End of the Semester

Wow, the end of the semester is just around the corner. The semester has been crazy and gone by fast. It had its ups and downs, but I have survived. I only have to take two finals and turn in final projects to complete this semester. Next semester will be nice because I am taking fewer credit hours which is much needed. Since beginning college, I have taken 17 to 18 credit hour, next semester I am taking 15. I am so excited for that!

Even though the semester is dying down, I have been crazy with finishing up final projects. My friends and boyfriend have been helping me stay calm and to still have fun. We have gone shooting a few times, seen movies and even went and saw drive through Christmas lights.

One thing that was really exciting was my sorority had their Big and Little ceremony. I got to welcome a G-Little to the family. If you are wondering what a G-Little is, it is a grand-little. My little received a little. She is a perfect fit for our family and we were both excited to welcome her in!

It goes me, my g-little, my little
(from left to right)

My sorority also had a 24-hour fundraiser for a little girl that lives in town who has cancer. During the 24-hour fundraiser I decided to craft an orniament for my grandma. I used a  burnt out light build to make. Now I did not come up with this idea by myself, Pinterest helped a little. I think my grandma will really like it. 

Well, finals week is finally her. I only have to go in for two finals but they are at the end of the week. At least I have a few days to study for them or maybe I will just sleep. 

To cheer anyone up during this finals week, her are some interesting M&M's from a drive throught Christmas light display:

Also for those who find things getting destroyed relaxing, her is a slow motion video I took of my boyfriend shooting some bottles with a shotgun.:

Have a great rest of the semester everyone! 

Class Readings

I have read three different books for one of my classes. They all dealt with social media in different depths. Real-Time Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott, Share This, and Measure What Matters by Katie Delahaye Paine are the three books that were read for the class. All the books were insightful and gave different perspectives for how companies look at social media and use it.

I would say, though, the one that I learned the most from was probably Share This. All the chapters were written by different experts in different areas of social media and public relations fields. It gave me insight that I probably would not have learned till entering the workforce. I know I will keep this book for life and will refer back to it when I need a reminder or some more insight. Social media is always changing, but sometimes it is good to go back to the basics. Real-Time Marketing & PR is similar to the same reasons. The only difference was that all the chapters were written by the same person. The book also had some entertaining examples that kept my attention.

The one book that I did not care for so much but was still good was Measure What Matters. I felt after reading the first chapter, I felt like the rest of the book repeated itself. They mention the same seven steps in every chapter just for different companies. It was nice to know how different companies would use the seven steps, but at the same time, it got tedious to keep reading it over and over again.

All the books were good reads. I recommend them to anyone who wants to learn more about public relations and social media.

Trending on YouTube

A quick little article was written about the new trending tab on YouTube. The tab is for videos based off of their algorithm that will go viral. The list is updated regularly and everything is considered on why those videos will become viral. 

Now I think this is interesting. This is making me wonder if it will get the right videos that will go viral. Everyone has different taste so not all the videos in the trending tab will actually go viral. Also, I wonder how many people will actually enjoy using the trending tab. People like to think they started a viral video because they found it and showed it to their friends. In turn, the friends show it to other people and it slowly becomes viral. 

I do believe this is a good idea and will become popular, but at the same time, it just shows how much more we are becoming dependent on social media and technology. The question is, do we really need a trending tab on YouTube to show us the videos that will become viral or can we not just decide for ourselves. 

Thanksgiving Break

The past week and weekend were Thanksgiving Break. It was a nice break from school, which was a very much needed. I still had homework to do over the break, but at least I had a whole week to do it.

This was also the first family holiday without my uncle. It was a little tough to not hear him joking around and jokingly give me nuggies every time I walk past him. I tried to stay strong for my family and keep them upbeat and celebrate his life. My grandma did set a place for him at the table which was touching and tough to see.

While we were finishing getting things ready for the dinner, my mom and I decided to take a picture together since we were matching. My grandpa had something else in his mind...photobomb us. We could not stop laughing. We never expected him to do something like that. He surprises us all the time.

Over the break, we also went to a Polish music and dance show at the Playhouse Square in Cleveland. It was cool to hear some traditional Polish Christmas carols and see some dancing in clothes that are traditional from the areas. What is funny is that my grandpa is the only one of us who understands Polish a little. The rest of us maybe know one or two words. We did not understand though most of the songs because they kept them in Polish. We had fun with it though by trying to figure out what they were saying. It was a great way to spend some more time with family.

One of the last things I did before heading back up to school was to help my grandma set up the village under their Christmas tree. I have helped my grandma set it up since they moved here from Arizona about eight years ago. A train that my grandma had when she was a child still goes around the village. This year I did not help because my grandpa wanted to set it up. I still had fun setting it up. This year, I made it look like a mountain was at the base of the tree. My grandma thought it was very cute. I cannot wait to go home for Christmas break and see the village with the train going around it.

When I got back to campus, I brought Christmas decorations back with me. I decided to decorate my boyfriends place since I am there so often. I put lights on his window, put tensile and some ornaments in his room. My favorite decoration, though, is the three-foot tree in the livingroom. It even has a tree skirt and an angel on top. The tree makes the room so much more festive for Christmas. 

Finally Home

It is so nice to finally be home for Thanksgiving. School has been so stressful that it is nice to be at my house relaxing. I still have some homework to do, but at least I am not doing homework nonstop all day like I was at school. Here at home, I can do things with hour long breaks and not feel guilty about taking them.

This Thanksgiving will be hard since it is the first true family holiday without my uncle. He is still missed very much. My family has their moments where it hits us, but I am trying to stay the strong one.

I am taking my grandpa out to get material to reload bullets. I have been wanting to learn how to and my grandpa has a reloading machine. It might be an all day process depending on how many breaks we may take, but I am spending time with my grandpa and helping him through this time. I have already gone out shopping with my grandma and laughed a ton. I always love hanging out with my grandparents.

I still have some worrying to do though over break. The ONU marching band is over in London, England now and soon also Dublin, Ireland. With everything that happened in Paris lately, it is nerve racking what is going on over in Europe. My boyfriend and many friends are in the band. However, I have heard some from some of them, and they seem to be having a great time.

I cannot wait to stuff my face with Thanksgiving feast and to just spend time with family!

PRSA

Friday, November 20th, I went to my first Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) luncheon. Well, it was actually a breakfast event. I went down to Toledo for Northwest Ohio PRSA and listened to three keynote speakers. M.J. Clark talked about leadership, Lindsay M. Komlanc talked about strategy and sanity and Jared Wadley talked about social media and branding. I gained much new knowledge from their presentations. I know that I can use from what they said for school and once I enter the workforce.

I cannot wait to go to more PRSA get together's and learn more. I also can pick up some networking which is very important in the career finding part of college.

I have gained so much in just one semester of being a member of my schools Pubic Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). I have gained much knowledge, friends and experiences. I cannot wait to see what the years to come will give me.

Measurement for Nonprofits

In chapter 13 in Measure What Matters talks about how it is completely different to measure for nonprofits than other types of businesses. I believe that to be very true.

Nonprofit businesses rely on volunteers and donations. Some nonprofits may have very large budgets, but it all depends on how popular they are. For the small nonprofits, if they do not have as many volunteers or donations, they cannot get much done.

How do you measure then for nonprofits?

The way to measure is the increase in donations, volunteers, media coverage, trust and understanding. Those are the important factors to consider. Without those, the nonprofit would be barely scraping by. The factors are also in a loop. Without one increasing, the others would not increase. Nonprofits rely on everything they can to grow amongst their community.

We all have to realize that nonprofits are just as important as other businesses.

Paying Snapchat

This year Snapchat did something very exciting, new and cool. If you are wondering what Snapchat is, it is where you can take a picture or a ten-second video and send it to your friends. Once the friend opens the message it "goes away". It is a fun way to send funny things to friends quickly.

Snapchat though added filters to where you can make your face change. Here is one they used to have because they are always changing them.

I think they are fun and entertaining. However, now Snapchat is saying that if you have a favorite filter you can buy it and always have it with you. Now I think that is crazy. I will not be paying for the filters. Many other social media sites are doing the same thing. I am happy with just having the filters always changing and will never pay for them. I am not that attached to Snapchat.

Local Community Measures Up

Having a local community which supports the company is important. The community will have potential stakeholders in them who will exert influence over the business.

The relationship can bring positive and negative measurements. The negative measurements are when the company may hurt their customers and make them unhappy. Then in turn the community will retaliate against the company, but then the company will do something to regain their customers and make a positive relationship. Those are the positive measurements.

This is important to make the business strive for greatness. I know from personal experiences, that if the company does outreaches in the community, it leaves a good impression on the community. You almost become bias because other companies that may try to do outreaches in the community will fail because they did not do it first and are probably not as great.

The relationship between the community and a company is always important. They need to be one to become great.

Almost There

Last week until Thanksgiving Break! I am hoping this week goes by quick, but at the same time I am having a feeling that is not how it will go. If you look at my calendar, I have something due every day. There are days to which I have more than one thing due. Just alone I have four papers, three quizzes and test, and two meetings.

At least I can say that I had a relaxing weekend. It started out at the last home football game which we won! Go Bears! The game also happened to be senior night for the band and football players. I know most of the band and it was sad to see how many were seniors that I knew. My boyfriend is one of those seniors. The team and band had a really good year though and it was fun to watch. I can proudly say that I only missed one game.

Later that day my friends and I had our own Thanksgiving dinner. We all made something that us college students can make. It was a really nice dinner and fun to be with everyone just laughing. 

Sunday was relaxing but a day with grocery shopping and homework. This pretty much starts off the rest of the week. At least I already know that two of my classes got cancelled on Friday. Since they are cancelled, I get to go home a little earlier than normal.

Well, I better start liking caffeine because that might be the only thing to keep me up to finish all the homework that is due this week. 

Interesting Week

This past week has been interesting. Not much went on, but an insight for the rest of the semester was given. I told my friends jokingly that they will not see me till after Christmas Break. I am going to try and stay positive for the rest of the semester and stay motivated, but at times that may be hard.

Do not worry, I still had some relaxing moments here and there. One thing that happened that made laugh was a little situation that I ran into with a toad. This may sound weird and dumb, but it made me laugh when I really needed it. On Thursday, November 5, I ran across a toad that was sitting on top of my bike lock chain. He looked all comfy on it, but I had to move him off so I could get to class on time. I was able to get the lock off and thought that he would hop off while doing that. He did not so I took one of the ends of my chain and gently tapped him from behind to encourage him to get off. Well, I will tell you this, that toad looked at me and slowly got off my chain and went all pouty on me. I have never seen so much sass and attitude from a toad. I mean just look at his little sour face. That toad has not come back since. Hopefully, he found a better place to relax.





That same Thursday, I cooked a delicious meal for a few friends and me. It was buffalo chicken tater tot casserole. I am really impressed with myself that I made the dish and that I made it in college. All my friends really enjoyed, and there were hardly any leftovers. I am making sure to save the recipe for the future.

Over the weekend, I went home for a day with my boyfriend and visited my grandparents. My grandparents took us to this little diner that was attached to a car wash. The food was surprisingly really delicious. We had fun hanging out with my grandparents. It was also good to catch up with the family. I know I will see them over Thanksgiving Break, but I am really close to my family, so I love seeing them whenever I can. 

The rest of this month and semester are going to get rally crazy, but I am ready for it...I think. 

Engagement

Customer engagement is important for any company that wants to improve. The engagement between the company's brand and customers first starts off by building the relationship. Then in return, the customer will help promote the brand and may even protect it and lastly the engagement can make products better. 

I believe this to be true. When companies build up relationships between their brand and with customers from the beginning, customers will then return the favor. They will become loyal. Customers will talk about the products and try to encourage their friends and colleges to try the products. If the relationship is really strong, the customers will stand up for the product when negative things are said. The true loyal customers will also help make products better, which will then start the process all over with new customers. This is something all companies want and need to improve. 

I know I have left reviews on products on company's websites and have gotten personal emails back from the companies. I knew they were personal because they felt bad about a problem I had with the product and gave me a variety of ways to fix the problem. Then a couple of days later, they checked back in with me and see if the problem was fixed and everything was good. I am now loyal to the brand and will recommend it to other people. I will also defend the brand if I hear something negative about them. The company was making sure I was engaged with them and so I became loyal to them. 

This cycle truly works. I can personally vouge for it. As soon as more companies understand the cycle, they too will improve their customer engagement which in turn will improve other areas within the company. 

How to Doodle a Cartoon Dog

I tried yet another new thing out this week. I learned how to upload a video. Not only did I learn how to, but my video is a "how to" video.

I did my video on how to doodle a cartoon dog. This is a doodle that I find myself doing in all my notebooks and anywhere else that I can draw on. I have even drawn it on a white board in the beginning of one of my classes to try and stop the teacher from giving us notes. Do not worry, when the teacher came in he laughed and said he felt bad about erasing and then said that the class must go on.

Here is the how to video. Enjoy and have fun doodling your new doodle.

 

Perfect Measurement

"The only statistics you can trust are those you falsified yourself."- Winston Churchill

This is how chapter three in Measure What Matters by Katie Delahaye Paine starts. It is a very interesting way to start a chapter but that quotes defines what the whole chapter is about.

The chapters is talking about how companies should measure strategies they are doing that will improve their company. Now I agree this is an important thing to do in a company. Measuring will help you figure out if you are reaching the goal your company wants to reach.

I feel like this can relate to real life. We all want to be able to show that we have improved and reached our goals. We do this by measuring what we have learned over the years and show the proof through the accomplishments we have made through academics and normal life.

An example is if your goal is to make the Deans list, then you need to measure your grades and collect the data to see if you meet the requirements to make the list. You also have to set the goal by creating a strategy to make sure you make the list. We have to talk to teachers and make sure we are doing good in the class and understanding the material, and try to do all extra credit that could be given. We also have to study carefully to receive good grades on exams and complete all assignments on time. A great way to do this is keep tract of everything, know when deadlines are and to not procrastinate. That is very similar to a company's strategy plan to reach their goal.

Now how does that quote relate to this plan is by being okay with the results you may get and trick yourself that any result is a good one and can always improve from it.

Relaxing the Mind

I tried a new form of social media today and that was doing a podcast. I have never done one before and it was an interesting experience.

I decided to talk about how we can all relax and calm our minds. With being in college I have discovered this is an important skill to learn. These tasks that I have learned to do have really helped me with getting through junior year. I wish it did not take me this long to finally figure them out, but I am happy that I did.

I talked about how you can do different types of readings, color, exercise, watch Netflix and just to be with friends.

Hope you enjoy and get a little from it.

 

Fun and Calm Week and Weekend

This week at ONU has been pretty good and surprisingly calm. Classes seemed to go by really fast, which is always a nice thing. All my exams and papers went pretty well. I got my midterm grade for my history class and was really surprised. I am actually doing way better in the class than I thought I was, and that is a happy feeling. Now since they end of the semester is coming up, more and more exams and papers are coming. I am trying to stay up beat and productive to finish the semester off strong. I am hoping that if I keep that thought in my mind, it will actually happen.

I started scheduling for next semester and I will actually have a nice "easy" schedule. It will be nice not taking 19 credit hours. I also picked up a minor! The minor is in social media and cannot wait to start classes for it.

Another exciting thing with school, in my opinion, is that through PRSSA I got a mentor in my field. The PRSSA at my school has a really unique mentor program where they pair students up with an ONU alumni. I have already talked to my mentor a few times and cannot wait till I get to met her in person! It is really nice to be able to ask someone who is in the real world and can give you advice. They are also able to help with looking over school work. I am so excited that I decided to join PRSSA.

We were both looking at different
cameras. 

Over the weekend, I went home for the night. There was supposed to be something going on Saturday, but it got cancelled last minute. I still went home though because it is nice to have that break from school.  I got a good meal and got caught up with everything that was going on with my family.

I cam back to school in time for the football game and Halloween. The game was at night and on Halloween. Do not worry, I did not see any goblins or ghost at the games. They all stayed away for a win for ONU. The game was cold but manageable. The rain held off till the end of the game which was nice. As always I sat with the band and enjoyed the game even more.

Today, Sunday, was Band-O-Rama. It is a concert the band puts on the features all the songs they played for halftime this year and other songs the band likes to play. I have gone to Band-O-Rama three times now and I always enjoy it. I also go to support my friends and boyfriend. This year since the band is celebrating 125 years, the show was a little more special. It is just neat to know that the band here at ONU has been around for 125 years.

This weekend was nice, fun and calm. I know school is about to get really crazy, but I am ready for it!

KIND Snacks

There are some Ohio Northern University students, who are members of the True North PR firm, who are participating in a KIND snacks campaign to promote eating healthy snacks and to be kind to our bodies. KIND is a wholesome brand that creates great healthy treats and is also hoping to make the world a little kinder with one snack at a time.

This group of students are doing many different things to get the students here on campus to get involved. One way which they are getting students involved with a selfie challenge. Students can win a gift card to our bookstore by posting a selfie with a KIND snack product.

The students are also going to various sport teams and dance classes on campus. The students are leading stretching classes and talking about how KIND snacks are a good healthy snack to eat in between classes. Her is a Facebook post of what one of the students part of the campaign did. She went over to the football team's practice and showed them how to be KIND to their bodies. She promotes other students to join in and to help post what they do using the hashtag #KINDbears and also to use the social handle @KINDSnacks.

I know personally that I have enjoyed eating some of their granola bars. My personal favorite is the Madagascar Vanilla Almond. My boyfriend loves spicy hot food and his favorite is the Roasted Jalapeño. After looking at KIND's website, I never knew how many different granola bars they had. I am looking forward to going our and trying more of them. I also noticed they sold more than just granola bars and can not wait to try those too. I am always looking for a good healthy snack that I can eat on the go in between classes.

I hope the students reach many more students on campus, I am sure that many are looking for snacks that are healthy and taste really good. 

Keep up the KIND mind.

A Return of a Social Media Site

Around my sophomore year of college a new social media came out and it was called Yik Yak. Basically is it a site very similar to Twitter with limited character count, but the twist is that is is completely anonymous. Also the 'yaks' (posts) are from people only in your area. No one knows who it is that wrote the post unless it is an inside joke between friends.

Well sophomore year every one was on that site. You would here people taking about a certain post and maybe them trying to figure out who wrote it. People said it was nice because it could be comforting to post stuff that may be bothering you or you have a secret you just cannot hold in anymore. I have seen many of those secret post when I first joined in and used the site.

Another interesting thing is that you can up-vote (thumbs up) or down-vote (thumbs down) a yak. If the yak got five down-votes, it was removed. So that means that if it was not exciting or something that was very negative and could offend people, it was removed. That was a safe choice for the company in my opinion.

Well towards the middle of second semester no one really used the site anymore. It was almost like it fell off the face of the Internet. 

Recently, I heard some people in my class talking about it again. So I thought it made a comeback which I thought was interesting. Usually when a social media site goes out, it goes out. It is like what happened to MySpace. I do not know anyone who still uses that site. Yik Yak some how beat the odds.

Well it did sort of in my opinion. I have noticed that most of the yaks are written by freshman. I know freshman are writing those yaks because it is mostly about wanting to know where all the parties are and most mentioned the freshman dorms. Classic things freshman talk.

Maybe its making a comeback or maybe as you get older you stop using it and the people younger than us are finding it to be the best new thing. 

Future for Social Media

There is a quote in the novel Share This in chapter 22 by Chad Hurley, CEO of Delicious and co-founder of YouTube, and he says, "Social media will be the main engine of discovery, giving us the ability to find the signal with in the noise. As people's networks and interactions expand, massive data sets will generate predictive models that will know what you want before you look for it" (Page 203).

I believe this is true. More and more everyday the future generations are becoming more dependent on social media and technology. These will be the people that will take companies further than we can because they probably know more about social medias out there than we do. They probably have tied all the different ones and no which ones will be good for companies and which ones are more for personal use.

Companies will also probably soon become more dependent on social media. That will be where they do more advertising and special promotions. Which in turn means that there will be less effort in advertising in magazines and on the television. This will just being back the probably that is still going on over newspapers. Companies will still use paper advertising, but will be less dependent on it.

People will also be creating more of their networks over social media instead of face-to-face meetings and having a drawer full of business cars. That could be a benefit in some cases but a down fall in other. Some downfalls are the typical ones that are being discussed since social media came about. Like eye contact and just knowing how to have conversations in general.

The future will be very interesting with the uprising of social media. I'm sure I will be  able to keep up.

Hiking

This weekend was a calm relaxing weekend that was much needed after midterm week. However most of my midterms got moved and will be taking them all this week. I was able to do some homework, but I am still having a hard time after the loss of my uncle. 

Well today me and my boyfriend went on a nice hike and found some really cool things and discovered something that has probably not been looked at by many people over a good time period. It was a beautiful day and since it is fall season the hike was wonderful. 

We went down this steep hill and found a river that was nice and relaxing. There was plenty of little frogs and toads hopping around and even some small minnows swimming in the river. Me and my boyfriend talked about bringing some lawn chairs with us next time and cast downstream and go fishing. That could be something fun after a stressful week of school. There was one interesting thing we did find at the river that we both did not know was in Ohio. We found giant clam or maybe muscle shells. I have never seen ones that big.

This one was bigger than my hand.

There were so many every where by the river. The tiny frogs were even using them as little things to sit in. 

By far though, the coolest thing we found was an old bridge. It was falling apart like crazy. The bridge is 87 years old. Now you are probably wondering how I knew how old it was. No there was no plaque telling us the story, the bridge told us. 

Me and my boyfriend were saying that no one probably knows it there besides the animal. From above it looks like one with the land. You do not know it is there till right at the edge and almost fall off. Under the bridge though it was clam and made some really nice photos. 

Those in my opinion are some pretty cool pictures. My boyfriend joked around saying the spot could be interesting for senior photos. 

The hike really calmed me down and was much needed. Its been a long time since my last hike. It was also such a lovely day and a perfect way to end a weekend.Well now its time for my midterms, papers and meetings. 

When is Thanksgiving Break again?

Social Media Face-lift

Ever since social media became a big thing, the sites have always looked for things to become better. Most common "face-lift" social media will do is the layout. The layout change could only happen to a persons profile page or the whole site. Many of times, this has turned to be a good thing or a bad thing for the site.

Another change could be just with the logo. Now a logo design change is not something new. We can all recall many chain businesses redesigning their logo in hope to attract more customers. That is the same idea for social media redesigning their logos.

Small changes also happen which also happen to be the ones that are most noticed. That could be with the fount or color theme. Earlier Facebook said they are adding a dislike button, now it is Twitters turn. Twitter is not starting a dislike button. They are however redesigning their other buttons they have. They are making the buttons stand out more. I believe this will help the site improve and increase interest in it. Since I am still learning Twitter and saw the change that could be happening, I was very exciting. I like the new buttons and agree they are more attractive and stand out. Twitter is doing a great thing by doing this.

Fall Break

My fall break did not start till the week at school was over. The week at school was not that bad though. Just had one quiz and a little bit of homework that had to be done. One cool thing is that for my history of technology class got to 3D print a Terracotta Warrior. That was a cool thing to see be done. We printed them at Taft which is the Technology Studies building. It is really cool in there and really nice professors.

Once the week was over, I was bale to leave school and head home. The drive was not bad. A lot of the construction that was going on was done so that was nice. 

It was a little hard when I got home. It was not like the other times where everyone is happy and we all pile into the car and head up to my grandparents house that live 15 minutes away. Everyone was still sad and when we did go over to my grandparents house, my uncle was not there to give me a big hug, happy to see me home and ask what all is going on at school. My family is struggling a bit with trying to "get back to normal". I will be honest, it will probably take a long time for that to happen. 

However my family still tried to have some fun with me being home for the break. The first night we rented a movie. It was a horror/thriller movie and I do not like those at all. I still watched it but I am still not going to go out and watch a ton. Maybe once a year would be okay for me. 

The next day was a little shopping with my parents and just a lot of looking at different things. It was also dinner at my grandparents house. We had roast beef and it was delicious. Dinner at my grandparents house is always fun. 

Sunday was really cool. We had our normal Sunday routine and then when it hit 4 o'clock, we went to a soft opening to a new restaurant that is really close to my house. Now how did my family get invited to a soft opening to a new restaurant you may ask. Well we know the owner. The owner is one of my brother's best friends. We've gone to many of this guys restaurants.The new one is called Fast Eddie's. Their site is not up quite up yet, but you can find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Fast-Eddies. They serve great food and the staff is wonderful. You ever in the area, I recommend you go there. 

On Monday me, my mom and my grandparents decided to go to Amish country. It is so nice there. It kind of reminds me of school with all being open fields and smelling the barn animals every where. We went to this place called Heini's Cheese Chalet. They have really good cheese and fudge. They have a lot of other things too. 

The front of Heini's

We went to a few bakeries and shops that had a lot of cute things. We went to this one store called Tis the Season and it is all Christmas in there. It may be too early for it but I have always wanted to go and so we went. So much Christmas in one place. I loved it!! After that we wanted lunch and went to the Der Dutchman. Such good food there. They also have this honey peanut butter spread for their roles that is so delicious. Me and my mom could just have that and nothing else and be every happy. This was the view we had from our table.  

The weekend went by real quick but I had a good break from school. I will be happy to go back to see friends and all but not looking forward to the homework and tests.

Skills and Learning for the Future

Part six in the novel Share This talks about the skills and learning needed in public relations for the future. As I read this part, I payed close attention to this since I am a public relations major. 

I agreed with much of what was said. In PR, there are so many skills that is helpful to know and it is good if you learn them. I am of the age that knows social media fairly well. When new ones come out, we learn them fast a decide if they are worthy of continuing and make them popular. When You go into a company, you can help decided which social media is worth going forward in for the company. That could be an important skill to bring. 

Another thing is that the skills that are good are ones that I use almost every day. I tell stories either on social media or to friends, I create what goes in the story and I decide on how to share it with every one. 

With learning the skills and important information that will help in the future is another thing. Every year something new comes out that could benefit us once we get out in the real world. However once I graduate, there will always be  new things coming out. So I agree with the novel that it is important to learn the important basics there are in the PR world. People also need to demonstrate what they want in public relations people. If the companies really show the learning that they think will benefit their company could help us that are still in college. 

Maybe soon there will be no more new skills to learn and all that there is to learn about public relations will be in schools curriculum's. However the world is always changing so there will always be new skills to learn. 

Facebook Memorials

So in a earlier blog post I talked about my uncle who passed away. Well my uncle had a Facebook account. He did not go on it much but shared a few funny posts to me and other family members. Well the topic came up of what to do with his account. My grandma had all the information for the account because she kind of shared it with him.

We were talking to a family friend and they were saying that we can turn the page into a memorial page. I think my family just decided to just close it down.

I just think it is a really cool thing that you can turn a Facebook page into a memorial page for them. People can continue to share stories about that person and just keep their memory going. I will be honest that my family does not need that to keep someones memory because with my family nothing is really forgotten. Mostly embarrassing stories, but still they are never forgotten. Back to Facebook memorial pages, people can post old photos or just things that remind them of the person. I think the pages also help with dealing with the lost and can support each other. Memorial pages should maybe be created a little more just for the family and friends, it could really help.

Facebook, Companies and Audiences

In the novel Share This, there is a chapter about Facebook and its audiences. Facebook can reach so many people all around the world. Companies are also using Facebook to reach out to their fans. Companies are using fan pages and like pages to reach out to their fans. These improve the businesses revenue and customer service.

There is a quote in the chapter that is, "Facebook often cites the fact that for every Fan engaged, 120 friends of that Fan can be reached" (Page 63). I believe this is true. If there is a company's page that I am a fan of, I will tell my friends about them. Then that turns to where my friends will check out their page and maybe become a fan too.

With the fan and like pages, companies can also sell their products. Now that is pretty cool. I have seen that on Facebook. You see a product that you may really want, you click on it and then go to their website so you can fully buy the product.

Companies are also having live chats with their audiences and fans. This will help with customer service and also with how many likes their page can get. Facebook is becoming a great tool for many companies.

There are some downsides of negative with bad post or comments, but that just leads to better settings and make the company better themselves.

The Importance of Family

Over the weekend I left the cornfields and went back home which is near a big city. This was the first time I was home since moving back to college. A lot of things changed since then. My dad finally got rid of his man-van and upgraded to a KIA Soul. It is an interesting car, but cute. The mall that is three streets away from my house has been under construction for the past three years and so many changes have happened. It has been neat to see the changes going on. My cousin who lives in Denver, Colorado came to visit and I have not seen him in like five years. He was only able to visit for a day because of his work. There was another reason for his visit though. He came here to visit our uncle...

Let me first tell you a little bit about him. He was 6'3" tall man with medium length dark grayish hair and a mustache. He was a life time mechanic and can fix any type of vehicle or boat out there. He had a great sense of humor and the biggest heart. If you called him at any time and asked for help he would come right away. He was an amazing fisherman and hunter. He loved ridding his motorcycle and talking about cars. I am very close to him. He is more than an uncle to me, he is my best friend and another father to me.

My summer has been back forth trips to the hospital or to my grandparents house to visit him when he wasn't well. His immune system got really bad to where he could not fight anything and when he got sick, he was sick. He also had a problem with swelling in his legs and feet and sometimes his hands. There was also a lot of fluid that would build up in his abdomen. Just a lot was happening to him that was hard to watch him go through. In the beginning he always tried to stay positive, but then it just kept getting harder. 

Well in just in the time period of two weeks, things got much worse.  It went from a simple visit to the hospital to get tapped since he had so much fluid on his stomach to being sent to hospice. It was really tough when I got that call from my parents telling me he was being moved over to hospice. I did not want to believe it. All I could do was cry and tell my parents that I would be home soon. They told me no to stay at school and would call me if their were any changes. 

Throughout that week, it was constant call, text and emailing with my parents. We made the decision for me to come home for the weekend. Then we got news that my cousin was coming in to visit too and visit my uncle. 

I got home Friday afternoon and went straight to hospice to visit my uncle. When I walked in the biggest smile was on his face. My parents told me earlier that he was having trouble recognizing people and kind of loosing it. So when I saw that smile I knew he recognized me. I gave him the biggest hug and the biggest kiss on his forehead. We had small conversations and at times you can see his old sense of humor coming out and we all knew that he was still in there. 

Picture of us together on Friday.

Saturday however is different. When we went and visited him, we were told that the had to give him more morphine so he would probably be asleep. We still went in and talked to him and he would wake up once and awhile and join in with some random sentences or make "Vroom-vroom" noises. We all just said that he was on his motorcycle again. It would make us chuckle. 

Then there is today, Sunday October 4. When we went in to see him, we were told that he was just sleeping now. We went in and when we said hi to him, he would only wake up for a second. We tried to offer him some water or ask if he wanted to be put up more, but we would not really get a response. This is when we were all really worried. We visited for awhile then went over to my grandparents house to have homemade chicken soup. We told my uncle that we will bring some back and we got a little response from him. I gave him a big hug and lots of kisses and told him I loved him very much. It was tough, because I was not going to be going back to visit him since I had to get back to school. So I basically had to say my good-bye to him. We were at the point to where any day could be the day.

He was that uncle that wants me to stay in school. He always said he was proud of me and was impressed with my stories from school. So when everyone was leaving to go back and visit, I started my way back to school. It was a long drive. I cried when I passed a Harley and Davidson shop because it reminded me of my uncle. He loved going to the shops and collected shirts from different Harley and Davidson shops. 

Well at 9:27 pm I got a call from my mom. It was silent for awhile then I heard crying. She said, "I'm so sorry honey. Uncle KC passed away. He went peacefully and with all of us around him". I could hear crying in the background. I lost it. All I could do was cry and shake. "He can't be gone, I just saw him this morning", is all I could think. 

Everyday for awhile is going to be a struggle. I just lost someone who I was really close to. I will no longer have oil change lunch dates with him. That was our thing we did every time my oil was changed. I would drop my car off then go to lunch with him to Taco Bell or Burger King. I can't joke around with him about everything and everyone. I can't call him up every time my car makes a weird noise. He won't be on our fishing trips anymore. No more seeing him ride his yellow motorcycle around. At the same time though I have so many great memories of him that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I got to see him in the best of his time. I will never forget him and he will always be with me. 

Family has always been very important to me, and this has made me appreciate my family even more.

I love you Uncle KC and I will miss you forever!

Uncle KC
May 4, 1963 - October 4, 2015

Share This!

In the first part of Share This it talks about social media. There was a statement in the book that caught my eye while reading it. "More that 70% of the internet population uses social networks in one form or another" (Page 3). Wow! That is incredible but I bet the number has increased. The number probably varies every single day. Think about that, more and more companies are joining social networks, people are created accounts and vise versa and the day-to-day use changes everyday.

Social networks are becoming the way that people find out information, participate in discussions and just to connect with family and friends. Now back to when our parents were our age, they never thought anything like this would ever come about.

Companies are using social networks to get what they are doing out there. People then can see what the company is doing and keep updated. It is no longer you have to fin out that information through the papers or word of mouth. Just go up on the internet and into some social networks and there you go, all the most relevant information.

Companies are also using social network to broaden their networks to other countries. Finding new customers or even new locations to put out their products. Social networking has become a vital tool in our society of today.

I Learned a New Social Media

This week I learned a new form of social media, and that was Twitter. I will be honest I have only used Twitter once before this. I had a class and the teacher wanted us to live tweet in class about the subject we were learning. Basically we were copying statements from our notes and putting them on Twitter. We even had our own hashtag (#) so the teacher could go back and see if we were live tweeting.

This weekend though we had to live tweet a homecoming event. I did the football game. It was hard to live tweet the football game because once you finished one tweet something else would happen on the field. Which then made the tweet you just did almost irrelevant. The it was hard to keep the tweet under 140 characters. That is all you are given!

Ohio Northern has many Twitter accounts and one is for all the sports. I do not know how they are able to give so much detail with such limited space. I re-tweeted some of their tweets just so I could have some more information about the game that I may have missed. For those of you who do not know what re-tweeting is, it is when you take someone else tweet and basically copy and paste it. I think that is a simple way of putting it. To be honest I still do not get Twitter and I am part of the generation that lives off of Twitter.

There was actually another for of social media that I learned which is called Storify. It is a cool website that allows you to create a story using your tweets, Facebook post and more. I created one for the football game. It turned out really cool. You can see all the tweets in one place and do not have to go searching for them. You can see the Storify story here.

After this weekend I did discover two things. One is that I am not a huge fan of Twitter. I just do not fully understand it. The second is that I will have to continue to learn Twitter because it could be a great benefit skill to have in the future. Here is to learning how to tweet!

I did notice after the weekend, Ohio Northern University did not post much about homecoming weekend. There was nothing posted about who won from the court or about the many activities that were going on around campus. A few days later some post were made about somethings that did happen. Those were manly posted on the multiple Facebook accounts. Their Twitter accounts however did not post much at all. I found out more information through friends about what all was going on. It's ok ONU, all us students and our social media skills got your back.

What a Weekend!

Wow another eventful weekend! This weekend was homecoming weekend and also something called plow weekend at my friends farm. Plus I went out with some friends to a place called Suter's.

Homecoming weekend was a ton of fun. The parade was cool because there was a tank in it! One of the fraternities on campus rented one and used it as their float. That was something you do not see very often in the little village of Ada. The foot game was exciting. In the beginning of the game, the team looked like their were going to have another close game. Well by the end of the third quarter and all of the fourth quarter, the team pulled ahead. ONU won by 34 and Heidelberg 20. Right after the game, I followed the marching band because they are celebrating 125 years here at ONU. They held a little Band-O-Rama. The music was very good and I always enjoy hearing them play. I ended the night with a bonfire at a friends house and made some s'mores.

Well that was Saturday, now let's talk about Sunday. I went over to my friends farm with his girlfriend and my boyfriend. They were hosting a plow weekend. What that means is farmer friends and family were allowed to come over with their old tractors and work the field. It was very cool to see. The oldest tractor there was a John Deere Model D from 1926.

I even got the chance to drive a tractor. I did not plow with it, but I got to drive it around for a bit. I drove the John Deere Model A from the 1940s. 

Driving it around was very exciting and an experience that will definitely go down in the memory books. After we left the plow day, we went to Suter's. 

Suter's has a pumpkin patch, a hay ride, corn maze, best apple cider, and even more. It is very cozy there and a lot of fun for all ages. We bought a lot of cider, some apples, pumpkin, gorges, did the hay ride and tempted the corn maze. It was getting dark and the employees did not want us to be left in there so they had to come find us and get us out. We are deciding on going back soon so we can finish the maze!

Had a great weekend with a lot of great people which I needed. Hope the week goes by quick and smooth. 

Real-Time Web Site

David Meerman Scott makes an incredible point about websites becoming real-time. I would like to receive help if the online company could see I was having trouble on its site. Also being able to get an answer a question I may have and not have to wait a couple days for the response is really impressive too. That looks really good towards the company too.

People are used to the computer voices and long list of question, but we all still get annoyed by them. I have even given up when I cannot find that question I have on their list of FAQs. I have seen my dad get really frustrated with the computer phone calls because either he hit the wrong button or picked a different option from what he said. I believe we have all been there.

I actually know a website that kind of has real-time on their website and that is Modcloth. They have personal consultants you can ask style questions. I have used them when I've ordered dresses from them. They answer my questions fast and actually care about me being comfortable with the clothes I buy.

This is a great tool that more websites need to start doing.

Rain Clouds Can't Stop Me

What people say about junior year of college being the busiest year is true. This week I probably looked like a chicken with its head cut off. I had a ton of homework to catch up on, sorority things to do, career fair and still trying to have fun in college. Well I succeeded in all of that if you do not mind me gloating for a little.

All homework done and was even able to work a day or two ahead in a couple of my classes. It also helped that a few of my professors moved the due date on a few of the assignments. The sorority things were quick and simple. Career fair was fun for being my first, and I think I may have found a company that I would really like to have an internship.

Now let's get to the fun. This weekend was one of Ada's biggest events in the town and that is Harvest and Herb Festival. It is basically a little street fair market that some locals will come and sell things they made. It could be from honey to cute little wood figures. A parade even goes through of local groups and the high school band. There was one downside that happened during the festival. Rain. It rained during the whole parade and during most of the festival time. There was also two other small hiccups. A train stopped the parade and festival and a wide load drove through. I was standing near one of the local vendor's stand when the wide load came through and he yelled, "I expect candy to be thrown from them. They stopped our festival and parade!" Yep, he was funny and I bought something from him.

No rain can stop people from
coming to the Harvest and Herb.

The beginning of the parade.

Some more of the parade.
The other half was stopped by
the train.

The train that stopped the parade
and the festival. 

Towards the end of the festival time, the sun came out, umbrellas were put away and smiles were on everyone's faces.

It was nice that the sun came out because later that Saturday night was a football night game. The game was exciting and close. We lost to Baldwin Wallace 29-28. Just one point! The Ohio Northern Marching band though put on a great show. They play a couple of blue songs and "Up Town Funk". It was fun and really enjoyable.

The next day was not as busy but still busy. I did some more homework that only took a few minutes. Afterwards I went out to eat then went a little antiquing, which was so much fun because I saw things that I have never seen before and things that I have only seen in textbooks. I was not able to take photos of the stores. Maybe if I go again I will and show you all the cool things. My boyfriend found two signs that he wanted and bought them. Here are the two signs:

This sign had a weird smell to it.

My boyfriend is really proud of this find.

It was a crazy week and weekend but I am happy it was. The rain clouds did not stop me from having a great weekend. I cannot not wait for this week.

I "Dislike" This

So Facebook has decided to come out with a 'dislike' button. I just read an article about this. The dislike button is to have people be more serious and show their empathy on other's posts. The button is still to be tested though.

I understand that Facebook is trying to show they are listening to their customers, but I believe this can turn out to be a bad idea.

One reason this is a bad idea is not all Facebook users are mature enough to understand the reasoning behind the dislike button. The purpose of the dislike button is just like the like button. If a person agrees with one of their friends post, they hit the like button, if the person disagrees they can hit the dislike button. The button I believe is to be like a debate button. People can show their opinions with out having to put it in a comment. However, people will dislike a post on someone just to be mean and dislike it.

Another reason is some people might not want to see a notification pop up and say someone disliked your post. The post could be something personal and had much thought put into the post. Basically, people could interpret the dislike button the wrong way. Does that sound familiar? It should because it is a topic, which has come up a bit with texting. People will not understand the emotion behind the dislike. A person can dislike your post because they agree with you about disliking the same topic in the post or to show empathy about what was said. The person whose post was just dislike, might not think that. They could think the person disagrees and wanted to hurt their feelings, which in turn will cause problems between friendships.

I know the dislike button still needs to be tested, but I do not think Facebook should go through with it. Just leave the like button and that's it. If a person disagrees or does not like the post, they can ignore the post and or message the person privately so the fight is not all over in the public view on Facebook.

Being Smart With Social Media

There has been many stories in the last few years over people making mistakes with social media. People have shared photos or opinions that have got them in a lot of trouble with different people and even fired from jobs. Just recently a news story came out of a Kent High School teacher who resigns after explicit photos show up of her on social media.This is not very good for the teacher or the school.

Social media is a dangerous thing. Let's all be honest here, we have all shared something on social media we may regret. It could even be a comment you made when you first joined and tried to act cool. We are now all realizing that those post are coming back to haunt us. Administration at companies will search social media to try and find something they do not like or can come back and hurt the company. No one wants that to be the reason they do not get the job. 

There have been times I have wished social media was never invented. That way no one would loose a job or never get hired for a past post. Come on, I cannot be the only one who thinks this once and awhile. Maybe you have other reasons, but this is on the top of my list. 

My only advice is that you try and be careful of what you post. You do not want to miss you opportunity of becoming the CEO of a major company because of a post from when you were in college. 

Mobile Marketing is on the Rise

I agree with David Meerman Scott, mobile marketing is becoming more popular. More and more businesses are using it through other apps like Foursquare and Layar or their own apps or text messages.

We are getting to the age where we are attached to our mobile devices by a tight leash. We can do everything right from our phone. Email, banking, schedules and entertainment are just a few things we can do through our phones.

Businesses were thinking right when some decided to offer special promo codes through text messages or their apps. I am guilty of receiving text messages from stores and restaurants. The capability is nice knowing you can receive a free drink or product by showing them the message on your phone. People will then see you doing this and ask how. You tell them you receive special promo messages and then they sign up for them as well. Not only did you just do free promotion for the business, but also gave the business another loyal customer who will in turn do their own free promotion.

With Foursquare and Layar, they use the GPS's through our phones. People can use them to find places to eat, places to stay and entertainment. Just look up what people or your friends said about the places and can make your decision right there. No more long web searches to find a place but right through your phone and GPS.

In the future business can send promotions right to the customer if they are certain distance away from the store. How cool is that! I do not believe this is happening right now, but in a couple of years it will be. I cannot wait for that to happen.