You Can Change It

If you were asked to name this person, could you? This is Dwayne Johnson otherwise known as The Rock. We recognize him for his numerous roles in movies and even from the WWE prior to that. In our new book, "Social Media for Strategic Communication", by Karen Freberg, we discussed steps to take in order to establish your own personal brand. Dwayne Johnson was given as a great example of that. When I think about his movie roles I see a heavy importance placed on family. Whether that is him taking on a father figure role, or a son who has left home at odds with his family. That persona, a family man, he has made part of his brand. It is cool to see, someone with his stature, taking on those roles. The uniqueness of that is part of what makes his personal brand so familiar.  How do you establish a personal brand? Freberg give a seven-step process on how to build your brand. Step one is to "conduct an audit." This is the most important process as this ...

Yes, I was home-schooled. When I share that with people, they often look at me as if I'm just joking with them or trying to trick. Nevertheless, it is the truth. Now, the reason it is hard for people to believe me is because I do this unique thing where I can make eye contact and hold a conversation. Apparently, that skill is not common among home-schoolers. From the second-grade through high school graduation, I spent my years in a unique schooling experience. I say unique because, while I was home-schooled, it did not take place at my actual "home." I was enrolled in a co-op. I attended Unitas Classical Christian Cooperative and Bridge Tutorial Ministries . This is how the co-op worked, we would come to the church, have the different classes, science, math, language etc., in different rooms. We had different teachers for the different subjects. We had first period through sixth period, lunch breaks, and even recess. For the most part, every aspect of the co-op was t...

Fantasy Football. This is a beautiful creation that allows individuals from across the globe to partake in some friendly competition. In fantasy football, you participate in a draft where you pick players from all 32 NFL teams to be on yours. You have a certain number of players to draft and a certain number of positions to fill. Once the season starts, you earn points based off your players performances in real life. That's all there is to it; or is there? Fantasy is much more complex than most give it credit for. There are thousands of leagues vary in competitiveness. Millions of dollars have been won through these competitions. Since my junior year in school, my friends have taken fantasy very seriously. They discuss in detail the strategies, analytics of players performances, projected scores, comparison of teams and many more details surrounding fantasy football. I, on the other hand, have always treated the game of chance as such. I never really tried to be "good...

Kik was a messaging app that allowed its users to communicate with anonymity. The once billion-dollar valued company has announced that it will be shutting down after the lawsuit with the Security and Exchanges Commission (SEC) concerning the company's Initial Coin Offerings (ICO). Initial coin offerings are a form of cryptocurrency which acted as a sort of fundraiser for the company. The lawsuit happened over whether the ICO's are a security or not. A security refers to a negotiable financial instrument that holds monetary value. The SEC claimed the company did not properly register the offering and will shut down the messaging app. The long-winded battle drained much of the company's resources. Kik is responding with three distinct courses of action. The company is shutting down the messaging app, cutting or 100 employees, and diverting their focus to their cryptocurrency. Starting in 2010 and once serving over 300 million users, the legacy of Kik now ends. Whil...

In my social media principles class, we have just finished "The Art of Social Media" by Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick. Considering this, I wanted to take a moment and highlight my three favorite things about the book. First up, the layout. I appreciated that the book was small and the letters on the pages were large. While it might not seem like much, the large letters and pictures really helped make the reading fly by. The shorter pages made it less intimidating to think about reading 40 pages in this book versus another textbook. The bullet points helped me to focus on the topics and not get lost in the words constantly having to re-read. Second, the language used. Guy Kawasaki lays out the information as if he is presenting it. While a lot of college textbooks simply relay the information, the language used in this book was active and engaging. The flow was easy to follow, and I enjoyed reading. I really appreciated that, even though some of it was inf...

I cannot even begin to express how many times I have had the same conversation about following my friends on Twitter. There are 326 million monthly users on twitter, of which I am not one. Why that is, I'm not entirely sure. Twitter just seems so different to me than other social media sites. For personal use I can get by with only making Instagram posts or Snapchat occasionally. With Twitter, somehow, I feel a constant need to produce content. I think to myself what if I don't know what to say. In our book "The Art of Social Media" by Guy Kawasaki, different aspects of Twitter are laid out in efforts to helps us utilize that social media platform to our advantage. I really enjoyed reading about the live Twitter chats and how you can participate open in the forum although there is still that part of me that wonders if I would have something meaningful to add. I think I have grown fond of saying I do not have Twitter and the surprised look on people's fa...

Google+ was an attempt by the company Google to launch their own social media platform. It has long since been forgot since its launch in 2011. Google wanted to start a platform to rival those such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. While the other platforms experienced much success, Google+ remain in the background. In my Social Media Principles class, we talk about the tips our book gives to help with your google+ profile but also that it is no longer necessary. Google+ was officially shut down in April of 2019. Despite their efforts, google+ never reach a level comparable to its competition.  While Google+ never grew as popular as Instagram or Twitter, it was still a platform that caught my attention. Before I ever joined Instagram, I found myself on Google+. honestly, this program taught me a lot about the basics of social media. This was where I learned what it means to search and add or follow friends just like in on Instagram and Facebook. Google Hangouts seeme...

Hair. Merriam-Webster defines hair as "a slender threadlike outgrowth of the epidermis of an animal." When it is said like that, it sounds boring. I think hair is so much more than that. Hair can be a means of expression and a defining feature of one's culture. It's funny to me that I'm writing about hair because I spent most of my life with a shaved head. My dad was my "barber," but his clippers only had one setting. It was easier just to cut off all the hair instead on trying to style it. As I began to grow my hair out, senior year that is, I realized I have no idea what to do with it. When I started to look and ask around, I found there were so many different styles, cuts, and tools I could use to make my hair whatever I wanted it to be. Being that I am African-American, there is a unique type of hair that I have. This became even more evident when I came to Ohio Northern and would be bombarded with questions like "how do you ...

There has been no shortage of media coverage surrounding this man in the past year. this is Antonio Brown, one of the best wide receivers playing the game of football today. We watch as his popularity really takes on in the last couple years as well as his ego. It is true that to play this game, a certain level of confidence is required. Although, there does still exist a crossroads where that confidence turns into arrogance. After the 2018 season, Brown left his longtime team of the Pittsburgh Steelers and signed with the Oakland Raiders. During this transition, Brown took to social media with some negative words toward his former teammate. Brown went on with a huge deal to the Raiders organization but quickly found himself at odds with management there. Brown had repeatedly gotten into arguments over things like the helmet he would use, showing up to camp, and personal things between him and the General Manager. Brown is no doubt one of the nest receivers in the game but he conti...

Today in my social media principles class we discussed how to use google hangouts. In our book "The Art of Social Media," Guy Kawasaki lays out a step by step process in how to get Google Hangouts going. From getting the right equipment to even the type of clothing you wear can play a role in how well hangouts is used. I think now is when this book really starts to date itself. Prior to this class, I had not used Hangouts since I was in the 9th grade. I used the group message feature heavily before I had a cell phone. The video chat came in handy for group projects and study sessions throughout high school. Using Hangouts transitioned to Skype as time went on. The two platforms wee very similar but Google Hangouts was easier to use. I think from here Skype grew in popularity which overshadowed hangouts. In my mind Skype and Google Hangouts were what all the kids who didn't have an iphone used, which was true in my case. In college I began using as serv...

24 days of preparation. Countless hours of drills, reps, conditioning, film study, practice, lifting, and meetings all leading up to the first football game of the season. 5-5. At the end of last season we left with that record as our reality and hanging our heads in defeat. Now we have a chance to turn the tide and change the course of our team. September 7 arrives and we have a chance to see the result of our work. Out of conference game, and we go through the motions. We roll into Denison thinking "we're ONU, polar bear nation, they can touch us." Fast forward a couple hours; 42-13. We change, we load back up on the bus with a confused look on our faces. Ohio Northern Polar Bears fall to the Denison Big Red. "They wanted it more" coach says as we gather the next day to figure out what we need to do to get back on top. One thing our coach said really resonated with me and I believe it to be true. "Success is not only found in vic...

One of my favorite movies of 2017 was the film "The Greatest Showman." This movie follows the story of Phineas Taylor (or P.T.) Barnum and his "rags to riches" storyline. The movie follows the story of a man taking his own imaginations and turning that into his selling point. What I did not realize was that P.T. Barnum put into practice one of the 4 prominent PR models throughout time. The PR model that Barnum practiced is known as the Press Agentry Model . this model is centered around the propaganda or attention grabbing aspect of promotion. With this as the main idea, ethics is placed into question.  This particular model, allows for the truth to be stretched as far as needed in order to gain the attention of the desired audience. Barnum was very good at selling fantasies as reality which heavily contributes to his success. I found it interesting the spin the Greatest Showman puts on the lack of transparency in this model. What the movie depicts as lig...

From the start to modern day, social media has become such an integral part of society. Among the most popular are Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. Twitter alone has an average of "500 million posts per day which would be around 6,000 every second" according to Brandwatch.com . That is a very large amount of information being put out there; but how much thought is put into those millions of posts? Guy Kawasaki in "The Art of Social Media" breaks down steps in order to "perfect your posts." There are 2 points that I am going to share with you which are being valuable, and interesting/bold.  The first point is to be valuable. At first glance that might sound vague, but there are different forms that are given in order to achieve that interesting post. Information, analysis, assistance,and entertainment. My personal go to is the entertainment category. I enjoy telling stories and sharing events to may have more of dramatic tine to them in order to...

6 a.m. the alarm goes off. Time to wake up and start the day. Breakfast with your teammates leading straight hours of meetings and practice. 12 p.m. and we break for lunch and a short reprieve until the second wave starts. A couples hours set for a break then turns into minutes as it is time for more meetings, lifting, testing, and a walk-through of practice. 5 p.m. we break for dinner. At this time the joy begins to grow because this signifies the day of football is coming to an end. Dinner ends and the day is concluded by 3 more hours of meetings with maybe an activity thrown in. 9 p.m. the first day of preseason camp is over; then it hits. You repeats this 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. cycle for days on end. I leave my family, friends, and home to come and endure this pain of the body. Waking up with injuries of all kind to go and sustain more. There the question remains; "why?"  "Why do this to yourself?" or "How do you keep balance of everything?" and f...