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.