Facebook Defriended

Posted on May 26, 2011 by How to with Courtney

Can you be Facebook friends with someone who doesn’t share the same feelings as you? In the world of social media, what are the rules for kicking the guys who you screw out of your life?

Say I had been seeing this particular guy, who happened to say all of those perfect things that make you actually like him…weird, right? So, then you start to fall, you ask him what he was looking for and he answers “Casual Sex.” Say I might have been a little hurt by that, say I might have gone on two dates with two different guys that weekend. Say I then started sleeping with said causal sex guy. Worst part? It wasn’t even on my terms.

Why is it that when everything goes down it’s not “P.C.” to defriend someone on Facebook? Um, I’m sorry but I don’t want to see that you are dating someone else, or just “nailed some hot chick.” I know real classy. I’m all set with not ever seeing another update via Marky Z’s network about you.

So what does that say about me? Does it mean I’m immature because I don’t want to be public friends with a twit? Or does it mean that I’m immature because now I know he has no way of reading this blog post about him. I mean, if he was real.

I guess that leaves the question, can you defriend someone on Facebook without it coming back to haunt you?

What you missed on Twitter (Osama is Dead FYI)

Posted on May 2, 2011 by How to with Courtney

Gone are the days when we sit and wait for tomorrow’s headlines. And last night proved just that. According to a NY Times article Twitter was the first to break the news about Osama Bin Laden’s death. Let’s be honest though, no one is really that surprised. (Surprised Twitter broke the story)

Twitter is the quickest and by far most popular information network out there; Anyone who was tweeting last night will most likely agree. It was amazing to be a part of it, i.e. awake and able to hear things first, but it was crazy to be a part of the event on Twitter. It was as if communities of people were flocking together to talk about what was going on, and the funny tweets didn’t hurt.

Here are five of the best tweets of the night:

@PFCWillReinier I told him Foursquare was a bad idea…

@tarynevelyn England, imma let you finish, but US had the best news story of all time! #RoyalWedding

@jesus Sorry, you’re at the wrong gate, Osama.

@NZAfro: R.I.P Osama Bin Laden – World Hide And Go Seek Champion (2001 – 2011)

@GhostOsama Well this sucks…I accidentally enabled location on my tweets.

Someone created this less than two hours after the breaking news; Whoever was that on top deserves a high-five.

For more entertaining tweets check out: http://www.witstream.com/#blacklist

And for anyone wondering what his obituary says, no need to wait. NY times put one up last night. Warning: It’s rather lengthy!

6 Steps to Help you Focus (on the work you should be doing)

Posted on April 18, 2011 by How to with Courtney

I’m writing a post about how to focus while I have two word docs open with different essay prompts in both, and an article waiting to be edited for the rccblog.

It’s not that I have a problem focusing on mudane tasks like work or school, it’s more like I can’t focus on anything, ever. Like a career path…as soon as I see a career that seems like fun listed somewhere I usually change my mind and set my sights on that. But then I decide I don’t want to give up a previous one so now I have two. So I continue looking and find a 3rd, and a 4th. And they all seem really great, and I don’t want FOMO to kick in so I just decide I can do them all. And pretty soon I have ten different career paths in front of me all leading in different directions.

My problem is I need to focus on one of those ten paths, and stick with it. At least for a little bit. You know, find out where it goes…see where I end up. But I suck at sticking to

anything, I tend to get bored and am ready to move on before the ink dries.

And to answer your searching questions, yes I am like this in all aspects of my life. Including relationships, well lack there of. It’s that damn FOMO again, taking over. For those of your who don’t know FOMO is the fear of missing out. I wrote a great little article about it for college candy, if you are too lazy to google you should go check it out.

So back to focusing…why is it that my generation seems to have this crazy ability to not know how to focus. Could it be that we have just become so over stimulated with the use of all of the new technology out there, that we have lost the ability to just choose one thing to do.

Even the phyic I went to saturday gave me a lecture on how I need to focus…you know things are wrong when an ex journalist turned physic is telling you what to do.

Hopefully if I write up some witty step by step guide we will all be able to start focusing more, and stop trying to be effecicant multitaskes…because let’s be real, it doesn’t exist.

Step 1: Form a to do list, featuring the things that need to get done or that are past their due date first.

Step 2: Limit your number of tab’s to three at any given time. This is one of my biggest problems. I almost always have 6 tab’s and two windows open at all times…it’s something I’m working on.

Step 3: If you feel yourself starting to slip take a break and move around. Try doing jumping jacks or a few crunches. And if you have time take a shower to collect your thoughts.

Step 4: Go back to your list. If you are stuck on the first item and can’t get past it move to the second. This happened with one of my essays for myth and culture, sometimes not matter how easy the assignment is you just can’t do it.

Step 5: After at least 3 maybe 4 things have been cross off your list, reward yourself however you see fit. I usually do this by going outside, or if it’s cold/gross watching an episode of one of the many shows that I don’t have time to watch during the week.

Step 6: Go back to the list, working slowly to finish it off. Never, I repeat NEVER try to multitask. This will only get you off track. You will think that you are able to do more things and at a faster rate-but it will actually take you a longer amount of time. Plus your computer will go slow.

Here’s to you, Gen Y, the generation of unfocusers and hard works. Together we can pull through this!

How to: Tweet

Posted on January 24, 2011 by How to with Courtney

Let’s Get Down To Business: How To Tweet

One thing I’ve found when talking to new tweeter’s is that they don’t know the art of a good tweet. They aren’t sure how casual it can be, or they over think their every tweet..and don’t end up tweeting anything!

So to help you newbies out I’ve come up with a few tips.

Tip 1: Figure out why you are joining twitter. Do you want to connect with people on a social or business level? Are you looking to find people in your field or just people in your area?

Tip 2: Don’t be afraid to speak your mind! But also you should know that you will be ignored if you tweet meaningles

s things ie. “omg I just lyke saw a dawg! haha lolz” So keep your tweets relevant to why you joined twitter. Just make sure you don’t lose you own voice!

Tip 3: A good way to jump into Twitter is by replying to people you admire or Re-tweeting them. Don’t get too scared, the worst thing that could happen is they don’t reply. And honestly, that is not bad, there are so many people you can be replying to, that you will probably forget to reply to some people yourself!

Tip 4: Set a goal for how many times you want to tweet a day. Maybe you can start off with 4 tweets a day? It’s a good idea to set a goal at first because it will be something you can 1.) put on your to do list and easily cross off 2.) it will seem more feasible, and 3.) by making a goal you are more likely to actually tweet!

Tip 5: Make sure to change your profile picture! I know it sounds a little bit silly, but a lot of people don’t follow back new users who still have the o_O icon as their picture. Most spam bots don’t change their icon so the 0_O is commonly associated with them, which means people won’t want to follow you. So add a new picture, maybe it’s your personal logo, a picture of you, or your favorite pair of shoes.

Key Terms:

In the twitterverse we use the @ sign in order to reply or mention people in our tweet. By doing so you are not only connecting with people you normally wouldn’t but you are making a name for yourself. By replying to something a popular person in your career field said it is not only giving others a chance to see what you are saying (if it is re-tweeted or the person responds back) but you are making a connection with that person.

What are DM’s? DM stands for direct message, this is where you can message someone (using 140 characters or less) as long as you are both following each other you can message them. This is good for asking a private question or just taking a conversation off the timeline to avoid noise.

You hear me talk about noise a lot, and you are probably thinking what is this chick talking about, is there a song that plays in the background every time I log on? To answer your question, no. Noise is referred to your timeline, in specific it can refer to a certain person or a #chatgroup. Sometimes a conversation (via @reply/mentions) can get lost because of other people’s tweets, thus creating the noise type idea. (imagine you are at a library and it is very loud, but you are trying to talk to your professor that’s like twitter all day.)

So..what are you waiting for? Start tweeting!

Why to Tweet

Posted on January 17, 2011 by How to with Courtney

When I was a mere Junior, a year ago, I joined a revolutionary site that would make communicating not only simple, but fun. My peers all mocked me for joining a site that was just “a bunch of status updates” but I, knowing I was right of course, told them it was more.

and it is so much more.

Benefits

Since joining Twitter I have realize that I was/am right. Twitter is more than status updates from your friends. It’s a way to connect with professionals in your field, swap blog ideas, or even help you figure out a random question. It gets better, by using #hashtags (that’s what they look like) you can meet a million new people who share your similar interests..without the noise. For instance, I love to write so I use the hashtag #writers where I can talk to other authors about things such as overcoming writers block or just for a good discussion about annoyances within our work.

So I know what you’re thinking…Twitter is just professional blah blah blah I don’t want to be on it, I’m just a freshman. But that is where you are wrong! Not only will you gain further insight in to future careers, be able to shoot your professors message instantly (and get quicker replies), BUT (this is the kicker) you can talk to people online by following a hashtag of your favorite show while it is happening! It’s amazing, you can talk to millions of people about the Glee episode you are watching (and what Kurt was wearing, and why you were a little bit creeped out)

While we are on the subject of live Twitter feeds…remember what I said about #hashtags, well they are also used to house chats. I know one of Ed’s favorites is #sachat, which is a place where people in the student affairs industry (or people interested in it) come to chat at a specific time every week. This opens up opportunity for you to ask a multitude of people questions and get many replies. And unlike the random mentions in your tweets, these will get more replies back because you are clearly showing an interest and it is timely.

So now that you know why you should tweet..let’s talk about how to get you started.

Starting an Account

It’s important, that when making an account, you stick to your real name. By using your real name you can brand yourself in whatever career field or area you hope to further yourself in. This could be something in Fashion, Business, Music, Social Work, I don’t know is you are seeing a trend, but there are a lot of different topics/businesses on Twitter. If your name is taken (because let’s face it, there are already over a million active users) add your middle initial, or a combination of your first name initial with your middle initial and last name. But try to avoid using “sexigurl212″ or “sexiboi305″ although I think those might be used already.

So to make it clear, we are using our names in order to self brand ourselves. Because as we’ve already learned Twitter is NOT a bunch of sta

tus updates, it’s a way to get your foot (or your whole self) in the door to a potential dream job.

(here’s the link, because I have a feeling you want to sign up)

(Feeling the urge to read about more twitter tips? No need to fret, look for next week’s post telling you all insider tips!)

Are you on twitter? If not, why? Do you think Twitter could be the new Facebook? Why or Why not?

How To With Courtney

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