The "Great Leveling of Humanity"

Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989. I don't think he had any idea it could amount to what it is today. Though the Web is only a portion of the Internet, without it, there would be no social media sites or blogs. In fact, half the pop music we have today wouldn't exist because the artists were discovered online (see: Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, etc.) However, the Web can be also be a dark and scary place- and I don't think Berners-Lee could have predicted that either.

How many times a day do you use the Web? For reading (or writing) blogs, looking up recipes, Googling the latest cat video or reading an article about the most recent celebrity scandal (talking about you, Obama). Most of our world today revolves around technology, considering we have an infinite information source right in arm's reach. But you probably don't just look at one thing. You look at related things. So you read blogs related to the type of style your write and you look at similar recipes to compare and you've probably Googled "cat video" more than one time and you probably said your piece in response to the latest celebrity scandal whether it was on Facebook or you talked about it with someone IRL (in real life).
The point is, the Web has connected us today in a way that nothing else has had the power to do. Everywhere you go you can find a group whether it's a forum for something you like or your Pinterest or your related videos on Youtube. And these tools were enabled to help us make the most of our technological experience. Finding and connecting us with people from all over the globe who share our interests.
For example, when I go to Youtube, I see that I would watch 7/10 of the recommended videos. Of those 7 I follow every person the videos were filmed by. So the Youtube Gods or robots or whatever they are know my interests, because they've tracked them. And they are now hyper-targeting me based on what I'm watched, 'liked' and commented on.

However, with great power comes responsibility. And therefore abuse of power can quickly occur. For instance, you may find Youtube comments on the videos I watch along the lines of 'You wear too much makeup!' 'Get a real job because you'll never make it in Hollywood' and 'Too fat'- and those are the nicer ones.
People take their right to free speech very seriously so if you use the Internet as an outlet for your own positing there's always a chance you will get hate for it.
Another example would be a blog that happens to be against your blog specifically or the type of blogs you read (whether it's for the stye or content).
You could let it go, but because of your right to free speech you may also comment/create your own post in response.
And that's when you give them the power over you. You will do anything to beat them in this "fight" and change their minds but they know they won't and so they're using you for whatever sick reason.

In closing, I'll say the Web is still a great tool that should be utilized often as technology is evolving every day. Just be prepared for consequences for the things you post.

Social Media and Fashion

    The CMO's Guide To: The 2014 Social Landscape lists multiple social media outlets and rates them by a list of criteria including: SEO (social engine optimization), brand exposure, traffic to site, and customer communication.
    The two main social media sites I use to connect with the world of fashion are Pinterest and Instagram.
    Pinterest earned a "good" rating in 3 of the 4 categories, only scoring "OK" in the Customer Communication section due to the fact that "private messaging is nonexistent". However, starting at the end of 2014 Pinterest did introduce a private messaging aspect. In my opinion though, Pinterest is a more visual social media outlet: I don't necessarily go on there to talk to other people, just re-pin outfits I like. If I want to know where something is from I can click on the picture and most times it will take me to another site where I can get the information I need, essentially eliminating the middle-man and the need for communication.
    Instagram received a bad rating for the SEO part as well as Traffic Generation. This is mainly due to the fact that the app is more mobile-based as opposed to desktop, and there aren't really links that re-direct users to other sites.
I use Instagram to post pictures of my outfits (for the most part). If someone wants to know where I purchased a certain item, I can either tag each piece in the picture with the Instagram of the place I got it from or let them know in a comment.
    In general, I would say the social media sites I use work well for what I use them for, which is to showcase my own personal style and gain inspiration from others.

Websites Are Dead

Websites are dying, however, they are still on life support.

To debut a new product, or boost interest for an already existing product, Taco Bell puts out a commercial. Then they send out a tweet. They probably update their website too, but nobody bothers to check it because websites are boring. Commercials are interactive, with close-up shots of melted cheese and beef piled on tortillas. Tweets show us that even Taco Bell execs are regular people like us- sort of. Sometimes +Taco Bell will even tweet back to their fans. Now that's dedication.

However, there can't be a commercial for every item on the menu, because our TV screens would literally be filled with nothing but the Mexican fast food restaurant- good for them, not necessarily great for us. 

Speaking of that, the reason I keep using Taco Bell as an example is because I saw the commercial 3 times this morning, and now I have a craving for the stuff.

As for my own digital presence, I mainly use Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Considering I want to get into the fashion industry, even though I post fashion pictures on my Instagram it would be wise to create a second account dedicated to just that. Then, if I posted a picture on my personal page, I could tag my fashion page for a more detailed picture, and from there send people to my fashion blog. I could incorporate Pinterest with my blog by showing different takes of an outfit. 

I would say that a blog would be the biggest thing I need to create my professional digital presence, because it is- in my opinion- the most professional form of social media for the work I'm doing. I could connect my blog and my Facebook so every time I made a new blog post, I could post a status on my Facebook about it. 

I love the fact that social media offers so much creativity. Even though Instagram and blogs and Facebook are all social media outlets, each one offers something different: blogs are mostly words, Instagram is all pictures, and Facebook is a good mix of both. This ensures that viewers never get bored.