Best $13 I've Spent in a While... wk7

I love Wal-mart. It's like the mecca for all college students, I believe. One of my favorite sections is the video/music area. They have the best movies for the cheapest price! Today I bought a 3-disc set of the American Pie trilogy... you know, American Pie, American Pie 2 and American Wedding... for a whopping $13!! What a steal!!

(For all those wondering, I don't count the Naked Mile, Band Camp or Beta House in the series because they were spin-offs and don't have all the original characters.)

Those movies bring me back in the day where we'd go on "group dates" of about 10 guys and girls to the movies since we were technically too young to date, but those hormones raged anyway (and parents were cool with group stuff!). It seems so long ago, but those were some of the best times I can remember from junior high/early high school! I'm definitely pumped about watching these movies again (probably for the millionth time!) and reminiscing. That is, once I have my life back after I finish this dreaded 15 page paper!!

Tag, You're It! wk 6

Though I'm not a huge fan of the New Influencers book, I have to say that chapter nine began to spark my interest when it discussed the use of tags.

Unlike with my difficulty in wrapping my head around what an RSS feed is, I tend to think that tags are self-explanitory devices. I'd always noticed them at the bottom of articles or blogs, and I knew that tags played a huge part in the success of search engines, but I never knew just how important that made them in the grand scheme of social media!

One thing I will give this book, is the fact that for every subject brought up, Gillin will give about 5 examples to help clarify. I never knew that there were sites on the Web set up to specifically track tags and what they say. TagWorld, and del.icio.us are especially interesting to me after I checked them out and did a few searches. The possibilities are endless! It's amazing that I could probably sit around all day thinking of ways I'd like to be able to search for information, by what category, and there would be some specialized Web site out there that will do just what I wish!

With technology we're always wondering, "what will they think of next?" but with so much out there already, I have to sit back and wonder, "is there anything left to think of?"

Freedom Calls Foundation... wk 6

Keeping with my military theme, I thought I'd post something interesting that connects social media to the military. Companies such as the Freedom Calls Foundation exist to bring internet connection and voice/video messaging to soldiers in Iraq for them to communicate with home.

The Freedom Calls Foundation is a non-profit organization that brings this technology to military personnel and their families free of charge. There really isn't a secure internet infrastructure in Iraq, and a company that relies solely on donations being able to provide this service really says something to me about the amount of people out there who believe in the cause and are willing to donate money.

It's amazing to me how social media seems to spill over into all aspects of our lives. Imagine being in the military and away from home even 20 years ago. The average person may have gotten to make a phone call once a month, if lucky. It's so much better to see your family than just hear them. Especially when technology such as video-conferencing can keep you right in the action of anything important going on at home. One Army General stated that the efforts of the foundation represented the single greatest boost in morale for the troops in the past 25 years. To me, that solidifies the fact that social media is here to stay!

My Wounded Soldier... wk 6

It's on a somber note that I start all my piles (and yes, I mean PILES) of homework today..

The day started out just like any other, but I received some very awful news. My friend Matthew that I wrote my personal blog about a few weeks ago was hurt in Iraq. His convoy was traveling into the city (though I'm not allowed to know which one) and an IED (improvised explosive device, aka bomb) exploded taking the lives of 70% of the men there. Matt was lucky though, if you can call it that. He broke several ribs and there are lacerations all over his face. For now, he is being hospitalized in Germany, but within the next few days he'll be back in the States. For a few months they'll have him stationed in Texas, doing therapy and keeping him trained for when he has to go back again. I probably won't get to see him until Christmas at the earliest...

All of this just brings it home for me. The war in Iraq is real. It affects real people, and real families, and real friends. I can't imagine what I'd be doing now if Matt hadn't been in the 30% of survivors. I've been worried sick all day/night just thinking about him being in pain and in a foreiegn country across the Atlantic Ocean where I can't go see him. I know that people in the class who read this won't feel as affected as I do, but please do me a favor and hug a soldier the next time you meet one, because I know I'll hug mine the first chance I get!

Yay for Podcasting!.... wk 5

I have to say that I love love love The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott. I was especially excited to learn more about podcasting, because so far this is the only thing we've talked about in class that I haven't tried on my own yet!

Chapter 6, though it was short, was just the kind of information I needed to know. I guess I never really looked into podcasting because I thought there was some kind of subscription fee. There was a quote that especially stuck in my head, it read "by appealing to a niche market and delivering audio that people choose to hear, an organization is seen as a thought leader and is the first choice for listeners looking to make a purchase." (page 70) Looking back on it, it seems like that is such an obvious statement. If the purpose of an organization is to reach it's consumers, then why did it take this long for consumer-targeting products like blogs and podcasts to appear? It makes me really excited to live in an age where advantages like this exist at my fingertips! The only hard part is figuring out which podcast to subscribe to!

On a side note, I checked out the band mentioned in the book, Uncle Seth, and I will have to agree with Scott on this one... they're pretty good!

Blogging/Twittering a College Class?.... wk 5

Surfing around for something PR/Social Media related for this week brought some rather ho-hum results for me. I decided to google "blogging classes" and see what I could come up with, and before I read too far down the page I came across an article on Techdirt that sparked my interest.

According the the article, a professor at NYU has actually asked that her students no longer blog, twitter, or text about her class to others. Now while it's her word against theirs as to the conditions surrounding the case, it seems to me that she's already made a serious blunder in the world of teaching.

Especially while teaching a course called "Reporting Generation Y," I would think that any professor would almost expect to be talked about outside the realm of the classroom. After all, this professor is supposed to know the ins and outs of the subject matter, which undoubtedly includes the members of her class. To me, any time a student blogs or twitters something about the class should be taken as a compliment. If I'm bored to tears with a class, I'll rarely talk about it on my own time.

Just as the article points out, I agree that this ban of social media is somewhat of a generational struggle. I'm pretty sure that social media is here to stay, and I'm I'm probably not the only one who would appreciate it if the older generations would just be more accepting.

No Motivation... wk 5

So before I go ahead and do my other 2 blog posts for the week, (yea, I was a bad person and waited this long to do ALL of them... reprimand me if you wish) let me just warn you that my motivation level is very low.

It always happens to me during week 5. Some people say the worst week to go to classes is week 10, but I will definitely disagree. Week 5 is by far the hardest of them all. It doesn't matter what's going on this week, I will ALWAYS not feel like doing ANY of my work. Period.

I still love social media, however. Hopefully week 6 I'll be out of my slump!