Social Media Webinars

It frustrates me -- no matter what the title of the webinar, no matter how intriguing, exciting, or complex it sounds, it all comes down to an intro-to-social-media presentation. It begins with statistics about how many people are using social media. It then tells you how your competitors are using social media. Then they tell you how people hate traditional advertising and don't pay attention to it. Finally, they tell you how easy it is to create a social media strategy by following their 5 easy steps.

It's hard to find someone that does more than regurgitate facts and gives me more than "5 steps to success that are proven to work for your business." Social media strategies need to be focused on your particular genre, audience, etc. There needs to be a strategy that is more than generalities, something that focuses on an effective social media campaign for higher education, for shoe sales, for Q-tips. People cannot take these intro seminars as the final word.

I guess what it comes down to is the fact that these webinars all claim to be the authority, hosted by social media experts or gurus. No one is an expert in social media -- it changes every day! The best way to keep up on the new facts is to read articles online, be interactive in social media, and most of all -- trial and error. It's easy to watch what other people have done with social media, but it's almost impossible to repeat it. Social media is all about innovation.

Research Papers

Over my time at the University of Michigan, I have learned a lot of information. I've learned it through lectures, research articles, books, professors, guest lecturers -- the list goes on. Especially when talking about topics such a media and communications, I have a lot of knowledge backed up. This morning I have been writing a research paper about how advertising has changed between radio and television. I wrote about 2.5 pages before realizing that I had done absolutely no research. I had accumulated at least that much information on the topic throughout my studies here.

Now, because I know this information is not my own first-hand knowledge, how much of this do I need to cite? I feel that since I have this knowledge in my head, it isn't plagiarism. It is simply a culmination of information that I have received over time. How do you quantify where you located this information over the years? I feel that it is a little ridiculous to cite every sentence that you write, but where do you draw the line? I hate having to back-track to find the information that I already know and have already written about...

/rant.

M-16s in the MLB

I was meeting with a professor in the MLB today to discuss a research paper that I am currently writing. As we are sitting there with the door open to his office (school rules), 4 huge police officers go running by with bullet-proof vests on wielding M-16s. The last cop pokes his head into the office:

Cop: "Have you seen anyone with a gun?"
Prof: "Not today."
Cop: "Close the door and lock it." The cop runs after his buddies.

We sit there baffled for a minute, having just had an M-16 pointed in our faces in the middle of a friday afternoon in a school building and we continue to talk about the paper for about 10-15 minutes. The cop then returns, lightly tapping on the door, giving us the all clear. He then proceeds to explain that it was a false alarm -- a boy was dressed in a spiderman costume and ski mask for a presentation and someone called the cops. It's still unclear as to whether this "bandit" had a fake weapon or not...

Documentary: Michigan

I've been working on a multi-media documentary for a class I am currently taking at UofM. The class is called Documentary: Michigan and each student in the class individually makes a multi-media documentary about a topic of their choice. I am focusing on what it means to be a Wolverine and how these perceptions change based on peoples affiliation with the University. So far, I have interviewed students, alumni, faculty, and administration. The documentary will be a website (I'll post the link once it's finished) which will include text, photography, audio, and video elements.

While this is only a class through the University, I have learned a lot about html and CSS coding and hope to be able to use these skills in the future. In addition, I hope that people will continue to respond to my documentary and that I will be able to add more input as I receive it. There is currently a comment feature on the webpage and I hope that people continue to fill out my survey about being a Wolverine.