Tag Archives: social media

April 29, 2013

Vine: New Social Media App

Filed under: All Things Tech, College Life - Angelina
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Serena Piper Blogger Biography

 

 

 

 

What is Vine, where did it come from, and why is everyone so obsessed with it? Let’s talk about it and consider if you should be using it.

1. What Is Vine?

Created by Twitter, Vine is a mobile app which allows its users to record and post short video clips. All video clips are about six seconds and can be shared on social media networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, and the rest of the Vine community. The video clips are also referred to as “GIFs,” which are a series of video frames that move as animation.

2. How Do You Use Vine?

Download the app to your phone (iPhone only for now). Use the app’s camera to record a six second clip of anything you want. Hold your finger down on the phone screen to create your video. You can start and stop recording as many times as you want during the six seconds.

Vine App

Photo © J.R.Rustia

3. Should You Use It?

If you’re a journalism or media major, or have a job in any industry that uses video art, you’ll probably love this app. It’s great for stop-motion pictures, short messages to friends, and anything else you can think of. It does record audio, so be aware of any background noise.

4. What Are People Saying?

I haven’t read any rave reviews about Vine. Most are skeptical or critical of it, noting there are more not-so-great things about it than great, and that there are some tweaks needing to be made. People like it for allowing creativity and a fun form of expression. Others say upload time can be a pain and that there isn’t a way to text a Vine straight from the app.

As Mashable’s Seth Fiegerman says in a recent article, “Vine deserves credit for convincing uncreative amateurs like myself that we can be quasi-videographers for six seconds at a time, but it’s not every day that you come across something truly video-worthy or have the forethought to stage a good shoot.”

vine app logo

Photo © kcmurillo1990

Are you a Vine user? What do you make videos of and would you recommend a friend to use it?

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May 14, 2012

Girls Gone Wild… For Pinterest

Filed under: All Things Tech - BookRenter Team
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By guest blogger Serena Piper
Journalism major at the University of Oregon. Editor-in-Chief of Her Campus Oregon. Magazine, freelance blogger, future world traveler. In her spare time, she likes to read as many books as she can, go for long drives, and peruse news websites. Hopes to one day write for National Geographic.

Pinterest. Virtual home of women all over the world looking to plan weddings, try new recipes, find ways to lose weight, remodel their homes, indulge in retail therapy, or find inspiring quotes. Millions of new pins are added every week to the site built by a small team of people in California. They are credited with giving people all over the world a new social media platform to connect through based on shared tastes and interests. Their goal was to “build a product people love,” and considering the site now has 21.5 million people visiting monthly, I think it’s safe to say they’ve accomplished that goal. They’ve also succeeded in creating a new addiction.

The Pinterest homepage

According to Experian, Pinterest is now the third most popular social networking site on the web, behind Facebook and Twitter. That’s some fast progress considering just five months ago it was number seven, behind LinkedIn and Myspace. But what some people don’t understand is what exactly all the hubbub is about. Why are we obsessed with what could be Tumblr’s twin? And what exactly is “pinning”?

Ironically, although the site was founded by a man, InsideNetwork’sAppData tracking service found that about 97% of Pinterest users are women. Of course, men are welcome to check out the site, but I don’t know many men who would go crazy over ways to organize their laundry room or make their own candles. Pinning is everything a woman does with a subscription to InStyle, Better Homes and Gardens, and Cosmo…but online. Pinning is what you do after seeing a photo you like. First, in order to make an account, you have to request an invite from Pinterest. Once you have created your account, browse the site. When you find something you like, click the ‘re-pin’ button and it instantly pins that image to your virtual bulletin board. Just like with Facebook and Twitter, your friends can “follow” your pins and if they see something they like, re-pin it to their own bulletin board.

Pinterest can be your best friend when it comes to finding delicious recipes, like IceCreamConePizza, and S’more-StuffedChocolateChipCookies; finding your next home project muse, such as apenny-tiledfloor; planning over-the-toptreehouses for your kids; or scoping out DIY projects for those rainy weekends. It can also be a great way to promote your own website. For example, if you run a blog website for your school, you can link to your writer’s articles on Pinterest; it’s just another way to get your site more readers and exposure. Communication is what every social media site is for, right?

Check it out, but let this be a caution! You might be surprised by how addicted you get.

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May 3, 2012

BookRenter Beginnings – Meet Social Community Manager Allison

Filed under: College Life, Post Grad and Career - Social Community Manager
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Allison GergleyHey there BookRenters – my name is Allison, and I’m the newest addition to the marketing team at BookRenter. I’m your Social Community Manager – which basically means I get to find hilarious, helpful, exciting and oftentimes, bizarre internet phenomenons, photos, memes, videos and tips you’ll want to be keeping up on in your college life and beyond (although I won’t be keeping up with the Kardashians for you. Just putting that out there.) Along with some talented digital college interns from across the U.S., we’ll be writing about social trends that are relevant to YOU – whether it’s a video that one-ups the Honey Badger (I don’t know if this is possible), or the best cheap burger places to eat around campus after French class (oui, s’il vous plait). If I could’ve eaten my way to a college degree, I would have.

A little background about me: I’m a bi-coaster, hailing from the east coast and currently living on the west coast. I grew up in the gorgeous Hudson Valley of downstate New York (right outside NYC), and studied at Boston University, so I’m all about the city life through and through.  If you’re a city campus dweller like I was, or spend your time on a fab campus that’s more rural, I want you to dish about your best tips too, so you can save mucho dinero for a fantastic #YOLO experience this summer.

This is where BookRenter comes in. Throughout the year, we’re relentlessly working to get you the best deals on your price-soaring textbooks with our flexible book rental periods, and free return shipping on all books. We even throw you some cash towards your next rental if you’re finished with books early – so you won’t see your money disappear into thin air at your campus bookstore buy back at the end of the semester.

So dive in with me and the BookRenter team – we’re pretty excited to have you. We’ll be sharing a ton of great info to come, and feel free to share your experiences with us too. Now let’s go get some cheeseburgers.

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