There's no carnival on the seven seas

         Over the years when an organizatation experiences a crisis that catches national media attention, it erupts like a volcano throughout the news and social media, which intrigues me. However when it's an organization that has millions and is suddenly on the verge of loosing it all, making the public become aware of what they are doing to handle the situation can reassure the public's trust.
        
       After Carnival Cruises, one of the fast-growing cruise companies faced one of its biggest tests in years after the Costa Concordia disaster off the coast of Italy, the public relations campaign took a hostile turn, by not ensuring customers what the company was doing to resolve the issue.Instead the company is now offering a 30-percent discount for shipwreck survivors on future cruises.  However offering a discount for shipwreck survivors on future cruises is not an appealing marketing approach because after all that trauma people endured, why would you want to go on a cruise with Carnival again?

     I wouldn't want to go on a cruise with them after this situation, would you? However if the company stepped up and reassurred the public that they were taking the necessary measures to make their cruises a much more safe environment for people to vacation with them, than I may recondsider. In my opinion what the cruise line should have done the following to difuse the situation:

• Tell the Public that they are aware of what happened in Italy
• Tak responsibility for the Captain's actions and assuring the public that this will never  happen again
• Mandatory meetings for all crew members on all their ships to go over emergency procedures
• Try to find clients who enjoyed their vacation with Carnival Cruises, and ask them to do some sort of advertisement with the company
• Possibly do a step-by-step campaign to show the public what their doing to fix the problem

I can't help but wonder if they were prepared for this type of situation, how this could of played out differently?

I guess I'm just going to have to wait and see what happens in the future with Carnival Cruises....

Pintrest

          Social media has become increasingly popular over the past five years. It all began when Tom created Myspace, then Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook. A few years ago Twitter was created abd gas become increasingly popular. Now a days Pintrest is the new "it" social media.

But what exactly is Pintrest?

          From my understanding its a virtual pinboard. This pinboard allows you to style a social photo sharing website. It  allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections. The site's mission statement is to "connect everyone in the world through the 'things' they find interesting." It's looks reakky cool from what I have seen through people's accounts on Facebook.

             However you need to be invited to get a pintrest. There's even a waiting list where you can add your email address. It's like Facebook when it first began. And I want an invite!!!

the phone call with my mother....

               So last night around nine I called my parents. I try to be a good daughter and call them at least once a week, so they know I'm alive. After talking with my Dad for a while he put my mom on the phone. As the conversation was coming to a pause my Mom said, "Hold on there's someone else on the other line." Now there's something you should know about my mother and that is she is technologically challenged. So when I heard she knew how to work call waiting, I was in shock.
            My mother still doesn't know how to program a vcr, put in a dvd to watch a movie, or work the sound system and now she knows how to work call waiting. I don't if I should proud, or surprised when I found out this news. She still uses a flip phone and has no idea how to use a computer. Let me clarify about the computer: she can do the basics such as writing an email and going to type a report on Microsoft word. I remember when my Uncle (her younger brother) told her she should set up a facebook account, so she can catch up with people she went to high school with. Oyy it still hasn't happened and it probably won't happen ever. My uncle has a facebook account, I'm not friends with, but I've seen his profile. I know my father has an account too, however were not friends either. I've actually blocked him from seeing my profile---not that there's anything bad on my profile. I don't think there is anyways. 
           Sometimes I think my Mom is better communicator than people who are so involved with technology. The truth is technology is a barrier for people to interact with one another because even though technology helps us communicate it also seperates us from interacting verbally from one another. I mean there's technology such as skype or oovoo that let people communicate face-to-face from different ends of the world, but is it the same as those two people having a conversation with one another in the same room? I hate to say it but its totally different. People now have virtual relationships with one another and they don't even have to be in the same room, let alone in the same country to have a relationship. Whar's next--virtual marriages? You can get married to someone from a different country over the web, that's kinda nuts in my opinion. People trust people way to easily these days, that's probably why I always have my guard up. I guess in a way I don't wanna be disappointment or hurt at the end day. That's probably why I have a few good friends than a ton of aquaitences that don't even like me and I probably can't stand either. I guess times have changed and things aren't like they use to be. In the end, it's an adventure and your along for the ride.

Snow, communication, technology and a step back in time.....

        While this winter we havent had that much snow, today there is snow on the ground and hasn't stopped since it started this morning. The one main thing I like about snow, is when I get to have a snow day and classes are cancelled(seriously, wouldn't you?). However no classes have been cancelled yet and while I went to my first two classes, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for my four o'clock class to be cancelled. I keep looking at my email on my Blackberry seeing if the school or the Professor have cancelled classes, and neither haven't yet. But it made me realize how much my generation relies on technology to communicate with one another. Sometimes I thing people are more comfortable communicating through a screen, then face-to-face. 
        But communicating through a screen does have its consequences. Look at what happened to the girl in Massachussetts who committed sucide because of online bullying. While some people think its fun to send hurtful messages through the computer, what they don't realize is how the other person who is recieving the message is gonna react. In the end, that reaction can effect their life emotionally and mentally because they don't know how to react to it and even worse if they commit an act such as suicide, your the one who pushed them to it. So for the rest of your life your going to be reminded that the words you typed on your keyboard took someone's life. While you weren't right there pointing a gun in their face and pulling the trigger, the words you typed were the bullets that ended their life.
          However the dilemma I'm facing is whether or not I should go to my class at 4:00. If I go to the class I'll sit there for an hour and fifteen minutes listening to a lecture, taking notes and particpating in a disscussion. While its a good thing to go to class and be a productive student in the SUNY Oneonta community, my bed is just so cozy and its so cold outside. In the end it was cancelled so I don't have to deal with that dilemma. However, what did people do before cell phones and a major snow storm happend....did they have to attend classes? How did the university notify them if classes were cancelled before we all had access to cell phones and internet? Was there a telophone chain of faculty get in touch with each individual student telling them class is cancelled or did they just watch the new and wait for a reporter to make announcement? It makes me wonder....
         The truth is technology has drastically changed over the years. In the 1950s people didn't cellphones, dvd players, and computers, people were lucky if their TV was even in color...Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like with out computers or cellphones, would the way we communicate with one another be completely different. Probably....and one day maybe technology will answer that question.

My first entry....

              I originally started blogging because I had to write a blog about technology and how it effected our society. However I decided to start a new blog because in Creative/Persuasive Campaign class I realized that a blog would be good to have on my web portfolio that I have create by the end of the semester. Now I realize that's a good way to show the world the creativity within me.
           What I realized is  a blog is similar to a journal or diary, the entire world can see what you're writing and if they don't like the post you're gonna have to deal with the consequences. Hopefully that  won't end like that episode of Gilmore Girls, when Rory gets a story published in the school newspaper, and she blasts the Yale ballet. In the end, Rory earns the wrath of the lead ballerina, who leaves a note on Rory's door saying "DIE JERK" in permanent marker on her white board. I highly doubt that type of situation will happen to me, but you never know.
          However blogs and newspapers are two different types of media. Unfortunately the newspaper industry is slowing dying and soon paper media such as newspapers and books are going to be obsoulete. The thing is I like paper media. I'm the type of person who likes writing in books, so I write in the book what the author is talking about. But now people are ditching books and newspapers for kindles and Ipads. However they seem more like portable computers, then electronic books because not only can you go on the internet to update your facebook status, but you can watch movies on Netflix as well. Lets be honest you can't watch movies in book, but you can imagine the story through your head and when the movie comes to thearter near you can see if your imagination was like the movie. In the end, the book is usually better 9 times out of 10. For example when Fitzgerald's best-selling novel The Great Gatsby became a movie, it not only got harsh reviews by the critics but the book and movie were entirely different. Hopefully Leonardo DiCaprio's adaptation is much better then the previous adaptation. But at the end of the day, who knows how it's gonna turn out.