Looking back: a year's worth of lessons

For my final post, I thought I would share some life lessons with you. Please leave your comments at the bottom of the page. I would love to read about some of the lessons you've learned in your time at school. We can all learn from each other, and I plan on continuing my education long after the semester ends.

1) Don't do anything half way

This is a big one for me. At the beginning of the year, I was unsure if I wanted a career in advertising. I decided to enroll in the Advertising Account Management program because I wanted to gain some experience in an unfamiliar field before I went too far down a different road. The problem is that it took a long time for me to take the program seriously. When you think of something as a "plan B", you're guaranteed to get very little out of it. If you're going to try something out, give it your all. Never think of something as a fall-back. For one thing, advertising isn't really a "fall-back" kind of industry. It happens to be one of the most innovative, creative, and collaborative industries out there. More importantly, there's really no point to exploring your options when you've already written off the possibility of doing anything else. My advice to all of you is to dive into new experience--don't just test the waters. If nothing else, it makes for a better experience.

2) You can learn something from any situation

Never believe that you're too good for the work you're doing. Everyone entering the program comes from a different place in life; some of us have experience with marketing, and others have experience with social media. I had a bit of experience with behavioural research. At the beginning of the year, my approach to many of the projects we were assigned was "well this is how I have learned to do it". The response I got was "That's great. Here's how you're going to do it from now on".

There's nothing wrong with learning a new approach. If nothing else, it helps you develop a more comprehensive understanding of the topics you're investigating. It's also okay to do something you're not comfortable with for a little while. My advice is to try approaching a problem from someone else's perspective. For all you know, it could be a better perspective to take.

3) Never tell yourself you're bad at something

Before this year, I would have told you that I'm bad at using Photoshop. I would have told you that I don't really understand social media, and that I have no idea how to make a GIF or a movie. Since then, I have at least partially developed all of these skills. How did I do it, you ask? Well, I watched a lot of online tutorials, had countless sleepless nights, and more than a few panic attacks. In the end, I did manage to improve my performance in all of these areas. The lesson here is that you should always bet on yourself. People like to talk about the things that they're bad at. I find that a lot of the time, they're just making excuses for themselves instead of sitting down and picking up a new skill. You can learn pretty much anything when it really comes down to it. However, I should probably point out that I still don't know how to pronounce GIF even though I can make one.

4) Mistakes are okay

This is a hard lesson for most people to learn. It's okay to make mistakes. The more mistakes you make now, the fewer you will make in the future. And really, making a lot of mistakes really just means that you're coming at the problem from a different angle. Once you're an established industry professional, this will be a seen as a virtue. If you get something wrong, there might still be some merit in the approach you used to arrive at that conclusion. It's okay to make mistakes; just try not to make the same one twice.

5) Take pride in your work

Try not to think of your work as just an "assignment". The great thing about advertising is that most of what you're assigned will be exciting, rewarding work. You'll have the opportunity to be creative and to express yourself. It's easy enough to do the bare minimum and move onto something else. However, it's much more rewarding to give everything your best shot. Not only will you learn more, your professors will start to notice that you're highly motivated. Do not underestimate the power of impressing your professors. After all, they're  the ones with all the industry connections. 

6) Don't be afraid to try something new

This last point is something I learned from attending school Sheridan College more generally, rather than the Advertising Account Management program specifically. The people who attend school here are engaged in such diverse areas of study, from textile design to finance. Students are constantly doing crazy and amazing things. A few buildings away, there's a group of people learning how to use computer animation software. I am never more than a kilometer away from a future Oscar winner. I'm constantly seeing people paint each other's faces in the hallway or design beautiful displays for the windows in the B wing. The culture at Sheridan College is one of creativity, of exploration, and of trying new things. When you're in that kind of environment, it's easy to imagine yourself doing something vastly different from what you're used to. If there's one thing I want to take away from this year, it's the desire to try new things.

Social Media: observations of the digital native

Today’s blog post is another educational one. There is a term that people have been using in recent years to talk about the generation of online users who grew up around technology. These people are called “digital natives”. They are well-versed in social media and have no trouble moving seamlessly between online platforms. In the advertising world, it is understood that capturing the attention of a digital native gives you the power to make your message go viral. The hard part is understanding them.

I thought I would explore the concept of the digital native in today’s post. The term really captures the feeling of trying to interpret a social media platform you don’t use; you feel like an anthropologist trying to decipher the codes and symbols of an unfamiliar culture. You can observe their behaviour, but can only speculate as to what it all means. In honour of that feeling, I have written down some anthropological notes about the study of digital natives and their behaviour on various social media platforms.

Instagram

The digital native spends a lot of time on Instagram. Because of the many filter options, the digital native is able to share photos of themselves without anyone actually knowing what they look like. It is the cultural equivalent of a masquerade ball. Digital natives use it to establish themselves as a member of the social elite, posting highly stylized photographs of their everyday lives. Some  even take to posting black and white photographs of rain on a windowpane. Is this person an artist? Is this post some kind of statement? Was the digital native simply bored, being stuck inside all day, and thought it might be fun to take a picture? The beauty of Instagram is that on this platform, anything can be art; anything can be a statement. The digital native is nothing if not cutting-edge.

"Cutting edge"

Common uses:

1. Making yourself look really, really cool
2. Letting people know what you had for lunch that day, but in, like, a “cool” way

YouTube

YouTube is considered a social media site. However, it is a common misconception that digital natives will post videos to this platform. The truth is, video sharing is YouTube’s secondary purpose. Its primary purpose is to give digital natives the opportunity to have extensive arguments in the comment section. It does not matter what the YouTube video is actually about; the video is more of an icebreaker to the digital native—like wearing a funky necklace to a party. The digital native will argue any topic, ranging from tension in the Middle East to how Dexter really should have ended. 

Common uses:

1. Watching old or foreign TV shows in 3 parts, watching Taylor Swift music videos, and watching clips of cats
2. Yelling about Obama in the comments section

Twitter

The digital native has an uncontrollable urge to broadcast their thoughts to the world. For this reason, the digital native uses Twitter to construct short, vacuous statements about the weather, how long it’s taking for the bus to get there, how they missed the bus because they were looking at their phone, and the ever-popular how much they are enjoying their kale salad #kalesalad

In fact, digital natives are so proud of their thoughts and opinions that they are even willing to engage in one-on-one conversations with celebrities, brands, musicians, and even political figures. Unlike the rest of humanity, the digital native seems to truly believe that all of their thoughts are gems, and everyone always wants to hear what they have to say. 

Common uses:

1. Criticizing celebrities
2. Speaking @ each other, rather than with each other

Facebook

Once a sprawling metropolis of online conversation, today, Facebook is merely a relic from an earlier time. The elders of the tribe can still remember how they used to share links, indicate their approval of a friend’s post, and even playing games on this platform. Now, the digital native barely ever uses Facebook to communicate. This is because in recent years, it has been overtaken by another group: the digital immigrants. A digital immigrant is someone who adopted an online presence later in life. These people are typically old and irrelevant. Much like in the real world, digital natives try not to have too much contact with digital immigrants, preferring instead to restrict them to the dark recesses of the online social world. It is here that the digital immigrant will post blurry photos of retirement parties and their daughters’ dance recitals. 

Common uses:

1. Occasionally untagging some unflattering pictures
2. Making sure you haven’t missed your aunt’s birthday
3. Checking to see if that guy from High School is still dating that girl—Alex or Amy or something 

Blogs

This platform is only for the elite. Only the most self-assured, pretentious, pedantic digital natives will have their own blog. These people are not social pariahs as one might presume. On the contrary; all of these qualities are held in the highest esteem by the digital native. Popular topics for blogs are fashion, DIY, travel, and the Advertising Account Management program at Sheridan College. The best blogs are those that are thought-provoking and shamelessly self-referential. Digital natives that are able to construct such a blog are celebrated as gods among men. 

Common uses:

1. Inciting valuable conversations
2. Creating content that people enjoy and are almost never critical of 

I hope that these notes have been informative. If you have any other observations to share, please post them in the comment section below. Let me take this opportunity to remind you that this is not a YouTube comment section, so keep your comments positive and at least somewhat relevant.