America’s Next Top Model Season 19 : Bring Brittany or Leila Back!

First of all, I am so loving the new concept of America’s Next Top Model College Edition. When I was watching the first episode, I thought Tyra Banks decided to let people call in or text to vote for their favorite ANTM contestants. Thankfully, she had something cooler in mind - use social media!

America's Next Top Model and Social Media

Being a social media practitioner myself (though I handle restaurants), I am happy about the new scoring system of America's Next Top Model Season 19. This gives the audience/viewers or fans of the show a chance to somehow control who gets voted out of the competition. And it's just smart to use social media since it's the most powerful tool now for any brand or company to promote themselves. I think Tyra's using social media pretty well, don't you think?

I also like the idea of giving the wannabe models that were eliminated a chance to go back in the competition through the power of social media. I'm especially glad about this NOW that I have no one else to root for amongst the ones who are still in the show.

Kelly Cutrone, Rob Evans, Bryanboy and Johnny Wujek

The addition of Kelly, Rob and Bryanboy is one of the amazing things about Season 19 of America's Next Top Model. I love Kelly Cutrone, with her fierce comments. Rob Evans, and all his gorgeousness, is surprisingly a pretty awesome judge himself. I agree with him and his comments 99% of the time.

Bryanboy - I know he's Pinoy and I've heard some issues with him before, but I like him on the show too, especially when he told Yvonne off with her nasty attitude during one of the shoots.

Johnny Wujek is a great addition too. I feel like he has contributed more to the show because of his insights and the way he handles the models during their photo shoots. Oh, and he's Katy Perry's stylist, so that's another PLUS. And, of course, he's gorgeous too. :)

America’s Next Top Model Comeback : Bring Brittany or Leila Back!

Everyone has his or her own bad days, and this happens to the best of us. So, I am really hoping that either Brittany or Leila is brought back into the competition through their social media scores.

(If you haven't yet, watch America's Next Top Model Comeback Web series)

I am crossing my fingers for Brittany and Leila. I think Leila will be a stronger competitor though 'cause I find that Brittany is a little boring during most of her shoots. I LOVE her on this Walt Disney shoot though:

Leila looks more like a high-fashion model, so I am rooting for her first before Brittany. But, either of them is okay in my book.

Victoria is Weird

Beautifully weird - I'm not sure. The way she comes into every photo shoot, with all the crazy characters she comes up with, is just too funny for words.

Sure, this is all because of her being home-schooled and well-pampered by her mother. I hope and wish she'll grow up, seriously, 'cause I think she's a very smart young girl who needs a ton of maturing to do. And I hope her mom helps her with that.

Who Am I Rooting For?

I am rooting for Lauren and Kiara now. Well, that's only because I have no other choice but them 2. They're the lesser evils.

Nastasia, I used to like, but she’s been boring recently.

Kristin is hot and pretty. But, I think she's just lucky she has the looks. With that said, she’s not a fierce high-fashion model to me. Plus, her personality sucks. :D

I don't like Lauren for her attitude too, but she’s one of the top competitors now. I love her zombie photo shoot.

Who are YOU supporting in America's Next Top Model College Edition?

Photo Credits: America's Next Top Model on CWTV

Using Social Media to Promote Your Business

A big part of running a successful business is coming up with ways to promote your business to potential customers. While you can always use the traditional methods of television, print, and radio advertising, many companies are exploring alternative measures to reach their customers. Social media is one of the leading tools that you can use to develop relationships with customers. Here are some ways that you can use social media to drum up interest in your business:

 

Expand Your Reach

One of the attractive things about using social media to promote your business is that you can eventually expand your reach and develop many different contacts. Some businesses have millions of followers or friends that they can interact with at anytime. With the ability to share status updates and other information with friends, your followers can also help you spread the word.

Once you develop a large contact lists, this can provide you with a tool that you can use to essentially get free advertising. If you want to spread some information about your business, you only have to send out a message, and all of your followers will get it at once.

 

Giveaways and Contests

When it comes to using social media to promote your business, one of the strategies that you can use is to have giveaways and contests. In many cases, followers will get very excited about contests that you have on your social media profiles.

When it comes to having a contest, you don't always have to spend a lot of money to get people involved. For example, you could offer personalized hand sanitizer for your company with your logo on it as a prize. You'd be surprised how many people will participate in your contests no matter what you give away.

 

Build Relationships

Using social media is also a good way to build relationships with your followers or friends. When you use social media, you give your customers a chance to respond to you directly. When they have a question, they can simply ask you, and you can answer it. This helps build trust, and shows that you are not some faceless corporation for your customers to deal with.

Overall, social media is a fantastic tool to use for almost any business model. Get started playing around with social media sites, and build your own profiles on all of the popular sites as soon as you can.

My New Passion is To Be Social

In about three months, I'd be celebrating my 32nd birthday. We'll be celebrating in Bohol, which is why I'm excited about turning another year older. Am I a little wiser? I believe so.

Last January, I started working officially as a Social Media Manager / Strategist for a US-based company. I've enjoyed managing my own social media accounts, so I knew it'll be a fun experience for me, too, to make a living out of something I'm passionate about. Though it can be a lot stressful at times, I can say that I'm glad I was led to this path because I feel like I'm doing very well at this. :)

I've started writing about social media on my geek blog because I believe I know a lot more now than I ever did before. I feel like I have some kind of authority now since I do it EVERYDAY, even when I'm not working. I LOVE IT!

Like a friend of mine, Jonha, who said she lives and breathes social media, I feel like that I am too. I've been blogging since 2003 (on a different platform) and have maintained my various social media accounts and pages for years. I enjoy connecting with other people, even from other parts of the world. I'm not as networked as Jonha is since most of the people in my Facebook network are Filipinos. On Twitter though, I feel much "social", which is why I'm addicted to it now.

So, if you want to tweet with me, follow me - @blankpixels. We can talk about anything under the sun! Doesn't matter if you're a man or a lady. We can talk about fashion, gaming, gadgets, beauty, promos, food, celebrities, politics, shoes or even Alpinestars SMX 5 Boots. I tweet about my life, my reactions to latest news, movies or music I love or currently enjoying, but mainly about social media, design, food (yes, again! LOL) and SEO. :)

Facebook : Google Before You Share/Tag

There's no doubt that Facebook is the top social networking site to-date. Though I'm seeing myself using and browsing Twitter more often now, Facebook is still unbeaten when it comes to user-friendliness and reach. Anyone you meet who has access to the internet is expected to have a Facebook account.

Because of the high usage of this social networking site, obviously, it'll be misused by those who don't understand or cannot comprehend the value of privacy or thinking before clicking or sharing, and abused by many people. Being paranoid when it comes to online security, especially after my own experiences with scams and hackers, and knowing a thing or two on how easy it is to fool / trick people online, I ALWAYS take everything I see on the internet with a grain of salt. Make that a cup of salt. ;)

I've been very cynical even when I was younger, so I didn't believe in Santa Claus. Well, I'm glad our nanay didn't really make up any of those fantasies when we were little. We've been realists since we were kids because of her, but it was our aunts and uncles who thought they can fool us that there's such a thing as a tooth fairy. *LOL*

This is why whenever I see something online that has been shared by people on my network, no matter how heartbreaking the story behind it may be, I always make it a point to do my research first, especially when it's something that'll attract strong opinions and reactions from other people. It's better safe than be humiliated later on to know that the post you shared was actually just a bunch of BS someone concocted for the fun of it.

If I can't find anything written about the said topic, I'll skip sharing it, especially when it's about someone committing a crime or guilty of general nastiness. You'll never know when the post you're sharing started with malicious intent to ruin someone's image. So, it does help to be extra careful.

One thing I also want to mention (though totally unrelated to the topic) is this: because of my Facebook network, people have been requesting me to add their other accounts that are connected to their store where they sell clothes, shoes, audio rack, gadgets, etc. They're supposed to be creating a Facebook page for it, if you ask me. I know what they'll do - they'll repeatedly tag me on their photos in an attempt to get my network of people to see what they're selling. No, thanks. Good thing Facebook now allows us to review any photo or post where other people tagged us. It prevents others from spamming our wall. I mean, I'm okay with my actual friends tagging me, but if I don't know you well enough, I won't accept that tag request and will remove my tag, then unfollow the post. And, also, it doesn't hurt to ask, you know. :) For contest entries though, I don't remove tags.

I'm currently thinking about maintaining a TRUE personal Facebook account, but I just don't have the time to manage yet another account. Besides, I've learned my lessons over the past years on what I can and should post on my wall. Plus, with the things I'm working on and my upcoming projects, I don't think I'll have the time to share anything personal anymore anyway, except the ones you'd see here on my blog. I tend to rant in multiple paragraphs anyway. ;)

How about you? What do you think of the funny and ridiculous things that have been shared and spread like wildfire through Facebook? Care to share your own experiences? :)