My boyfriend, Brandon, and I made a gingerbread house for Christmas. Thanks, Bran!

Speeeeeeeeeeeed of the Internet

This morning my mother saw a commercial for an Elvis DVD. She heard two seconds of the song "I'll Remember You" and decided she wanted to hear more. She went to her record/8track/tape/CD collection to find the album. Well, after about 15 minutes of searching, she was getting very fed up. I then realized I could find the song in a few clicks on the Internet. I picked up my laptop, which was sitting on the end of the couch, typed "elvis presley i'll remember you" and clicked on a YouTube video. Well, I was listening to the song within a minute of opening my laptop. I thought how funny it is that my generation always thinks to use the Internet to find answers to our questions. Many people in my mom's generation do not.

Another example of the speed of the Internet vs. other ways of finding information comes from watching Irving Berlin's White Christmas. You know, the version with Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, etc. Well, I was laying on the couch (with my laptop on the end) watching this wonderful Christmas classic when my mom wanted to know if Rosemary Clooney was George Clooney's mother. Because my boyfriend Brandon was at home in Tulsa, my cell phone was permanently glued to my hand. Thank goodness for Google - I quickly looked up Rosemary Clooney on my Blackberry Curve. Those of you who are wondering, Rosemary Clooney is George's aunt.

The Internet is fun for me when I'm home with my family. I feel like a genius or something because I "know all" with just a few clicks.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Crossing Cultures

I was in a wedding on Dec. 20, so I went to get a manicure a few days before. I was in a huge hurry and visited the nail salon inside Wal-Mart. It is operated by Vietnamese people. After explaining what I wanted, the pampering began!

While I was there, a Hispanic woman came in and asked a question (in broken English) about one of the services offered. The Vietnamese woman answered her, in broken English. It was interesting to me, a white girl from small town America, to see these two cultures communicating. I know it happens every day, but it made me smile to see it. I am proud to live in the United States, the melting pot of the world!

Stand by your brand (not man, Tammy Wynette!)

I recently helped my mom order some holiday cards from Wal-Mart's photo center. We did everything online, and chose to have them shipped to our house. Well, they were supposed to arrive last Thursday, but never did. My anxious mother wanted to get the cards sent to family/friends, so on Tuesday I e-mailed Wal-Mart's customer service to check on the items.

(Normally I wouldn't have done this because it's the holidays and mail can simply take longer than normal. However, the tracking number given in the e-mail confirmation of the order did not work. When I contacted UPS about it, they had no record of that tracking number. I thought perhaps the order didn't go through.)

The cards arrived in the mail Tuesday. They were perfect, just late. However, Wal-Mart is providing a refund to us for the greeting cards because they took so long to arrive. Talk about satisfaction guaranteed!

Way to go, Wal-Mart, for standing by your brand. Your slogan Save Money, Live Better seems to be true. I've never been so impressed and satisified with an online purchase as I am today. Thank you.

Stand by your brand. Make sure everything you're doing (and all the people who work for you are doing) the right things. Customer service is so important, and can make or break future purchases from your customers.

What audience are you targeting?

Sometimes I just don't understand commercials. Like this one, for Levis jeans. Someone once told me if I don't understand a commercial, then it's not meant for me. I am not the target audience. Wonder who they are targeting? I am female, 21, single (I mean not married, Brandon), in college ... I go to parties ... If they aren't targeting this audience, who are they targeting?

Now this commercial I understand. It appeals to my emotions. I also think it fits the brand. And I just love the line at the end, "When it's people who do the right thing, they call it being responsible. When it's an insurance company, they call it Liberty Mutual."

Where are all the gentlemen?

I am currently reading Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I know the Civil War was a long time ago, but men in those days treated women with respect and dignity. Sure, women played mind games and were taught how to catch a good gentleman from the cradle, but these men took care of their women.

I want to be cared for, and I don't mean by someone saying "I care about you." I want the actions to reciprocate those words. Sure, I can do a lot of things by myself, but I have that old school way of thinking the man should take care of the woman. Open the door for me. Take me on a date sometime. Pay for something without complaining. Adore me! Am I not adorable? :)

At the same time I am reading Gone with the Wind, I find it strange I should come across a blog called The Art of Manliness. I haven't had time to read too many posts to see how thoroughly I agree, but I do agree with this one, about hanging out vs. dating.

Please don't take offense, men. I only wish there were more gentlemen left.

Brandon.

Yesterday was my boyfriend's birthday. My boyfriend, Brandon. He has always wondered why I refer to him only as "my boyfriend" in posts, and not as "Brandon." I honestly don't know why I did that, but I do know I'm lucky to have him by my side. He's a marketing major here at OSU, and he points out some pretty interesting stuff. I love watching TV or riding in the car with him because of the commercials and billboards. He points out some of the most interesting things.

For example, Brandon was watching an infomercial one late Friday night (early Saturday morning). They were selling knives that never dull. However, with the purchase of a set of knives, you received a knife sharpener for free! So he calls the number listed at the bottom of the screen to ask just why they offer a knife sharpener for knives that never dull. Needless to say, they hung up on him. They weren't doing a very good job of branding.

But noticing the little things like knife sharpeners can lead to great success later. As the holiday season is upon us, don't get lazy in your work - homework included! Keep your eyes sharp and your ears open. You never know what might pop up!

Bran: I tried to post yesterday, but every time I tried to visit the home page to log in, my browser closed! So, sorry your birthday post is a day late, Brandon. It is still written with love!

Alternative Media

I just received the latest issue of Forum, the official publication of an honor society to which I belong, Phi Kappa Phi. The cover story is about "transcending traditional communications through technology." It is titled "Does social media really connect you to humanity? Or does anyone really have thousands of friends?" Besides the fact I think this title is extremely too long, the article is very interesting. I would include a link here, but the magazine is by subscription only. I couldn't find the article online.

The main point I got out of the article is that we need a way to differentiate from our true friends and our "friends of friends" - the people we've never met, but are connected with through the virtual world. The author believes Twitter is the best tool to stay connected, and he thinks it's the easiest to use. (Again, this is just what I got out of the article.)

I don't know if I agree that a way to differentiate is necessary, but whatever new things come out next, I'm sure it will be interesting. I still like Facebook over Twitter because my college friends post pictures and update their current cities and work info. It's an easy way to keep up without actually talking. If that's good or bad, I'm not sure. I don't stay in contact with them directly.

Twitter doesn't seem very popular among my friends. It seems to reach a more professional audience. What do you think?

The author of the article from the Forum article, Dave Taylor, can be found on Twitter here.

Social networking for a different generation

At the OSU Creativity Retreat I participated in Wednesday and Thursday, I got into a wonderful conversation about social networking. I was the only student - every other person was either a professor, department head, dean of a college, etc. Most of them are not into Facebook, Twitter, blogging or any of the like. One lady, not knowing my keen interest in social networking and how it affects different generations, mentioned she recently joined Facebook, but is sad because nobody is adding her as a friend. Another lady said she just added Facebook, but is afraid to add friends because she doesn't want her identity stolen. They had never heard of Twitter and didn't read or publish a blog. One woman did have a Linked In account. I don't ... should I?

I was very excited to explain to these people about the direction communication and marketing has taken. I explained the importance of protecting your information and being careful who you add as your friend. I explained where the privacy settings are located and how to control them. I also explained the wonders of Twitter and told them the name of my blog. They thought it was quite creative, haha.

These academically-minded people were thrilled to hear about social networking and social media as a new innovation. I shared with them how Monsanto, IBM, Boone Pickens and numerous other individuals and companies are using these new tools to help expand their business and contact a new target audience - virtually for free! Yes, these companies must hire someone to use the tools, but the tools are free.

I'm glad more people are beginning to embrace all this new, fun stuff. Maybe they can include some parts in the classes they teach. Wouldn't it be interesting to require a hotel and restaurant administration major to have a blog about what they're learning in class? Or for a child and family services major to write about problems they'd like to change once they have a job? Anything would be interesting to me!

I've shared Twitter with a lot of people recently, but none of them have created an account. I must revamp my elevator pitch of this cool toy! Perhaps I should become more Twitter-savvy myself.

Now, if only I could get my dad to learn how to turn on a computer and check his e-mail ...

Creativity Retreat

I am serving on the Oklahoma State University Creativity Initiative steering committee. This committee is committed to making OSU an international leader in creativity and innovation. I became a part of this process in late September or early October, and last night it really began as we had a cocktail party, dinner and speaker at the beginning our our creativity retreat. Our speaker was Lloyd Armstrong for USC. He talked about what makes a multi-faceted university, and today the steering committee will begin the task of making OSU a leader. An all-day retreat here in Stillwater will hopefully lead us to some answers and a plan of action. It's been set up like this: It's the year 2010, and OSU is an international leader in creativity and innovation. What did we do to get to that point? I am the undergraduate representative on this committee, so I hope I can represent the student body and make sure our steps will help from a student perspective. After the meeting last night, I had a lot of thoughts/ideas, so today will be exciting!

Planning can be tough!

Oklahoma State's Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow is hosting the 2009 National ACT Professional Development Conference in February. Initially, I didn't have a large role in the planning process, but now I am in up to my knees! I spent all day today on the phones, calling speakers and reserving rooms. Things are beginning to fall in to place, but I didn't realize how much work goes into it. This conference isn't even that large - we're planning for a max of 120 people. This is a wonderful experience for me. I am so glad I have the chance to help with it. A lot of careers in communications could involve conferences like this, so getting all the experience I can is necessary. If you are an ACT member, or would just like to learn more information about the conference, check out ACT's national Web site.

If you have any tips on conference planning, I'd love to hear them!

Monsanto makes for a gracious host

This past weekend, I met with the other National Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow officers in St. Louis, Mo., for our fall board meeting. We come from across the nation - California, Missouri, Florida and Oklahoma. Monsanto allowed us to visit their world headquarters and provided a conference room for our business meeting.

It was the perfect atmosphere for us to cover what we needed - from the Critique and Contest to the new Web site, and we even discussed podcasts and fundraising. I'd like to offer a giant "THANK YOU" to Monsanto for their hospitality. We received breakfast, a mid-morning snack and lunch. Yum!

Lunch is what I'd like to discuss as related to social media. Monsanto created a new social media team within their public affairs department, and we talked a lot about this during lunch. This is a fairly new team - I believe one gentleman started working strictly on social media in July, and now it's a team of three. They have a Twitter page and are out in the blogosphere. Obviously, this is the direction media is going. All of this Web 2.0 stuff is being noticed by top companies. Don't you think companies like Monsanto, IBM or the National Pork Board would simply ignore this if it didn't matter?

I learned a lot about Monsanto during our visit, and it's definitely a company for which you should want to work. I could tell the employees loved what they did and believed in what they were working to accomplish. Their passion was contagious! All of the officers agreed visiting with them made us excited to graduate and pursue our careers.

Thank you to Megan, Katie, Kathleen and Ben! I enjoyed every second!

Veteran's Day

Thank you to all the men and women who have served our great country in the armed forces. I appreciate your sacrifices to keep me safe and free. Thanks to your families for enduring loss and lonliness while you followed orders. Your dedication to freedom has not been in vain.

Please, if you see a veteran or someone who is still serving our country today, say thank you. And keep saying thank you every day. What they do for us is special.

Want some Veteran's Day history? Visit this military Web site for all things Veteran's Day.

Proposition 2.

Prop 2 in California passed in the elections Nov. 4. This is a huge victory for HSUS's Wayne Pacelle. Who knows what HSUS will try to "fix" next on their quest to "save" animals from cruel treatment.

Please, if you are a part of animal agriculture at any level, stand up and help explain why we do what we do. Pork, Beef, Poultry ... no matter which sector, band together and stay strong. We have to fight this, not only for our own livlihoods but for the safety of the food supply in the U.S.

Perfection

Waking up this morning was kind of glorious, considering it is a Monday and I was headed to work. Since Daylight Savings Time ended early Sunday morning, the sun pops up an hour earlier now. This makes my day a little better. Who wants to get out of bed when it's still dark? Walking to work this morning in the sunshine was wonderful. Add in the strange (but amazing) warm weather we're having and it's a perfect day!

(It is quite windy, but we do live in Oklahoma ...)

November?

Whew! I can't believe it's already November! Things are certainly looking like fall here in Stillwater. I don't think I noticed all the pretty colors in past years. I truly enjoy seeing the beautiful leaves tumbling to the ground and hearing the crisp crunch underfoot as I walk to work. This is probably due to my parents taking me to see the leaves in Arkansas when I was only 6 months old. They didn't want me to miss out on any experience.

Watching the leaves change reminds me of the changing world. I try to do all of this social networking stuff, but I am not even very good at maintaining relationships with my friends who are here in the flesh and blood. Sure, we use some of the tools to stay connected like Facebook, but I fail to nurture and build that relationship in person.

Don't do that! Take time to have fun with your friends and family. Enjoy the moments spent with them. Sometimes the best memories come from the simplest times.

Thanks to my boyfriend for enjoying the simple times we spend in my hometown, or while riding in a car or doing the dishes.

Fighting back.

I just returned to work from an almost two-week kind-of vacation. I left Wednesday, Oct. 8 and am back today, Oct. 21. This was how I spent my time:

Oct. 9 I attended a wedding rehearsal and celebrated my mom's birthday.
Oct. 10 I attended a wedding (after getting an up-do I hated!)
Oct. 11 I watched football (Go Pokes!) and rode four wheelers with my boyfriend.
Oct. 12 I had a conference call with the National ACT officers.
Oct. 13 I had my wisdom teeth removed (Ouch!) I also helped my friend Paul edit a letter to the editor of his college newspaper. He's trying to fight hard for the livestock industry up in Michigan!
Oct. 14 I slept.
Oct. 15 I checked cattle with my dad and wrote some papers for an independent study class.
Oct. 16 I went grocery shopping with my mom.
Oct. 17 I went back to the doctor for a checkup and was told I had a dry socket. No wonder it hurt so bad! I also walked through OSU's Greek community looking at house decorations for Homecoming.
Oct. 18 I tailgated, went to a fooball game, and celebrated a win!
Oct. 19 I slept. My dry socket was back.
Oct. 20 I went back to the doctor.
Oct. 21 FINALLY back at work! :)

Now, through all of that, the only thing I experienced that I'd like to relate to social media is the Michigan State University letter to the editor. Posting newspaper articles and letters to the editor on the newspaper's Web site adds a whole new dimension to discussion of the article. The comments regarding vegan food cover both sides of the issue, but I really wish more people understood the livestock industry. If you're interested in reading the initial article and the letter to the editor, please click the links. Even post a comment! He's trying so hard. Help him!

One sad thing to me about replying to a newspaper article with a letter to the editor is the boundaries chained to the letter. Paul and I had to keep the letter under 250 words. How do you fight a 700+ word article with 250 words? Also, how do you fight a writer who hides a large issue like hating on the livestock industry under getting more vegan food in a cafeteria?

Please be a good representative of the agricultural industry. Keep true to your roots and help fight the growing numbers who simply don't understand.
Start explaining.

Blogging for financial support

I went home this weekend for my cousin's wedding, and as I walked into my bedroom, one of the many things sitting on my bed was OSU's latest edition of STATE magazine. I was pretty excited to sit down and look through it. The layouts are interesting and the stories are usually pretty good.

Well, toward the back of the magazine, there's an advertisement for the OSU Foundation. It is advertising a student-written blog. According to the ad copy, this sophomore OSU student will post once a week, talking about how the scholarship money is helping him, how it's being put to good use, etc.

This is a neat idea for OSU to gain more financial support. The OSU Foundation is exploring and using all available tools. Every single avenue should be used to reach your target audience. Hats off to the OSU Foundation for doing exactly that!!

YouTube has everything!

I subscribe to some really interesting blogs about marketing, thanks to my summer internship, and what I just noticed is how often YouTube is used.

My favorite blog to read is Drew McLellan's The Marketing Minute. Posts that stick out in my mind address branding. He give examples of great advertising (or maybe poor advertising) by using YouTube videos. This is so great for me and others my age reading his blog since some of the commercials or brands were before my time, or happened when I was in diapers.

I don't spend a lot of time on YouTube, but I know anything I see on TV can be found there. My mom saw a Budweiser commercial with Hank the horse. I think it first aired during Super Bowl XLII. She liked it and wanted to share it with me. All she knew about it was Hank the horse. She went to YouTube, typed in Hank the horse, and the first thing that popped up was her commercial!

(My mom was pretty excited she could do this all on her own. It is a big deal for her. To put it in perspective, she just switched over to a digital camera in May because I bought her one for Mother's Day and forced her to use it.)

YouTube is more than just a place for fraternity guys to post funny/dumb videos of themselves, like Chad Bro Chill. It is also a resource for people like Drew McLellan who are education people like me about marketing and branding.

Using the right tools

As I was sitting in my office editing the latest edition of Spears School magazine before it went to print, a few young men came in and began talking about a video project to promote a food drive. (I share my office with three other people so this is quite common.)

I was excited to find out these gentlemen advertised the food drive using YouTube last year, with great success. They are doing it again this year, and want a high-quality video. I am just proud of people who are using the right tools to reach their audience.

If this same food drive would've been in my hometown, it would've been a flop. The majority of people do not know what YouTube or Facebook is. These gentlemen are posting the video on YouTube, embedding it in their blogs, putting links on their Facebook profiles, etc. This are the right tools to reach their audience. While college campusus may not be the perfect breeding grounds for helping feed the hungry, OSU students love helping a great cause.

And, thanks to several social media tools, I have no doubt OSU students will roll out and help with this food drive.

P.S. Have I ever mentioned I'm proud to be a Cowboy? Because I am. Through and through.

Spring Break

How do social networking and spring break relate? Well, in my case, thank goodness for Facebook!

My family (Mom, Dad, Sis plus me) is going on a cruise over spring break because my sister is graduating high school. We tried to get my boyfriend on the boat too, but the price to add another person to a room jumped up a TON! Unfortunately, it looked like my boyfriend would stay on land for spring break.

Thanks to a great travel agent in Enid, we got my boyfriend on the ship! Another family going from our neck of the woods had an extra space in a room, so Brandon will be "traveling with their party." The guy he will be "rooming" with is an OSU student.

Thanks to this gentleman's public Facebook profile, I was able to look him up. He is a normal enough looking guy, so spring break looks sunny once again!

Facebook put my mind to ease about my boyfriend rooming with our soon-to-be new friend. I am very grateful to his family for allowing this. I just need to pass on this generosity and keep the circle going. "Don't let the chain of love end with you."

If you are going on a cruise over spring break, maybe it's the same as mine! Hope to see you on the big boat!

Home Sweet Home

I went home this weekend and left urban America in the dust. I embrace rural America living and the quiet excitement that comes with it. I left to head home Friday, making it just in time to see the high school pep rally at the end of the school day. The game was the Eagles vs. the Cardinals "Battle of the Birds" in Oklahoma 8-man football.

I talked my boyfriend and his friend Nick into coming to the game and staying for the weekend, and I'm sure Nick thought he was being taken out into the middle of nowhere to die. Poor guy. He's from DFW.

Well, we lost the game (32-0 I think) and didn't even stay until the end. My boyfriend, Nick and I headed to a nearby town to grab a beer at the local bar. That stop didn't last long because the bar was DEAD!! On to my hometown, with fingers crossed, to see if the pool hall was open. We were in luck, and grabbed a beer and played pool. The juke box wasn't working properly, so Dixieland Delight and Tennessee River were some slow, boring non-famous Alabama song - definitely not bar material! Thank goodness we talked my dad into joining us at the pool hall. He entertained us with stories from his college days. It was cute how he was showing off in front of the boys!

Nick probably thought Saturday would get better. It didn't. After a lazy morning and my sister taking an hour and a half to get ready, my boyfriend, Nick, my sister and I headed to lunch. There was one restaurant open on this particular Saturday (sometimes there's two), so our lunch choice was made for us. Nick didn't enjoy it too much.

On to four wheelers! This was fun, except I was wearing a skirt. We spent a small part of the afternoon at my dad's shed/barn, riding the fourwheeler and playing with Bruiser, our bottle calf (now weaned) and the kitty who doesn't have a name yet.

At this point, I felt sorry for Nick and wanted him to have fun, but I was out of ideas. What else can you do? Too bad it wasn't homecoming! Then there would be a parade. I was tired of entertaining, so I sent Nick and my boyfriend home ...

But first we made a road trip to Kansas! The destination for our 15 minute trip (Yes, I grew up 15 minutes from Kansas) is a restaurant across the border. They have great chicken fried steaks. At least I fed the boys while they visited Deliverance, right??

I enjoy walking on the streets in my hometown, not a moving car in sight. It is peaceful. The stars seem brighter and the air seems cleaner. Rural America is a great place to live. I just hope Nick enjoyed the laid back living where we make our own fun. It isn't for everyone, but it is for me.

Don't let a bad pork producer ruin it for everyone.

I don't know if you've heard about PETA's latest stunt, but they recently released video of abuse on a swine operation in Iowa.

First of all, just because there are a few bad apples in the bunch doesn't mean all of America's pork producers are doing the same thing. I know producers to be rational, responsible caretakers of their animals. Why would a producer want to hurt an animal they need to make a living? Pigs are these people's livelihood. Also, the farm where the abuse occured is a family-owned operation, and has been for 30 years.

PETA began their investigation on this hog operation in June. They JUST released the video about abuse this month. If PETA is trying to protect animals from abuse, why did they wait three-plus months before coming the the "rescue" of the animals? It's because they really don't care about the animals. They are just trying to stir things up and make some more money from memberships.

Please read both sides of the story. Not all pork producers abuse their animals. For example, just because some people do drugs, it doesn't mean everyone does. Just because some people chew tobacco it doesn't mean everyone does. And just because some people are vegan, it doesn't mean everyone wants to become vegan.

I'm all about freedom of speech and having the right to do what you want. However, when groups like PETA spread lies and aren't truly helping any animals, it's not worth it. Don't believe everything you hear.

America's pork producers are going to great lengths to make sure animals are being treated fairly. They have programs for operations like Pork Quality Assurance Plus and Transport Quality Assurance. They also have a new responsible pork initiatve to gain public trust.

If you have more questions, visit the National Pork Board Web site at www.pork.org or ask me and I will try to get you to the right place to find answers. Check out the Pork Checkoff's YouTube videos. Listen to podcasts. Read blogs.

Don't let a few Negative Nancy's ruin your hunger for ham, pork chops, bacon or hot dogs. Read the other side of the story. Please.

How To: Network Socially

Here's a great article I found from ReadWriteWeb titled Five Ways to Use Social Media to Reach People Who Don't Use Social Media. It's a good read if you have time.

I found it through Twitter.

Mike Sansone is the person who introduced me to social networking and I only wish I was a better student for him. It's my understanding that he implements social networking into education. Check out his blog, find him on Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, Myspace, etc. He's everywhere.

Just an FYI: I watched the Cowboys/Eagles game last night and was glued to the TV. I hope you all saw it! Are you a Dallas Cowboys fan on Facebook? If you are, you can play the trivia. It's really fun, even if you don't know the answers. At least now I can insert comments into my boyfriend's long lectures on how great the Cowboys are.

Just google it.

Q: What's the capital of Oregon?
How many inches are in a mile?
Is Duke part of the ACC?
Is Buffalo Wild Wings open until 2 in the morning?

A: Just google it!

I love the English language. I love how Google, a popular search engine, can be changed from a noun to a verb. I love "googling" obscure facts and whipping out my new Blackberry to quickly put out the fires of a fierce living room debate over the population of Tulsa vs. Oklahoma City.

These are all great things to google, but have you ever googled yourself? You might want to make sure your presence on the web is clean, powerful and positive. Of course, if your name is John Smith, that might be a little hard to control. My name is a little more unique than that, so I can find articles I've written, awards I've won, my contact information and even a couple photos of myself.

I googled myself today, and it was neat to go back and read old articles I've written and compare myself to the other Emily Kilian's of the world. One Emily Kilian is in a symphony. Another graduated from kindergarten last year.

Employers often google you or try to find you on a social network like Facebook or MySpace. Sometimes Facebook/MySpace profiles even come up in a Google search. My little sister created a profile on WAYN (Where Are You Now) in 2005. It still pops up when you google her name, and she hasn't even logged into her WAYN account for three years.

Again, I can't stress the importance of creating a positive image of yourself, even on the web. Having clean fingernails and good shoes may not be enough if Google finds something unsatisfying about you. It's a whole new world, Preppie. Get used to it.

Oklahoma Weather

You wouldn't believe the weather here in Oklahoma right now! It's been raining so much! Last night when we left Eskimo Joe's, we had to wade through ankle-deep water to jump in a car. The water was rushing through the streets here in Stillwater. They are only predicting more rain to come.

Because of this, kickoff for the OSU game vs. Missouri State on Saturday, Sept. 13 has been moved from 6:05 to 12:05. They are concerned Hurricane Ike will drop almost nine inches of water in this area. I hope we can get through the game without getting wet!

Seeing how OSU is getting word out on the change in kickoff has been interesting. They sent e-mails to all students, faculty and staff. It was announced on ESPN's Sportscenter. But, the announcement also spread like wildfire through Facebook. This is where social networking comes into play. I received a few group invitations about the time change, as well as a couple mass messages. Three years ago, when I was a freshman, I doubt Facebook would've been used to spread news like that. Times are changing, and we better stay up-to-date!

I heard someone say e-mail is quickly becoming an uncool thing of the past. Spreading news through Facebook and other networking sites is the future (and the present!). I encourage you to set up an account on Facebook and find friends in your network. It may even keep you from getting poured on when you try to attend a football game at the wrong time!

A New Beginning

As a communications student at Oklahoma State University, I have been told over and over about social networking and the importance of Web 2.0. Sadly, I have not learned any of this knowledge from a class or a professor. My knowledge has come from real-world experience. At an internship this summer, I learned all about Twitter, RSS Readers, Linked In, podcasting and blogging. This was all great information, but I didn't do anything with it.

Now I have another internship, and I attended a seminar yesterday about social networking. Some of the information I learned was a review from the summer, but I also learned about Second Life. It is interesting to me that businesses talk about the importance of social networking, but it is not mentioned in my classes. I will enter the workforce as a "real adult" in May. Thank goodness my internship experiences have taught me how people are recruiting for the real world!

Remember to keep your social networking tools professional and clean. They represent you and are nearly permanent. Whatever is on your site could be public knowledge. Check privacy settings to maintain who can and cannot view your information.

This semester, I hope to develop my social networking skills and help my friends and family wade through the deep waters of Web 2.0. I'll keep everyone up-to-date on my life, my internships and my new knowledge. After all, aren't we all in college to gain knowledge?