Ashleigh Simpson
On My Way to the Real World
My name is Ashleigh Simpson.
I am a senior Professional Communications and Digital Media major at the University of Pittsburgh.
For the last few years I have worked as a social media manager for several different companies and organizations.
I have watched the evolution of social media grow from entertainment purposes alone, to a highly crafted and extremely valuable business asset. One of the things that I'm looking forward to in this class is exploring more of the uses and the functions of social media in the professional world, and the ways that we can use it to our advantage to progress both our careers and our personal lives. My goals for the semester are to not only succeed academically, but to adapt new skills within the realm of social media and apply that to my future career path. As we continue throughout this semester, I am fascinated to dive into the mechanics of how social media has not only changed the way that we communicate, but will forever become a force that has changed how we interact with the world.
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Mid Term Reflection
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As a communications major, some of the courses that I have taken over the last 2 years here at Pitt have really separated out and covered specific topics in great detail. For example, I have taken a media ethics course, a persuasion in the media course, a public relations course, etc. One of the things that I have really enjoyed about this class is that we are bringing all of those broad range subjects together and learning about how they interconnect within social media. I think that social media sometimes is treated like something that all communications or even non-communications college students fully understand, simply because we interact with it on a daily basis. However, social media has become such any immense part of our culture and of the way that we interact with businesses that it is no longer effective to just understand how social media works on a surface level, in order to be successful. This is one of the first courses that I have heard of actually offered here at Pitt that makes understanding the business world of social media the primary course focus, and I have really enjoyed having the opportunity to be a part of it.
For me personally, I have really enjoyed posting our course assignments on our own unique website. I think that like the importance of a company creating its own brand and brand voice through social media, this website is giving us the ability to create our personal brand and allow it to show through on our site. This also has been really helpful due to the nature of the assignments we have been working on. With items like the social media story, the process doc and the op-ed I feel like I am going to walk away at the end of this class with a unique class portfolio that I can show to future employers. The processes doc has so far been my favorite element of the course because it has really made me think and consider all of the important aspects of what goes into a social media analysis and strategy, and I think that it is something I will really be able to take away and apply to my professional career.
I have enjoyed our classroom environment so far. I think that it has stimulated good conversation and critical thinking skills. I particularly like when we incorporate real world examples. For me personally, I thrive off of personal feedback, I definitely like the reassurance that I am on the right track, so I am looking forward to meeting with you during the mid term reflection to talk a bit more about the course and my progress.
Final Reflection
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Welcome to my portfolio! It has been a really great semester filled with lots of challenging, yet exciting assignments and plenty of hard work. This is the first time that I have ever created an online portfolio of any kind, and to have been able to watch it grow from its initial creation back in early January to where it is now has been really rewarding. Throughout this semester I believe that I have really expanded my knowledge of social media and of social media writing, and I think that it has reflected in the work that I have done throughout this semester. To be able to walk away with an entire social media strategy after this class that has really taken a lot of research and thought is a great way to end the year and end my time here at Pitt.
As a senior who is interested in the communications and digital marketing field, being able to present some of my work to potential employers is very exciting, especially because it is work that is rooted in real world companies and utilizes current research/marketing trends. Focusing on the strategy for as long as we did throughout the semester really allowed me to learn about the importance of each individual piece that went into it, then how to really tie all of those loose ends together into a convincing argument. I am excited for what is next for me in my professional journey, and I feel very fortunate that I will be able to showcase this great portfolio as an example of my work in that journey.
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Thanks!