Bye Bye Baby

“Essentials of Social Media” was one of the better college level textbooks I have been forced to read in my life. I am not a huge fan of reading when it is not something I am interested in. I find it hard to be still for a long period of time. I especially liked the feature that read the chapters to you. I would push play and be able to do other things while listening to the chapters.

The chapters I enjoyed the least were about Twitter or X. I just do not think my interests line up with the platform and therefore I did not find it all that interesting. I learned a lot about the platform, but I did not wish to learn more about it hands on.

The chapters I enjoyed the most were about Pinterest

. I use Pinterest quite often, so I already have a background with the platform. I go through phases where I use the platform all the time, but then do not use it for a while. Listening to the chapter in the book I was able to learn more about the platform. I got to see the background of the things I used to not know what they did. Something that I had not realized was how different business accounts on Pinterest were from personal accounts. I also enjoyed the graphics and overall statistics the book provided with every chapter. It was cool to see the

Overall, this book was not too terrible. It was not my favorite thing in the entire world, but I learned something, and I can never complain about that.

The last Taylor Swift song that I will finish out the semester with is Bye Bye Baby. We are almost at the end of the semester! One last push to the end and then a nice break or just the end if you are me.

Long Live

This semester is coming to an end! It is crazy to think that I am almost done with my time at Ohio Northern University. I remember my first day here and I was so excited, yet so scared of the future! I still don’t know exactly what is in my future, but I think I am more confident in my ability to survive it! I know a little more about adult life now than compared to freshman year. I also have learned how to cook more meals than just pasta. I still love pasta, but only have it once or twice a week.

again the door!

rushing out the door!

Something I have truly enjoyed this semester is community. I live with four girls, and I thought it would be a lot of work, but I really enjoyed living with them this fall. We sit down and watch TV together while doing our homework. I like that we can just exist in unison and not have to put any effort into conversation. Right now, we are watching Once Upon a Time. We are watching season three and have a long way to go, but I don’t think I’ll be able to finish it with them. Sad, but true. We plan to have a little movie night before I completely move out. I am excited about moving to Columbus, but also sad to leave my friends so far away. I have learned to have long-distance friends so hopefully we will all stay in contact.

homework time!

The Taylor Swift song that I think sums up my feelings about the end of the semester is Long Live. This song is about Taylor’s relationship with her fans. How she wishes that she could remember the moments she has on tour forever. I relate because I want to hold on to these memories with friends forever, but I know it won’t. In the song she asks, “Will you take a moment?, Promise me this, That you'll stand by me forever, But if, God forbid, fate should step in, And force us into a goodbye, If you have children someday, When they point to the pictures, Please tell them my name, Tell them how the crowds went wild, Tell them how I hope they shine.” I love this verse and I think it sums up senior semester vibes perfectly.

You Need to Calm Down

We finished our internship simulation this past week. Overall, my biggest takeaway from the experience was that it was very time-consuming. At the start of the internship, I would spend upward of two hours working on the posts and studying the information given. Something that helped a lot was keeping a document of notes from the past weeks. Something that was difficult was only doing one round and then the next week I forgot what worked well. Searching for the best photos to use as content was the most time-consuming part. Most photos cost too much money. The free ones were not the most marketable. We had very limited options. There were a few select photos that worked well. I liked how in the organic posts section we were able to plan when the posts were posted. I did not like how in the paid content we could not chose the times and days the posts were posted. I think that being able to find the best times was something that helped my overall goals. The paid posts were the most successful rounds for me. I did not do too well on the influencer rounds. I wasn’t the lowest, but I was on the low end. The influencers were so temperamental. One round the bargaining would go well and then the next would go horribly. I didn’t get the hang of it and the benefits were not worth it. The last rounds we had the option of posting all the different types of content on all the platforms. I did not realize until the second round of the section that we didn’t have to, but that it was an option.

Overall, I learned a good amount of information about social media marketing. I think that it is a lot of work though. The amount of time it takes to complete the internship along with the other things that come with the class was quite a lot.

The Taylor Swift song that I relate to the simulation internship is “You Need to Calm Down” because some of the influencers need to take a chill pill.

Christmas Tree Farm

After the race!

Happy Thanksgiving break! I know it was much needed. This break has been very restful, but I can’t help thinking about all the stuff I need to get done! Senior semester is going way faster than I expected it to. Anyways, the first thing that I did on break was run another 10k! My friends Madeline and Xixi competed in it as well. We were able to train for about a month for this race. I think it was their first time running a road race 10k, but they have both competed in the Buck Fifty. It is a much longer relay race that goes on through the night and into the morning.

Friends!

The morning of the race was very cold! I had forgotten my gloves, but it ended up being a good thing because I wore too many layers. I would rather be warm and then shed layers during the race than start super cold. Zach and I were in the first group to be released. We started running with the 8 minute and 30 second pacer group, but I broke away from Zach after the second mile. Zach is a good sprinter, but I think I’ve got him in the distance races. I kept the 8:00 pacer group in my sight, but I didn’t pass the flag holder. The middle two miles felt like the longest miles of my life. They were full of straight aways where I couldn’t get the energy to pass people. The course for the 10k was combined with the 5k at the end of the race. Which was not the best choice. In the end, where I should have been giving it my all, I was trying not to pummel little children walking in the 5k. I finished in 48:58. My best time yet! I was proud of myself for not throwing up afterwards too!

Overall, Thanksgiving break was spent hanging out with family! I enjoyed being home and seeing my siblings. My favorite thing about break was getting our Christmas tree! We went to our local farm and cut a tree. We took it home and set it up. I am particular about how we go about decorating our tree. I think it is best to go lights, garland and then ornaments. Zach’s family puts up lights, ornaments and then garland! I think it looks like the tree is too wrapped up when you do it like that.

I didn't have photos of the tree

Christmas Tree Farm is the first original song Taylor Swift has put out. She has previously released a Christmas album, but they were all covers. The song is just the perfect mix of cheer without being annoying. As we have learned in class, I am not a big fan of Christmas music, but I do like this song.  

invisible string

Reading the chapter on TikTok was interesting. It was weird to read about a platform that I saw come into existence. I joined TikTok in high school. I distinctly remember making a TikTok with my friends when I would spend the night at their house. My friend, Samantha, went on a trip for her birthday. I was able to go along, and I have the memory of us making a TikTok in the bathroom engrained in my brain.

The first time I leaned in to TikTok was during the pandemic. It was during the summer when the trends took off. I completely leaned into making the clumpy coffee that was trending. I followed the workout videos that went viral. I got my little sister to join as well! We would set up our yoga mats in front of our living room television. Then we would pick a video to watch and work out together. I also remember skincare took off during the summer of the pandemic. I had not known about the levels of skincare before that summer. On the one hand it was informative to learn all about different skincare products. On the other hand, it was over consumption being promoted. I liked learning about new products and seeing the results from a real consumer.

I worked a lot and did a lot of nothing which is why I think TikTok was able to be so successful during this time. I remember a couple more trends that were from that summer. There was one where people took photos with bed sheets over their heads in random places. One of the most memorable trends was the start of “things that just make sense.” It was people showing things in their life that functionally make life easier. It was also the opposite, people showing things that absolutely do not make sense in their life.

At a random mall

Bluebird Cafe

The most important thing that came out of the pandemic was folklore by Taylor Swift. My friends and I took a trip to Nashville because our senior trips were cancelled. We had been planning for about a month and the morning we were leaving for the city; Taylor announces folklore is dropping that night. I was ecstatic. We drove to Nashville, and it was so much fun! I got to visit where Taylor was discovered, her high school and got to see the outside of her museum exhibit. We stayed up to listen to the album and it was surreal because in invisible string she mentions centennial park which is in Nashville. The next day we were able to go to the park and listen to invisible string. The whole trip was a dream and we found most of our destinations from TikTok.