Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
As everyone knows by now, Singapore has it’s first H1N1 case, a schoolmate of mine from SMU (I don’t know her name or who she is). She came back from a business study mission to New York, and I was on a similar trip two years ago in 2007, and many of my friends were on trips before, during and after that.
So when the media gets hold of information that
a) The H1N1 case is a student from SMU
b) She was on a business study mission to New York
What do they do? Call/email/sms/instant message anyone and everyone they know who has ever gone on the trip, regardless of which year it was. I personally was contacted for information, so too were other friends who were on the previous trips, and not this year’s. They then start asking for the phone number of the professor in charge.
Look. If you want to do responsible reporting, do responsible reporting. Call the hospital, ask the doctor how she is, ask the ministries if we’re prepared for the flu, whatever. Don’t sensationalise reporting by finding out facts that don’t matter, and don’t harass people who have nothing to do with it!
You know the rules. You want a comment, call the school, not the students.
And for goodness sake, leave the poor girl alone to recover in the hospital. It’s bad enough she has to go through the trauma for having the virus, the last thing she needs are vultures circling around her door, phone and anywhere else to get every juicy tidbit of information that matters.
By the way, Channel News Asia, there’s no point being on Twitter which is meant for instantaneous messaging, if you break the news almost five hours after it’s out.
Tags: business study mission new york, h1n1, h1n1 singapore, singaporean press, SMU, vultures
Posted in Marketing, Plurk, Poor Practices, SMU, Singapore | 15 Comments »
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
As a graduating student, it’s hard to go by a day without someone asking “have you found a job?” or talking to a fellow graduating student about job prospects, job hunting efforts or the like. On Monday, it hit me that I have officially eight weeks (or two months) to go, before I hit my last day of school in SMU.
I don’t know how big deal getting a first job is for most people, but it’s a huge deal for me. I’ve had friends who got a job early after graduation, or even before graduation, but find themselves in another job after a year. Some will say that’s experience, I see it as a waste of time. Call me the typical Gen Y-er, but if you’re not waking up happy to go to work every morning, why are you going to work?
As much as I’m eager to get a job and not be unemployed for moths on end, I feel it has to be the right one. Or as right as possible, given the current economic climate.
I can’t speak for the rest of my friends, but I have different expectations when it comes to work. Many of my cohort think about money, I think about fit. Many think about how fast they can get to the next pay bracket, I think about culture. Perhaps it’s idealistic, but I figure it’s better to think about these things now and aim for them, rather than “wake up” figuratively after three or five years, realising that you weren’t working for what you wanted all along.
So what are my options? Knowing my passions and skill sets, and graduating with a business degree majoring in marketing and communications (specifically, digital media) I see myself doing one of five things:
1) Working in media
It could be a TV station, radio station, record label or publication. If it deals with media, I’m for it. If it deals with digital media, music and/or youth, all the better. I did two stints at MTV Asia and at least specific to those experiences, I think it would be something I would really enjoy. Granted, people with business degrees don’t usually end up with such fields, but in this day and age, I think it’s a plus to have someone from business school who can understand the value of delivering results/ROI over artistry. Additionally, many of these traditional media channels need to adapt to digital, an avenue I could potentially add value to.
2) Working in a company interested in a social media strategy
This is a no brainer considering the content of my blog. Admittedly, I would go into this with no “real” experience as measured by conventional businesses. But I’d wager I could bring more to a social media strategy than a Gen X-er who doesn’t get what social media, community and conversation is about. The difficulty here, besides the thorny “experience” issue, is finding the “fit” with a company that is genuinely interested in embracing a social media strategy for the long run, and working in one that is truly going to bring about change, as opposed to doing it because digital is the new TV.
3) Working in PR
Another semi-no brainer. It is after all my major and I did have a very short stint at Waggener Edstrom doing digital PR. Difficulty here is similar to #2. Working in PR should be a fairly straightforward thing. Working in an agency that is truly embracing digital and not doing it for the sake of doing it, will be difficult.
4) Teaching
Teaching used to be a “long term” end goal of mine. Given the conditions, maybe I’d go into it earlier than I thought. Youth is a passion and I’ve been helping out back in SJI for four years. I know the fantastic feeling it is to bring boys from secondary one to secondary four, and the pride I took in the journey is immense. The tradeoff? Transferring back to the corporate world may not be easy.
5) Starting something myself
You may have read about Claudia’s new company, 24seven in the papers yesterday. I think doing something like that requires a lot of guts and a lot of sacrifice. I’m convinced there’s a market who wants the stuff people like Claudia and myself can provide. I just wonder if it’s big enough, and how long it would take to pay itself off.
What about you graduating students? What do you want to do? What’s more important to you in life right now? Just finding any job with the hopes of switching once the economy picks up? Or trying to find that elusive “right” one?
Tags: 24seven, business degree, claudia.sg, entrepreneurship, finding a job, gen x, Gen Y, graduation, job hunting, job prospects, marketing and communications graduate, music, passion, pr, public relations, publication, radio station, record label, ROI, SMU, social media strategist, social media strategy, teaching, tv station, work experience, youth
Posted in Gen Y, SMU, Singapore, social media | 11 Comments »
Sunday, April 6th, 2008
The SMU seniors decided to have a flash mob where they decided to lie down in the middle of the concourse to celebrate their last day of school, check out the video (the organisers have a little interview at the end):
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXpOAjoA-lM]
The interesting thing is the flash mob did have a social media hand guiding it. A Facebook event, Jacqueline’s post along with well-placed tweets on Twitter like:
Eventually a lot of the word spread online and definitely in real life, leading up to the event you just saw. Pretty amazing isn’t it? (A quick Tweetscan shows that many people around the world are using Twitter to announce flash mobs!)
Oh I’m not usually a video person and I know the video looks like it was just pieced together (because it was). I’m sure the pros will be doing a better one, my intention is to get the word out and show that social media does get real life events into motion!
Tags: facebook event, flash mob, flash mob video, last day of school, SMU, smu flash mob, smu seniors, social media flash mob, twitter flash mob
Posted in SMU, Singapore, social media, twitter | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
Wanida picked up the NTU advertisement post and posted it on Sg_ljers, which got quite a conversation.
Keen eyes noticed that if you try to search for it right now, the NTU ad is no longer there. Here’s the screenshot taken at 11:13pm (click for bigger picture).
So I’m calling out NTU to respond either here or at Sg_ljers or anywhere on the internet: What happened to your ad? Did you read about this and remove it? Did it run out of budget? (Nods to Amelia).
Whatever the reason, why was it done in the first place? Clearly the corporate communications department is new media savvy enough to use AdWords, now use that same ability to respond to the conversation! I think the blogosphere should know what’s going on.
Tags: adwords, Google, ntu corporate communications, ntu fake advertisement, nus, Search, sg_ljers, sim, singapore universities, SMU
Posted in Google, Marketing, Media, SMU, Singapore, social media | 17 Comments »
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
Google SMU Singapore (Singapore Management University) now and you’ll get this result (click for bigger picture):
The top result? A fake paid link by NTU (Nanyang Technological University). I understand Google can be gamed, but do we really need to do this? Is it bordering on unethical behavior? What do you think?
Edit: Note that I’m not making a big deal out of NTU appearing on an SMU search. It happens with Google and it’s okay. The point is that the paid link says “SMU Singapore” but the URL link is “ntu.edu.sg”. Clearly misleading.
Tags: fake paid links, gaming google, Google, ntu, nus, sim, Singapore, singapore management university, singapore universities, SMU, unethical search
Posted in Google, Marketing, SMU, Singapore | 7 Comments »
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Wow so many people have gotten excited about SMB: Singapore. Derrick and I are really excited to get it going!
Both Claud and Derrick suggested creating a Facebook event, so I did and you can find it here.
Big thanks to Nabilah from Frujch who’s helping us out with the venue and has even been kind enough to waive the venue booking fees! Do check out their food too. Porto bello mushroom sandwich is excellent.
Both Derrick and myself are contactable via Twitter: @derrickkwa @uniquefrequency
I’m going to try to do something to explain the personal tagging kit (it will be low budget I’m afraid), so look for that coming soon!
Tags: 29th march 2008, all quirk no play, claudia limedsign, derrick kwa, facebook event, frujch, happy place, nabilah, personal tagging kit, porto bello mushroom, SMU, social media breakfast singapore, twitter
Posted in SMU, Singapore, social media breakfast | No Comments »
Monday, March 17th, 2008
If you use social media in any way (blog/podcast/use Youtube/use Flickr/use Facebook/etc), come for Social Media Breakfast: Singapore next Saturday, 29th of March 2008!
This is a little experiment that Derrick Kwa (from Adventures in Social Media #1) thought of doing, and was generous enough to invite me along for the ride. The objective of the breakfast is simply to meet like-minded people who are into the social media scene, expand your network and of course have fun. It doesn’t matter whether you’re interested in social media from a business standpoint or a social standpoint, everyone’s invited because you never know who you’d meet!
Currently Derrick and I have two rules:
- Everyone’s equal. When it comes to Social Media Breakfast, there’s no difference if you’re a CEO or a student. Everyone has something of value to contribute and everyone should be treated that way
- Law of Two Feet applies. If a particular conversation or discussion is not getting you what you want, feel free to move on.
Both are nods to PodCamp rules and we’re sure they’re not hard to follow!
Finally, we will be borrowing an idea from Jeff Pulver regarding personal tagging. I’ll let the man explain it himself:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U1TfAJoVlo]
The venue we’re looking at is either going to be TCC at SMU or Frujch. Either way it will be in the SMU area, so it’s pretty convenient. Also, because it’s our first time trying this out there are no sponsors involved, so you have to pay for your own breakfast and we hope that’s not too big a problem! We’ll clarify the final date and time within the week.
So if you’re coming, leave me a comment or drop me an email: uniquefrequencyATgmailDOTcom or message me on Twitter and we’ll see you on the 29th!
Tags: adventures in social media, blog, derrick kwa, facebook, flickr, frujch, jeff pulver, like-minded people, personal tagging, podcamp, podcast, Singapore, SMU, social media, social media breakfast, twitter, youtube
Posted in Fun, SMU, Singapore, social media, social media breakfast | 24 Comments »
Friday, February 1st, 2008
While the discussion about Facebook fatigue is making its rounds on the internet, I thought I’d post something of cheer and invite you to welcome two friends of mine to the Blogosphere:
Amelia is hosting a food blog, and I assure you that you don’t have to be a foodie to check out her blog. I actually enjoy messing around in the kitchen from time to time, so this is going to be a favourite of mine.
Next we have Jacqueline who is hosting a photography blog. Photography is something I’ve picked up only recently in November 2007, and Jac’s pictures continually blow me away (not to mention I’m insanely jealous of her fisheye lens).
Both Jac and Amelia were fellow travellers with me in New York over the December holidays, and I’m hoping you’ll enjoy their blogs as much as we enjoyed food and photography together in New York. We’re all also current classmates in a social media class in SMU, and I’d love for you to join their communities and enjoy their passion!
Tags: amelia wong, curiousfoodie, facebook, facebook fatigue, food blog, jacqueline chang, photography, SMU, social media
Posted in Blogs, SMU, social media | 3 Comments »
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
For the third day this week, I find myself parking in the reserved lots in SMU, indirectly opening myself up to getting my wheel clamped, and paying $100 to get it released.
I think for most of us, this is a fairly new phenomenon, and lots were readily available, if not abundant 6 to 12 months ago. So what has changed?
Looking around the school, we have many talks, seminars courses and the like happening on a daily basis. Putting basic demand and supply to place, the school just clearly has expanded these various sessions, without the consideration that our carpark lots are not going to expand in proportion (or rather, at all).
Personal feeling aside, what does this communicate about the school? For one, if i’m a company holding one of these sessions in this school, but people coming for my sessions have problems finding parking to get to my sessions (keep in mind that these sessions are probably costing me money), then I’m just going to hold my sessions elsewhere in future.
Secondly, it tells the public that there’s no internal communication within the school. Holding more of these talks than the infrastructure can take, without considering the consequences, doesn’t really say much about a business school, does it? I really find it hard to believe that the school teaches operations management and business processes, but doesn’t seem to apply it to our own operations.
Tags: SMU, smu carpark, smu parking
Posted in SMU | No Comments »
