Advertising on Campus

There are a lot of different ways to advertise, especially on a college campus and I've found some to be a lot more successful than others. Although kind of gross, there are a lot of signs in the bathrooms (on backs of doors, stall doors, around the mirrors and showers). Most of them are announcement, but it has made me realize that seeing something many times everyday, over and over again really drills it into your brain.

Concert signs are put on every bulletin board around campus. By looking at them you can see the time date and place of the event.

There are also discount books that get handed out to students all over campus. The point of this is to give kids a couple dollars off on particular food, so they will be more tempted to go to that restaurant because they will have to pay less. Not only does this book have food, but there a coupons for stores all over the hill. Hungrybuffs.com also has advertisements all over campus and even had a "eat cheep" week so students would be more tempted to order delivery from their online service.

I've also noticed a lot of stickers being stuck to signs, doors, benches, rails, etc; These stickers are mostly brands that are popular in boulder. I've seen a lot of clothing brands and a lot of skateboarding and snowboarding brands.

Advertisements on busses are all on the top and are more commercial and official then the stuff I see around campus. They advertise dispensaries, food places, real estate, sports teams, and institutions of learning.

Boulder is one of the most diverse cities I've ever been to, and the people that attend CU are all so different. I've seen styles that are preppy, skater, goth, country, sporty, gypsy, hippie, and many more. Even with all this diversity, there are still many brand that I see all over campus. Ugg, North Face, Patagonia, Burton, Vans, Burkenstock, and True Religion are some of the brands of clothing that I see over and over again. This proves those companies reliability and quality, but I do feel as though I see a lot of the same stuff over and over again. It's even worse in New York, where to fit in everyone buys the same exact clothes, shoes, bags, and cars.

I feel as though all of these things are what make the culture of Boulder. They are trying to get people more involved in basically everything, and by doing that the community grows more lively and rich. Sometimes advertisements are really helpful, and have benefited me. Sometimes they're annoying and obnoxious. This ubiquity has made me realize that I don't really mind being in the midst of all these advertisements. The bulletin boards and street signs would be boring without them, and by looking at them I am kept up on the latest news.

Social Media

As I have grown up, social media's place in my life has grown increasingly larger. When I was in middle school, the latest electronics to have was a Verizon flip phone. Now I see my younger brothers growing up with MacBook Pros and Blackberry cell phones. Privileges that I thought I had are now being given to kids younger and younger, and society is going to a rapid change.
I would call this century the technology era, because the youth is going to growth up with increased performance and knowledge about technology.
When I was younger, Facebook was not open to kids in middle or high school. It was for a network of people who held jobs, and were college students and older. So the trend back then was myspace. The girls would post pretty pictures of themselves, and everyone would post on each others wall and design their page to fit their personality, and display a piece of themselves open to many people by the click of a mouse.  I feel like this was mostly for attention and it was something to take up kids time when they were bored.

Facebook has become available to people (and sometimes pets) of all ages. Now that it is open to everyone, it has grown tremendously in the number of users.
I personally use facebook as something to do when I'm bored. Now that I am out of high school, it is nice to be able to message my friends and find out about their lives. I like looking at pictures from weekends and events. I am also incredibly busy with schoolwork, so being able to get into contact with someone just by turning on my computer (which I use for the rest of my work) is extremely convenient. I see how it gets out of hand for some people, who post their lives away on facebook and spend great amounts of time updating the status of what they are doing and where they are. Its a true social network.

I've learned that all types of relationships through an internet social network can be pretty sketchy and risky. I've seen girls and guys talk a lot of trash on facebook. Weather its about sports or who cheated on who, its most defiantly a lot easier to yell at someone behind the safety of your computer screen. I've also  witness people make "fake facebooks", where they either try to steal someone else's identity and just make up one on their own. I feel bad for these people, and it makes me realize that people who spend a lot of time online hiding behind their computer, probably has something to hide from in the real world.