Loner Ranger

I have always been "that weird kid" as long as I can remember, mainly because I have always done things by myself or at my own little beat. My time my way. Just the way i was raised. I never will forget this phrase my father told me, "When you ride alone you can only get yourself in trouble, not anyone ever snitching on you" and "the older you become the less friends you will have and eventually it will be just you, your lady, and your family."

Recently I started thinking of this because of some things I experienced on campus. Anyone can catch me walking to class alone or doing something alone. I guess you could call me a loner. The smaller your inner circle the less likely you can get into drama or any problematic situation.
My friends always called me the odd ball because unlike them and going out and having "fun" i would like to just stay in and stay low key, somewhat off the grid. Of course I am like everyone else and I want fun, but I am just the one not to do things in a crowd. Jokes on the football team here are that its a special night if you catch me out at a party because I rarely come out at night.

From the situations I have endured I have learned to stay low key and quiet. Be seen and not heard. the loudest in the room is usually hiding something or just begging for something for trouble.

I am the Lone Ranger.

Chivalry Still Exist?

I've heard so much about how the world is changing, how people do not have manors anymore and people are so rude. I noticed this around campus this week and thought that maybe this may be the changing in times with our generation. I noticed so many  guys not holding the doors open for females this week around campus and thought why is this. Nowadays the new term "thirsty" is spreading worldwide. According to urbandictionary.com thirsty means"to eager to get something or desperate." There are different Types of Thirsty. Is social media and our generation changed so much that males are not conducting themselves with proper edicate. Is CHIVALRY DEAD?

This is a question  kept asking myself this week and decided I should talk about it on campus. I was raised that as a guy you should treat a woman with respect and seeing so many males disrespect a female this week was shocking. Whether it was at a party or just hearing chit chat.

 

I was always taught that it is woman's job to give a man something to respect, but is the man's job to respect the woman. So the question is who's fault is the reason chivalry is dead? Is it the woman, man or social media. You see over and over on social media #WCW and is this good?  don't want my daughters thinking this is the biggest compliment she could receive from a man. With the world so ever changing Chivalry is definitely something that is definitely changing alongside and I fear that one day my daughters will not understand how a woman should be treated.

NFL Domestic Violence

Here are my words and thoughts of the NFL domestic violence in a podcast. NFL DV

It is Here to Stay

Social media is here to stay forever! Although it is forever evolving there are reasons it will stay around. "Human beings are motivated to connect and share for a multitude of reason: researching, finding information and inspiration, participating, connecting with friends and for entertainment."No matter the platform of social media the principles do not change, Communication is two-way interactive, and above all sharable. this can be found on Web 2.0 technology. Web 2.0 explaination

Think of the social networks we use today and the ways in which we share information. Twitter has the retweet. Facebook allows you to share post with friends. Along with these two networks Instagram allows users to share photos and videos where they can use the hashtag to search everything that has the same hashtag. Its a way of grouping.
According to the book more than 70% of internet users participate in a form of social networks. The numbers are large enough that if it was a country it would be the third largest. Keep this in mind, social media is global and is steadily increasing everyday. When used correctly it holds its advantages, but when used in wring ways it can bring about many problems.

Do you feel social media is a tool that does more harm or good in the PR profession?

Did ONU Drop the Ball?

Do you think ONU dropped the ball? When it comes to what happened last week with the escaping of convicts from the Lima prison students were somewhat left with an uneasy feeling when the school didn't notify the campus community of what was going on. Many students like myself felt as though the school should have sent a campus wide email. The breaking news made national attention, reaching Florida where my mother tagged me in a Facebook post informing myself to be safe and aware. Personally the way I found out the convicts had escaped where through social media such as Twitter, SnapChat and the new Yik Yak. Many students were upset that this was the way they found out about the escaping. We feel as though ONU somewhat let us down and can possibly make us feel our security and safety is in question. Even though the event occurred miles away it is still close enough to Ada to where we felt some form of alert should have been sent out. IS security a question now for students?

True Support

The tough times we go through in life molds us into who we become. We tend to overlook the situation and take the good with the bad, everything in life has a balance. These past few weeks have been very tough for myself. I found out an aunt back home had a stroke. This week my uncle, my movers brother, had a stroke which left him paralyzed on half of his body. He was found alone 21 hours after having the stroke and had to be air lifted to a hospital an hour away in Huntington , WV. My mother after hearing the news was stressed out and rushed to the emergency room, which she later found out she had a fibroid in her uterus which needs surgery to be removed.

All this going on is stressful for a 21 year old college kid just trying to figure life out. Through all of his and being here in Ada, pretty much alone it was only one person I could lean to for strength and support, my girlfriend. She really helped me cope with the situations at hand and even went to West Virginia with me this weekend to visit my uncle. Even though it was tough for him to communicate we found a way to enjoy the time spent watching football making him giggle and laugh. Going there really made my mom's stress and anxiety go down a bit knowing that I would let her know how her brother was doing.

Family is a major part in my life and I am a big family man. It means the world to me and family will always be there for support. I'm blessed to have my loving girlfriend help me along the way of these tough times I'm experiencing and knowing that through everything she will always be there to support me and help me whenever it is needed. I appreciate everything she has helped me do these past few weeks and this past weekend.

Groundswell Importance

Needs to Know about The Groundswells

1. The Groundswell is interactive and is person to person. It is always changing and is consumer and people driven.
2. Listen to costumers: The customers are who determine the success of your business, so you must listen to their needs and the feedback they give you.
3. Patience: It takes time to become successful. Rome wasn't built in a day.
4. Be optimistic: Take chances and look to become bigger. New technology is always developing. Take a chance and see what is out there to help your business. Remember the groundswell is always changing so the same techniques that once worked to reach consumers may not work now. When something new consumers are going to try it out. So keep in mind being at a standstill can potentially hurt you if the company isn't willing to take a risk to reach new consumers.
5. Flexibility: Be interchangeable ad easy to change.
6. Be collaborative: Collaborations with others can broaden your spectrum and reach of customers and at the same time you and your company have the opportunity to learn new ways and experiences from the other you are collaborating with.
7. Be humble: Things don't last long if you are not humble. At any moment it can change as well you can go from being at he top of consumers list to the very bottom. The groundswell is changing remember, and consumers are always willing to change and try the new big idea.

University of Florida Security in Question

How would you feel if your daughter, sister, mother or any close female friend was attacked in the middle if the night at a place where they are supposed to feel safe? At the university of Florida recent attacks have happened at night where women were attacked but fought off the attacker and with help of bystanders at times to get away. The incident is alarming and has many students frightened and worried. Attacks bring back memories of those that happened 24 years ago easier on campus where the attacked women wear assaulted and dismembered. Memorials are still on campus of the victims of attack 24 years earlier.

One student stated, "
My mom got me a stun gun as soon as I told her about it." Students on campus do not feel safe and they are frightened. Buddy systems are put in place with the university having night escorts to dormitories. The police staff has also changed scheduling so that more officers are available at night. From a pr view it seems as though the university learned from it's prior incident 24 years earlier and is using it's crisis plan. Informing students and the community, where there is a threat and danger to the community the university must alert them which is the Clery Act.
 Vice President of student affairs stated, "This community came together, unified and I really think that the closeness that was forged during that terrible time really is what you are seeing today."


http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/08/justice/florida-university-assaults/index.html?c=homepage-t&page=3

Bus Rides

Overnight games are the best opportunity to really get to know your teammates. With a long bus ride about 8 hours long heading to St. Louis the possibilities of pranking each other, amount of storytelling and getting to know one another every high. Of course an 8 hour bus ride is not the ideal way to travel, but when you play division III football, sometimes you have to just go with the flow. Traveling wasn't too bad on the way, we stopped two times on the way to St. Louis for a bathroom break and at Indiana State University to have our normal Friday practice. On the bus ride you hear the usual jokes where upperclassmen tease the freshman that are fortunate to make the trip. Conversation is fun and loose, trying to enjoy the ride as much as possible through a cramped bus where there is very minimum leg room. Freshman are shocked to when we tell them all freshmen must sleep on the floor and they get leftovers at team meals but its just the usual newcomer pranks. Snapchat is blowing up with the endless amounts of pictures being taking and sent of teammates passed out on each other. A competition soon is formed to see who can snap the perfect picture of a teammate. All fun and games of course. The kickers on the team are the funniest of all. Passing through Indianapolis and and finally getting to St Louis was a great sight seeing place. View of the Lucas Oil Stadium and The Arch was pretty amazing. For guys from out of state it really is a first time even coming to a city like the ones we are driving to. Overall long trips have both ups ands downs, you get to bond with your teammates who most would consider your brothers. The games and movies played during the trio are always fun and then there are the times we get to mess with the rookies of the team and have little freshman initiations.

Groundswell Tapping

There is no going back> Once you have tapped into the groundswell there is no reversal, it is there forever. Remember that copying one's strategies are not beneficial for you. What works for someone may not work for you. Each company or group all has there own and individual customer and audience to appeal to. In public relations we focus on knowing he target audience so a strategy for example for Apple Inc. may not work for another company such as ESPN. One strategy to keep in mind that plays role in this is listening to the audience and what appeals to them, your customers. It is in the end the customers that make everything go round and make everything successful for the companies.

Domestic Violence Policy in the NFL

Earlier this week Commissioner Roger Goodell of the NFL announced the new domestic violence policy that would go into action. The league and commissioner came under criticism with the way the domestic violence case was handled this offseason with Ravens running back Ray Rice. Rice was seen on camera striking his now wife and knocking her unconscious by a casino security camera. Rice’s punishments were a two game suspension, a fine of $58,000 and complete an anger management program. Across the nation we felt as though it was a slap on the wrist to Rice and we all thought he would face harsher punishment. At the same time another player Josh Gordon was facing a year of suspension for the league’s substance abuse policy. In a sense was the league teaching our youth that domestic violence cases are pushed aside while cases that involve drugs are much more severe? The Rice case gave the league the opportunity to strengthen the domestic violence policy in which the first offense by any NFL employee would receive a six game suspension without pay. The second offense is a lifetime ban with possibility of an appeal and reinstatement. Instantly the NFL strengthened its policy, which has overlooked domestic violence cases. Weaknesses of the league’s new policy are those who might use the justification of the Ray Rice case and say it is unfair to have a six game suspension and even possibility of lifetime ban when there are several cases before where the punishments were not so severe.  I think the NFL did the right thing by stiffening its policy and in the end it will all pay out in the end, but right now there can be much negative criticism stating that there should have already been a policy set in  place.