Crystal Amberlyn

China has been dealing with a lack of road safety. In fact, an average of more than 260,000 deaths occur on China’s roads each year. According to this article by Nicole Lim, the city of Guangzhou is implementing a new and interesting solution. For those caught disobeying traffic laws, they can apologize on social media instead of paying fines. Then, the post must obtain 20 likes or appear in 10 chat groups. Police say this is not meant to punish people but instead, educate them. Personally, I think this solution is amazing. By having offenders post to social media about what they have done, they are spreading awareness about traffic safety. Therefore, others will learn to not disobey traffic laws. This is also why it is important police are requiring a minimum engagement of the post. This way they know the post has been seen by others. Lim explains the campaign is already making a huge impact. Around a month after the start of the campaign, the number of jaywalkers has d...

On April 16 th , 2018, my boyfriend and I will have been together for three years. I know to some, that is not long but to me, it has been long enough for me to truly feel he is the one. I know there is always the possibility we will not work out but so far, we are happier than ever, and I could not imagine my life without him. Now, I understand if you do not wish to read a silly girl’s love story but for those who adore love stories, I think you might enjoy mine. The first time I saw Trevor was my sophomore year of high school. We were both in Sophomore Leadership. This was a program held by local schools where the top three students of each class learned leadership skills. He was a student from Hardin Northern, and I was a student from Upper Scioto Valley. Like any other young girl in high school, I was looking for cute boys, and he was one of them. Now, it would seem logical to think he thought I was cute too, and we began talking, but this was not how we got together. In fact, ...

Before reading Jason McDonald’s “Social Media Marketing Workbook,” I knew very little about Yelp. All I knew it was for reviews, but I did not know how it worked. After learning more about it, I find it quite interesting. In order to review a business, it must be listed, but how do businesses become listed? I assumed business owners would create listings for their businesses, but this is not the case. In fact, a business listing can be made without any involvement of the business owner! If a business is not listed a Yelp user, or Yelper, can create a listing for the business and review it. The business owner cannot delete the listing either. Is this fair? At first, I did not think is was, but it does make sense. The whole point of reviews is for prospective customers to verify if they are spending their money on a good product or service. If only business owners could make business listings and manage reviews, reviews would be worthless. Of course, business owners would hide ne...

Shortly after my junior year of high school, my car broke down. Travis the Dodge Stratus, or sexy Travis the Stratus, had a cracked radiator and many other repairs which where not worth paying the price to fix. Therefore, I had to get a new car but to do so, I had to get a job. As much as I despised the idea of working at a fast-food restaurant, I knew it was my only option. In order to avoid McDonald’s, I applied to Taco Bell. I had an interview with the manager, but I heard nothing afterwards. Maybe it was because I wrote the hours I wanted to work instead of the hours a could work. I knew I couldn’t wait too long, so I applied to McDonald’s. To my surprise, I had an interview and was hired in the same day I applied. That was almost three years ago and to this day, I still work at McDonald’s. Yes, I still work at McDonald’s along with my three other jobs. Currently, I work one day a week. In all honesty, the main reason I continue to work at McDonald’s is because of how much it...

On March 20 th , 2018, I created a video of the Ohio Northern University Department of Art and Design. At first, I struggled to think of a topic for my video. Somehow, I thought of my department, and I realized it would be perfect! I am truly passionate about the Department of Art and Design and by making a video for it, I could finally give the department some publicity. In order to make the video, I took short clips of people, artwork and other details within the department. Also, believe it or not, all the footage was taken on my Galaxy S8. I could have made a video with images, but I felt video clips are more interesting. Artists and designers are visual people, so I wanted to gather clips to intrigue the visual senses of viewers. When I started to edit the video, I was nervous because I have never used Adobe Premiere Pro before. Luckily, a google search and some tutorials helped me through! Originally, I had planned to introduce the video with a short clip of myself. Af...

There are many people in this world who struggle with depression, and I am one of them. Imagine constantly tearing yourself down even though you have done nothing wrong. Imagine getting angry at your own friends and family just for trying to talk to you. Imagine trying to fall asleep at night, but you can’t because you are tortured by the memories of past mistakes. This is what it was like for me with depression. Some people do not realize discovering you have depression is not always clear. It took me a lot of time and suffering to realize I did. For a long time, I believed my actions and feelings were normal. Everyone has their story, and this is mine.  Many people associate depression with extreme levels of sadness, and I have experience this. It would not matter the severity of the event; my mind would crumble. The sadness I experienced was more than a bad feeling with tears. It was painful. I remember times I would cry so hard my eyes would swell and my heart would poun...

You probably have heard it before, and it is true. Many employers tend to explore social media accounts of potential candidates. According to a CareerBuilder survey, 70 percent of employers check social media accounts of their candidates. Depending on what you post, this could either help or harm you. According to this article , some employers are going further and having new AI software scan social media accounts. That is correct. An AI software could trash your resume before the employer even knows it exists. Is this fair? From an employer perspective, I can see how this could be very helpful. Screening multiple social media profiles can take some time, and you may miss some things if you do it yourself. As a job seeker, I can see how it could become unfair. AI is new technology, and it does not have morals. It could also malfunction. I would hate to lose a job opportunity because a robot read my post the wrong way. If the program was proven to work perfectly, I would change my...

As a graphic designer, I love visuals. Therefore, I absolutely love Instagram! Although Instagram does not beat Facebook as my first choice, it is a close second. Maybe this is because Facebook owns Instagram! Since I love Instagram so much, I was really interested to see what Jason McDonald had to say about the platform in his “Social Media Marketing Workbook.” I might have thought I knew everything about Instagram, but it turns out there was one thing I did not know: Instagram has business pages. I feel silly for not knowing this, but it never crossed my mind! I know Facebook has pages for businesses, but I never imagined this for Instagram. Fortunately, they do exist and can be made rather easily. Since Instagram is owned by Facebook, you must have a Facebook business page to make one for Instagram. I think this is nice because it is easy and convenient to connect the two. Once you have a Facebook business page, you are good to set one up for Instagram. Well, what if you...

When people think of spring break and college students, they normally think of fun vacations and parties. Clearly, this is not the case for me. Two days are left of my spring break and so far, I have worked, slept and worked. I would love to go to the beach or take a road trip but unfortunately, you must make money to spend money. On the other hand, I guess a few interesting things have happened during my break. Although my spring break is not officially over, here is a small recap of what has happened. The most exciting thing to happen during my break was a phone interview for an internship. Not too long ago I applied for a graphic design internship with Thirty-One Gifts. If you have not heard of the company, they are a woman-based company who sell customizable bags, jewelry, etc. They design their products with beautiful prints and colors. I have grown up knowing the company and loving their brand, so I was excited to see they offered an internship. Shortly after applying, ...

In Jason McDonald’s “Social Media Marketing Workbook,” he calls Twitter “microblogging.” In all honesty, I have little to say about the Twitter chapter, so here is my microblog. I must admit, Twitter is my least favorite platform. Trust me, I have given it a chance, but it is not for me. Although I may not like it, I still believe it is important to understand it and luckily, Jason McDonald has you covered in his “Social Media Marketing Workbook.” He does very well explaining the many different aspects of Twitter such as hashtags and handles. For someone who has never used Twitter before, this would be very helpful because he covers all the basics. For others who have used Twitter before, he does add new knowledge. As a mentioned before, McDonald says Twitter is microblogging. I realize this is a very good metaphor. Tweets consist of a story, opinion, etc. in very few words. McDonald also adds Twitter requires more attention to posts than profile appearance when it comes to m...

I n Bret Molina’s article “Could you quit social media? Your answer may depend on your age,” he explains interesting information found by a survey from the Pew Research Center. The survey found 40 percent of participants said they would find it difficult to give up social media. This is a 12 percent increase from four years ago. The survey also found generally younger adults find it more difficult to part with social media than older adults. I find this information very interesting but through my experience, I believe there are other factors than age. I generally believe the more experience you have with social media, the easier it is to part with it. In other words, you get sick of it. I built this assumption based on my own experience and my observation of others. I personally have been on social media for quite a long time. I may get on social media from time to time but if I had to part with it, it would not be a huge issue for me. On the other hand, I feel my mother would h...

"Just because you come from a rough beginning does not mean   that is where you must end."  I like to believe I am a nice person. I also like to think I am a hard worker and good student. Sadly, I was not always this way. At one point in my life, I was a bully. I was mean and like every other troubled individual, there was a reason why I acted the way I did. During the critical learning period in my life, I learned violence and anger was the way to solve issues or get what you want. So, that is what I did. Fortunately, I reached a point where I decided to change my life. I made the decision to change. My bad behavior started as early as kindergarten. I would get angry at children who would not share their toys with me, and I would constantly rebel against activities. There was a time I climbed to the top of the play tower and would not come down because I did not want to learn the alphabet. I was surely a troublemaker, and it only got worse as I got...