Pros and Cons of Podcasting

The word podcast comes from combining the words broadcast and iPod. Podcasts are simply audio broadcasts that are found on the internet.

Popular podcasts

So what makes a podcast different then just downloading a song and transferring it to your iPhone?

The difference is pretty significant. With podcasts searching and downloading isn’t necessary. The podcast comes to you through syndication. With the use of syndication new episodes are automatically downloaded to the users if they are subscribed to the podcast. You have to go out of your way to download music but with podcasts it automatically downloads for you.

There are many pros and cons of podcasting.

First I will go over the pros of podcasting.

Podcasts are very easy to create. All you need is a microphone. If your computer comes with a microphone then you don’t need anything at all.

Podcasts are very inexpensive to create.

Podcasts come across more personable than a blog does. Sometimes hearing a persons voice allows the audience to feel the emotion that the speaker is feeling. With blog posts it is sometimes hard to tell how the writer is feelings. Written words vs spoken words have a very different affect on the audience.

Video Preview of #PitchItMoviePodcast – EPISODE 50 – Actor James Taffurelli pitches "REMAKE: THE REMAKE". #podcast https://t.co/0oAXXsn4aE pic.twitter.com/aT9cZwwzFP

— Pitch It Movie Podcast (@pitchitmoviepod) April 22, 2017

Another big advantage of podcasting is convenience. It’s much different then listening to news on TV. On TV once you miss it, unless you have recorded it you cannot watch it later. With podcasts, they automatically download to your iPhone or computer and they are there for whenever you decide to listen to it. For businesses podcasts are especially useful. It is sometimes hard to get people together for a meeting so why not just make a podcast and have your employees listen to it.

Although there are countless advantages about podcasting there are also some disadvantages.

One disadvantage of podcasts is accessibility. Most people do have internet access however there are people who do not have access to the internet or their internet is really low. With slow internet or no internet it is not possible to listen to the podcasts.

Another disadvantage of podcasts is the lack of interactivity. With  podcasts all the audience can do is listen. This differs with blogs because with blogs you can click on the links and interact with the author of the blog.

With podcasting you have to be very careful with copyrighting material. It is not uncommon for podcasters to be faced with legal issues.

Podcasting is a great way for individuals to share their thoughts. Anyone can create a podcast. You do not have to be a professional. If you have a voice and if you have the technology there is nothing stopping you from creating one. Below I have posted my first ever podcast.

 

The Last Song

Love, music, Miley Cyrus, and Liam Hemsworth…. what could make a movie better?

The Last Song is another melodramatic Nicholas Sparks book being transformed for the big screen. Liam Hemsworth, a hot and steamy actor, and Miley Cyrus, formerly Hannah Montana, a teen idolized by millions of girls, made this a movie definitely targeted towards teenage girls. The Notebook, Dear John, A Walk to Remember, Safe Haven, The Lucky One, and The Last Song all have a lot in common: they start off with an intense love story, and then in some way tragedy strikes that splits the lovebirds apart. I cannot think of one Nicholas Sparks’ novel where the plot did not revolve around a romance and then suffer a major loss. Even if you thought The Last Song looked stupid, Miley Cyrus was in it, and that made seeing this teen blockbuster film a must.

The acting in The Last Song gave the movie a very believable plot. Miley Cyrus had to portray a gothic, slightly grungy teen, which isn’t too different then her off-screen persona hence she didn’t have much trouble playing the role. She plays the part with genuine raw emotion. Ronnie, played by Miley Cyrus, faces many realistic situations throughout the movie and her reactions to them appear extremely sincere and honest. Whether it is falling in love, experiencing a tragedy, or fighting with her family she is able to portray her character in a way that many teenagers can relate to. Liam Hemsworth, with his looks alone, does a good job of living up to the expectations of his character. Liam and Miley together did a superb job of portraying two young adults who are falling madly in love with each other and who have experienced the absolute worst tragedies life can bring.

The location of where the movie takes place is very intriguing. The view you see while standing on the deck of the beach house is picture perfect. From Liam Hemsworth, to the beautiful beach, my eyes did not want to leave the screen. All Nicholas Sparks movies are picturesque, and The Last Song is no different.

“When I Look at you” by Miley Cyrus was the song played in the trailer for the movie. This song definitely hyped up the movie and made people want to see it. After hearing it on the radio only a few times and watching the trailer on the TV, I memorized basically the whole song.

The Last Song encompasses love, tragedy and forgiveness. The acting made it a believable and enjoyable plot. However, the song is what sticks out the most. You can only imagine the audience’s reaction when the song finally began to play at the very end of the movie.

 

Trump and the Media

Journalism played a huge role in the 2016 US presidential election. The accusations made against trump while he was running for president truly led to the downfall of the credibility of journalists, specifically in relation to politics.

FAKE NEWS media knowingly doesn't tell the truth. A great danger to our country. The failing @nytimes has become a joke. Likewise @CNN. Sad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017

The tweet above was posted on February 25, 2017 which was only six weeks into his presidency.  Trump referred to the press as  “the enemy of the American people”.

So what made Trump so defensive and determined to ruin the credibility of journalists? His actions were the actions of someone who had something to hide.

Evidence came out that Trump’s Attorney General, Jess Sessions met with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 election. He did not meet with the Russian ambassador not once but two times during the election. This information was reported first by the Washington Post.

The Washington post was not the only news network to report on Trumps relations with Russia. The New York Times also was a big reporter on Trump during the 2016 election. The NYT reported that several Russian officials met with colleagues of Donald Trump in several European cities.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer has recently blocked some of the most major news networks from attending a White House press conference. CNN, BBC, The New York Times and several other news outlets were all banned from attending the press conference. Those news outlets were also some of the key journalists in breaking stories regarding Trumps relations with Russia. This only raised peoples suspicions on what was going with Trump and Russia.

Journalism has such a powerful effect on people. However, sometimes people simply just choose to believe what they want to believe. When dealing with an election it is extremely important to have the right facts. People can be gullible. Sometimes they just believe whatever they are told. When allegations of fake news sprung up during the 2016 election the citizens of the US were lost. Anyone who has spent time and done research on the allegations between Trumps relationships with Russia will be able to find some sort of truth on the situation.

Fake news should not be published. However, Trump should not be able to ban news outlets from doing their job.

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/04/15/source-claims-concrete-evidence-of-collusion-between-trump-russia/22041057/

This article was posted on April 15, 2017. To this day the White House is still denying all claims with regarding Russia’s involvement with the election.

The 2016 election was definitely the most chaotic election yet. Journalists were repeatedly questioned for being bias in their reports, for reporting conspiracy theories, and overall just reporting fake news.

The job of journalists is to inform the public on things that they do not know are going on. They shouldn’t have been reporting on situations where they did not have all the evidence but the information had to get out there.

Ana López: Marketing for Estrella Damm

Ana López has had a lot of experience in the field of marketing. She earned her Master’s in Communication and Advertising  Management at ESIC: Business and Marketing School. Before that Ana earned 2 bachelor degrees. One in Journalism and one in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Her work experience began in 2002 where she worked as a PR and press office assistant at Casa Asia. From there she then went on to also  work as a Press officer and PR at CCCB. After that she became an account director at Marco de Comunicacion which is a publics consultants network. Ana’s claim to fame occurred after this. In June of 2009 she became the Brand Manager at Estrella Damm,

Estrella Damm is a beer brewed specifically in Barcelona, Spain. It was created in 1876 and has been Barcelona’s most famous beer since.

Ana worked as the Brand manager at Estrella Damm for 6 years. From 2009 until 2015. During that time she wasn’t only the Brand Manager but she was also the head of Digital Marketing.

The marketing strategy that Ana Lopez and her team came up with was to portray Estrella Damm as a brand associated with good moments and a Mediterranean way of life. Before Ana came a long, Estrella Damm had no digital marketing department.

In 2009 before all the new social media came out, Youtube was what companies used to promote their brand.

Estrella Damms digital and marketing team had an unknown Swedish band record a song to promote Estrella Damm.

This video is a great representation of what Ana and her team was trying to portray: Good moments and a Mediterranean way of life. Everyone in the video is happy and smiling. In every social event what would be better than to have a beer. This video  targets all audiences. Everyone wants to listen to a catchy song while watching people have fun. This video went viral and currently has over 1 million views. This video alone increased brand awareness by over 225%. A shorter version of this video also exists for commercials on TV.

6 years later another video was created. The video is called Vale and it stars Dakota Johnson.

This video received even more recognition then the previous video. This video has over 7 million views. People of all ages will get a kick out of this video. With the beautiful scenery and the funny humor this video definitely helped spread good things about Estrella Damm. This marketing strategy became one of the most well known and best campaigns in Spain.

The relationship with the consumers and the brand of Estrella Damm is very class. The marketing team of Estrella Damm keeps the consumers in mind with every action that they take. The outbreak of social media has significantly helped the brand. Most recently Ana Lopez founded the Digital Marketing Consultancy called LaLopez.

Marketing–>Business Success

Social media has enhanced businesses all over the world. Social media has helped businesses market their brands. With the use of social media, their fans and followers have significantly increased.

First, lets talk about how Kylie Jenner’s use of social media helped her market her business. Kylie is a prime example of a business women who used her social media to market her business.

In the fall of 2016 Kylie Jenner launched her cosmetics line, called Kylie Cosmetics. Kylie’s cosmetic line started off with just a few lip kits but quickly turned into so much more. Kylie now has created eye liners, blushes, eyeshadows and so much more.

So, how did an 18 year old create such a massive business so fast? The answer to this is simple. She used social media to market her new business.

Kylie Jenner has 20.1 million twitter followers. With that many followers posting about her business would be extremely beneficial to her sales.

Mmm @kyliecosmetics has a special collab coming up for you 😌

— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) March 29, 2017

With this tweet, all of her followers will be aware about an upcoming launch and will rush to get onto her website before it all sells out. Kylie Cosmetics also has a twitter account with over 500k followers. Her twitter account is not the only social media account that she uses to promote her business. Kylie uses Instagram as a big marketing tool. Kylie currently has over 90 million followers. She is one of the most famous teens in the world. The younger generation looks up to her which explains why she has so many followers. When she Instagram’s that she is launching a makeup line people are going to want to be the first ones to get it.

This year Kylie decided to launch a holiday edition cosmetic line. When it sold out so quickly she would make deals with her followers, so they would try again to purchase the holiday edition.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNPfULihK9X/?taken-by=kyliejenner&hl=en

This is a great marketing strategy. Not only is this a great deal but by Kylie posting this on her Instagram millions and millions of her loyal fans will see it.  Kylie also made a Kylie Cosmetics Instagram account where she also posts about the new things she is creating. This account already has over 12 million followers.

So Kylie Jenner promotes her business on twitter and Instagram. However, she also takes advantage of her snapchat to market her business. On snapchat she will let her fans know when she is creating something new and when it will be launching.

Kylie’s business has only been around for a year and a half and it is already so big. Her marketing strategies have definitely played a big role in the success of her business.

Park Güell

Park Güell is one of Barcelona’s most popular tourist attractions.

https://storymap.knightlab.com/edit/?id=park-guell

Park Güell is located on Carmel Hill in Barcelona, Spain.

The man responsible for the design of the park is a very well known architect, Antoni Gaudí.

Park Güell was built between 1900 and 1914. However, it wasn’t officially opened as a public park until 1926.

Park Güell wasn’t originally built for the purpose of being a public park.  Eusebi Güell, the man that Park Güell was named after sought out Antoni Gaudí to construct the buildings of what is now known as Park Güell.

Eusebi Güell wanted to create an estate  for wealthy families to live. He assigned this job to Gaudí. Eusebi wanted to have a gated community for the elite people of Barcelona to reside. This gated community consisted of 60 houses surrounded by a beautiful park with magnificent views of the city. The building conditions were very restrictive. The height and placement of each of the 60 houses was very specific. Goudi positioned the houses so it would not block the view of sea as well as not blocking the sunlight from coming in.

Building a private estate for the aristocracy seemed like a good idea, however, it did not work out the way Eusebi Güell had hoped it would. Only two out of the 60 houses that were built were bought. As it happens, those two houses that were bought happened to not even be built by Gaudi. The very first person who purchased a plot in the park was Martí Trias i Domènech, a lawyer who was a friend of Güell. He purchased his plot in 1902 and hired architect, Juli Batllevell to help him build his house. The other house that was actually built, was designed by Francesc Berenguer, Gaudi’s assistant. This house was built by Josep Pardo i Casanovas and was a show house. in 1906 Gaudi decided to make the show house his home and he moved in and lived there with his father and niece. This is where Gaudi lived from 1906 to 1926. It was known as La Torre Rosa and today it houses the Gaudi museum.

This is a photograph of Gaudi’s home, where he lived for 20 years.

So how did what was once a private estate for the wealthy people of Barcelona to live all of a sudden turn into a public park?

The strict contracts to purchase one of of the plots as well as the location made people reluctant to buy a home. The location had a gorgeous view, however, it was far from the center of Barcelona and lacked viable transportation. With only two of the 60 houses being built and purchased the private estate turned into a large private garden. However, Güell allowed the private garden to be used for public events. Soon after that it became one of the most well known tourist attractions in Barcelona.

In 1926 Park Güell was officially opened as a municipal park. In 1963 Gaudi’s house was opened to public as Gaudi’s House Museum. In 1969 Park Güell was recognized as an artistic monument. 15 years later in 1984 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Park Güell looks like it came out of a fairytale. The beautiful mosaics and colorful tiles used in the creation of the buildings is absolutely gorgeous. It feels like a magical place. In not a shock that it became one of Barcelona’s most popular and well known tourist attractions that appear in many brochures and appears as the cover of many post cards. No matter who you are, if you are young or old Park Güell is a place that everyone would enjoy to see.https://twitter.com/hashtag/parkguell?lang=en

As you can see in this video, the architecture of the buildings in Park Güell is absolutely magnificent. Gaudi is one of the greatest architects of all time.

Antoni Gaudi is a Catalan Architect. He was born in 1852 and he passed away in 1924. Shortly after he passed Park Guell opened up as a public park. Gaudi’s architectural style is said to fall under the category of Modernism. From an early age Gaudi knew he wanted to  be an architect. Gaudi was a vert special and unique architect. His works were known for their natural forms. With Park Guell, Gaudi was able to make his imagination truly come to life. His architectural style was exactly was Guell was looking for when he hired him to create the park. He wanted colors, mosaics, gorgeous columns, and and anything else that would be jaw droppingly beautiful for the people to see. According to Mark Favermann, “Gaudi’s visual riddle was to use color symbolism and exotic shapes, forms and materials to demarcate the allegorical areas between heaven and earth.”

Gaudi’s claim to fame was not only from the creation of Park Guell. He is also the man responsible for the design of La Sagrada Familia. He began working on La Sagrada Familia in 1883. When he began working on La Sagrada Familia he stopped working on all of his other projects at the time to give as much focus and dedication as he could to the church. The style of the church consisted of Gaudi’s equilibrated methods as well as the Gothic and Art Nouveau styles. Gaudi perished before La Sagrada Familia was complete. To this day La Sagrada Familia still is not complete. As of today the church is only 70% complete. The goal however, is to complete the church by 2026. Although Gaudi isn’t alive to help complete the work he is still given the credit for the architectural design of the church. There is still construction being done on it. La Sagrada Familia is located on Career de Mallorca, 401. Overall Gaudi’s claim to fame was Park Guell and La Sagrada Familia.

This is a video of a tourist traveling in Barcelona. After she arrived and was settled in the first thing she did was go and see Park Guell. Park Guell has had such a positive impact on Barcelona. When people come to the city for a few days it is almost always guaranteed that they will visit Park Guell.

The Story of Perseverance: Valentí Sanjuan

Life has many ups and downs. It’s important to not let too many hardships keep you down. There is always something good to look forward to.  Valentí Sanjuan is a prime example of someone who truly persevered through some very tough times and came out of it all on top.

Valentí lost his mother to cancer and shortly after that he lost his job and his girlfriend. Not every human would be able to get through all of that the way he did.

Instead of remaining unemployed and sulking in his grief, Sanjuan decided to start his own agency, Gordon Seen.

 

After all the tragedies  occurred in Sanjuan’s life he was finally in a good place with his new company as well as with his television program Visto Lo Visto. But then he began to run and compete in competitions and thats when his business and popularity truly took off.

There are tons of people who run to get rid of their grief. Exercise is a way to free your brain and get out of your head. However, most people don’t decide to join an extremely tough and rigorous competition only 2 months before it actually starts. This is what Valentí Sanjuan did with the Ironman of Lanzarote.

The race starts off with swimming. The swim takes place at Playa Grande, Puerto del Carmen.

This picture is a bit deceiving. It looks absolutely beautiful but swimming in that for hours when it is super hot out cannot be easy. The swimming section of the race is 3.8km long which is over 2 miles.  Included in the 3.8km is a 20 meter run on the sand, in the strong  heat. After the swimming part of the race is the bike section. Valentí Sanjuan had to bike a distance of 182.2km. That wasn’t even the last part of the race. The final part of the race came after and it was the 42.2km run.

Valentí Sanjuan documented his journey throughout the race and posted it on his YouTube channel.

If you think this race looks tough it doesn’t even compare to how difficult the Ultraman competition looked. Ultraman took place in Hawaii so you can only imagine how hot it was. The strength and courage that one would have to have to put themselves out there and compete in these races is huge. Not only did Valentí Sanjuan just compete but he also let the world watch him compete. He put it all out there for the world to see.

No matter who you are, participating in marathons can give you the confidence and release that everyone needs sometimes. Valentí Sanjuan took the liberty of assisting someone who couldn’t run on their own due to being in a wheel chair and let them feel like they were truly apart of the race. He gave this person a day that she will remember and cherish forever. 

 

 

Broadway

My family is very big on broadway shows. My mom has been taking me to NYC to see broadway shows for as long as I can remember. I love Manhattan. I always have so much fun going into the city with my family to see a show. I have seen many shows in my lifetime but I definitely have a few favorites.

My favorite show of all time is American Idiot. The soundtrack of that play was incredible. The show was such an amazing representation of the Green Day album, American Idiot.

21 guns was my favorite song in the musical. I listened to it on repeat for at least a week after I saw the show. If it ever comes back to broadway I highly recommend you go see it.

Another show that I really enjoyed was Hamilton. Hamilton was probably one of the coolest shows I’ve ever seen. The music was so unique for a broadway show. I remember just sitting there stunned by how amazing it was. Right after the first song, I knew the show was going to be incredible. Hamilton won the Pulitzer prize for drama and it definitely deserved the award. Hamilton won 11 Tonys, including the Tony for best musical. It’s so cool that Lin-Manuel Miranda, the man who wrote the play, also played Alexander Hamilton.

This is my favorite song from the musical. Right after the show I downloaded the soundtrack and could not stop listening to it. I tend to become obsessed with shows very easily. Once I see a show that I love it becomes my favorite.

I also really enjoyed all the classic broadway shows. Mama Mia was amazing. I saw it so many years ago along with Hairspray, The Lion King, Rent, and many more. I still listen to the soundtracks to all these shows. I probably have memorized every word to all the songs in Rent and Mama Mia. Dancing Queen, Money Money Money, and Mama Mia. Those songs will never get old.

I went to London last weekend and really wanted to see Dream Girls but I didn’t end up getting a chance to see it. I was only in London for a weekend and there was so much that I wanted to do. I went to London Years ago with my family. When I was there my parents took me to see 2 shows. We saw Billy Elliot and Mary Poppins. I was really young when I saw them but from what I remember they were really good. Nothing beats broadway in NYC tho. Billy Elliot and Mary Poppins were great shows though.

When I get home from Spain I really want to see Dear Evan Hansen. I heard it was amazing.

The Gamble of the Stock Market

Investing in stocks is always a huge gamble. The stock market can crash at any second. At one moment it is doing really well and the next it’s not.

Making blind trades is not always the way to go when investing in stocks. It is important to do research and keep up with how the stock market is doing. Using all the tools that google has to offer is very helpful in researching stocks. I was part of an online simulation stock competition where I had to invest in stocks and options. I used Google Alerts to find out new information about different stocks to invest in.

When bigs things happen to a company it’s important to know before deciding if you want to invest in the stock or not. Apple has had many ups and downs throughout the year. After the release of the iPhone 7, Apple fell 2.67%. Normally shares of Apple fall the day of the launch. However, with the the launch of the iPhone 7 the stock rose and plopped the day after the big launch.

Twitter is also a very useful way to keep up with stocks. It is a great way to keep up with trends and to know what is going on in the world.

“We’ve reduced the thickness of the phone, so now it’s 45% more likely to tumble between your car seat and armrest"

— David Weigel (@daveweigel) September 7, 2016

#Prognosis of #stocks to #grow #significantly as of February 18 2017 #Bullishhttps://t.co/QwwrzpwgSl via @drastichs pic.twitter.com/xoJyEAa9ID

— Stanislav Drastich (@drastichs) February 18, 2017

According to the Tweet made by Stanislav Drastich, Apple is predicted to be a very good stock to invest in.

When investing in a stock it is important to have a grasp on what the company is and does. For example, I would invest in stocks such as Apple, McDonalds, and Starbucks given that they are predicted to do well in the future or have a had a decent trend in the past. It really is important to look at how the stock has done in the past. The past is often a great indicator on how it will be in the future.

There are seven stocks in particular that should not be on anyones list to  buy. Sprit Corp. is high up on the list of stocks not to buy in 2017. It produced great earnings in 2016, however Sprint is still extremely indebted and unprofitable.

From my three month competition I have found that Google was the most helpful tool in researching stocks. Google trends would show me the interest over time for specific stocks in various countries. Without the research I did i would have done significantly worse in my competition.

 

 

 

 

Millions of followers=Millions of dollars $

Instagram was launched in October of 2010. By April of 2012 Instagram had over 100 million users and it has continued to grow in popularity. Instagram can be used for many different purposes. It is a way for businesses to share their products to increase sales, a way for people to post pictures with their friends, a way for celebrities to promote themselves as well as their brand, a way for makeup artists to post videos and close ups of their makeup, and many other things.

Celebrities are all over Instagram. Every time I go to my popular page another celebrity pops up. Selena Gomez is currently the celebrity with the most followers. She has 109 million followers. Taylor Swift is right behind her with 97 million followers.

Instagram seems to be more important to celebrities than it is for the average person. That makes sense given that they have 100 million followers and the average person has around 700. Celebrities use instagram to market themselves. Each time they post, they get paid. For example, Kim Kardashian gets paid around $250 thousand dollars for each advertisement photo she posts.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BG40uSHuS6A/?hl=en

I’ll admit, I follow Kim on Instagram and when I see a post like the one above I am intrigued and go on to look up the product shown in the picture. I’m not saying this photo is worth $250 thousand dollars but it is definitely great advertisement for the product.

The whole Kardashian/Jenner family is big on Instagram. The youngest of the group, Kylie Jenner is gaining more and more popularity as the years go on. Her Instagram account has over 80 million followers and she promotes her cosmetic business on another account called Kylie Cosmetics. Kylie Cosmetics is one of the biggest online make up brands in the world. The account currently has over 11 million followers.

I have to admit, I am one of the followers and owners of a few Kylie Lip kits. On the Instagram account she posts photos about when the next big launch will be taking place and she continuously posts photos of all the different lip kits she has created.   The photos she posts are incredibly helpful to me when deciding which color I want.

This lip kit, Candy K is by far one of my favorites and I would never have purchased it if it wasn’t for her Instagram account where she posted a photo of someone wearing it.

https://www.kyliecosmetics.com

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNlVX02Bnxj/?taken-by=kyliecosmetics&hl=en

Not only does Kylie just have a cosmetics Instagram account but she also has another Instagram account called The Kylie Shop where she posts her specialized Kylie merchandise. The Kylie Shop only launched a couple months ago and already has almost 1 million followers.

Kylie’s Instagram accounts have definitely played a big part in the success of her businesses. From her posts, the world is aware when her merchandise is launching and what is being launched. You have to get on to the sites right away to be able to purchase something before everything gets sold out.

Instagram has grown a tremendous amount over the years and has had significant impacts on celebrities and their businesses.