Lehigh Laf Week!

Lehigh Laf week is quickly approaching! That means a week full of activities and plenty of things to do, ending with Lehigh's victory over Lafayette in football. In addition to all the fun activities that are planned, I think everyone should like mine and Anna's facebook page for our photo scavenger hunt! We hope to get some funny pictures to show off our school pride!The rules and what kinds of pictures we are looking for are all posted, and we hope everyone joins in on all the fun!

Rules:
The photo scavenger hunt is to take place the week of Lehigh/Lafayette Week (11/11-11/17). Photos are to be submitted to the Facebook page by Sunday November 18th by noon.
Submit photos included on the Scavenger Hunt List. Their point values are indicated below. Possible points: 100

The pictures point value varies based on how difficult it will be to find the object/person listed. Some of the one pointer pictures on the list include pictures with Asa Packer, a Lehigh squirrel, and the winning touchdown. Two pointers are something like picture with the Marching 97 or picture with the bed races winner. Three pointers include a picture with someone in an Engineer outfit or a picture of you at Iacocca Tower. Four pointers are along the lines of a picture with Clutch or a picture of someone wearing leopard "skin." And finally, five pointers are things like a funny picture with Alice Gast or someone wearing a press badge for the game.

There are many more picture options, so check it out and see for yourself! Feel free to get creative and capture some really funny and memorable pictures as we cheer Lehigh onto victory! Happy hunting! 

Friends, Circles, or others...

While reading "Organizations Don't Tweet, People Do" by Euan Semple, I learned some key points and interesting things about Twitter and other forms of social media.

My favorite part of the book is the chapter about "friends." He points out that on Facebook everyone is your "friend" whether you know them very well or very little. There is no real way to get around it, enter Google+. The circles allow you to categorize the people you know into circles depending upon your relationship with them and how well you know them. I love this idea so much better than pretending to be "friends" with everyone. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are all used to catch up with people you know, or don't know, but all in varying degrees. But in a lot of cases, you have not engaged in any kind of social interaction with half the people on your "friend" list.

This also ties into the idea that with growing networks, we just have not come up with the correct terms and vocabulary to express what we really mean. Somewhere down the road, there could be so many more terms and new words to apply to the current and future social media sites. We won't have to pretend to be "friends" with everyone because we will be able to have different terms to call them. It's kind of weird and scary to think about. But I feel as though social media is far from peaking.

So far, this book is full of insight and very helpful to see where we are heading. It is also overwhelming and somewhat scary if the subject it thought about for so long. There is so much more that we have to learn and that could come from the social media age.

Twitter Followers

I follow a lot more people on Twitter than who follow me (Twitter handle @erin_leigh_east in case you want to follow). And I am okay with that considering I am a Twitter novice. But the people and organizations I follow can be broken down into categories. I follow musicians or bands, celebrities, a few friends, news sources, magazines, local businesses, and Lehigh University.

I mostly follow celebrities and bands. Although my news sources are getting up there. I follow Time magazine, Today, Wall Street Journal, and many others. It's nice to look at them and see what stories are running. It helps me to stay connected with the rest of the world. Usually more research is involved, but it's nice to know the current events. As for celebrities, it is all over the board. It ranges from the cast of E! News to Taylor Swift to Olympic athletes. It is for pure entertainment value to follow the celebrities. I especially love when the dance moms tweet live with the show. But it is interesting to see what the celebs endorse and want to bring to the attention of their fans.

Twitter was just starting to become a thing when I was in high school. It is fun to see what they are up to and read their thoughts on Twitter now that we are all out in the world. I only stay in touch with a few of them, but I still follow the ones I am not close with on Twitter. You just never know when they are going to say something good or funny. It is also interesting what goes on on other college campuses.

My favorite local business that I follow is not currently local to me. It is a cupcake shop that is in my hometown. They won Cupcake Wars on Food Network and her cupcakes are delicious! She is always posting pictures or endorsing her business and having giveaways on her Twitter and Facebook. If anyone is ever in West Reading, PA go to Ady Cakes.

There are so many people and organizations to follow for Lehigh University. I follow the Dean of Students, LU Athletics, Bethlehem Police, Asa Packers Ghost and so many others. It is just a good way to stay connected on campus. Someone will let you know what is going on around you.  

Twitter has become a fast paced interaction with everyone that I know and don't know, and I am starting to really like it. I am finally getting the hang of it, so hopefully more tweeting can take place!

Mediactive

There is another media class that I am taking in which I am required to read a book called Mediactive by Dan Gillmour. The following link is to a page that he labeled "For Consumers." Some of these points correspond with the class discussion. He gives five really helpful tips for social media consumers. Mr. Gillmour advises that the consumers:
1) Be skeptical of nearly everything
2) Don't be equally skeptical of everything
3) Go outside your comfort zone
4) Ask questions
5) Learn and understand the media techniques

He goes into farther explanation of what each of the above on the list mean in terms of social media use. He says we should be skeptical of everything because no one can ever be sure about others trustworthiness. But don't be as skeptical because there are some sources that are indeed reliable. We just need to scope out those sources and be able to trust them. By going out of your comfort zone you can discover new things and techniques. It can also help to be well informed and help with the seeking out of the reliable sources. Asking questions falls in the category of research, homework and many other things. It allows us to learn and seek out the information we need from the reliable sources, while remaining safe from the untrustworthiness of others. And finally learning the techniques and understanding them helps us, as consumers, how to effectively use the media platforms.

Dan Gillmour's book is full of great advice and pointers for media creators. There is a whole chapter on how to establish "your brand." And how having a "home base" where you build up who you are and update this site frequently to keep people in the know, all while brand building. It is an easy read and I would recommend checking out the link and his site, as well as reading his book. It would be helpful for media creators who want to better understand the many media platforms and how to use them effectively.
   
For “Consumers”

Facebook and Twitter cont.

From reading everyone's blogs, I got the impression that Facebook is used for purely personal reasons. It creates a way to share bigger parts of your life with your friends, such as vacation pictures. Whereas Twitter is used more frequently and to put things out there that may be on your mind in that moment. Or to get instant feedback from your followers. Both of these communications tools offer different means of communicating with others. Some people are Twitter novices, and others Twitter pros. But I feel that everyone has at least an average understanding of Facebook and the way in which it works. I myself have had my Twitter for over a year and am still a Twitter novice. But everyone seems to be getting the hang of social media and is learning by doing.

Facebook vs Twitter

Facebook and Twitter are both tools of communication. They have both evolved and changed and most likely will continue to do so. Personally, I use Facebook much more than I use Twitter. They are both useful for certain things. But both my social media accounts are for entertainment purposes. I use Facebook to catch up with friends and see what they are doing. I can see exactly what they have been up to with the pictures they post, status updates, wall posts, and comments. It is all right there in one spot on my computer screen. Facebook is also a great way to find new friends or people you just met. Sometimes it makes it easier to find something in common with a new friend. Twitter I use for news, and seeing what celebrities are up to. It's also fun to pull up Twitter during any awards shows. It is more of an environment for open conversation. It is more difficult to do so on Facebook. I have more friends on Facebook than I do followers on Twitter.

I post and share more things on Facebook than Twitter. Sometimes I have more to say than what the 140 characters will allow me. But also, because I have more friends on Facebook, more people will see it and more people can catch up with what I am doing, if they choose to do so.  Twitter, for me, is not used in this way. I rarely if ever tweet pictures or at all for that matter. I use it more for following and getting some news sources from it. I like to know what is happening in the entertainment field, which is why I originally created a Twitter. But there are only certain times when I check it. I check my Facebook more often than Twitter. Twitter is useful for bringing attention and awareness to certain events or news. It is also funny to see all the witty and funny tweets that are tweeted by the people I follow. Eventually, I will probably get into using Twitter a little more. Maybe not more than Facebook, but more than I use it now.

Code of Ethics

The new Blogster code of ethics is an amazing thing. It is pretty basic knowledge that all people using social media should abide to. It is the common curtousy that everyone should exercise while blogging. I absolutely love the "Civility Enforced" standards. They list the common sense things that everyone should know about using social media of any kind. My favorite one on that list is not creating a blog to "be used to abuse, directly harass, stalk or threaten others." That is not the purpose of the blog and nor should it be. I also love the fact that there are consequences linked to abusing the blog and not using it for its purpose. Not all media has that and maybe it should. With all the cyber bullying and harassment going on, it might need to be a necessary action.

It is great that blogster has taken a stance to make sure that the blogging community is a safe and respectful environment. I think that more media outlets should do the same thing and enforce the Code of Ethics that each person accepts when they sign up.

The Great Social Media Debate

The social media debate has gone on for many years. There have been many opinions of who does it better and who should be allowed to be using these forms of social media. Personally, I feel as though anyone who hasn't grown up with it as teenagers should be encouraged to use all the different forms of media that we have. Just because they didn't grow up with it doesn't mean that they can't learn to be just as efficient as an adolescent who has grown up being a facebook or twitter user. In fact, I have grown up with various types of social media and I am still learning new things about it everyday. I wasn't on board with the twitter revolution from the beginning. I didn't know that in the beginning, before the app, you texted your tweet to 40404. It is ever changing and there are always things that you can learn about it. There are also so many new types of media popping up that it's hard to keep up on all the different features of all the different media. For instance I have a Pinterest account but I don't really pin things. With so many different outlets it is hard to keep up and maintain all of them. But to say that they can't be learned to the efficiency that the teenagers is hardly an accurate statement. My grandparents are 75 years old and they are learning how to text. They do a pretty good job for not being immersed in it like I was. They still have some questions but they are willing to learn. If the willingness to learn is there, then it is possible they can be just as efficient as anyone who grew up with it. Age shouldn't be a factor in what outlets of media anyone can use. My younger sister is 13 years old and has had a facebook account for at least a year. There are still things that she learns to do, but she is pretty efficient. There should be no limits for people who want to learn how to manage and use social media of any kind. We should embrace the people who want to learn and teach them what we know instead of bashing them and telling them they can't because they are too old or too young. Social media does not have an age cap and nor should it. So, instead of complaining about them not knowing what they are doing, help them to learn what they are doing.