ella's blog

      I have to confess something. I have never used LinkedIn in my life. And I'm not sure when I ever will. All of the job opportunities for musical theatre are found on sites specific to musical theatre, or through an agent. But, after reading this chapter, if I ever do have to use LinkedIn, I will be ready.      LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network according to chapter nine section one of the textbook. It has over one billion users in over two hundred countries. Most users use LinkedIn because it is relevant to them, it is educational or informative, to stay on top of the latest brands, it helps with skill development or because it inspires them.      The first thing a user sees when using LinkedIn to search for companies is a company page. Companies can find information like follower demographics and sources, reach and engagement metrics for posts, page traffic and sources, page views, unique visitors, page clicks and job ...

      This week, rehearsals for our Holiday Spectacular started! I'm not sure if anyone has seen the show, but it is r. We do it every year at the Freed Center as well as in Lima. I am assistant stage managing the show, which I have never done before but I am very excited about it. It will be a very different experience than what I am used to. I am also not a very organized person, so I will have to really focus on making sure I stay on top of everything during this process.      Our first rehearsal was yesterday. We started music rehearsals and had a company meeting. Today we also have music rehearsals from 7pm-10pm. As an assistant stage manager, I have to come to rehearsal early to set up the room and stay late to put everything back in it's place. Then I basically do everything the stage manager tells me to do. We will keep track of what everyone is doing while blocking, keep track of everyone's placement in dance numbers, keep track of props etc. We he...

      Pinterest is a social media app that I honestly don't really think of as social media. But people can post and create boards and find lots of creative ideas on the app. The idea is that you can "pin" ideas that you like to your board. Like an online scrapbook or idea board. Honestly, I do use Pinterest a lot. I have boards for haircuts, hairstyles and hair colors I like. I have them for fashion and outfit inspiration. I have Halloween costumes boards, makeup inspiration, room decoration, and ideas for a photo wall/collage. I've never actually posted anything myself though.      Pinterest was created in 2009 and the growth was slow at first, but by 2011 it was one of the top 10 most prominent social networking types. Pinterest now has 465 million monthly users.      When it comes to marketing with Pinterest, in my experience, I have never bought something because I saw it advertised on Pinterest. I've bought things that look like clothes...

      Last night I got to go support my friends who are in Ride the Cyclone here at ONU. Ride the Cyclone is the musical that opens tonight, so go support the show if you can! We had an invited dress rehearsal that the theatre department gets invited to. It is so the performers and the tech can practice with an audience. There are two different casts for this show, so I watched the show twice last night. There is so much going on and it was so cool to see two different takes on all the characters.  I laughed so hard and I also cried very hard as well. This show took me through a whirlwind of emotions that I was not expecting. It is a bit of a weird show so I was expecting to laugh and be very entertained, but I wasn't expecting it to cry as much as I did.  Another interesting trait of this show is how they included the other casts that weren't playing their characters in the show. Ride the Cyclone is amusement/circus themed and a fortune teller is a very la...

 Snapchat is one of the social medias I use the most, and I am sure that is a true statement for others my age. I mostly use it to communicate and keep up with friends, especially long distance friends. Even if we aren't having a conversation, I'll get to see a picture of their face or what they are doing. I also stay updated on what's going on in their lives by seeing their snapchat stories. The app makes it so much easier to stay connected with friends, but to me I've never really bought or supported something I've seen on snapchat.      It seems as though most other Snapchat users have the same view of it as I do. According to the textbook, a Snapchat survey of 19,000 people reported that Snapchat is the #1 platform where people enjoy sharing what life is actually like or even random/funny moments. So, now brands are trying to embrace this mindset for marketing their products.  Snapchat is great for marketing to a younger generation. If a brand is trying to m...

 This weekend for fall break, I went home to visit my family. I live in Savannah, Georgia so I went pretty far to get home. I flew home Saturday morning and flew back Tuesday morning. My flight on Saturday morning was delayed though and my connecting flight had to be rebooked. So I got home later than I expected, but I'm just grateful I was able to get home. I almost cried when my parents picked me up from the airport. Plus I got to see my dog and my brother. Although, when I'm gone for a while, the first ten-ish minutes I'm back my dog won't even look me in the eye.      While I was home I hung out a lot with my mom. We went shopping and watched a lot of my favorite movies. Saturday night when I got back we watched Rock of Ages. Which is one of my favorites because it is also one of her favorites. It makes me so happy every time I watch it, especially with her. It is just such a fun story. Then we watched Barbie and the Twelve Dancing Princesses. That one is nostalg...

  To be completely honest, I've never used Twitter and I didn't use X until we had to post on it for the Live Tweet Assignment in class. I've just never understood the point or been interested in the app. But I do remember it changing from Twitter to X and wondering why. It just felt a little too forced.      According to the textbook though, X has over 335.7 million monthly users. So something Elon Musk did when he bought Twitter must have worked. But, Threads has now risen to challenge X. It is instagram's version of the X app. So, I guess we will see which comes out on top.      X is adding new features and new ways to market. This could make it even easier for companies and businesses to market and gain traction for their products on X. In 2023 they introduced long-form video uploads, new features like audio and video calling, an AI search assistant, creator support, advertising enhancements, and brand safety solutions. And in 2024 they introduced...

     I feel like this past week has been a countdown to fall break. The only thing getting me through this week has been the fact that I get to go home this weekend. I'm from Savannah, GA so I don't get to see my family much during the school year. I really only see them on breaks. I also have to fly home, it would be a twelve hour drive otherwise. Last year I didn't even go home during fall break. I went home with one of my best friends because she lives in Illinois. But this year I decided I really needed to see my family. I seriously cannot wait to go home. I will get to see my parents, my brother and my dog. It was also my dad's birthday yesterday so I'm going to be able to celebrate with him when I go home.      I honestly thought this week was going to go by super slow, since I've been counting down until I get to leave, but it actually went by super fast. It is already Thursday! And once tomorrow hits I'm basically done because I'm leaving after a...

       Thank goodness it is Thursday! I am so ready for the weekend and I seriously need a break. It's honestly been a really long week for me and I've been dealing with some personal things happening in my life for the last two weeks. I feel like I might be finally coming up on the other side of all of this. I feel better than I've felt in days.      This week I did my best to take care of myself and practice self care. When you can put yourself first, it is very important to. I took some long showers, hung out with my friends and watched some tv. I started a new show, Dexter. It is about a serial killer who kills serial killers. It is an interesting show that has kept me entertained and helped distract me from the things I've been upset about recently. I also have been watching this TV show called Charmed. It is one of my moms favorite shows, and that got passed on down to me. It is a comfort show for me and has also helped me get through a really di...

     For an assignment for my social media class, I went to see the Ohio Northern University Homecoming parade. It was such a fun experience. Some of my friends were in the parade, there were super cute polar paws dogs and the marching band and color guard. It was a super fun experience and a fun event to go to with friends. Another part of the assignment was to be live tweeting during the event. I have never live tweeted before and honestly I never realized how stressful it could be. By the time I was done tweeting one thing, I saw something else cute or cool I wanted to share with my audience.  It definitely kept me on my toes. One thing that helped was that I went with friends, one of whom is in this class with me. I think we helped keep each other on track. But I did feel that I was able to post about everything I wanted to and I'm proud of myself for keeping cool while being a bit overwhelmed.       My favorite part of the parade was when the...