OMG! I’ll TTYL, G2G! L8r!
Everybody knows that today’s society is full of texting, instant messages, Facebook, and tweeting. While some find these quick, efficient ways of communication to be positive…others might say we are slowly but surely distancing ourselves from the physical, social world. After reading the blog about this topic, I decided to ramble a little bit about the lengths technology has got us… on a negative level. As seen above in my title, people are getting lazy and annoying with their communication skills. Since when is it ok to say G2G when you want to leave? This shortening words up crap is an insult to our intelligence, it’s really not so hard to write out “Hey, I gotta go!” Sooner or later, instead of actually laughing…people will rather outloud say “LOL!” Just because it saves the energy of actually laughing…ok maybe it won’t come to that, at least I hope not. I found this statistic APPALLING: “On average in a typical year, people have in-person contact with their core network ties on about 210 days; they have mobile-phone contact on 195 days of the year; landline phone contact on 125 days; text-messaging contact on the mobile phone 125 days; email contact 72 days; instant messaging contact 55 days; contact via social networking websites 39 days; and contact via letters or cards on 8 days.” Holy guacamole!! It’s hard to believe people functioned without all these technologies only twenty years ago. The real question is…were we better off? That is something I cannot answer myself.
Technology has really brought us a long ways, but at the cost of losing social interaction. The blog discussed how unaware people are of the importance of social interaction within the community, neighborhoods, at work, and with friends. These relationships form strong, personal connections— something you cannot get from online or technological interaction. While it’s important to stay involved with social media and the latest advancements, it’s also equally as important to stay a little old school and actively engage with people in a social environment. Welp, I G2G!! 🙂
Solis Knows His Stuff
After reading through the social media genius, Brian Solis’, blog about the 10 stages of business culture in the evolutionary process, I started scratching my head. Hmmm….I began asking, is it really that easy to create a social media voice? Well according to Brian, it is! For our project with the Bookworm, we came up with a well-defined statement. We decided, in so many words, that the goal of the Bookworm should be to form lasting relationships with the teachers and parents of the community so that there is mutual benefits for both parties needs. With this in mind, it is important to take a step back and go with Brian’s advice in stage one and observe and report. Our class is taking a little trip to The Bookworm, to see what the store is all about. It’s hard to advertise a company or talk them up, when you yourself don’t really know your product and aren’t sold, yourself. Therefore, once we get a feel for the place and what they really have to offer, we can further our project and perhaps even enhance our statement, given our feedback.
Stage five says “turn words into actions.” This is precisely what we will do, again, once we see the bookstore. We can talk it up all we want and get as much hype going, but until we actually organize events, Facebook groups, and other social media outlets for the store, we really haven’t done anything progressive. Step seven is all about community and its involvement. This is largely important, especially in a business competitive society. Large, chain bookstores are definite competition to the Bookworm. That is where community comes in…loyal customers are what make the Bookworm who they are, without them, the store would suffer. As our sentence states, everything is about relationships and this is exactly what we are going to form , with the help of Solis’ Ten Steps.
My Life Statement
Everyone, at one point or another, has questioned the meaning life. Whether the questioning concerned one’s personal mission or it concerned the overall purpose of mankind in general. However, we don’t often stop to really think about what our life’s mission is exactly, or how to sum it up.
Dr. Carol assigned our Social Media class to look deep inside ourselves and come up with a sentence to describe our goals for life. Like any good company, there is a mission statement. So I have thought long and hard and come to terms with MY personal mission statement. Here goes nothin’…
“I strive to be a strong-minded, independent woman with a genuine drive to use my faith and talents to put others before myself in my career, within my family, and in my everyday life.”
After much reflection, I decided that a sentence is short and it would be impossible to include EVERYTHING I want out of my life in just one statement.. but I think I included the most important aspects it it. I firmly believe everything I do, should be faith based. If that is done, so many other bases are covered–it means I am showing love, honesty, committment, compassion–in all the aspects of my life that matter most. Whether it’s in the work world or in everyday life, I feel the purpose of life is to serve others, put others before one’s self. This I believe, brings true happiness, success and inner peace.
Meow. Woof. Moo.
I’m an animal lover, what can I say? Any kind– from hamsters, to cats, to koalas, to lizards…I am the biggest offender of falling in love with stray animals. A trip to the Humane Society is basically like a trip to Target…I can’t leave empty-handed!! So basically, when I stumbled upon Liz Braziel’s Animal Planet Blog, I had to take a peek. From video clips of amazing animals to an attached “Pet Trends” blog, it’s so fun to learn about funny/cute things pets do! I ESPECIALLY love the “Daily Cuddle,” which allows people to send in adorable pictures of their pets. And honestly, there is nothing more cute than a cat contourted into a pretzel.. well maybe a few other things. Anyways, her blog is linked with the Animal Planet site so you can further invest your time in precious pets. Low-key, light-hearted, sights like this put a smile on my face and make me want a new little doggy!:)
Save Lids to Save Lives
I don’t know about you, but there is no better way than starting your day with a good ole cup of Yoplait yogurt and orange juice. I have always been a big yogurt fan for breakfast or an afternoon snack. So when I saw the Yoplait blog, I thought Yippee why not check it out? As it turns out…Yoplait not only makes a difference in my life as a breakfast aid, but it also makes a difference for women world wide. That’s right, Yoplait is best know for their Breast Cancer Awareness campaign with their pink lids. Every year, thousands of women in the USA die from breast cancer. The Save Lids to Save Lives campaign donates 10 cents to the Breast Cancer Foundation for every pink lid sent in. This is a campaign I feel passionate about because breast cancer runs in my family and my grandma was cured from it a few years ago. I work downtown at an Insurance Company and the ladies in my department started saving the lids and sending them in–turns out the company saved over 1,000 lids!! Think of how many lives will be saved from the simple act of washing off a lid and turning it in. Causes like this are so easy and yet so beneficial. So anyways, back to the blog…the blog sadly does not discuss this campaign, so I thought I would enlighten you. HOWEVER, it does discuss the health benefits of Yoplait yogurt and the various delicious flavors…slightly less important than saving lids to save lives, but hey! I already informed ya, so get out there and start making a difference…one lid at a time!
Social Media For Social Giving
In today’s society, it seems that most people are only looking out for themselves– trying to get ahead. Want, want, want. Need, need, need. Often times people don’t sit back and think about all they already do have, and how appreciative they should be. Because of this sad, yet true, fact, I am a huge fan of non-profit organizations. People like Beth Kanter, a non-profit organization big time blogger, discusses the importance of social media for non-profits like herself. She talks about the Pepsi Refresh Project, a new effort to empower individuals to make a positive impact on the world. This Project has pledged to award more than $20 million to support innovative ideas that move communities forward. “Each month, Pepsi will award grants up to $1.3 million to the winning ideas across six categories, including: Health, Arts & Culture, Food & Shelter, The Planet, Neighborhoods and Education.” Since non-profit groups can’t be competitive with sales, they rely on loyal donators and contributive volunteers. BECAUSE of this, there is a desperate need to get the cause’s mission and goals out there into the social world. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook…they all play a huge role in being the voice for these small organizations. Everything great success must start somewhere, with one step…these social media aspects helps the group take that first step.
Assignment 1. Blog Favorites.
After searching through Jon Greer’s Public Relations blog spot, I came across a couple linked PR blogs that I found quite interesting. First, was Sally Falkow’s Social Media Proactive Report for 2010. She wrote that the top priority for hiring people to do PR work was based on his/her Social Marketing. I wasn’t surprised, but more intrigued that a company’s top priority for employees (in PR) was to have a great social networking line and the ability to connect with people on all technological levels. Ah thankkks Carol for teaching us Social Media Communications, now we’ll have the right tools to get jobs!:)
Brian Solis’ blogs were also pretty informative about the importance of social media and networking. One article was titled “A New Age for Social Marketing,” and it basically explained how 2010 is the time to integrate media into every aspect of life; especially in the business world. Both of these articles were very insightful for someone pursuing PR, such as myself, as a look into what’s necessary and what’s realistic in the working world. Both blogs’ approaches were informative and also pursuasive to start learning every new form of technology…and fast…because it’s spreading like wild fire!
Lucille Hancock's Blog 