Favorite Beer

We have had a LOT of truly nasty beer while in college. I know I am not alone in this assertion. As college students, we have had a terrible time selecting our beer. It takes a while to know what the beer we want is, and tastes like. What are hops? What is barley? What distinguishes these beers, and can we really tell the difference? Beer is something to be very selective about, given you have the knowledge and the means. There are many things that can pass as a satisfying drink, but only a few that can really pass as a quality beer.

As a senior in college, I feel I have ran my courses with the local beer selections, and have consumed enough to consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur. My top four beers, in order of most satisfying to least are: Budweiser, Coors Light, Miller Light, and Busch Light. I’m about to walk you through my summations of each, and what they say about you as a gentleman.

1. Budweiser- Quality beer in the sense of overall taste, and “buzz”. I have never felt even somewhat disappointed in my purchase of Budweiser, and I highly recommend it to all who enjoy quality beverages. Best served COLD. This drink will put hair on your chest.
2. Coors Light- For when you’re feeling adventurous, and want to do something WILD, like take on the Rocky’s! A lighter taste than my Bud, but goes down smoother. I appreciate this beer on days when I want a great taste, and need to unwind. *Not to be consumed alone!* Best shared with a friend on a warm day, in a lawn chair. Coors Lights are for people who know what they’re about, but still like to unwind and party.
3. Miller Light- A poor man’s good time. You may find this beer lacking in both taste and quality, but who really cares when your goal is to get drunk? This beer is both cheap and effective. Kills two birds with one stone.
4. Busch Light- Is the beer that is the heaviest of the four, and is the least tasteful. I wouldn’t say that you should avoid it, because that would be ignorant of me, and truly poor journalism, but you should consider recycling cans and collecting the change from those in order to pay the difference between a thirty rack of these and any of the above.

Heed my advice, for the love of God, and find yourself in a mug of hops that satisfies both the palate and the wallet.

Social Media Class Reflection

Well, this is the last week of posting a blog for my social media class. However, not my last blog post. I still plan on using this resource for a long time. I have had a great experience learning how to write this blog and really enjoyed the skills it has taught me as a writer. This social media class has been all I could hope for it to be. It has been very busy and I’ve had many tasks to keep up with that might not always have been the easiest but it has definitely given me the type of knowledge that one seeks when striving for a college degree. I have learned so much about the power and effect that social media has on our everyday lives and especially in today’s work force.

One of the best parts about this class was that it wasn’t traditional lecture where one would take notes, read a chapter, and take a test. Instead we were given weekly assignments expressive writing assignments, twitter goals, group and individual projects that really helped develop us as social media professionals. The power point presentations we did have were very insightful and helpful when it came to our group campaign proposals or our other assignments.

I would say my favorite part about this class was getting to listen to such a wide variety of some of the social media and marketing professionals there is to offer. It was great getting to pick their brains and listen to their experiences and everyday duties. It was a great joy to get to listen to Chris Kerns, Melissa Agnes, and Mark Murdock along with all the other professionals who took the time out of their day to speak with us about what they do and why they have seen success. It’s always beneficial to hear advice from someone who has been where you are now and has experienced all the things that you are experienced and has been successful.

It has been a busy yet great experience working on the social media campaign proposal for Gathan and The Louisville Travel Bureau. We were assigned to come up with a plan to target people who are millennials to come visit Louisville. It’s been awesome working with a team and bouncing ideas off each other to cme up with the best plan possible. It will definitely give me valuable experience for the future.

Overall, this semester has been one busy and great ride and I won’t forget it. I have developed and improved so many skills that will allow me to be successful. Of course, this semester wouldn’t have been the same without the incredible Dr. Freberg leading the way. She has been helping us with every step and was always there for us when we needed something. We can really tell she cares and wants us to succeed. Once again, this was a great semester and I am looking forward to finishing strong these last few weeks

Comm Tech Blog #10

When we were first told about our latest blog post for Communication Technology to be about “unplugging” ourselves for I day I got a little nervous to be honest. I thought, “When will I be able to afford to go without my precious phone or the internet for a whole day!” But then I stopped and thought it over for a little bit. If I’m really busy on a weekend when I don’t have work or homework to be done and I am already with all of my friends then why do I really need to be “connected”? So I decided that this last Saturday on April 11th, that I would spend all day unconnected from the internet and my phone.

I spent all of my day at my fraternity’s biggest philanthropy event of the year. It is our Slam N’ Jam volley ball tournament that we host at Bernie’s Volley Ball Course. When I got up in the morning at around 8am; I checked my texts, sent a few emails, and made a call before getting dressed and heading to help set up for the tournament. I left my phone at the house.

My day was spent helping out others, playing volley ball with some of my best friends, and hanging outside all day as we grilled out and listened to music. Of course, all of my friends had their phones and we connected all day but I was not. They made say, “Hey did hear about so and so or the game?” and I would have to say no and explain that I was without my phone for the day. I have to say it was definitely tough to go without my phone for the whole day especially in between games. But it helped being in a fun and lively environment where we could just party and play volley ball all day without worrying about where other people were, what each score was to every sports game, or what funny video had gone viral on twitter all day. I just had old fashion fun.

After the tournament ended around 5pm, I went with my friends out to eat and stayed at the bar with all the guys for another 2 or 3 hours before returning home to finally see my phone again. It was a long day but I really appreciated it because it taught me that I didn’t need my phone to have a good time or be connected with friends. Yes, I missed my phone and wish I could have taken pictures of the first day of Slam N’ Jam and made social media posts about it. But I still had the second day  of the tournament on Sunday and got to experience almost a relief of not having to stay connected all day and all the time. It definitely gave me perspective on how we as a society need to focus on living in the moment instead of focusing on planning or seeing someone else moment. I truly believe technology has done more good than bad to our culture but as with anything in life if we don’t control it and let it run our lives then that’s where it becomes a serious problem and I fear there are some who are too focused on being socially connected and let their phones run their lives.

The True Gentleman

Coming into college I had no idea that I would join a fraternity. I was always open to the possibility but never strongly considered it until I moved on campus and met up with some old high school buddies who were fraternity members. They had nothing but great things to say about greek life on campus and how it was one of the best decisions they have ever made. They convinced me to come to rush and hang out with them on the weekends leading up to the start of school. I took them up on their offer and was quickly hooked. Not only did I have a great time on the weekends but I loved all the people I met. Having a good time was just a quarter of what their fraternity was about. What they stood for and what they lived by was being a True Gentleman. I decided to rush and sign a bid with them. Ever since I have been a proud brother of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Joining SAE was honestly one of the best decisions I have ever made and has brought me countless opportunities that I would otherwise never had never gotten the chance to do. I am actively involved in philanthropy, have many past and future job opportunities, and brothers that will be in my life until the day I die. We are a diverse chapter of many different social, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds but all call each other brothers and I know I can count on them whenever I need anything.

I want to make this extremely clear: the actions by the University of Oklahoma chapter in no way, shape, or form represent what my fraternity is about and I can honestly say I was ashamed by that disgusting video that surfaced. I have many brothers who are African-American and many other ethnicities. While those actions put a huge burden on us as brothers, it can also be looked at as a great opportunity to learn and show that while there were a few bad seeds, we won’t let them bring us down. Now more than ever is when we show others that we are True Gentleman. This is what we lived by:

“The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well in any company; a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.”

On another note, taking this social media class has been very enlightening especially when it comes to crisis. My fraternity definitely has been going through a crisis and I can say while we have acted like True Gentleman, we could have done a little better job as far as crisis management from a national perspective. I think it just really goes to show that older generations really need to go through social media training of some sorts in order to deal with situations like what our national leaders had to deal with. They came out with very respectful and definitive statements about how that video does not represent what we are about, but I feel that each chapter nation wide could have done just maybe a little better job as far as dealing with the crisis on social media. I know a bunch of us at Louisville used social media to express the True gentleman and how that represents who we are. I believe this is a good opportunity for others to learn from what we have gone through regarding social media crisis.

This Weeks Guest Speaker!

This week in class we had a great guest speaker in Mr. Murdock from Café Press. It was awesome to listen to what he had to say and his life experiences throughout his career. He spoke about how he switched his career to do what truly made him happy. It is a great example of really chasing what makes you happy in life and being yourself. He spoke on being “weird” and how that should be the way we should live life instead of conforming into what we think is “normal”. We are told by most of our authorities and mentors in life, whether that be teachers or parents, that we need to fit into a this way of life that is expected of us. He challenged us to break out of that trend and be ourselves and work in environments that allow us to be that way.

I thought what he had to say was very important not only for our class but our generation in general. We should seek professions that allow us to be ourselves and that is when our best comes out. If we are stuck in an office for 40 hours a week and forced to work in a way that is stands against what we are then we will never be happy. He said we need to avoid “soul sucking” bosses that want us to conform to their ways. Instead, we should be the ones to ask employers what they can offer us and that is the way we should choose our jobs.

He also spoke on his job at Café Press which was very enlightening on how things work in the social media world of a business. Café Press is an international company that sells what most people would call odd objects or things that could otherwise be hard to find in stores. Social media is a very important aspect in a business like that and it was great to get his perspective on how to best be successful in his business. His time with our class was very helpful and inspiring. I will definitely listen to his advice and whenever I need a hard to find object I will definitely look on Café Press!

Comm Tech 303 #9

I have been hearing rumors and talk from peers for a few years now about how in danger we are as a society, how our private information was being stolen, and we were being tracked to the point where the government knew every single thing about us. While I was worried, I still had some doubt and felt that some of the panic about us being spied on was just a case of paranoia. Last class in Comm Tech 303, I actually got to learn the facts about what and who actually is collecting data about me.I must say I was a little bit taken back about what I heard. Sure I assumed there was some tracking about my movement on the internet but I had no clue how much.

I am a little worried about how much information is actually collected about me from companies such as Acxion, and why they actually need it all? Personally, I find it a little curious that these “marketing” companies have all of this information about me in these dossiers all fort eh purposes of advertisements? Or even for the purpose of companies doing back ground checks? These seem more or less like excuses to have information on almost every single citizen that can be used anyway that the ones in charge find necessary. I think there needs to be more emphasis and regulation on these companies.

Personally, I have not done much to protect my information online in the past. I would like to improve on that but I fear it may be too late because I have been using the internet and almost handing out personal information for years now. I do, however, use the privacy setting on all of my social media accounts which I started doing about a year ago. I feel a little more protected doing so but still have some concerns on how private my accounts actually are. That is why even though I have my settings on private that I still try not to share highly personal information or feelings just to be on the safe side.

Although I do worry about certain things such as my cell-phone company tracking my history, I try not to worry to much because as of now it hasn’t lead to any to any serious consequences yet. It is scary to think how far we have come in such a short period of time to where people have to worry constantly about being spied on. This paranoia does have a little “Big Brother” feel to it, as if someone is always watching you. However, like the article posted said, there are a lot false beliefs and in betweens about all of the things we fear as far as our privacy is concerned. It will definitely be interesting to see how our society and our government react to the growing paranoia of our lack of privacy. 

5 Favorite College Vacations

College should be a great experience for every student. For the ones who go straight out of high school, there are many opportunities for kids to travel and see new places. The lack of responsibilities that a common college student who is in his/her late teens or early 20’s allows them the freedom to do what they want and when they want On a normal basis. Personally, I have traveled more in the past three years then I have in my whole life. Since the fall of 2012, I have been on 13 trips to different places in and out of the United States. I have had many great experiences and seen some pretty cool things. Here is my list of the top 5 best places I have been to in college:

5. Daytona, Spring Break 2015
Spring break this past year was a great time. I had never been to Daytona Beach and it did not disappoint. The beaches were beautiful and the bars were a blast. Driving on the beach was a lot of fun as well. I definitely won’t forget my time there.

4. Hilton Head, Fall Formal 2013
My first formal as a fraternity member was one for the ages. It was awesome being on the beach and staying in the same hotel with all my brothers and our dates. I was born in South Carolina and always love it when I get the opportunity to go back.

3. Caribbean Cruise leaving from Miami, Summer 2015
My first cruise was awesome because not only did I get to travel around the Caribbean and enjoy the awesome weather and luxuries of being on a cruise, but I also attended leadership school while on the boat that was very helpful and taught me many quality things that I took back with me and that I use on a daily basis.

2. Washington D.C. Christmas Break 2013
As most of you who have been reading my blog for while know, I am a HUGE Dallas Cowboys fan. So when I got the chance to make a road trip with a few buddies to go see them play the Redskins I jumped all over it. We got to go out out to the bars and clubs of D.C. the first night, see all the sights the second night, and see the ‘Boys when on 4th Down touchdown pass with less than 30 seconds remaining. It was a great trip that I will never forget. I love the city of Washington D.C.

1. New Orleans, Fall Formal 2014
New Orleans has by far been my favorite trip since I have been in college. The nightlife on Bourbon Street was unreal and eating on one of the balconies overlooking the bars was one of the best memories I have. Being with all of your best friends and your dates at one of the best party sites in the world was a great experience that I will never forget. Anytime I have a chance to go back I will take it.

Information About a Crisis In Today’s Social Media World

In class this week we learned about crisis in social media. Fitzpatrick, who we discussed in class, had this to say about preparing for social media crises; Fitzpatrick- “the process of anticipating and preparing for unexpected occurrences that have the potential to damage an organizations reputation with important constituents and influence the organizations survival.” This statement is a good description of just how important crisis management is and how deadly a crisis can be especially with tools such as different social media outlets that can spread news in seconds rather than days.

Social media can be a tricky place to be sometimes, especially for companies and brands. It can open up a lot of different positive opportunities for a company or brand, but can also burn many bridges if misused or accidents occur. In class our professor had a great quote about people on social media, “Everyone is under a digital microscope where every action, statement, update, and visual is criticized or discussed for a global audience.” This way to state the scope that social media has individuals and brands under. That is why it is so important to be very careful with what, when, and why you tweet or post something. There is a always a time and place for engaging on social media.

This is why companies and brands are constantly looking for possible crises so they can execute proper damage control in a timely manner. This is called Environmental Scanning and can be described as the practice of analyzing, understanding, and responding to conversations about products, brands, individuals, reputation, and opinion of key online community members virtually in real time.

When a crisis happens outside of the virtual world, social media is a great tool to use to inform, communicate, and provide help for followers and customers who are either concerned or are experiencing the crisis first hand. This is a good way to keep the company’s or brand’s name strong and give their customers a since of comfort and relief during a time of disaster.

There are three main types of a crisis; the first is Public Credibility Crisis which has to do which government and non-government organizations such as the FDA and Susan B. Koman Foundation, the second is Brand Crisis which deals with organizations such as Domino’s and Malaysian Airlines, and the third is Personal Crisis which is what individuals such as Lance Armstrong and Alex Rodriguez went through. Each of these can be caused by something that happened outside or within the realm of social media.

It is always important to be careful what you are tweeting on purpose or even by accident because you never know when something can turn around to bite you. Remember to also always have a plan in place in case of a crisis.

Here are some good articles about handling social media crises. http://environicspr.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Crisis-Management-in-a-Social-Media-World-2011.pdf.

Click to access Affect_Social_Media_Crisis_Management_White_Paper.pdf

https://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=2443

Comm Tech Blog #8

Like a lot of technology these days, I had the privilege (?) to grow up right in the middle of this technology boom that has seen the extreme advancements of internet, cell-phones, television, and video-games. All of these advanced technologies have taken giant leap forwards during my generations most influential adolescent years. Its almost like the older and more mature we got the more advanced they became. For example, when I was born the most popular gaming system was a console called Super Nintendo, which is very limited by our standards. Today, we have the X-Box One and Playstation 4 which are 10X more advanced than Super Nintendo or even for that matter the original Playstation.

I would say my generation was really the first to experience the phenomenon of advanced and online gaming. In several ways it changed the way kids grow up. I know friends that would spend literally 3/4th of there summer breaks in their basements or rooms trying to advanced their ranking on Call Of Duty, Halo, or Guitar Hero. My parents and other generations before us would spend weekends and breaks from school going to the movies, skating rinks, arcades, or even camping. Most of the nights spent doing those activities were replaced with basement sleepovers that would gaming tournaments by my generation.

Personally, I was never a video-game fanatic. Nowadays, I hardly ever play them unless it’s a sports game and I’m with friends. Growing up though I did play a fair amount, but definitely not as much as most of my friends. Having spent a lot of time with them and two of my siblings that play a lot of video-games, I definitely can see changes in their behavior after hours in front of the screen. I have noticed that whenever kids, especially preteens and teenagers, binge on gaming all night or spend entire days in front monitors that it effects them emotionally. They are usually distant, moody, and look pale in the face. I believe video-games are like most things in life; they can be a good thing but too much can be very harmful. Video-games can cause detachment from  society and a skewed version of reality based on what the message is from the games you play. There are far too many that definitely desensitize violence in my opinion, especially with younger kids who do know any better. I believe the legislation that Rockefeller wants to pass can be a very good thing for our youth and a way to shield children from violent and influential material that parents can be unaware of.

I would say that video-games are extremely influential on our youth even more so than movies because in a movie you are witnessing people acting out actions, but in video-games you are the one acting out the actions and being rewarded for success; which in some cases is killing as many people possible. It can be hard for adolescents to fully realize the difference between the gaming world and reality. I believe the theory of Social Learning can best describe the effects that video-games have on us. We learn by what we see and develop patterns based on what happens in front of us every day. We need to do a better job of monitoring what children play and how long they play it in order to fully maximize the positive that video-games can offer and reduce the negative.

Tools To Help Monitor Social Media

In class we talked about monitoring our social media how brands need to use today’s technology to keep an eye on how people are engaging and reacting to them on social media. This is very important for companies because it allows them to see what their customers and audiences want from them as well as market and advertise their brands for basically free. Companies are starting to create command centers to keep an eye on their social media accounts and record the statistics. More and more there are apps and tools being created to help these companies track their analytics and we discussed these services in class.

There are free services such as Google Analytics and TweetStats. Google’s is a powerful customizable dashboard that allows you to see the data so that the most important data is presented to you first and in an easy and visual way. TweetStats allows you to see things such as tweets per month and tweet density. You can monitor other accounts as well so you can see how other companies are doing and compare them to yours.

Facebook Insights gives you a comprehensive analytics suite that allows you to have insight to your fans and how they are reacting to your page.  Insights splits up that information into two sections: users and insights. Users is the basic information you need on your fans, including active users, the number of unlikes on your page, as well as information on traffic sources and referrers. Insights gives you a deeper analysis into the individual updates you’ve made on your page and how people have interacted. Here is a good article on free monitoring options. http://www.brandwatch.com/2013/08/top-10-free-social-media-monitoring-tools/. Here is a good piece on social media metrics. https://blog.kissmetrics.com/social-media-monitoring-tools/. Here are some reasons why you should be monitoring social media. http://us.cision.com/assets/Cision-10-Reasons-Monitor-Social-Media.pdf.

There are other analytics that can help you monitor social media such as Keyhole.co, bit.ly which allows you to shorten your links so that you can post them on twitter and other sites, Youtube Insights and Hootsuite are also great tools to help you monitor social media.