Friday, July 31, 2009

Interning at The New York Times

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Today I created a Facebook group for the Summer '09 NYTimes Interns and it reminded me that my internship is really awesome! I also love the work environment at The New York Times, so I wanted to share it with you! Below are some photos of the beautiful space that I work in! What a blessed life!

(Above: The New York Times Building)

(Above: The lobby of The New York Times Building is simple yet beautiful. Walking through it is a great way to start the work day!)

(Above: My subway station exit is about 10 steps from the building. So, each morning, I enter here!)

(Above: My desk on the 9th floor of The New York Times Building)

(Above: The view from my desk. This is a view of Port Authority at 40th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan)

Not only is working at NYTimes.com amazing, it's aesthetically-inspiring!!!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Which Color M&M are You?

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I took the M&M test today to see which color M&M I would be. Turns out I'd be red! Here's the description:

You are the fiery M&M! You are a revolutionary and want to change the world! You can only be tamed by the sexy green M&M who you are madly in love with. You stand out in a crowd, however that sometimes means you are the first to get eaten....
Isn't that lovely? Take the quiz here, to see what color M&M you are!

Twitter Launches New Homepage

(Above: The NEW and IMPROVED Twitter homepage!)

(Above: The OLD and OKAY Twitter homepage!)

Twitter launched their new homepage today, which focuses on searching and Trending Topics. The search bar implores of visitors to "See what people are saying about…". Below the search bar, a cloud of the most popular topics being talked about on Twitter is featured. Oddly, there is a phrase that says "Most popular topics by the minute, day and week"... however, I'm not sure how to narrow them down by those time frames.

Yesterday, Chloe Sladden, director of media partnerships at Twitter, gave a lecture on the future of Twitter. One of the upcoming changes she mentioned was a new homepage that focuses on searching the content of the site. Well, I didn't see it coming so soon! Congrats, Twitter!

Friday, July 24, 2009

My Resume was Featured on Scribd.com

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(Above: Click the screenshot above to enlarge and see my resume featured on Scribd.com)

Wow! What a day! I finished a super cool NYTimes project, which is yet to be launched, and my resume was featured on Scribd.com. I'm floating!

P.S. Just found Scribd on Twitter!

Update (03/19/2010): This feature resulted in 3,636 reads, 178 downloads and 6 five-star ratings in a little less than 8 months. (It was published on 07/24/2009).

Twitter for Businesses

Twitter just launched their Twitter 101 Guide for Business. To accompany the new subdomain http://business.twitter.com, the guide is a quick way to get your business up and running on the fastest-growing social network out there. So, give it a shot!

Twitter 101 for Business

Monday, July 20, 2009

Is 41,667% of Daily Recommended Vitamin B12 Dangerous?

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On a monthly basis, my marketing mentor, Kriti, hosts Idea-phile parties. During these parties, she takes us through a free-flowing process that facilitates idea-creation. Must admit, it's pretty amazing.

Along with idea-facilitating activities, she also brings quality snack foods from Kraft (her previous employer) and PepsiCo (her current employer). Most exciting, these snacks are from all around the world!

From Nicaraguan Tang to Chinese Cheetos, I'm always amazed with the variety of snacks. This time, however, I was moved to blog about two particular snacks: Cheetos Horneados and Zipfizz energy drink mix.

First up: Cheetos Horneados... what's going on with this packaging design? These chips are from Chile. Upon seeing the packaging, the Idea-phile party attendees assumed that the food inside must either be "nuts" or "spicy". It certainly must be that eating these Cheetos is dangerous and/or harmful, at least for the male population.

(Turns out Cheetohs Horneados are just regular, cheesy Cheetos shaped like tennis balls and rackets. Interesting right?)

And for the second curiously odd snack food: Zipfizz energy drink mix...

(At first, Zipfizz seems harmless. But take a look at the nutrition facts...)

(41,667% the daily recommended dose of Vitamin B12??? Is that lethal??? Note: Zipfizz is neither a Kraft nor PepsiCo product. It was used for competitive analysis!)

I love you, Kriti, but some of your snack foods are a bit freaky! :-P

McCafe Mocha Mondays at McDonald's: Free Coffee!!!


(Above: NYTimes interns, Naishi and Biff, and I took a quick coffee break with free mochas from McDonald's)

Who doesn't love free stuff? Free things keep me going every day. Today, the freeness just kept coming with McCafe Mocha Mondays at McDonald's. That's Right! Free mochas from McDonald's new McCafe coffee line. Get them while they're hot (or cold)!

The bottom line: Every Monday from July 13 through August 3 2009, participating McDonald’s restaurants will hand out a free sample size of Iced Mocha (7 oz.) or Hot Mocha (8 oz.) between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm. Limit one free sample per person, per visit, while supplies last.

Louis Vuitton Advertises in Space Style

(Above: Louis Vuitton takes a new direction with luxury advertising)


(Above: On July 20, 2009, Louis Vuitton advertised with a drop-down ad that read "MEN WALK ON MOON on July 20, 1969. 40 years later, Louis Vuitton is taking you on a Journey Beyond." The ad links to louisvuittonjourneys.com.)

Louis Vuitton is taking a new direction on advertising. With the recent 40th anniversary of putting a man on the moon, Louis Vuitton is taking the opportunity to honor the journeys of three space heroes: Jim Lovell (commander of Apollo XIII), Sally Ride (America's first woman in space) and Buzz Aldrin (the second man to step on the moon).

The website louisvuittonjourneys.com takes viewers on an adventure through the lives and careers of the three space legends, as described by them in a private interview with Louis Vuitton.

It's an interesting take on luxury advertising. Best of all, I love how Louis Vuitton is not directly advertising their products. Instead, they are engaging viewers in conversations with great American legends. What a treat.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Twitter's Internal Strategy is Compromised

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twitter-confidential

I stepped out of the office for a little bit today and when I returned I found a 40-paged article on my desk, freshly printed and bound with a binder clip. The article, from TechCrunch, was entitled Twitter's Internal Strategy Laid Bare: To Be "The Pulse of the Planet".

Apparently, on Tuesday evening, more than 300 confidential Twitter documents and screenshots were sent to TechCrunch. Skimming through the article, I can't help but think the following:

1.) How can Twitter be so rude to P. Diddy? (@iamdiddy)

2.) Is this really a strategy? And was it written by 10-year-olds? But, then, on the other hand, I'm thinking that Twitter must have a really youthful culture to use such juvenile language in official strategy meetings. Some examples include:

-- Google would kick our ass at finding the good tweet.

-- Twitter should tell me stuff without me searching for that.

-- Getting into bed with Microsoft / Why did we start talking to Microsoft in the first place?

-- We can give people stuff for free but not forever.

3.) Wow. I wonder how the folks at Twitter conned TechCrunch to not publish all 300 confidential documents that were sent to them.

If you haven't skimmed through (or completely devoured) the article yet, please do so now! It's hilarious and a bit enlightening at the same time.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

What Should I Do with Simpson Stamps?

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Just read about the new Simpson family stamps issued by The United States Postal Service this month. Beautiful! Thanks to the NYTimes ArtsBeat blog, I'm timely in learning about them. Although, now that I think about it... I never really send mail anyways.... so I'm not sure what to do... buy a few for my sticker collection? Or send a few postcards to the family back in Arkansas and Ohio? hmmm. It may take me a while to figure out which action I'll be taking, but regardless, I wanted to share the news with the universe.

How many of you out there still use stamps and snailmail?

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Michael Jackson Becomes the Most Popular Person on Facebook

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According to AllFacebook, the unofficial Facebook resource, yesterday marked the day that Michael Jackson became the most popular person on Facebook, the well-known social networking site that we've all come to depend on. Well, that's in debate, as well.

His Facebook page now has over 7 million fans. As his memorial is in session at this moment, his page has gained thousands of fans within the last few minutes. The page is acting as a virtual memorial for the deceased King of Pop. His MySpace page is not receiving as much responses with just over 614,000 fans, and there doesn't seem to be a reliable Twitter page with regular updates.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

360i Social Marketing Playbook Quiz

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Check out the 360i Social Marketing Playbook. It's a 56-paged full-color guide to social media marketing. This week, 360i, an award-winning digital agency specializing in search, social media, behavioral marketing and digital design and development, is giving away 10 shiny new playbooks. Take their quiz for a chance to win one of the ten guides! I did, and I scored 100%! I even received a certificate of achievement, as pictured below!