Dear Fellow Millenials,

We are the result of millions of years of evolutionary success. Can we please not screw this up?

Generation Y, we are living in a pretty awesome time. Sure there will always be the older generations that have the notion of "those were the good ol' days," but the old days suck! We live in the new and the now. We have such advanced societies and technologies that we shouldn't have to worry about the future of humanity.
I could rant forever about what really grinds my gears with humanity today, but I'll keep it simple.

Go Green & Stop Hatin'

It really isn't that difficult to do your part to keep our Earth clean. We take for granted all the resources the Earth provides for us. It's totally okay for us to use the natural resources available, but we have to give back and take care of the planet so it can continue to take care of us. Recycling is a small step that makes a difference and littering is ignorant - please just throw your trash into a garbage can.


We need to become a global society. Technology has given us the opportunity to communicate and connect with anyone in the world. Our planet has such a diverse group of people, cultures, and societies that we need to understand and respect each other. We must spend less time hating each other and more time learning from each other. Peace, love, and respect will bring our world closer together and keep us here longer.

MDIA 470B Social Media Management

Most Interesting Concept - I enjoyed our discussions about Blogs and Wikis. The "push" concept of blogs is something I've always been aware of and now I'm participating in with this blog, and I'm learning a lot. I have a better understanding of blogs due to my experience as opposed to wikis. I haven't been a part of an organization that uses wikis to "pull" important information but look forward to using one.

Boring Lectures - The IT involvement with cloud computing is a little over my head and not very relevant to me. I have a good understanding of "the cloud" and have been using more cloud resources like dropbox.com. The networking and data jargon about cloud computing is a snooze-fest.

Application - Once I get the chance to use a Wiki I'll be eager and willing to learn how to use it. I also need to start marketing my blog. I have received feedback and have a better understanding of marketing for my blog. Not only marketing myself but other organizations I'm involved in and finding the best way to "push" information.

Blog Comments

I agree with Chris Brogan's thoughts on blog comment etiquette. Readers don't comment to every blog they read or respond to every post because it's time consuming and easy to forget. Commenting should be constructive and add something to further explore the topic or subject in the post.

Here are some of my contributions to blogs:
Chris
Mary
Doug

Dan Harmon Poops

http://danharmon.tumblr.com/

Dan Harmon updates his blog when he uses the bathroom - what a cool idea!

Dan Harmon is the creator of my favorite TV show Community. He is a very creative but busy guy. I look up to him as  TV show creator for his characters, stories, and work ethic. He works very hard and long hours so finding time to blog is difficult. I'm glad he discovered he can multitask by blogging and pooping at the same time!

It's not that I like to know when Dan Harmon uses the bathroom, it's just that I like to know what's going on with that guy. His "celebrity" blog gives fans an insight to what kind of guy he really is. We get to know what other projects he's working on, read his funny stories, and he comments on what is happening with the show.

Social Media Tools

Social Media websites have completely eliminated geography as a barrier to communication. They are tools that make communication easy and efficient. Any company must rely on good communication throughout the entire organization in order to be successful. It would be foolish for a company to not take advantage of the myriad of social media tools that can enhance their operations with better communication.


Wikis are social media tools that many companies are using to help facilitate communication within the organization. I personally have never had a job where we used a Wiki, but they sound very resourceful. I can see a Wiki being beneficial for new employees as well as experienced employees. New employees can gather information from one place rather than bothering their superiors and upper management can provide updates and information in one place.


Social Wiki sites are fascinating. Wikipedia is one of the greatest resources we have available to us. It's a place where you can find general information about anything. I thought that alone was amazing until I discovered Wikia.com. Wikia is a social media site that has specific communities for information. Many of the communities were for video games and although I'm not a gamer, I learned so much about Mass Effect from the Wikia site. They have information about the game, the backstory, game-related downloads, hints to play the game, and conversations about what users like and don't like.

The internet is so cool. It truly is an endless library of information. There is a lot of non-credible information out there, but Wikis are generally places you can trust. They exist because of a collaborative effort to provide and share all of the knowledge a community has to offer.

Scavenger Hunt

Today in class we had a group scavenger hunt. We were given a list of things that we had to get a picture with. Take a look at what we found!

Here's our group picture with "something purple," our professor.

$0.83

Personalized plates.

Getting coffee from a local coffee shop.

This guy was wearing a name tag, check that one off the list!

Here's one with our group members on a bridge. You gotta look really close.

An engraved brick. This one came from Nelsonville, just like most of the others.

The library is a great place to read books.

Police car.

Political bumper sticker. Obamacare? More like Obama-don't-care!

Historical landmark.

Cheers! Mugs with OU logos.

Reddit.com is my favorite website on the entire internet. The site contains thousands of pages that are dedicated to a specific topic called "subreddits." There are subreddits for just about everything: Pictures, science, business, beer, hiking, cooking, travel, books, and so many more creative niche hobbies. The content on the site is entirely user-generated because users post the content. Then other users can either comment and share their thoughts and start discussions about the post.

I visit reddit.com multiple times a day. New content is always being added and updated and there is a constant dialogue about so many topics. I honestly don't think there are any flaws to the website. It's an awesome resource that I encourage everyone to become familiar with.

I began my internet usage with American Online. I remember signing into my AOL account and hearing "Welcome! You've got mail." AOL was the starting platform that showed me what the internet had to offer. After exploring other websites and seeing the services they had to offer, I grew away from AOL. It only provided me with basic services. Other websites offered similar services but with a different experience. AOL is a "general" website whereas I look for very "specialized" websites that have a better focus on the service they provide. AOL is not a bad website, but I want more out of my internet usage and AOL doesn't offer me that.

My goal for this quarter is to fully understand how social media effects our society. The internet has an endless supply of news and information and I want to absorb as much of the information it has to offer. This blog will help me filter the information that is interesting to me. It's a place for me to share thoughts and ideas about what I think is important. I also want feedback and interaction with other bloggers. Absorbing news and information is one thing, but using social media like a blog will help me create a dialogue about important topics and issues. I've added a Google News Gadget to encourage people to stay informed about what is happening in the world they live in.