
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The Maybe Not Me…Valentine’s Day Poem!

Identity Theft Blues

Impromptu Holiday Grad Poetry

Social Media and the Graduate

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