Buy Nothing Day - Latest Holiday Craze!

It's been a while since I have posted a picture of the week. I think this will qualify. For my Graphic Design course, we are to design a postcard encouraging participating in Buy Nothing Day. On Black Friday, instead of getting up early, and spending unnecessary hard earned money on likely useless items, spend the day instead with quality family time. Play a game, go outside, enjoy the Thanksgiving leftovers, etc! So do your family a favor and hangout with them instead of potentially getting trampled at Toys 'R' Us.

Enjoy, have a Happy Thanksgiving! I'll see most of you when we return from break. In the mean time, keep blogging! By the way, if you like the Buy Nothing Day image, please email me or give credit where credit is due. Thanks!

This Is It is Alright

VS.

I love music. My iTunes has a very eclectic variety of artists, genres, etc. I have a number of favorite artists, but I saw something that made an interesting connection.

I went to go see Michael Jackson's This Is It, at the Ada Theater on opening night. Personal life aside, the King of Pop was very talented, I enjoyed a number of his songs, and the movie was very interesting from a creative perspective. Viewers get a rare chance to see how a production, as elaborate as that concert was going to be, come together.I felt that with as many creative an innovative aspect that were going to be included in the concert series, that it will elevate musical stage productions in the future. From the 3-D video to scenes that were going to be acted out on stage (one word: bulldozer) there are many examples that will push the boundaries of concert viewing. The point that I want to make, is that until the very end, Mr. Jackson's creativity still has the ability to influence artists of all genres.

I'm a big fan of Hootie and the Blowfish, so therefore, as lead singer Darius Rucker made the jump to country, I have continued to listen to his music. I missed catching the CMA Awards that were held earlier this week in Nashville, so after pulling up a video of Mr. Rucker's performance, I notice a similarity in the backround in his rendition of Alright, to two backgrounds from This Is It.

Now, I am not trying to say that this was an obvious nod to Mr. Jackson, but it was a cool reference, and a first example of where Michael left off, and other artists will pick up and run.

Any thoughts from readers?

Grand Ole Opry on MySpace!

Do you like country music? Well if you do, you need to some day make it to Nashville to see the show that made country music famous. I am talking about the Grand Ole Opry. However, if you cannot make it this weekend, definately check out MySpace or http://www.myspace.com/grandoleopry on Saturday night at 9 pm. I say this because the Opry will be streaming live online. 


I'm really excited because up here in Ada, whether it is through Time Warner Cable, or ONU cable, we do not get GAC, the channel the Opry is broadcast. I hope broadcasting online, is something that the Opry can continue for special occasions. 


So check out the music, it will be excellent. Did I mention that the lineup includes Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride and Jake Owen?

Thoughts on Thought Leaders

Over the last ten weeks, as we've become immersed and experienced using the many tools of social media, we have, in turn, become thought leaders ourselves. We are likely the most expereinced within social media on campus. I know I've shared my thoughts and experiences with friends.

I'm also likely to share my social media information with the Office of Career Services. In my opinion, it could use it.

Good class everyone, I've never actually enjoyed a four-hour long class before, but this one was more than enjoyable. I'll be sad to see it go, but I hope you all continue to blog periodically. I'll be sure to not only read, but COMMENT as well. Good luck finding your niche, I'll be reading.

Organizational Twitter: @ONUSports & @SpiritAirlines

Twitter is has been the most important tool to catch fire within the social media revolution over the last year. I believe that if you had asked the average organization or individual one year ago, if they would be on Twitter, the answer would likely be, no. Over the last twelve months, many users have learned how to use Twitter more effectively. Over the last week, I’ve observed two organizations that I follow and would like to offer some comments on their tweets.

As a student here at ONU, and one who knows a number of our student athletes, I follow @ONUSports. This week has been a big week, as not only students begin to wrap up our academic quarter, but also for many fall sports, they begin to enter postseasons and tournaments. Keeping followers up-to-date, @ONUSports does a nice job updating the status of award winning players, and updating tournament standings. The following are some tweets posted in the last week from @ONUSports.

Dan Otanicar earns ESPN the Magazin/CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District honors http://bit.ly/2heHHp

Men's Basketball has solid performance in 75-66 loss in exhibition game at NCAA Division I-foe Kent State http://bit.ly/24tRA2

Men's Basketball has solid performance in 75-66 loss in exhibition game at NCAA Division I-foe Kent State http://bit.ly/24tRA2

No. 6 Volleyball sweeps Mount Union in OAC Tournament Semifinals http://bit.ly/2oq0jx

No. 6 Volleyball wins fourth straight OAC Tournament Title with 3-2 win over No. 19 Heidelberg http://bit.ly/H7POA

As I look to utilize a networking opportunity in Orlando, which is quickly approaching in December, I am looking for a cheap airfare. I was told by a friend to check out Spirit Airlines. I have logged on to their website a few times, and liked what I saw. I figured with this assignment, I should see if they had a Twitter account. Sure enough they do. No later than the end of Thanksgiving break, I plan to make my plans final, and very likely that I will be making a seat reservation on Spirit Airlines. I find their tweets to be exactly what I would be looking for, as I am about to purchase a flight myself: all about saving money. Here are the tweets I read in the last week from Spirit Airlines.

Coupon clipping is cool! Why not use one when booking your flight? Spirit is offering $35 & $24 coupons*! Click here:http://bit.ly/2Wq0Yn

Take advantage of your Spirit's $24 Coupon*! Book today and save on your next flight. Hurry, this offer ends tonight.http://bit.ly/1iYCHl

Use our $35 and $24 coupons now to save big on your next flight. Find the coupon that works best for you and book now -http://bit.ly/3cs1uN

"Falling Fares" at Spirit! Watch our fares fall as we roll through autumn! Our fares are falling as low as $9* E/W

- http://bit.ly/p6FBn

Overall, I found the two organizations that I followed this past week to be very interesting to me personally, and fairly effective for their purpose. @ONUSports kept followers up-to-date as new news about our sports teams became available. @SpiritAirlines was effective in offering coupons to people searching for flights, while not bombarding with annoying tweets. Many companies can do too many in short periods of time. Spirit kept their tweets to at least twenty-four hours apart, so never read more than one a day.

Live Sports Broadcasting

Partly due to the fact that I'm a bit under the weather, I've kept myself inside today. But one of the bright spots of my day was watching my friends on the women's volleyball team capture yet another OAC Tournament Championship! Congratulations to them! I was able to watch them via a live broadcast from Heidleburg's Web site.

It brought me to this thought: why doesn't ONU broadcast (with television) more away contests? I'm aware that we have a number of dedicated sports announcers who do their homework, and broadcast many away contests on WONB. I feel as though more people would be willing to tune in and watch a webcast than just an audio broadcast over the radio.

Last year, during the opening round of the NCAA Soccer Championship, I got to watch ONU defeat Wheaton College in an exciting match. In doing so, I fulfilled a promise, that if they won, that I would take a carload of friends to Chicago the next night to watch the next game! It was a great experience, because as a fan with little to no knowledge of soccer, being able to watch the game instead of listen, makes it more enjoyable.

Does anyone know why we do not broadcast live games on the internet? Just a thought.

Looking at the New Rules

Having become familiar with many of the New Rules of Marketing and PR, our class is truly aware that our goals  as marketing and public relations practitioners, our goal is to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with our target customer or individual.

We have been exposed to the many tools used by todays professionals to build and maintain relationships; from podcasts to videos and blogs to twitter, I think it is our responsibility to continue to participate in the online environment, after our class is through.

While no one from our social media course would consider ourselves experts (yet), we are certainly among the cutting edge, within our University, and hopefully other job candidates.

Students In Free Enterprise Video

This video was created to help encourage students to become active in student organizations, and specifically Students In Free Enterprise.

Heard on the Tundra - Keep your eyes open!

I just wanted to share a brief piece of advice with my readers. Keep you eyes open on new and exciting ways to demonstrate abilities. This applies to anyone interested in gaining meaningful employment after graduation. As a peer career assistant in the Office of Career Services, I have a variety of responsibilities, but the latest task is really exciting.

I now get to be the Voice of the Office of Career Services, occasionally recording spots that will be played on WONB, our university-run station. Not only do I get to learn how to use different technology to record and edit myself, but I also get my name over the airwaves!

Be open to exploring new opportunities, whether they relate to your field of study or not. I will say that using the podcast as a baby step, made me feel more comfortable recording in the studio.

I'm also working on putting together a digital portfolio of sorts, and I'll look forward to the addition of an mp3 copy of my work from WONB. So my point: take advantage of unique opportunities presented to you!

In-race Social Media Interaction

Every year I look forward to watching the four restrictor plate races at Talladega and Daytona. The unpredictability, tense and tight 30 car packs, create a must watch event. After the wild finish at Talladega in the spring, when Carl Edwards attempted to block Brad Keselowski, and left Edward airborne and in the fence, NASCAR has implemented a number of changes.

A. First and foremost, the speedway raised and improved the catchfence, for fans safety. There were a few minor injuries after the spring race when debris from Edwards car hit the fence. 
B. NASCAR made a change to the size of the restrictor plate carburetor, reducing the power to keep the top speed below 200 miles per hour.
C. This final change is one that is somewhat controversial. Due to the design of the cars, when two line up bumper to bumper, the aerodynamics create such an effect that the two cars can pull away from the pack of cars. [It was truly exciting to see the strategy work when the two cars become one and charge through the field.] So after final practice on Friday, NASCAR made a change stating that cars need "daylight" between them and can no longer push bumper to bumper through the corners. 


Needless to say the style of racing has changed today, as I'm watching the race. Many have been upset from drivers to fans with the mid-weekend change. While I'm a little sad to see the change made, I do realize that it was made to keep the competitors safe; I figured I'd check to see if there was any activity on the NASCAR Facebook page. The following quotes are from some opinionated fans posting on the NASCAR Facebook wall during the middle of the race.


"Nascar isn’t saying anything now to em, hmmm, maybe [NASCAR President] Mike [Helton] got his head out of his ass!"
"Looks like a IRL race""Finally a little bit of excitement, ok Nascar time for you to step in with your warnings, its getting to crazy.""Come NASCAR, REALLY? This race sucks! I'm so pissed that's about as nice as I can be right now!""Did nascar ok this 3 wide?""there more excitment on this board then on the tv""It's bad when right now I am watching the Cleveland Browns more than the race"

While the middle of the race was a little boring, the end is sure to be gratifying. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get back to he race. Enjoy