Meagosaurus

[meagosaurus-blog]

[meagosaurus-blog]

[meagosaurus-blog]

Behold my Twitter Essay

What do we want? Internet traffic! When do we want it? Now! In that case, let’s talk about Search Engine Optimization, aka #SEO 1/10

We’ve all heard of #SEO, and many of us have nodded along in convo pretending we know what it’s all about. But what exactly is #SEO? 2/10

The long and the short of it is that it’s a way for more people to find your website faster and more often, which leads to #winning 3/10

With more than 130 million websites and over 90% of people using search engines to find what they want, #SEO is a must 4/10

#SEOs look at two things. 1: Keywords. They let #SEOs ‘see’ your site, and are pretty self-explanatory 5/10

2: Backlinks. They let #SEOs ‘trust’ your site. Essentially, backlinks link back to your site from other sites #trustiswhatitsallabout 6/10

Links can be from articles, social media, blogs, etc. The more numerous and trustworthy your backlinks, and precise your key words… 7/10

…The higher up the results page you’ll go! #ohtheplacesyoullgo 8/10

Are you still thinking, “I want me some #SEO!” Well then, you better get to work on including keywords onsite… 9/10

…And, more importantly, get to work on backlinks offsite. And if all goes well, your website traffic will be #outtasight 10/10

[iamcharlottemillar]

Zomato App Review

Do you like restaurants? Do you like food? Do you like trying new cuisines? If so, definitely check out my new review for the ‘Zomato’ app. I hope you find it deliciously helpful ;)

[meagosaurus-blog]

Do you know what? I do like restaurants! I do like food! And I do like trying new cuisines! 

As a lady who appreciates some good take-out while studying, this app takes the plate (see what I did there??). I think that ‘trending this week’ is a neat feature, and I think it would really help expand someone’s local restaurant repertoire.

I’m wondering, can users post reviews of the restaurants? Or can users just favourite a restaurant and post pictures? If it is the case that users cannot post reviews, do you think that including user reviews would help or hinder the app?

And hey, you can’t go wrong with a good Emma Stone gif!

[winterlilycanada-blog]

Review of Google Translate for Android.

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This review is very helpful. It clearly outlines the many new features that would be useful for someone who wants on-the-go translations. There seem to be a lot of ways to translate with Google Translate that I didn’t know anything about! 

Do you know of any other quick translation apps similar to this one? And if so, do the other translation apps come at a cost?

And as much as it isn’t for in-depth translation, it has served me well in the past.

[meagosaurus-blog]

Review of “My Asics” for Android

[meagosaurus-blog]

Module 2 Individual Assignment: “Where has the time gone?” (Mommy Blog Entry)

Where has the time gone?

Long-time no see! (Talk? Read? You know what I mean)

I feel like Taco Bell: you always hold out hope that the food will be filling, tasty and satisfying, but it always ends up letting you down. Clearly I’m not Taco Bell, but whenever I don’t post I feel like I am letting down the few of you who are kind enough to follow my blog. Aside from the fact that I am not fast food, this was a pretty good analogy, right?

It drives me crazy when people go on and on about why they haven’t posted rather actually writing a post worth reading – so I’m moving on to more interesting topics and committing to try and post more often.

I went on holiday

Recently, I returned from my 14th annual girls’ beach trip. Can you believe that?

We had a grand time; we spent too much, ate too much and laughed too much. I am already looking forward to next year. For our 15th annual girls’ beach trip we’re going to go for a longer holiday. Only 351 days to go (not that I’m counting).

Anypoodles…

The children are growing up

In other news: the children are growing up. Shocker, right? Well, it is shocking to me just how fast they are growing up. I’m sure all you mommy bloggers out there can relate.

Busy D. is nearing middle school. She now has real homework and soccer practice, both of which keep me very busy in the evenings. Busy Boy is looking at colleges. OK, that's not totally true. I'm looking at colleges and he's looking at skateboards. Busy Girl is more than halfway through her first year of college.

If someone had described their kids and life to me like that a few years ago I would have said, “Yeah, that’s nice,” while suppressing a giant yawn. But now, I’m there. Now I have the life with ‘older kids’. I can tell you for a fact that the ‘older kids’ life is anything but yawn-inducing.

Guess what else is shockingly old

If you were guessing me, you would be correct. But that is not what I want to talk about here.

I've recently celebrated 10 years of blogging.

I should probably do something more exciting than just making that statement, but I don’t have any ideas. A blogaversary just doesn't have the same significance it once had, but that's OK.

Mind bogglingly, when I started blogging Busy D. was eight months-old, Busy Boy was six years-old and Busy Girl was eight years-old. I remember the first thing I wrote, sitting in the exact place I am now writing this post.

Of course a few things have changed since that fateful night 10 years ago when I officially entered the blogosphere. The biggest changes have been in my children – changes that you, dear reader, have followed throughout the years. Where has all the time gone?

It's OK though. I can freak myself right out if I think too deeply about it. I could write all kinds of angsty stuff about fleeting childhood, time flying by and such.

But do you know what?

Right here, right now is pretty great after all.

[meagosaurus-blog]

Blog Post #1 – Mommy Blog Entry: Once More With Feeling

Feedback to Person B:

1. What do you two think about moving the sentences in “10 Year Blogging Anniversary” starting with “It boggles my mind that when I began…” and ending with “…and now I’m there, the one with ‘older’ kids,” to the “The Children Are Growing Up” section?

2. Switching the order of the “The Children Are Growing Up” and the “I Went on Holiday” sections might help with the change proposed above, as it would help the topics flow well from one to the next.

3. Do you two think the blog post would still work if the “Introduction” section was moved to the end as a conclusion? It could go after the “10 Year Blogging Anniversary” section as a reflection on her past posting inconsistencies and her thoughts on her future postings in the next 10 years.

Person C work:

1. Provide suggestions for the title of the blog

·   Looking backwards, looking forwards

·   The passage of time

·   Where has the time gone?

2. Identify three strengths and three weaknesses of the blog post

·    Strengths

     i.      The post is separated into short, sentence-long paragraphs. This structure makes it easier to read through than a longer paragraph.

     ii.      The blogger’s voice comes through clearly in the writing. It is easy to get a sense of who the blogger is and from where the blogger is coming. For example, including the word “Anypoodles…” is very distinctive.

    iii.      The post is a nice length. It is short enough that seeing the length is not off-putting, but it still manages to communicate a variety of topics.

·   Weaknesses

     i.      The opening analogy is not a “bangin’ analogy”. Comparing the blogger’s lack of posting to an alcoholic uncle does not help explain or clarify the blogger’s reasons for not posting often or for why she is going to post more regularly. It also starts the whole post off to a strange tone because it is so clearly a strange and ineffective analogy.

     ii.      The grammar and sentence structure leave something to be desired. This makes the post and its purpose much more difficult to read and understand.

     iii.      Different topics are poorly intertwined, which further encumbers reading the blog. Combining and transitioning between topics could be an interesting writing choice if executed properly, but this blog does not do it in an engaging or clear fashion. Instead, the blog almost reads as if it is following the blogger’s random thoughts (and not in a good way).

[meagosaurus-blog]

A Very Creative Title: Entry #1

Who am I? That’s a tough one. In trying to answer this I keep coming up with things that I like – history, polka dots, gifs of pugs being blow-dried, avocado and eggs on toast – things that don’t necessarily explain who am I as much as they give ideas of what to get for my birthday. Another way to answer the question is with something like “My name is Meaghan…I live in Yukon…I have four half-brothers…” but that too only answers part of the question.

I can say things such as I like my dog or that I like autumn, but if I really try and explain who I am I come up with descriptors such as kind, silly, honest. These words speak to how I am in relation to others. I think a lot of who I am, and this is probably the case for most people, is defined by my relationships with other people.

But unfortunately I can’t answer the question of exactly who I am right here, right now because:

A). I don’t know B). I’m still working out how to explain who I am in relation only to me; not based on what I like, where I live or my relationship with others

That being said, I’ll keep you posted about if/when I figure it out.

Why did I decide to take this course? Many jobs have some communications experience expectation, and even for those that don’t it’s a huge asset today to be knowledgeable about writing online and for social media. This course could have been useful for my development as a writer and for job prospects anytime in my undergrad career, but now in my final semester this course is even more important because I am going to (hopefully) be applying this kind of practical knowledge professionally in the near future.

Where am I coming from in my online communication experience? My online communication experience is fairly limited in comparison to many people my age. I’m an occasional user of social media (more than occasional when procrastinating), and it is solely for personal use.

Where am I now? Physically? In Whitehorse. Academically? In my last semester of my undergrad in Political Studies at Queen’s. I only need three more courses, so I am simultaneously working with Yukon government while taking my last courses online. It’s creating an interesting in-between-two-worlds situation where on the one hand I’m concerned about tuition dates and getting readings done on time, while on the other I am navigating the professional environment.

Where do I want to go? More like, where don’t I want to go? In short: anywhere and everywhere.

I have been toying with the idea of more schooling once I’m done my undergrad. Over the summer I felt like I wasn’t ready to commit to a whole new degree next fall, that I needed time off from school because I didn’t want to go back to the school grind. I wanted to try out a new grind – the ‘real world’. But now a few factors have made me reconsider going to grad school in the next couple years, and it is looking like something I may well want to do.

The point of social media? At its core I think social media is about sharing and connecting with other people. Going back to my attempts at answering the question ‘Who am I?’, I think social media has a unique role to play in answering that question today and in years to come. As social media is increasingly a part people’s everyday lives, and young people grow up with many relationships happening through online social networks, social media has the potential to shape who we are as people.