Videos

Do You Remember the Harlem Shake?

In 2013, I lost two days of my life when I discovered the Harlem Shake. The original concept was quite simple: There's a 30 second excerpt of a song, and these four costumed weirdos danced to it. The video went viral, and the people of the internet lost their collective minds.

The Original Harlem Shake Video - not exactly the most thrilling

Thousands of other versions of this 'dance video' were quickly uploaded, and I (like so many others) became addicted to watching them! The public really ran with the idea and very much made it their own. 

Even the US Army got on board!

To save you some time (because I know you have now been convinced to search for and consume way too many of these, just like I did!), here is a compilation of the 'best of' Harlem Shake videos:

C'mon - you know you want to make one of these!

Reflections

My Experience with Dr. Brewer's Social Media Marketing Course

I needed another elective for my marketing major, and Social Media Marketing was appealing to me not only because it was being instructed by Dr. Brewer or that it was offered online (I am taking a full load of classes this semester for the first time while also working full-time - so an online option was a big plus!), but also because of the content of the course. If I am considering pursuing a career in marketing in 2018 and beyond, I felt it was a good idea to take a course in Social Media.

One of the more relevant things I learned is how the different SMM tools work. I am actually quite interested in obtaining the Hootsuite certification so I may place it on my resume, and I think it was a great idea to include the certification as a component of this course. I also enjoyed learning about ideal days and times to post across various platforms. I have been paying closer attention and considering the days and times I post, in hopes of strategically increasing engagement. I have also been thinking more in terms of marketing my 'personal brand' when posting on SM by going back through my Facebook feed and reflecting on the types of articles, memes, etc. I have posted.

Overall, I have enjoyed this course. The workload and deadlines were reasonable, and the textbook was a fascinating read. I purchased the modified version of the book before I learned that the full version either cost the same or was quite similarly priced. I would have gladly purchased the full version and kept the text as a reference. I still plan to hold onto the modified text, especially as I begin exploring this potential new chapter in my career.

The only area in which I would recommend altering the course, is by considering making the blog post requirements more structured instead of allowing us to post anything we desire. Don't get me wrong - I have enjoyed being unleashed so I can say I *must* blog because it is a course assignment. I miss having the time I used to be able to dedicate to my personal blog. But here's the thing: I am almost 35, and I would categorize the blog assignments as quite 'easy'. If I am able to easily handle this, I feel confident that most students could handle posting something more challenging. Since we do not have a course project, a more challenging blog assignment should be manageable.

Also, while I enjoyed the convenience of an online version of this class, I missed Dr. Brewer's lectures this semester. This is my third course with Dr. Brewer, and I would like to request that future classes (with students who have possibly not had the chance to experience her lectures) get to view them for SMM, even if the course is online. I would consider creating videos of her lectures and letting the summary slides supplement the lecture, much how Dr. Brewer does with her classroom-style courses. Those are my only recommendations.

And of course I would recommend this course to a friend (and I already have!). The course is fascinating and there's great information contained within the text, regardless of whether you're a marketing major or not. Nearly everyone participates on social media, and there are things to be learned about marketing your personal brand as much as managing a company's brand. It is a meaningful and worthwhile elective, and I am glad it was available to me.

Photos

Can You Be Happy for 100 Days?

Three years ago I completed the #100HappyDays challenge for the first time. The rules are simple - select a social media platform, and post a photo of something that makes you happy for 100 consecutive days. It's that simple! It could be a photo of an especially spectacular cup of coffee you're enjoying, an outing with your best friend, a new pair of fabulous shoes you ordered that arrived, some beautiful flowers that are growing in your garden - anything that brought you happiness that day. I started the challenge for the first time at the beginning of January 2014. Upon completing the challenge, I wrote about it on MY REAL BLOG to share what I learned going through this exercise in happiness.

I enjoyed the challenge so much that I opted to go through it a second time, except this time I began in September 2015, a year and a half later. It was fun to catalog 100 days of happiness through my favorite season, autumn. Here is a photo montage of some of the photos from that exercise:

Visitors from out of state and country, and the triumphant return of Bluebell Ice Cream,

were definite highlights from my second round of the #100HappyDays challenge

Focusing on a moment of happiness each day can alter your frame of thinking to seek out that which makes you happy. As I mention in my blog post (linked above), I learned that, while not every aspect of every day will necessarily be happy, I could always identify something each day that brought me happiness - even if it were something quite simple. 

Knowing that this semester would be perhaps my most challenging yet - taking a full-load of courses while working full-time - I opted to go through the exercise for a third time. Some days it has felt like one more thing I have to remember to do, when I already [often] feel overwhelmed by the amount of what is expected of me to accomplish; however, it has served a beautiful purpose in forcing me to pause for a moment each day this semester to remember something that brought me happiness. An additional benefit of doing the challenge this third time is that it has served as sort of a countdown towards the end of this semester. My 100th day will be this upcoming Monday, May 1st. At this point, I fully intend to do the challenge a fourth time, likely a year from now, when my husband and I go on our trip to Europe.

http://100happydays.com/