Christmas Pudding And Exploitation..

My sister is a BIG Christmas fan and had been telling me for weeks that her decorations would be goin up on the 30th of November and I had to help her, I knew she would be making her Christmas pudding the same day so I wasn't going to complain.After a long day of pretending to help we were finally finished and were sitting in front of the fire eating pudding and watching a Christmas movie when the phone rang.

Catherine got off the phone with her jaw tipping the floor, one of our cousins had rang to see if we were watching Prime Time because one of our other cousins was on it for exploiting one of her workers! She was named and shamed, they even have her on tape. Gossip in our family is always something to talk about and relish in because it has happened to someone else not us. I had to say though, after ringing another relation (I have a big family... 44 first cousins) I have to say I felt a bit guilty for gossiping about her misfortunes, after all she is family, It got me wondering if something like this happened to me would my family, who should be your support net, gossip about me and take it lightly?

Then I got thinking... she wasn't paying one of her workers, what goes around comes around. It was only right she was found out. It's hard for me to understand why she would do that, I would feel guilty for telling someone a white lie. How could she not pay someone for their hard work? There are two sides to every story and hers better be a good one if she is to come out innocent.

If your curious click here to see the Prime Time episode.

What I Learned About Digital Marketing..

Our most recent topic in Online P.R has been Digital Marketing. By using digital marketing, a company is increasing the number of people they reach, and now days the internet takes up 12% of UK consumers time so it's definately worth the companies while. The big thing for digital marketing is appearing number one on search engines such as Google and Yahoo. I found learning about search engine marketing strategies very interesting. Companies are competing with each other every day to appear better than the other and the internet is an extremely useful way of getting your companies name heard.

You can appear first on search engine lists by simply paying for your link to appear first, but even then it's not guaranteed people will click on the link, sponsered links have a 20% chance of being clicked. You can also appear number one by optimising your site. This method is a lot cheaper than paying for your link.

Search engine optimization is all about getting links to your site and identifying the key words and phrases in your site, you have to ask yourself what would people type into the search engine. You then include the key phrase into the title of the page and as many times as possible into the regular text. This increases your chances of appearing first on search engines. It's also impoartant to get as many links to your site as possible, and not just links to your home page but links to other pages on your website.

With more and more people shopping online and doing their business online I feel it's important for companies to take advantage of that by making their site as reachable as possible.

Here's An Example Of A News Release..

News Release
For Immediate Release

Julie Lyons,
Lyons P.R,
Dundalk,
Co. Louth.
085 1234567

Date: 19th November 2008

Ray Dartly Launches Positive Age Week

Irish Radio DJ Ray Dartly helped launch Positive Age Week, for Age Action Ireland, at a tea party in the Merrion Hotel yesterday(18.11.08)

The DJ was joined by pensioners Maeve Reilly, John Murphy and Mary O' Keffe for a cup of tea to toast the new initiative.

The aim of Positive Age Week , launched by Age Action Ireland, is to dispel the negative perceptions that surround ageing and to transform attitudes. It's also and opportunity to raise much needed funds for the charity.

During Positive Age Week people are encouraged to organise parties to celebrate the elderly. A fund raiser at each party will accept donations.

Lorraine Dorgan, deputy chief executive of the organisation said, "We need to celebrate that we are living longer, that ageing is not a burden but an opportunity."

Age Action Ireland is the national organisation for ageing and older people. They aim to improve the quality of life of older people by enabling them to live independently.

Positive Age Week will run from the 8th-15th December.

To register as a fundraiser phone 012345678 or visit http://www.ageaction.ie/

Contact: Julie Lyons,
085 1234567.

###

My Attempt At Going Veggie!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my food, meat especially! You name it I love it, sausage rolls, sausage sandwiches, turkey, beef, cheese burgers, chicken, rashers, The list goes on. Basically I would eat meat in any shape or form, That was until last week. I was at home bored and just browsing the web when I came across a video of animals in slaughter houses being tortured just before they were slaughtered. These people were just hurting these defenceless animals for no good reason other than their own amusement. They were doing stuff like jumping up and down on small pigs, throwing them against concrete walls and even putting them into boiling water. This video really effected me. It got me thinking what kind of people could do that to a living thing without feeling guilt?

After that I couldn't look at meat, I decided just to give it up. Now this was a BIG thing for me. I thought no way can I do this no matter how sick the video made me feel, But every time I had to eat I just couldn't look at the meat never mind eat it. It's now been a full week and I haven't eaten anything resembling meat. It has been a week filed with cheese pizzas and french toast(with maple syrup... nicest thing ever!) I know what you're thinking, One week... big deal, But for me it is!! There is nothing that makes me as angry as animal cruelty. Sure I don't know that every piece of meat that is put in front of me was from an animal that was unnecessarily hurt before been killed for its meat but I don't know that it wasn't a victim of cruelty either, If that makes sense.

Here is a link to the video I watched (If you want to continue eating meat I really suggest you don't watch it!) Slaughter House.

What I Think of the Sex Industry on the internet...

Sex is everywhere, as the phrase goes, 'sex sells'. Sexy images can be seen everywhere, from billboards along roads to adverts on the television. I recently saw a poster to advertise ipods, It had a girl in her bikini with an ipod shoved down her underwear, just how relevant is that image to ipods? When someone says 'sex industry on the Internet' you automatically think of the long list of porn sites available. I'm sure no man would ever speak wrongly against a hot woman taking it off, but to me these sites are extremely degrading to women. OK, I don't have a thing against these sites, I personally wouldn't think twice about them, They have never really bothered me, But after I took a minute to think bout them, I realised that these sites are undoing all that was done for women in the past. The women of our past have fought so hard to give women equal rights and to make men respect them. In all seriousness how can any woman expect respect if they so willingly lose all sense of morality and dignity, But i suppose we also have a thing called free will and who am I to judge?

There is also the whole other side to the sex industry on the internet that people don't see and most might not be aware of. There are sites were women are tortured and basically treated like wild animals. Violence against women is actually accepted on these sites. The sick thing is that these sites get tonnes of hits, It really makes me wonder what the hell are people thinking?! It just shows how the belittlement of women is accepted today in different places.

OK you may be wondering about the picture of the hot guy with the bag of aero sweets, Number one, he's just something nice to look at, And number two, It's just another example of how sex is used unnecessarily for advertising.I'm not complaining. Anyone who wants to watch the aero add for research purposes click here!

Dear John...

I just finished reading the book Dear John, another classic novel by Nicholas Sparks. It was everything a romantic book should be, a humble and sensible young college girl meets and falls in love with a rebellious, tattooed soldier.

It has earned the spot as my favourite book of the month, I just started reading The Choice(yes, another Sparks book) so that might soon change. Dear John, like all of Spark's books, had me heartbroken by the end. It probably sounds weird but when I finish a book I always miss the characters afterward. When reading a book I kind of feel like I am part of the characters journey in a way. It's not as weird as it sounds!!

Last week I got a phone call from Becca telling me that they will be making a movie based on Dear John!! After the disaster that was Nights In Rodanthe I was hoping the film wouldn't ruin it for me. Then I heard who is to play John and Savannah (the two main characters) Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried!!!! Ok granted Channing is a babe and all but no no NO!!!! He just isn't right for the part. When I was reading the book I always pictured James Marsden as John.I am SO disappointed, and as for Amanda Seyfried, I'm sorry but she just doesn't fit into the humble, innocent category.PLUS she has blonde hair..(Savannah is a burnette) ok, they could dye her hair but I can't picture Amanda Seyfield with brown hair. The movie isn't even made and I'm angry already.

My Weekend filled with food and x factor..

This weekend I made the wise decision to stay in! Shock horror!! Due to the lack of employment these days I can barely afford it with Christmas coming, not that I would ever complain about Christmas. Even though I wasn't out getting drunk and dancing away (more like trying to dance) I had the best weekend I've had in ages. I can't say I remember exactly what I did Friday... but Saturday was spent with the girls and x factor. What better way to spend your weekend than sitting in front of the fire eating a chinese with a nice can of bulmers having a gossip with your friends?! X factor last week was a complete disaster, the show is gone to hell! The contestants are all amazing this year and one of the best ones, Laura, was sent home last week! The English public are driving me nuts! They are voting for people they like rather than who actually has talent. Laura was one of the top runners and everyone including myself were disgusted when she went home.

This weeks results made up for it! Daniel was finally voted off, in my opinion he was the worst in the show. I suppose you have to feel sorry for him, the judges always give him such a hard time, maybe that's why he lasted so long. Fair play I suppose, for him to reach this fair in the contest is an achievement in its self.. but it's definately his time to go home. I really want Diana to win, she has such a unique voice, it reminds me of Katie Melua. I think the charts these days are in bad need of something unique. I am getting sick of always listening to the same type of singing one week after the next. That was just Saturday night, the rest of my weekend consisted of family time and pancake making. My new obcession.. making pancakes! My Dad is certainly not complaining anyway!

My view on Virtual Communities..

Before the lectures with Colin Cooney I had a general idea about virtual communities, but after listening to all the lectures I think I have a better understanding of them. I don't have just one opinion on virtual communities , it's kind of split. On one hand you have your social networking sites like bebo and myspace which I think are great to have, you get to keep in touch with friends and family you probably would have lost contact with if it wasn't for these sites. Then again on the other hand you have all your chat rooms were you could be talking to anyone. You always hear these stories of girls being targeted by creepy men who try to persuade the girl to meet up, We all know the rest of the story. I guess like everything virtual communities have pros and con's. I think it's people who abuse these communities are the ones who give them a bad name.

For the most part I think virtual communities are a good thing. It's easy to find a group of people online who have the same views and interests as you, from your favourite author to your favourite ice-cream. Not a lot of people want to hear their friend ranting on about something they couldn't hear less about, but brand communities give people the chance to talk about and share their views about something they're passionate about, from podcasts to blogs. These brand communities give people around the world a chance to connect with other people who share similar interests. I think virtual communities are an excellent way for people all over the world to communicate with each other and express their opinions or simply just make new friends. Blogging has become more and more popular over the years with more and more businesses creating their own blogs. These blogs allow the businesses to reach a larger number of publics.You have your personal blogs and your corporate blogs. People all over the world have blogs, these blogs can be about anything from someones opinion on the U.S election, to someone giving out about the latest film they have seen. Another big part part of interaction on the internet is podcasts. Podcasts can be used in education, they are used with many online classes. I think for anyone taking a class online these podcasts add more of a personal touch. It's almost like the teacher is interacting with the student in person. Podcasts are quick to download and are low in cost. All in all I think virtual communities are a good thing and a positive way of communicating with the world, sure it has its negative aspects but what doesn't?!

Nights In Rodanthe

So I was sitting in the cinema a few months ago with my BFF milly waiting for the film to start when the ad for Nights In Rodanthe came on,as soon as I saw James Franco I knew I had to see it!! Then it said based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks. The author of the notebook and a walk to remember, I HAD to see it. It wasn't going to be out for a few months so i decided to read it first. It was one of the best books Id read in ages! It was so romantic and so heart breaking. I must have looked like a big weirdo crying on the bus reading the end of it.:( It finally came out in the cinema but corse it wasn't going to be in Drogheda cinema.. just my luck!! I was all set to go up to the cinema in Dundalk but college got in the way with stupid CA's so when i was eventually free it was out of the cinema. Not to say I was a little bit mad!! >:( But i had to see it!! So after many long minutes of looking I found it on the net.Biggest disappointment EVER!!! The film was nothing like the book, the characters were portrayed in a completely different light. The character Paul came across as angry and touchy, but in the book he was anything but. People always say the book is always much better than the film... and in this case it couldn't be more true.

My Favourite Program

One Tree Hill is my all time favourite program! I have been watching it since day one.I recently bought the season 5 box set on hmv.com. I don't usually buy stuff off the net but the box sets are usually like seventy euro in town so i decided to save some money, but to my horror the box set is in hmv down town for less than I bought it online.Not to say I was a bit mad but it is One Tree Hill.. its well worth the money! I just saw the latest episode in season six. The bar tender Eoin is back, I'm hoping he ends up back with brooke, after her Mam hiring someone to beat her up and her losing her company,I think she needs a hunky man in her life.