Social Media Contract July 7, 2010

For this blog, we were to take the template created by Melanie McBride and adapt it to create our own social media contract.

MY SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

1. Connecting: Introduce yourself and tell me why you want to connect

I would really like to have an introduction to new people who want to connect. I generally don’t accept connections unless I know the person. On Facebook for example, I can view profiles and some personal information of someone requesting to be my friend. However, on Twitter, I am constantly getting notifications of these random people following me. I’d much rather have an introduction and know what their reason for connecting is.

2. Follow, add, friend:

For me, it depends on who the person is as to if I’ll follow them or add them as well. The person could simply be nosy! In that case, I may not accept them at all. I don’t find value in have 1,000,000,000 friends that I never talk to. Instead, I’d rather only add people that I actually have an interest in keeping up with and connecting with.

3. Privacy, boundaries and safety:

The main website I use is Facebook. I have my privacy settings pretty strict. People can only see my profile picture and a little bit of basic information. For my friends, however, they have an unlimited view of my page. Since I know them, I don’t mind if they see what I’m doing or look at pictures that I post. However, I don’t put anything too personal on there. In the end, I decide what goes on my page. So, if I think it’s too personal, I won’t post it on there.

4. Signal to noise:

I do have a few issues with status updates. I don’t think it’s necessary to have multiple updates everyday. It bothers me when people treat their status as an ‘away from my computer message’. For example, they start their day by telling Facebook exactly what they’ll be doing all do. Why? It seems pretty pointless to me. Also, why would you tag yourself in your own pictures? Nine times out of ten, the people looking at them already know who you are.

5. Personal data and sharing:

For me, sharing is about staying connected with friends. When I was younger, I was into adding people I didn’t know and getting to know them based on some common interest. Now, I just want to stay in touch with people I went to high school with or friends in other states.

6. My networking needs and uses:

Facebook is the website I use most. I know all of my friends. If I post something, somebody will likely comment on it. Before Facebook, I used Myspace. I used it to stay connected also. My Twitter account was created only for FYE 1220. My friends don’t use Twitter, so my page is pretty boring and inactive. I used it to connect with a few classmates during the class, but it just doesn’t fit me. Most of the time, I have too much to say and not enough room to write it.

7. Your criteria here:

If you don’t have something nice to say, then keep it to yourself. Why would I want that on my page?

8. Your criteria here:

Save the drama for your mama! I can’t stand when people argue through Facebook. Keep your drama private!

Campus Activities-The RAC July 7, 2010

After reading this week’s topic, I was completely unsure as to what I should write about. Georgia Southern has such a wide range of campus activities to take part in, but I generally go to classes and that’s about it. Especially during regular semesters, I barely have time to get all of my assignments completed!

Anyways, I began to think about what types of activities I was involved in. I did play intramural softball in the fall, but I didn’t play this summer because it’s way too hot for me! Also, I’m taking an aerobics class (calling it a hardcore aerobics class is COMPLETELY an understatement) at the RAC as one of my kinesiology classes. So, I decided to talk about some of the things that the RAC has to offer.

First of all, students do not have to pay to work out at the RAC. The fee is covered in tuition. Also, students can bring guests (who aren’t students) to work out with them, but they must pay a small fee. The RAC offers a wide range of activities. Outside of the RAC, there are two nature tracks. These tracks go around the RAC, softball fields, and ponds. One of the tracks is a little over a mile, and the other is a bit smaller. For those of you who don’t like to talk in the elements, there is also an inside track. The track is 1/9th of a mile, which makes it difficult to keep up with the number of laps you’ve walked (for me anyways). The RAC also has group fitness classes. During the summer, there aren’t as many classes offered, but they pick back up in the fall. There is a variety of group fitness classes. Some classes on the schedule for B term include spin, yoga, step, awesome abs, Zumba, aqua challenge, southern sculpt, and kickboxing. The RAC also has an indoor rock wall, racquetball courts, numerous basketball courts, an indoor pool, and an outdoor pool. Along with all of the extra stuff, the RAC also has the typical workout machines and free weights. After a good workout, you can get a smoothie from the smoothie ‘store’ to take with you on the ride home!

For more information about the group fitness programs, check out this website.

Digital Dirt July 2, 2010

In today’s world, many things revolve around social media. It’s a great way to stay connected, but it’s super important to make sure that the information you put on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and other social websites is neither too personal or harmful to your career and other aspects of your life. I started using the Internet to stay connected at an early age. To begin with, I was scared to put personal information on there. My mom always warned me about putting pictures and my real name on the Internet for everybody to see.

It can be dangerous to put personal information on the internet, but it can also be harmful to your future career. For example, when I entered the education program at Georgia Southern, one of the main things they stressed in the seminar was to clean up our personal websites. I know I’ve searched my clinical teachers before actually meeting them. It’s a good way to learn a little bit about them before meeting them. People may be surprised, but future employers often research applicants before hiring them. Why wouldn’t they? It’s a good way for them to know what kind of person they’re hiring.

Although I’ve not had any issues with my websites, I know other people that have. So, I have some advice to give out. First, as I mentioned earlier, it’s extremely important to have clean websites. If an employer looks you up and finds drunk pictures, provocative pictures, foul language, and other things, they may change their mind about hiring you. Second, as my mom always says, you are who you hang out with. You may need to edit your friends list. Sometimes they can make your page not presentable as well. Third, make sure you only add people that you know. It’s important to keep your personal information confidential to those people who don’t know you. Fourth, there are ways to set your website’s privacy setting.

In the end, it really benefits you to clean up your websites. You never know who may be looking at them!

Podcasts! July 2, 2010

Before this week, I really had no clue what a podcast was. The only thing I ever look for in Itunes is music! So, after reading up on the different types of podcasts, I decided to see what I could find. The first podcast I listened to was featured in The Moth. I’m not really sure why I picked it, but I think it was because the picture was funky. I was excited to list. The Moth features stories told by real people. These people are actually telling their stories in front of crowds while the podcast is recorded. After listening to it, I discovered I hadn’t really listened to it at all. I tried to think about what I could say in my blog about it, but I couldn’t remember anything! Before giving up on the The Moth, I tried listening to one more podcast. About five minutes into it, I gave up and moved on.

Apparently, it is tremendously difficult for me to listen to something for that length of time while simply sitting there. I got so distracted because I had nothing to watch. I surfed the internet, cleaned my desk, and looked at Facebook. After the podcast was finished, I honestly only remembered the basic facts of the story. There was a girl who had a bad experience with baseball. She was asked to take someone to the baseball game, and they had issues while waiting on their flight. Then, they had connecting flight issues. A man told them he’d drive them. They eventually got to the game with more problems along the way.

After my first experience with podcasts, I decided maybe there was something out there that was more interesting to me. I looked in the television podcasts and found one about Grey’s Anatomy. I’m sure you don’t know this, but I love Grey’s Anatomy. Actually, love is probably an understatement. A couple months ago, they aired the two hour season finale. If you didn’t watch it or if you’ve never watched Grey’s, it’s the most intense episode of anything I’ve ever seen. Anyways, the two writers created a podcast explaining why certain things happened. It was very interesting (much more than the other podcast). It was more like a tell all type thing. They told how things were connected, and they told what they were trying to achieve by making things happen. It’s really difficult to summarize everything they said because it was almost a 40 minute podcast. Plus, you probably wouldn’t know the impact of things they said unless you’ve watched Grey’s. Personally, I loved listening to it. They said that that I missed during the show and helped me understand things better.

After listening to podcasts, I decided that they are definitely not for me! Maybe it’d be easier to listen to them if I loaded them onto my ipod instead of listening to it on the computer. Either way, I don’t think I will listen to them anymore because I can’t focus on them! I’d rather watch a video about it or something. It’s always good to try new things though.

One Week of Twitter June 16, 2010

Last week, I was presented with the opportunity to use Twitter for a week. To begin with, I thought it was simply a site designed to “update your status” constantly. I thought to myself, who really wants to read everything I am doing? After watching several of the videos, I decided that I had Twitter all wrong. Rather than using it as a status updater, it’s more interesting if you provide meaningful comments to others, insightful statements, websites, and etc.

For me, it was hard to come up with things that I thought other people would be interested in. After trying to do that for a while, I decided to simply post things that were of interest to me. I figured if I was interested in them, other people might be too!

It took me a while to understand how to move around and use the site, as it does with anything unfamiliar. To start off with, I even understand how to see that people were actually replying to my posts! After discovering out that little trick, I became more involved in tweeting. I began checking it more frequently and commenting on tweets more often. I feel like it’s important for a person using Twitter to be active on their pages and the pages of others.

After learning how to use Twitter, I think it’d be a great communication tool. I’m an Early Childhood Education major, and communication with parents is essential. Although I would be limited to the amount of text I could type, it would be a great way to keep the parents informed and up-to-date about events happening in their child’s classroom. A friend of mine uses a different version of Twitter than I did, and she is able to post pictures. Have you ever met a parent that doesn’t love to see pictures of their child? I haven’t! I think it’d be a great way to keep parents involved in the classroom!

Hero? June 10, 2010

After watching the Pocono race last weekend, I was curious to find out what people were saying about the race’s finale. In general, I’m not a huge race fan. I only watch it because my finance loves Jr. even though he’s not racing very well this season or last season for that matter! Anyways, I get bored with the typical race. Sometimes the wrecks are exciting as long as everyone is not injured, but I get bored watching the cars continuously travel in one direction.

The race Sunday was different. As in previous races, Joey Logano was wrecked by Kevin Harvick. As I mentioned, this is not the first wreck that Logano has been involved in. Greg Biffle has also wrecked him in a previous race. This time, Logano had been wrecked one too many times. He parked his car directly beside Kevin Harvick to confront him. I think it was about time! The time had finally come for him to stand up for himself.

Often time, drivers push around the new guys until they confront them. After the confrontation, they often gain respect for them as a driver and stop bullying them. For the most part, I’m in agreement with the blog. I do feel like it is unfair that Logano was being pushed around by these veteran drivers. I also feel like race fans generally like this type of behavior and confidence in a driver. In some cases, people may have been turned away by the scene made after the race’s closure, but overall, I think that Logano gained a tremendous number of fans. I feel like this blog was a great information source. The confrontation could be one of the biggest events of Logano’s career, but I doubt it. It did, however, get him large amounts of publicity that he didn’t have prior to the race.

I would recommend following this blog for those people who are interested in NASCAR. It’s also a great place to catch up on the ‘drama’ of racing! I think the writer did a great job not really stating his opinion on the issue. He relayed the facts, with a small bit of his personal opinion. It seems to be a great source for information, and I would recommend it to the NASCAR fans. However, most of my girl friends think I’m silly to even watch it! So, it probably wouldn’t be interesting to them.

Eat, Pray, Love June 10, 2010

I recently began reading a book called Eat, Pray, Love. Several of my friends have been bragging about how funny, quirky, and honest the book is. So, I thought it would be interesting to read a blog about the upcoming movie. After finding this blog, I was extremely excited to discover that Julia Roberts will be playing the lead actress! As a child, I thought she was an amazing actress.

As I grew up, she began taking fewer roles in movies, but in my eyes, she was never a terrible actress. However, the movie’s trailer review does not seem to agree. The blogger is quite negative about Julia’s recent career endeavors. Even though she too once loved her, it seems that recently, she cannot tolerate watching movies with her in them. I feel that the blogger should seriously consider reading the book before bashing the movie trailer and lead actress. When briefly describing the book, the blogger mentions that the description makes her roll her eyes. I find it surprising that someone could jump to such a conclusion without first reading the book. How can they talk negatively about the plot, characters, and etc. without reading the book?

I do, however, agree that some of Julia’s past acting decisions were not the best, but should a few wrong decisions make or destroy someone’s career and amazing reputation? In my opinion, no! I don’t think that’s fair at all. In her career, she’s created tons of spectacular movies and played characters that tug at one’s heart. Julia Roberts has also had a seemingly normal life in the public eye. Either she’s got a great public relations adviser, or she lives an ordinary life as the rest of us. I think that writers and directors take into account the reputation that actors and actresses have when casting for a movie. It’s important for the movie to receive a positive image. However, the reputations of actors and actresses often outshine the media coverage of movies.

I did not like this blog, and I would not recommend it to anyone who is not wanting a biased review of the movie trailer.