ALL KIDS SHOULD BE PROTECTED CAREFULLY.

I was having breakfast this morning. My roommate asked me a question instead of saying 'morning': "have you heard that there was another shooting this morning?" -- the shooting in Portland is the first one this week. "No.. What?! Another one?" "Yea.. Kids killed in an elementary school in Connecticut this morning..."
......
I mean... really? Two shootings in one week, when it is less than two weeks before Christmas? The first one is bad enough: shooting in Macy's, a shopping mall in which people pick holiday gifts happily. However, the second one is incredibly outrageous: shooting in an elementary school where most kids are younger than 10!! Honestly, I don't care if the suspect had multi-personality disorder or whatever mental injures he had, it is just UNFORGIVABLE.

On the other site of the world, China, where I was born and raised, just witnessed a similar crime. A psycho injured 20+ school children with knife. This is just a story as sad as the one happened in Connecticut. No matter how retarded the suspect is, this kind of behavior is just UNFORGIVABLE.

I am not trying to discuss "which one is worse". When everyone is mourning for the children killed in Connecticut, very few people know that there was another bunch of children, who were just suffering the same pain. Even for Chinese people who live in mainland China, not too many of them know the tragedy. Of course it is not the mass's fault. The fault is the government's.

I don't understand why 20+ children injured in their motherland by some mental would be something that the media didn't dare to expose. If you didn't reveal the whole story to your people, why would you reveal a similar story that happened in another country? Do you think losing your own children does not compare to the lost of another country's children? You disguised the truth because you didn't want people to know. You are afraid that your people are going to "wake up" and act against you. You are trying to make up a pretty lie that everyone is enjoying their life. But that's not how it works. Only when the mass are told there are problems in the country, they will get involved in the discussions and movements about how to make the country healthier and safer for our children. If they didn't see anything, they won't know there are issues and they won't actually be part of the country.

I think the best way for a country to express its concern and respect to its people is to LET THEM KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. They deserve the truth. In this case, the children who were injured in China deserve sympathy and extra care and their parents deserve comfort and aid.

When we are sending out thoughts to the lives that went to heaven, please think about the ones who just suffered the same tragedy but were hidden.

They ALL deserve to be remembered.

Summer Fang

My inbox has been jammed for the past a few days and I am so tired of receiving those "Final Hours" "We Extend!" and "Don't Miss Your Last Chance". I mean, really? It was only Black Friday a few years ago. Last year, Cyber Monday was Monday ONLY. This year, it became Cyber Monday Week...

I completely understand why online stores extend the sales. People buy, like a lot, during holiday season. They would literally sit at computer for a whole day -- in this year's case, for a few days -- to check the "best deals ever". I actually checked some sites that I always trust too. But I just bought one thing -- a purse -- after receiving tons of Cyber Monday news.

Last year, there was a huge stream of returning after the Holiday Season. Some went to return the gifts they didn't like and the others went to return the goods they wish they didn't purchase... Such a waste of time, isn't it? You spent hours and days to view the products and waited another few days to get them. And then, you returned them... I am sure there are lots of people who got what they really wanted and were very happy about that. But I mean, really? Cyber Monday Week? What you expect people to do except shopping? Office staff use office hour to check deals, house wives are paying online in their cleaning time and college students check on cheap gears and make-ups at library...

Another thing is, the products may not be as cheap as they told you. If you did a little bit research and comparison before you place the order, your chance of finding a better deal for the same product is pretty high.

Anyway, I see that under today's economy condition, it is probably a good way to stimulate the economy. I am just hoping that my inbox will not be as jammed as it is now in a couple of days.

By the way, Happy Belated Thanksgiving. Let's look forward to X'mas, another "sale craze"!

Summer Fang

I believe that today, young people who engage with social media a lot and care about their future career, will try to manage their virtual profiles -- you never know who's gonna view your Facebook page and read what you say on Twitter.
Before LinkedIn thrived, many employers would Google their potential employees and check their public profiles and speeches on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms. However, thanks to LinkedIn, the social network for professionals all over the world, young people started to build up their professional profiles on it. Companies and employers "hunt" potential employees via LinkedIn and view the applicants' professional backgrounds. In the mean while, young people have an easy access to know about the companies before they send out their resumes. This is a two-way-selection for both employers and employees.
Now, when you go to LinkedIn and view people's online behaviors, you will find that everyone is so behaved! If you check your friends' updates, you will probably see working experiences updates,  industry article sharing and professional connection updates. And you will say: " I didn't know he/she's professional!"
I get it. Because you probably engage with your friends on Facebook most of time, you get surprised when you see their professional aspects. You may even think: "hum, his/her Facebook profile image is not like that..."
LinkedIn gives young people more opportunities to showcase themselves and impress someone may hire them. The smart ones know the art of How to Perform on Professional Social Network and really pay attention on what they do, what they say and how they stay in touch with their new and old connections. These people understand Netiquette, which means Etiquette on Internet.
Another good thing of LinkedIn is that it "releases" young professionals in some way -- they have more latitude on what they say and what they share on Facebook (maybe not Twitter since it is mainly a place for words and people need to watch their words). Since employers kind-of shift from Facebook to LinkedIn when they are searching the applicants, young professionals can share more of their personal social life on Facebook such as express their emotions/political opinions, blah around and be funny. They don't have to worry too much about "what if the company I really wanna go see my photos at Jennifer's party?""do I sound stupid of posting these words?"...
However, if you think you are completely free from the "Nos" rules on Facebook, you probably will not be able to maximize the functions of your LinkedIn. The reason? Employers go to LinkedIn more doesn't mean they don't go to Facebook anymore!
Imagine that you have a really good looking personal page on LinkedIn: professional profile image, good education background, a lot of internship experiences and plenty of professional article sharing. The company you have been keeping in touch just scheduled an interview with you next Monday. You are so stoked and you hang out with your friends on Friday night and guess what? You get drunk and you have no idea who posted your pretty drunky face at 2am in the morning of Saturday. On Monday, when you are dressing up for the interview, your interviewer goes to your Facebook page because she's curious about what kind of person you are in real life. And without surprise, she cancels the interview.
This example is a little bit exaggerated. But I definitely see young people who had decent LinkedIn profiles but didn't pay enough attention on what they post on Facebook.
Social media can be tricky. Being able to establish one good looking public profile doesn't mean you can run your entire virtual world well. Netiquette doesn't sound that hard. But it does take a lot of time to learn and develop.

Summer Fang

(The Photo is unrelated to Hurricane Sandy)

Tons of news and reports about the hurricane at east coast just flood like how it is in New York City.
This is a disaster without doubts.
Besides news and micro news (like Official Twitters), people's email inboxes are jammed by online stores, including brands' online stores, group purchase sites and flash sale sites.
I must say, I am impressed by those flash sale sites, especially whose headquarters or operation centers are at east.
In their messages to customers, they show concerns to people who live at east first. Then address their will to accomplish the deliveries on time and the hardness of working under this extremely tough condition: bad traffic, power out and gas exhausted. And then, they remind their customers that the deliveries may delay due to the consequences of the hurricane and indicate that they will work as hard as they can to make sure the packages arrive their destinations. At the end, they express their concern to their customers again with encouraging phrases.
I believe that most customers understand the delay of their orders at this moment. But these emails definitely bring the flash sale sites closer to their customers and increase the loyalty of the customers.
This is what we say 'Good PR under Emergent Events'.
However, my friend (she lives in NYC and she's fine) told me that one clothing brand whose headquarters are at west coast didn't react appropriately to the hurricane. Instead of soothing the customers, they made a 'joke': "In case you're bored during the storm..." Alright, the residents at east don't have too much "entertainment" during the storm, even Halloween got cancelled (that really makes me sad), how dare you called this "boring" ? You may say, well, we are at west and we have no actual feeling about the hurricane. Then an easier way for you to react to it is no reaction... Although it would be bad PR too, better than the insulting joke you made.
So, although I live at west and I don't suffer any pain from the disaster, I will think about it next time when I pass by this brand's stores. Instead, I think I will keep shopping on the flash sale sites that did a good job in reacting to the hurricane.
Plus, they usually have really good deals.

Summer Fang