Comm Tech Blog 10

 

 

I have been on many tropical vacations and I can proudly say that I can unplug myself! My parents refused to buy me any cell phone package or add anything to my phone so that I could use my phone while in another country so I really had no choice. The first vacation was a lot easier because I was younger and did not have a cool smart phone to use. The second time when we were in Cabo things became much more difficult. I had not only ah iPhone, but also a boyfriend back home. It was so hard for me to not spend all of my time on Wi-Fi talking to my boyfriend or skyping with him so I could see him. I managed to not go crazy, but it was very hard. I also told my parents I would never go on another vacation without my boyfriend. I feel like it would be a lot easier to unplug myself if he was with me because he was the only reason I wanted to be on my phone 24/7 while on vacation. So I guess to answer the questions, it was a lot easier to unplug myself when I was younger but when things became more serious and I was older, I needed my phone constantly. I wish that I was more able to unplug myself because I feel that I would have enjoyed the trip a lot more than I did, but I still say Cancun is WAYY better than Cabo!

I really enjoyed this class and learning about all of the different communication technologies. My favorite thing that I learned in this class though has to be the latest lecture on security. Not because it is our latest lecture, but simply because it intrigues me. I have 2 dogs and they are both micro chipped and I’ve always thought how crazy life would be if not only animals were micro chipped, but if people were. It stands out to me because though we project this to all happened eventually and the government to eventually have those strange accesses, but what people do not understand is it is already happening. In a sense, big brother is always watching. Also, when you said that it is projected that world war 3 would take place in cyber space is astounding to me. I tell people that all of the time now when people are shocked about how much we rely on technology. The biggest impact technology has had on my life is that it really makes me fully believe in security and taking those measures to protect myself when dealing with technology and the internet. I love this age we are in of information, but it is very scary to think that it only makes it easier for people to steal identities and even find out scary stuff out about us!

Comm 460: Hootsuite blog 2

The tests were not as hard as I expected them to be. I only expected them to be hard because I am awful at tests. No matter if they are online or on paper, tests are not my friends. Thankfully, I could pause and play the videos as much as I wanted so I was able to take notes and do good on the tests. There were some that I did not pass the first time, or well, basically all of them I did not pass on the first try. Finally, after the second try I passed them and am now certified. There were so many tests though, and that was the only thing that I did not like about the certification process. I understand the point of all of the tests though. In order to get certified in something it usually takes a lot more than what we went through.

I really liked how we were given multiple times to take the tests. Though some of the questions were obvious ones to answer, some were the complete opposite. When the question about Klout game up I was so excited! I was thanking you for having us learn about it because I was able to use that for the test. I am really excited about using Hootsuite a lot more and even adding to my resume that I am Hootsuite Certified!

Comm 460: Hootsuite blog 1

I finally got Hootsuite to work and boy does it feel great! The videos were great and so informative. As I said in the previous 2 blogs, it is so convenient to have all of my social networks together on one application. It is so much easier to manage them all, and I don’t have to enter and leave applications so it makes like simple. I liked how the videos were step by step instruction on how to work the dashboard. I was taking notes not only for the tests but also just for my own so I could remember it all and know how to work my dashboard once I am on my own. My favorite part about Hootsuite is the part where I can send updates to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn all in one click. That makes like so much easier because sometimes it is so monotonous to post on all of my different social Medias because I have a lot of them. When I am constantly posting the same stuff, I just get really annoyed and most of the time does not even post it on some social Medias. It is just so much easier to have it all in one sport and knock it all out at once.

I also liked the part how I can add my own separate stream of all of my favorites. When I am on twitter I am so favorite happy. I love to favorite all of my favorite tweets because then I can go back and read them later and be reminded of something funny or always have a picture I like saved. This also comes in handy because sometimes who has a business on hootsuite is given the opportunity to save something important from their customers or other companies to note on and remember to respond to. It also makes it easier because it is right there  for them to look at along with the rest of their streams as well.

Comm 460: Hootsuite videos I did get to watch

The videos that I did get to watch on Hootsuite were very informative. I learned how to manage the dashboard which was the big thing that confused me the most when I first signed up for Hootsuite. Managing all of those social networks was really confusing me. It is amazing how this one application can single handedly manage every social network you have. I really like how it is all right there and I can control it all right there without exiting out of one app and entering a new one.  I liked the video that talked about how you can showcase all of your favorites in one window or all of your mentions. You do not have to actually search for those, they are all right there and you can find them just by having it right there on your dashboard. This app is simply genius to me. I never understood social media analytics but this one is so genius to have come up with. I like the feature that allows you to post one single status or tweet, but it posts it to whatever social media platform you want it to post to. For example, if you want to tweet something but also want it as your status and even on your LinkedIn account just by typing and posting it once allows it to appear on all of those platforms. I hope to actually get certified for Hootsuite, but until then I will go off of what I saw and if I ever get it to work, learn a lot more about it.

Comm 460: Hootsuite does not like me

I know this blog post is supposed to be about the videos and surveys from Hootsuite but Hootsuite I have decided hates me so I am going to talk about how I could not get Hootsuite to work. My next post will be about the videos from the website that I did watch before Hootsuite would not work. Hootsuite was working and allowing me to watch videos and then it would not stop asking me for my billing information. I contemplated just putting my information in there, but then I knew my mom would kill me because I have zero money to spend. I contacted Aaron, like you told me and also tweeted Hootsuite but have gotten no responses. Aaron has tried to help me, but it just will not work. I cannot get around the billing information question. I even tried using Mozilla and Internet Explored and it did the same thing when I signed in also. I have come to the conclusion that Hootsuite does not like me and I am just writing two blogs in the hopes that I can get some points for this assignment. I am a little behind on homework due to surgery, but I just want some points at least. I hope we can figure something out in this regard but I will accept what I receive.

Comm Tech Blog: Blogging

I do not see a problem with blogging but I think what people need to first and foremost understand about blogs is it is citizen journalism at its finest. Before people jump to conclusions with what they read in blogs they need to first make sure it is a credible source. If the article you are reading is from Joe schmoe, granted he might be making good facts, you have to make sure he is credible. If someone is blogging for a specific company then that person might be more credible than others. Blogging absolutely has an impact on our society and with us living in an information age; blogging will only become larger and larger. The chance to document online your own personal views is here to stay and will be here to stay for a long time and it will increase heavily in the future. If this practice is being used in a good manner, not like the way it was used in this article, then it is a good thing to give the “power to publish” these thoughts or ideas to others. The person in this article just showed the power of blogs but not the power that is necessarily good. This person took it upon themselves to create a story that was not credible and ran with it. These people are the people who should not be credible and who people should look out for when using blogs as sources. It can create problems in cases like this blog. This politician’s credibility could have been discredited because of this single blogger wanting to stir up some drama. Because this blogger was bored and wrote a false blog about another individual the internet and people on the internet did what they do best, let it spread like wildfire. I think that when it comes to credibility people just need to research better the blogs they are reading and the people writing those blogs. If they do a little bit deeper research on the matter then they will quickly find out if what they are reading is true, or false.

Comm 460: Guest Lecture

I have not been in class since Monday, so I have missed a lot of what is going on but for my second blog this week I am going to talk about our Guest Lecture on Monday. Melissa Agnes did a Skype lecture with our class and spoke about crisis communication and the differences between social media issues and a social media crisis. She really taught us a lot about how we need to have an established plan when dealing with these issues or if it ends up being a crisis. The main point she got across was that everything starts out as an issue and it is up to the company or the company they hire to prevent that issue from becoming a crisis. If the company finds out that they have an issue at hand and wait days to address it, then it is going to turn into a crisis and possibly take a turn for the worst. This is where companies really have to step up and address these issues. Their window is 48 hours or less and if they wait any longer than that then they will likely be in a world of hurt. It really did surprise me that a lot of the problems that were on her power point were actually issues and not a crisis. Due to the company handling the issue in a timely manner and the right way, the issue was taken care of and never spiraled out of control to become a crisis. I like how she worded these specific companies handling the issues as “they handled this issue beautifully!” She really showed up how passionate she is about her job and it was very credible on her end so we knew we could really learn from what she was saying. Anytime someone is passionate about their work, they are a good source to have. With that being said, my medicine is kicking in, so it is back to sleep I go. See you all next week! And GO CARDS!!!

Comm 460: The dreaded Appendectomy

Please excuse me if this blog post is a little strange, I am on some heavy pain killers but wanted to get some homework done…. As I lay here in bed and rest after my surgery last night, all I can think about is how crazy the doctors and nurses have to think I am. Here I am, 23 years old, in the worst pain I have ever felt in my life and about to have surgery and all I could say was “I need to make sure my puppies are okay and being taken care of!” another popular worry for me was “I need to email all of my professors, especially Dr. Freberg, I have to let her know I won’t be in class tomorrow!” I was literally freaking out because I needed to makes sure my professors knew what was going on! Also, all I could think about was how I have maybe 4 weeks of school left and my internship and this was the most inopportune time for me to not only get sick, but have SURGERY!!! Well they gave me lots of happy juice so I would stop worrying and then I finally had my surgery. I came out into recovery okay and only wanted my mom (who drove down from NKY during my surgery) and when I was coherent they got her and my boyfriend and I was very happy. I had an amazing nurse helping me in recovery and I was taken very good care of. I finally got to head home around 2am (well first I had to get my pain killers filled). Sleeping was very hard that night, I kept waking up in agonizing pain, but I am doing better now. I hope class was great this morning and I am super bummed I missed the guest lecture. I will be back and ready to go next week!  

Comm 460: Gamification

I really liked this week’s lecture about gamification. It is really interesting to me to see these different ways to incorporate gaming into a campaign or anything really. Our generation has been raised on gaming whether it is a game consoles, handheld games, or computer games. By adding gamification to a campaign is a great way to engage others and get them involved. Everyone loves to compete and this is a great way to intrigue people. As soon as we went over gamification in class, I knew that it had to be incorporated it into our campaign in a very unique way. I talked to my group members and we decided to take a page out of Adidas’s book. They were really neat on how they revealed the new Big East post season uniforms.

They released bits at a time and in order for more to be revealed or the entire thing be shown the students or people on twitter had to retweet it and finally the uniform was shown. From this idea, I immediately thought about the Advising department’s flash mob they do every year. Last year the theme was “zombie,” and the students watched a video on YouTube with the dance directions and they dressed up as zombies and did the flash mob. I thought it would be really cool if instead of one big video, if instead we used Ptch to post little bits of video at a time and in order to get the rest they had to retweet, favorite, like or share on Facebook and Twitter. In the same fashion as Adidas if they reached a certain number of retweets and such then more of the video would be shown until the entire video was posted. I just thought this would be a really neat way to add gamification to our campaign but not needing to come up with an entire new plan. By using their flash mob they do every year we will be able to get more students involved and get the Advising name out there. It is important for us to let people know about Advising and by doing this gamification idea it will really help achieve that.

Comm 460: No Sleep Till Atlanta

It is the best time of the year, they say. It is March Madness and school is on the back burner…. they say. Seeing as how I have 4 weeks left as a college undergrad, the whole concept of March madness and “no sleeping until Atlanta” have little to no relevance to me. My life consists of studying, projects, papers, and the Humane Society. So I guess if you think about it, I won’t be sleeping until Atlanta… but it will not be due to basketball. Now do not get me wrong, I am a Cardinal basketball lover! I love this time of year, love the Cards, and especially LOVE watching them play. My only problem is that I am so stressed right now it is remotely impossible for me to keep up with the tournament!

I envy all of my friends who are planning their trips to Indy and Atlanta because I am sure that they would both be great trips. But do the amount of final projects, portfolios, and work that I need to get done, I will be watching the game from the comfort of my own couch! March Madness is a great time of year and I love how into it everyone gets, especially this year with the Cards hopefully making a run ending in a title, but sometimes we have to sit out on the sidelines during all of the excitement. This year it is my year to be sidelined from the partying, though it is not as fun, graduating will be my own championship won!