Fumbling Through College

This past week was Thanksgiving "break". I put break in quotations because I'm pretty sure I was more busy at home than I am here at school. Between Friday and Monday, I spend time with my friends that I haven't seen in a while, and also just hung out with my family. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I worked a combined sixteen hours. On Thanksgiving, we drove out to my cousins and had lunch/dinner with my family. Then Black Friday came. I was pleasantly surprised when I looked down at the register and realized it was already noon and I was halfway done with my shift. There were not too many people that were being rude so that was very nice. My shift was done and I decided to go to the outlet mall with my mom for a couple hours. It felt like freedom when I got off work, but I know it was going to be short-lived because I had to be back at work for another seven-hour shift the next day. And then, just like that, it was already Sunday and I was packing to go back to school. Wha...

Many people do not see nonprofit organization as businesses. Actually, business relationships are even more important in nonprofits than in regular businesses. This is because nonprofits run on volunteerism and goodwill. Because relationships are so important, you need to be measuring these relationships. There are many steps involved in measuring these relationships, but I believe the most important is using your mission to define our objectives. A good objective gives you something to reach for and will help keep your organization driven. The goal should be a specific number. An example of a measurable goal would be to increase donations by 15% over the next year. Have you ever worked for a nonprofit before?

If you don't like basketball or politics you may not have heard this one. Last week three UCLA basketball team members were taken into Chinese custody on suspicion of stealing from the Louis Vuitton store.  LiAngelo Ball was among these three. President Trumps said that he intervened and had them released. LiAngelo's Father, Lavar Ball said that the president didn't have much to do with the situation. The president then goes on Twitter to express his thoughts. Now I don't know what you think, but I think every thought you ever have should not be on Twitter, and maybe especially every thought from the president of the United States. I could rant about this for hours, but I won't. What do you think? 

If you have ever worked retail before, you know that there is one day out of the year that you hate more than any other. This day is Black Friday. I am here to tell you that Black Friday does not have to be the worst day of the year. I have a few tips that can get you through the busiest shopping day in the United States. You do not want to watch the clock all day counting down time, you're going to drive yourself crazy. It is much better just to accept the fact that you are going to be working and nothing is going to make time go faster. Stay busy as much as possible. The more downtime you have, the more you are going to be looking at the clock and getting anxious. If you are busy, you won't have time to look at the clock and time will seem to go faster. My last tip is to pack food instead of buying it. You won't have time during your break to sit in the long line to get food, so it is better to bring a meal. Let me know what your favorite Black Friday tips are.

This chapter was all about avoiding a crisis and how to respond if there is a crisis. According to Grunig, Grunig, and Dozier, there are four principles of a crisis period. The Relationship Principle says that an organization can deal with a crisis better if it has a good, long-standing relationship with the public. The Accountability Principle says that the organization should accept responsibility even if they are not at fault. The Disclosure Principle says that, during a crisis, an organization should disclose all known information. The Symmetrical Communication Principle says that during a crisis, an organization should consider the public interest to be as important as their own. In short, an organization should listen to the public and try to take steps to avoid a crisis in the first place.

I'm sure by now everyone has already heard about the new character limit on Twitter. The character limit on Twitter has been changed from 140 to 280. Many people don't really understand why they changed this. People are now able to say more in their tweets. I think that this is a bad move on their part because it kind of takes away from what twitter was made for, which in my opinion is short little tidbits of information that can be viewed quickly. This change isn't that big of a deal, and I would be that no one really cares how many words you can put in a tweet. At the end of the day, Twitter is still fun and easy to read. What do you think about the new character limit?

Finals are quickly approaching us. Before you know it you will be calculating exactly how bad you can do and not drop a letter grade. I will be sharing with you some of my favorite tips on surviving finals week. 1. Live in the library This is not a joke, just spend all your time in the library. You don't have to be studying the entire time, but it will help you get into the mindset that you are there to study.  2. Load up on your favorite form of caffeine When you spend at least eight hours a day in the library, you're going to need to stay awake and focused somehow. The only time I ever drink energy drinks is during finals week. They are absolutely terrible for you, but trading that for a good trade is a trade I'm willing to make. 3. Allocate your time well It is important to study in advance and use your time wisely. Let's say you need a 20% to keep your current grade but a 98% to get the next possible letter grade. The chance of you getting less than...

This week the reading is all about interacting with influencers. Influencers are everyday people. As the book states "It can be someone with 10,000 followers on Twitter or 500 friends on Facebook." When you interact with influencers you want to engage in a two-way conversation instead of shoving a message down their throats. You want to quantitative way to measure your relationship with influencers so that you can build a database to push your company in the right direction. First you want to define your goals. These goals should be measurable. Next you want to define your audience. Next you want to define your benchmark. This means looking at other companies to see hoe they are doing. This step will help you greatly in reaching your goals. On the fourth step you want to define your key performance indicators. These should be what measurement you use to figure out how you're doing. For the last step, you should select your measurement tool. This can be as simple as Mi...

Vlogs have been around forever. It seems like everybody these days are making vlogs. There is one fantastic vlog that I think should be an example for everyone. His name is  Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen, better known as Laidback Luke.  Laidback Luke is a DJ and Producer. You may not be very into his music but his vlogs are top notch, and here's why. He has a very good mix of content, from tutorials to interviews, or just what he has going on that week. I really enjoy how he has the same exact intro to every video he makes. He also encourages fans to discuss in the comments and will shout out the top comments every week. He has a great mix of clips of him talking to the camera and also B-roll.  I recommend checking out his videos, he is a very interesting guy with many interests and lots to talk about. Here is a link to one of his good videos. Let me know what you think! 

What is going on here? Did we just skip all the actual fall weather? This week it went from sunny and 70 degrees to cold and gross and today we're dealing with a possible tornado. I should probably understand Ohio weather at this point, but I still don't. I should have probably gone somewhere with more consistent weather for college. I've got an idea, let's just start a new university with the same students and faculty but in Florida or California. Is that possible? What are your thoughts?