A 20-something's Perspective

Burger King along with their ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky recently launched a Facebook application named Whopper Sacrifice. Burger King's tongue in cheek Facebook application had users delete 10 friends from their network to receive an e-mailed coupon for the new Angry Whopper. The friends were then sent a message announcing their deletion in favor of a fast food sandwich. Ouch...

To date, Burger King claims 232,566 friends were deleted in favor of the free Whopper. In addition, the campaign has sparked controversy with more than the 232,566 former Facebook friends. After going live for only a couple of days, the application was hacked allowing people to get a free burger without dismissing 10 friends. Then Facebook shut down the application proclaiming it violated user's privacy. The termination is allegedly temporary, but after being hacked and shut down by Facebook I wouldn't be surprised if the app was gone for good.

While some may say this campaign has been unsuccessful I have to disagree. The controversy surrounding Whopper Sacrifice has generated so much buzz that I'm sure Burger King has far surpassed its awareness goals. A quick Google search will show you that articles about the campaign have appeared in the New York Daily News, L.A. Times, Media Post, New York Times and MSNBC to name a few.

That is not to say I don't have my own criticisms of the campaign. While I admire Burger King and CP+B for thinking outside the box and using social media in a unique way, I'm not sure of the overall strategy. This Facebook application has certainly raised awareness and encouraged people to try the Angry Whopper, but it also flies in the face of Facebook creators. Typically the idea is to gain friends not lose them. An application that forces users to lose friends is sure to get Marc Zuckerberg a little miffed. True, Facebook is not hurting for users, but I wonder how eager they or other social networking sites will be to work with these companies in the future.

Have Burger King and CP+B jeopardized their standing with social networks?

Not so long ago, when people punched out and went home for the day they were done worrying about their professional image. They were free to relax with friends, and even get a little... Crazy. This does not hold true today. In an era where competition is as fierce as ever, my generation does not only need to worry about getting into the best schools, having the best grades or even landing the perfect internship. Instead, many are worrying about their online presence and how it may be affecting their current job and job search.

With everyone Facebooking and Twittering the social media space does not only belong to a circle of close friends. For many it is not uncommon for an aunt, uncle or even parent to be part of their social network. Furthermore, many people are "friending" colleagues.

I am a big fan of social media, but I must admit that sometimes I yearn for the days where the only harm an unflattering picture could cause is a mild humiliation in class on Monday.

Today I manage five to six different social media accounts. Not only do I try to make sure all of these online spaces are kept current, but I also worry about the messages I send out. Would my coworkers and family approve of my Facebook status? What about that last tweet? There's no complaining about work or the company when one of your friends is a V.P. Is it ok to decline a coworkers friend request? And, how much is too much, or not enough? If I don't tweet everyday will I be considered out of the loop? If I tweet 10 times a day will people think I'm neurotic?

The hardest and greatest part about social media is there are no rules. There aren't even many social norms. What is appropriate and what's not is completely up to the person and their social network.

On either side of this debate are two, I think, valid arguments. The first is that the Internet is a public space, and if a person is leary about some of their "extra curriculars" they should think twice before posting online. The second deals with the right to privacy. I think it's safe to say that most social media web sites allow the user to play around with their own privacy settings. For instance, I block all of those who I have formed professional relationships with from viewing my photos on Facebook. To all my professional friends it's nothing personal, but as I try to brand myself online I don't want you looking at photos from my latest Saturday night at the bar.

Which brings me to my main question. Is there a way to enjoy all social media has to offer without compromising yourself? Is it possible to keep parts of your private life private online? If we remain professional it can take much of the fun out of social media. If we strip our Facebook profiles to look like nondescript paper cutouts we are left with little sense of authenticity and character.

Is there a solution? A way to have fun with social media while not scaring away potential clients and job offers? What about creating two online persona's? One with an alias to be used with close friends and another to be used for business?

Right now I am debating whether or not to post this to my Twitter and Facebook account. How will my colleagues react when they see my hesitation towards sharing my whole self with them online? I guess I'll have to wait and see. Until then, how do you manage your professional and private lives online?

I will admit that when I first started to hear about the housing crisis and possible recession I was a bit naive. Okay, very naive. The financial crisis was going to have a big impact, but it couldn't possibly affect me. After all I don't own a house, I rent! I couldn't even lose much money in my 401K because I had only been contributing for 9 months.

Then things started getting worse. Gas prices spiked and getting loans got trickier. Despite all this I still thought I'd be okay. Until student loans hit...

You see, it has come to my attention that I am not as good as managing my money as I thought. I pay my bills on time and try to make more than the minimum payment, but it isn't always enough. Ever since college I've had a tendency to live above my pay grade. If I could "afford" to go to Spring Break and pay off my credit card in a few months what was the harm? I hadn't gone shopping in months. I work hard, I deserve a shopping spree. I graduated college, I not only deserve, I need a new car!

Sidebar - To be fair I did try to find a used Mazda3, but there weren't any available with all the features I wanted and in the right color... Okay, I had no excuse.

The thing is once you add up all the vacations, shopping excursions, new car and students loans I am left with a sizable amount of debt.

The solution? After the grace period lapsed on my school loans I requested a forbearance for a year. At that point I already had a second job and adding another bill was not an option. Ten months later student loans were coming and it was time to stop procrastinating and start consolidating. As you can imagine, this is where the credit crisis started to bite me in the ass. No one would consolidate my loans, so I am left with three monthly payments.

Today I am struggling, like the majority of Americans, to keep my head above water. (It's a good thing my parents are thrilled with home made CD's for Christmas.) I know a lot of people want to blame the financial institutions and auto companies for their failings, and I agree, but I think the American people need to take some of the blame too. After all, it's my fault I owe $5,000 to my credit card company. It's my fault I bought a new car without considering how much it would really cost each month once you factor in insurance and maintenance.

While I feel for families whose homes are in foreclosure they had a hand in putting themselves there. The financial institutions should have made better decisions and the auto makers need to be wise enough to run stronger business models.

I guess what I'm saying is that we need to stop pointing fingers and admit that we as a nation have collectively fucked up. We have all been living above our pay grades. Whether it's the CEO who tried to make the stock or home more valuable, the family who bought a house they couldn't afford or a college student who went on spring break, we've all been financially irresponsible and it's time to face the music. The government, businesses and individual people need to help one another get back on track.

Personally, I don't like the term "bail out." It sounds too much like a hand out, and Americans don't take hand outs. At least that's what Denny Crane would say. Instead, we all need a helping hand. The financial institutions, auto companies, families who no longer have a place to stay, recent graduates and current students who can barely afford an education and the millions of people who have lost their jobs. Our government needs to provide that helping hand, and in doing so they need to do more than hand us a blank check.

In return I'm going to do my part to be more fiscally responsible. Are you?

Attending a PRSA luncheon today it was painfully obvious which PR professionals were tuned into social media and which were not. As I sat at a table with five other PR practitioners the MotrinMoms incident was brought up. Only two of us had heard of MotrinMoms. Coincidentally, we were the only two who had Twitter accounts.

The Motrin Campaign
So what is the MotrinMoms incident? Motrin developed an ad campaign aimed at Moms who carry children in baby slings. The ad claimed that Mom's do this to look like "an official Mom." Adding that baby slings are a great cause of neck and back pain. The solution? Motrin, of course!

The ads were placed online and in magazines. Once Mom's saw the ads they were deeply offended and began posting furious messages on Twitter. They organized and used a #MotrinMoms tag to make their tweets easy to find. To their credit, Motrin was able to respond to the outcry over the weekend and has since removed the ads. To view the ad and Moms responses view the videos below.





The Industry's Awareness
My question is after all this, how did only a select group of PR professionals have any knowledge of the event? The simple (and scary) answer is that many PR professionals are still not tuned into social media. I find this astonishing when social media is talked about at luncheons, at the PRSA National Conference, in news articles, trade publications... Social media appears to be so prevalent in our industry that popular PR vendors (Cision, Vocus and PRNewswire to name a few) are holding Webinars.

If Motrin has taught us anything it's that it is very important to listen to what people are saying about your company online. If PR professionals are not listening their clients will not be able to respond to negative attacks or benefit from this new medium.

The Solution
The only way to get comfortable with these new tools is by using them. My advice? If you don't have a Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn account get one now. Never heard of Digg? Google it and start learning. The only way PR professionals will be educated about social media is if they invest the time to learn about it, and that means playing with these tools.

If you aren't convinced that Twitter is a valuable tool go to http://www.summize.com/ and put in your companies keywords. It will generate a list of tweets of what people are saying about your company. I urge all communication professionals, old and young, to start learning more about social media. I am confident that failing to immerse yourself in this new medium will cause you to find yourself unemployable.

Where were you the night Barack Obama was elected? This question is bound to be asked time and time again. There are certain events in each country's history that define a generation. For my grandparents it was Pearl Harbor and the stock market crash of 1929. My parents generation was defined by the JFK assassination, Martin Luther King assassination and Woodstock. Generation X has partly been shaped by the challenger explosion.

This of course leads to Generation Y -- the millenials. When I was little I'd hear stories of the 1960's and it sounded like the most exciting time. The U.S. was full of young revolutionairies, mind altering drugs, bell bottom pants, duck and cover drills and an endless parade of events that would never be forgotten. To be clear, I am not advocating mind altering drugs or bell bottoms, but there was something special about the 60's that made my middle school mind yearn for that same kind of excitement.

As it turns out I got exactly what I wanted. The questions that will define my generation will be, "Where were you when the Twin Towers fell?" and "Where were you the night Barack Obama was elected?" Maybe if I'm lucky... "Where were you when the first woman was elected president?" or "Where were you when we dropped our dependence on foreign oil?"

I am very excited and honored to be a part of this generation. My generation will launch the world into a new technological era, we will work to find solutions to the world's energy crisis and hopefully make life just a little bit better for the next generation. In the spirit of hope here are a few of my wishes for the next twenty years in no particular order.

• U.S. and all other nations become energy independent, reducing our global carbon footprint
• Legalization of gay marriage and gay adoption
• Full sex education for all children
• An end to the abortion debate - give women the right to choose
• Better regulation of reproductive facilities (sperm banks)
• Higher educational standards with the government support to make this a reality
• Affordable healthcare for everyone
• An end to war in Iraq

What are your hopes and dreams for the future?

I've just witnessed a new campaign from VW and it's brilliant.

Within 10 minutes of receiving an e-mail from a friend 10 20-somethings had logged onto the VW web site and started learning more about the new Routan. The Routan is the latest minivan from Volkswagon. This incredibly intelligent campaign is aimed at young and soon-to-be parents.

When you look onto the VW Routan site you are greeted by a video starring Brook Shields. Shields explains that "10 thousand babies are born in the U.S. each day for German Engineering." Because you can't buy a mini-van unless you have kids, right?

When the video ends (I actually made it through the whole video) there is a link to the RoutanBabymaker 3000. This fun online widget allows users to make a baby without actually making a baby. By simply uploading your picture and your boyfriend, girlfriend's, husband or wife's picture the RoutanBabymaker 3000 will show you what your baby could look like. It's an ingenious campaign that easily allows the user to share their results with others.

This viral campaign perfectly targets Gen X and Y who do the majority of online comparison car shopping and are the most likely to share online content with friends.

So, what are you waiting for? Go make your own Routan Baby.

Sometimes I long for the days when I came home from school to the smell of fresh baked cookies, a home cooked meal and clean laundry. Those days have been over for awhile now, but it hasn't been until recently that I've had to deal with securing my own medical care.

I've found that this is something they definately don't teach you in school. If you've moved to a new city how do you find a new doctor? Do you have to find one right away, or should you wait until you need to go? How do you know if it's a good doctor, and how do you navigate the health insurance that you hopefully have?

I went online to search for an OB-GYN that was in the area, and happened upon mine by mistake. Thankfully, I like her and visiting is more or less painless. Finding a dentist was another story. After procrastinating for over a year I finally got around to asking my co-workers for dentist recommendations. Because I'd never had a cavity (not one!) I wasn't too concerned.

Below are my observations from these visits.
When you go to a doctor for the first time there are way too many forms to fill out, and they all ask the same questions. Most of them are simple enough, but then you get to the, uh.. hard ones. Are you current on your latest shots? When did you have your Hepatitis shots? When were you vaccinated for Small Pox? Who is your doctor? These are questions I did not know, and why would I? When I was in the land of fresh baked cookies and clean laundry I never had to worry about booster shots! My doctor's name? It was some nice lady at the Kronenwetter clinic. Luckily, doctor's seem to be fine with this response, "I don't know, but I will get back to you." I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

The thing with doctor's and being a 20-something is they expect that you already know how everything works. As I said, I'd never had a cavity. So when I was told I had "some detoriation and needed to get two fillings," I needed more information. It took about two minutes before I figured out that she meant I had cavities. Then I was asked, "Would you like white or silver?" White or Silver? I don't know, white? There was no explanation of the benefits versus downfalls. All she said was white were a bit more expensive. I guess I'll wait for my quote...

Also, if you are aware that your patient has never had a cavity before wouldn't you explain what the procedure entails? Apparently not. I realize that for most people having a cavity is not a big deal, but for me there were many questions.

Will my insurance pay for it? How do I find out? How long will the procedure take? Will it hurt? Should I plan it in the morning, over the lunch hour or after work? What exactly happens when you have a filling? Most of the answers I had to drag out of her.

The Take Away
My advice for everyone who is new to this thing called "adulthood" is to ask a lot of questions. Doctors, cable companies and crediters aren't as forthcoming with information as you might think. Sadly, it is your job to ask the questions and get the information you need to make an informed decision.