Voting

Have you registered to vote in the midterm elections? Besides upholding your civic duty, there are also practical reasons for involving yourself in the voting process. Some people think that their votes don’t matter, but consider how many people don’t research the candidates before going into a voting booth.

If you know what the ballot will be, look at the options and do some research. Midterm elections typically have much lower voter turnouts than say, the presidential election.  Many people may leave something like the district attorney blank because they don’t recognize the name. Local elections shape communities, not just big government. Make sure you have a voice.

If you are not registered to vote next week, it may be too late. Still, it’s worth trying to make an impact in your representation. There are online options in Ohio for ballots but many send information through the mail. If you are interested, simply search “Ohio online ballot” and the first government site will point you in the right direction. I hope that my blog reminds some of you to make the effort and register.

Lessons from Live Tweeting

I didn’t have Twitter before taking this class. I couldn’t hold out forever though. There were assignments like the live tweet project that have a substantial weight to them. That said, I used the app more than I ever have on Saturday and here are my impressions.

Live tweeting is less of a feature and more of a user strategy. One thing I didn’t see was a recommended hashtag bar. I think it would be helpful for people who want to connect a string of tweets. I don’t know the site well enough to talk about all the features, but I like what I saw. My feed is defiantly boring right now since I don’t have a huge base of followers.

Automated posting seems cool. Being able to have tweets pre-planned and scheduled for release would help a lot when it comes to information, but it also defeats the purpose of live tweeting. It was also difficult to make time to tweet. I was attempting to cover the parade, but I was also in it. I usually don’t share a bunch of stuff on social media, so it was weird being so connected to my phone for once.

The Grid

Today was equal parts terrifying and exciting. I work in the Freed Center to fill a credit for my theatre class. Jenna and I spent an hour or so fiddling with weights about 30 feet in the air. We were in “the grid” which is a catwalk that gives access to a space above raised curtains and to the fly system.

I wouldn’t say that I’m scared of heights, but I have a respect for the danger that they can represent. This was my first experience with this system. A number of people working below were constantly moving around on stage. Butterfingers could give someone more than just a headache if we were to drop an almost 40 pound brick of metal from our perch.

It was barrels of fun though. Jenna was nervous at how fast I took off weights and the angle some retrievals had to happen had us both holding our breath. We jammed out to classic rock and no one dropped anything. There is a rule that all pockets must be empty before climbing up to the grid to prevent any materials from making a spill. I completely forgot about a pen in my pocket so I’m glad it stayed at my level. What adventures have you gone on around campus?

Shout out to Jenna for giving me the idea for my blog today!

Things to do in Ada

Ohio Northern University sits in the small town of Ada. If students find time between studying and the range of campus activities, then there are plenty of fun things to do in town. It may seem small, but Ada has a lot to offer. Below is a brief overview of things to do as well as a link to a video on the same topic.

1.      Restaurants: From great pizza and huge portions of Italian cuisine to the flavors South of the border and beyond, there are many options for food in town. There is also fast food stops like McDonald’s and Taco Bell for those people that want to grab and go.

2.      Bars: If you’re over 21, consider checking out both the traditional spots in town and the up and coming locations. There aren’t as many places as a city, but what is around is really good. Please drink responsibly.

3.      Entertainment: Who wouldn’t want to see a new movie for only four bucks? You’ll actually have money for popcorn and a drink instead of sneaking candy in to avoid ridiculous pricing. There’s also bowling right down the road for the residents like more of a challenge.

For more information on specific names and locations, click the link here to watch a short video.

Pinterest

Pinterest is something that I don’t use, but have seen a lot of potential in. My sister follows a bunch of DIY crafters and it’s a great place to get ideas for projects. There is also the option of selling the stuff you make. The demographic is mainly women, so it’s no surprise that I don’t have a presence on this platform. This will be my attempt to understand how the site works.

Jason McDonald puts a lot of emphasis on the “idea board,” which is like a feed on other sites with a few differences. For one thing, pins are a way to save the posts (featured products) and the collection of items make up an idea board. There can be a number of these, which allows for subdivision into specific topics: bathroom items, decorations etc. This also helps creators on the site network because other people can see what makes up these lists of items, react through comments and pins, or potentially even buy them.

The focus of Pinterest is creativity. Having a variety of people and products to look at can either make you say “I could do that” or even incentivize a purchase. Pinning acts like a window into a “built not bought” mindset. Coming onto the site already subscribed to that way of thinking frames the interactions that take place. What do you use Pinterest for?

Email Spam

Most websites on the internet today ask for an email address regardless of whether or not you have an account on that platform. Many also block access to incentivize the purchase of higher-level features. I personally refuse to pay into sites unless obligated by the university for one of my classes. I find that email would be so much more valuable in my communication if it wasn’t full of ads from these sites.

 I have two accounts: a personal and a school. My personal is for receipt managing and password recovery. I use my school email as professionally as I can. Customizing address bars and filling out a Google profile can help. This won’t stop companies from sending dumb ads though. It seems almost impossible to avoid using my accounts for sites that will inevitably send spam or junk links.

There are a couple of ways to combat this. Make sure you are unsubscribed from mailing lists and keep your eyes open for little checkboxes when you sing up for stuff. Report spam and delete as many useless threads as you can. The better you can clean up your inbox, the more likely you are to see important messages. Most companies have employees register for a business account. I think that having this option available can increase the effectiveness of an email by letting users separate their personal lives form the private, but I almost guarantee that even those accounts will get plenty of spam if you’re not careful.

Abandon Hospital Trip

I am not usually one to spook easily. Going to an abandoned hospital is defiantly the closest to the creeps that I’ve been for a while. My friend Elliot had gone the night before with a few other people, but they didn’t make it far. The long leave covered path is eerie enough during the day. We circle the building looking for an entrance. The main stairway still works.

Inside, the air is damp and cold. Walls of ancient plaster swell like sponges with the moisture and each turn brings a thousand more feelings to the pit of my stomach. Graffiti covers everything. As we decide to head out, our casual conversation falls silent at the sounds of other footsteps. We wait for them to leave before moving quickly and quietly back down the way we came.

We are almost to the car when an officer pulls around the corner. The Cop was cool and let of off with a warning: people go to prison for entering that property. The city is a bit touchy about the site these days. Last year, an 18-year-old guy fell from the second story to the basement when the floor collapsed below him. Use this picture as a substitute for your curiosity.

McDonald on Twitter

I don’t use twitter. I have nothing against the site, but there are finite platforms a person can be active on before you start to neglect what you already use. That number is about 4. Twitter is undoubtedly popular though. As Jason McDonald points out, it can either be a great way to market or a complete waste of time. The most important metric is how effective a tweet is.

If no one is listening, there’s no point investing a lot of time or energy into the platform. Twitter is full of  “noise” in the same way that Facebook is full of distant relatives complaining about politics. The way McDonald frames it, Twitter is more of a blog format. I took a pause here because I couldn’t help but laugh at the mental image of Donald Trump writing a blog.

There are ways to give feedback like most other platforms today. The names might change, but a user can still comment (tweet) and share (re-tweet) other peoples content. The character count of a tweet helps to streamline the format while also limiting the amount of information each post can give. This means that tweets can come off as noise because of their volume.

What does this mean for businesses? Ads are short and responses are shorter. It would be really easy for people to miss things if they aren’t paying attention. Maybe that’s why companies like Wendy’s try to joke with customers and other brands. Attracting attention and retaining interactions is at the heart of the platform. If you use Twitter, I’d love to know what you think of it. Maybe I’ll realize I’m missing out.

Dogs on Instagram

What makes a post on Instagram special? People who use the platform regularly could talk about a streamlined feed or a clear focus on producing photo and video content. Others may go deeper by talking about groups or communities, who’s activities energize a smaller base extremely well. While I am by no means a social media or digital marketing professional (yet), I found out first hand that dogs are a great motivator for interactions.

Did you know if you spell dog backward, it’s God? Dogs are somewhat of a divine presence in our daily lives. People really love their animals and I know that I would rather be around an innocent little treat goblin instead of interacting with certain people. All kidding aside, I was surprised to see so many comments on a recent post centered on a puppy I met at the store.

I don’t have metrics on my social media because I’m not that popular. In my limited social experiment of 21 years, I have networked with the people around me. How often though, do you find yourself scrolling by posts from those you follow? Sometimes we get bored seeing over the top attention grabbers or memes that require a lot of reading. It’s nice to see something cute for a minute and take a break. Dog posts are not limited to Instagram, but they thrive on it because the scaling of media to comments on screen at a given time is so drastically in favor of visual content. There is one current issue with Instagram: Facebook owns it. Normally this would mean plenty of support and structure, but many users are still concerned with Facebook privacy after recent controversy. I don’t think this will change the number of dog pictures we see, but it may affect overall user numbers for a bit.

Time Home from School

Going home during college is weird. I don’t know about you, but I feel like the two are different worlds. On one hand, the family is important. I love mine dearly, but I'm not used to having someone always want to know where I’m going when I’m at school. I’m sure I’m not alone in this. Parents care and that’s why they ask a lot of questions.

I only stayed in Cincinnati for a part for fall break. Midterms are killer and I still have plenty of papers (and blogs, cough, cough) to write before things pick back up on October 10^th. The days I spent back in Milford filled me with a sense of nostalgia. Yes, it’s the city I grew up in, but all the people that made it so special to me are out on their own adventures. Soon I’ll head back to my own.

I think both my parents and I are making some realizations. I’m becoming more independent and personally responsible for things each day and my Mom realizes that I’m not just her little boy anymore. The biggest tests in college aren’t from classes but from the establishing of relationships. Friends come and go, family changes roles and each year down builds a little more anxiety about what life after school will bring. I have no clue what life after ONU will be like. I know I want to enjoy the time I have here while I can. I’ll keep making trips back home when it works and I’ll stay here the weeks that I need to catch up on assignments. Hopefully, I’ll have more than a piece of paper to show for it at the end.

Elon is Gone from Tesla

Social media plays a key role in how people interact today. One issue that will be consistent for years to come is determining the meaning behind someone’s words. No doubt, you’ve probably heard the news that Elon Musk is forced off the board of Tesla after settling with the SEC. All this stems from a tweet that Musk made a while back where he toys with the idea of making the company privately traded.

The SEC used this tweet from Musk to justify a lawsuit, claiming securities fraud. That begs the question, does intent matter? There could be an argument made that Musk was kidding when he made the tweet. As an aside: we certainly live in interesting times as social media now plays a role in court cases.

 

The last two words, “funding secured” are what result in the settlement that keeps Musk off the board of directors for at least three years. Some people attempt to link this tweet to a podcast with Joe Rogan in which Musk takes a hit from a joint. Four Twenty is synonymous to the act of smoking marijuana and some believe that this was an attempt at humor. If that is the case, the US government did not take the joke lightly.

Ultimately, the future of the company will most likely retain the vision of the former CEO. It may actually benefit Musk to be out of the board. Of course, it’s a double-edged sword. Losing control of a company you founded is less than ideal, but having more time to focus on his real goals like achieving missions to Mars and furthering SpaceX will keep Musk hard at work.