Why groupwork sucks

Long time no see. 

My posts are getting rarer. I really need to apologise for that...Over Easter, I spent three lovely weeks at home in Germany and completely put everything uni- and PR-related aside (Apart from that last post, where I was bored rewatching Game of Thrones and spontaneously decided to take part in the #SOSM2015). 

The last days we were quite busy finishing our reflective report of our group PR Campaign. The more we reflected on it, the more we realised how much we actually learned. I really can't say that the campaign was a good one, as Murphy struck pretty hard.

Not only did we lose our client half-way through, we also had to deal with a lot of differences within our "agency". There were not only cultural (as our team consists of 3 different nationalities) difficulties, but apparently we also different working standards. Some members couldn't or wouldn't want to deliver work to a distinction or merit level, while others wouldn't accept anything less.

Well, like in real life, you can continue whinging or try to fix it somehow. You just can't always choose your colleagues or clients. Deal with it!

Now I can tell you that you learn a hell of a lot more from difficult than from easy times! You learn a lot about other people, how to deal with them and how to solve a problem despite these difficulties!

But if you're waiting for me to disprove what I wrote in the title, you'll be disappointed... 

Groupwork does suck (most of the time), but it is incredibly important to grow.

PS. The campaign wasn't THAT bad. Yes, we lost our client. But we managed to apply our product development skills and design a similar product for a new client. Boom!

#SOSM2015: TMI: Are we oversharing on social media?

On Facebook, there are 1.28 billion monthly users. 500 million tweets are sent per day. More than 20 billion photos have been shared on Instagram so far. 100 hours of video are being uploaded on YouTube every minute. 

Source: Social Media Stats 2014

What is even oversharing? Google answers with "reveal[ing] an inappropriate amount of detail about one's personal life".

No one can even look at all this stuff that can be found on social media. Are we oversharing? 

Margaret Rock says oversharing is psychologically natural for us. We want to present us at best to impress others. But does a massive posting of pictures of food, cats and our last holiday make us better people? Does it impress other people or just annoy them?

Data is money. On Facebook, we are not the customers. We are the product. This means that oversharing comes along with a loss of control about our privacy. So, in times of data privacy issues we should think twice before we post our latest drunk pictures. These will probably be seen by our future employers. Future parents-in-law. Think! Are we really making a good impression? Can we really look at these pictures a few years from now and not be ashamed of ourselves?  

Have we even come that far that we go to nice places or do nice things just to post about it? We are creating a virtual ego that is so much more exciting, better looking and funnier than we really are. With this virtual picture of us in mind, we are losing the ability to just enjoy things for their sake. 

Yes, we are oversharing. But at what price? 

With this in mind, I'll put down my phone now, go out and enjoy the sunny day without posting it on Instagram and Facebook.

PS. #SOSM2015 (Stand out on Social Media) is a student-run competition. You can read everything about it here.