Reviewing classmates blogs

Recently in my Public Relations Crisis Management class, we discussed the obesity crisis in America and how different organizations, such as Kraft or McDonalds, dealt with the issues. After reading Kaylen McMullen's blog, I wondered if these companies in the U.S used similar research as Europeans to figure out the solution. Last semester I went abroad to Italy. I found it very hard to eat healthy over there (obviously) and work out on a daily basis. There gyms do not have up to date equipment and their food is just way to good to turn down. Now that I am back in the U.S, I live an even healthier lifestyle than I did before I went away. Making sure to get a good amount of exercise in as well as maintaining a healthy diet. I think that the HELENA study is going to really help Europeans live happier lifestyles. The researcher of the HELENA study should set up a meeting with some of our PR people in America. Kraft for example started putting a cap on portion size of single-serve packages as well as placing nutritional labels in their entire worldwide market. They really encourage healthy life styles for Americans. It seems that the researchers of the HELENA study are on the right track. They are trying to figure out questions like why citizens choose certain food, as well as social and cultural differences throughout the world. Kaylen made a great point as well, "If a person starts leading a better lifestyle at this stage, it is more likely that he or she will continue it for the rest of his or her life".

This morning I heard that there was a shooting at the University of Texas. I could not find much information on the Internet on my phone and I did not have access to a computer, so I went on my twitter to find out what had happened. Every 2 minutes, there was at least 30 new tweets regarding the shooting and giving updates and play by plays. When I read Francesca Mount's blog about research on social media it really caught my attention.  Francesca showed surprising statistics that the most users on twitter are from ages 18-34. I would expect young teens to be using it a lot more than young adults. Although, as I kept reading she explained that it is vital for companies and organizations to use twitter as a news feed, to get their information out faster. I have a twitter account myself and I think it is a much faster way of finding out news and information rather than reading an entire article about it. This blog made me realize that twitter is not only a social networking site, but also a news-related website, AND an ongoing research study. Organizations can measure how many people follow their product, brand, celebrities, fashions and so on, just by looking at the amount of followers. They can also have people "re-tweet" which will help give them more input and opinions of their customers and consumers.