Final Thoughts

As I sit here and write my final blog I must admit I'm both relieved and bummed about it, more so relieved let's be real. I've come so accustomed to having to blog every week that it went from homework to actually kind of fun. I got a kick out of reading other people's blogs as well. Seeing what's going on in their lives, reading everyone's different writing styles, and their opinions on different things, ranging from our class reading to what's going on in social media, was always my favorite part.

Those words, "my favorite part" I thought I would never say when it came to the blogs. Initially I thought it would be a hassle, 3 blogs every week for 13-14 weeks sounded unbearable. Now I'm considering either keeping this blog or making a new one, I mean why not?

I even recently went back and looked at my first blog post, expressing my goals for the semester and how I planned to make my ideal goals a reality. I know for a fact that I didn't reach all of my goals, however after I came to my senses halfway through the semester I know that I came damn close.

I'm proud of myself and everything that I've accomplished this semester. I gave my all and nothing less, even sometimes my grades or attitude doesn't show it. So in the case that I do not continue to blog, I leave you with this final post, kind of bringing everything full circle.

Until next time, friends.... Hopefully.

Laziness At Its Best

Have you ever gone the extra mile to do something what you consider to be the, "easy way"? Lord knows I have, and I've recently took notice of that when I found myself using Snap Chat to take pictures. These pictures aren't normal Snap Chat pictures, meaning they're never sent, I usually just save it and keep it moving. I consider this to be easier than using the two other camera apps that I already have on my phone for one reason, and that's the shortcut tool. Since my front camera doesn't work I need to turn my phone around to take a picture of myself, as if I'm living in 2007 or something. So for me I find it to be a lot easier than turning the camera around and guess where the button is.

Another way my laziness helps me create flawed logic is by using Twitter for my news source. For example, when I saw someone on Facebook comment about Paula Walker's death I didn't believe it until I went on Twitter and saw that it was trending. Even then I didn't fully believe it until I went to Wikipedia and Google for the definite answer.

Lastly, back when I had an iPhone the front camera on that phone didn't work either, so whenever I face timed with my sister I would literally pull up Photo Booth on my laptop and turn my phone around so that she'd be able to see me and I'd be able to see her. I even questioned myself after doing that foe the first time, but after the second time it made so much sense.

I know I cant be the only one, so does anyone else have any outrageous lazy techniques?

A Non-Profit Can't Run Without Profit!

Recently I was elected as VP of Alumni Relations in Sigep, hold the applause, and since taking the position I was thinking of ways we could reach out to older alumni.I took a break of thinking and read my final readings of Measure What Matters, and Chapter 13 caught my attention. Paine talked about how to measure for nonprofits, and the importance of keeping in touch with your community. Since the organization is nonprofit it runs mostly on goodwill and volunteerism, so not keeping in touch will with your constituencies you will shoot yourself in the foot.

This, in my opinion, is happening with Sigep and our alumni. We keep in touch with alumni who've graduated with the last five years, but what about the guys before them? The only time we see them is at Homecoming and most of them just complain about how things are and how things look and, "Back when I was here, blah blah blah." When speaking with most of them I can tell that it all comes from not being kept informed of what's going on. A lot of the men are in a position to donate to the house so we can fix the things that need to be fixed, but that can't be done if they're left in the dark.

Paine tells us the ways we have to communicate with our community, such as social media, can also shoot us in the foot. Using low to no cost tools to measure your data can be difficult to keep track of who is in your community, which can damage your accountability and metrics. In this day and age nonprofits have to almost operate as profits to get donations. But again not knowing who your target audience is will damage your accountability.

Since I see this similarity now I want to take my position and work with the rest of EC, executive council, and work on our communication and relationship with our alumni. So in another words I'm going for position of the year this year.

Phinally!

After a four hour drive to Greensburg, PA with Chem, hanging out for and hour and a half at his place, and an eight hour Greyhound bus ride, that was of course off schedule, I can finally say that I made it back home! After that trip I feel that it's safe to say that I went to hell and back to get home, especially since I had to go through Pittsburgh. Now as much as I would love to talk about my hatred for Pittsburgh, that is a discussion for another day.

Let me tell you just how awful that trip was. The guy in front of me couldn't resist but to recline his chair all the way back, and not only did he ignore my brutal but kind request, he also would rock back and forth. The nerve of some people! There was also a woman who would frequently walk to the front of the bus just to ask the bus driver unneccesary questions. She would even hold conversations with other passengers and stand in the middle of the aisle. However, I must thank this woman, because when she was two people away from getting to me I pretended to be asleep, therefore causing me to fall asleep.

Now, I must enjoy this time home because if things fall into place I may not becoming back to the City of Brotherly Love for awhile, at least until 2014. So I must enjoy my time spent with all of my family and friends. I have to take advantage of forcing my mom to take me to my cheesesteak place, Jim's, which by the way delivers to out of state. Sadly the order has to be a minimum of $32, but if you and a group of people would want to digest a piece of heaven, let me know! I have to enjoy and take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way.

Hope you guys all do the same. Have a good break people!

Reputation

The other day when talking to Chem we were bouncing around ideas of how Sigep could expand our name in not only the ONU community but in the Ada community as well. By expanding our name, by helping others and doing positive things in the community, we are building our reputation in a positive way. And by building our reputation we in our community we are forming strong relationships with our community as well. After the conversation I couldn't help but notice the striking similarity to this weeks reading of Measure What Matters.

This week Paine talked about how important it is to build a solid and positive reputation with your public. The worst your reputation is the more likely you are to catch negativity, such as people knocking at your door wanting to shut you down or sue you. She also made a connection to Grunig and Dozier, from the democratic party, who made a statement stressing reputation:

"Communication with publics' before decisions are made is most effective in resolving issues and crises because it helps managers to make decisions that are less likely to produce consequences that publics make into issues and crises. If public relations staff does not communicate with its publics until an issue or crisis occurs,the chance of resolving the conflict is slim."

Having a good reputation and strong relationships gives a good back bone for if a crisis occurs. Your community becomes your support system, helping you in the event of a crisis. Similar to the SeaWorld situation. Remember,  it can take years to build a solid reputation but it can only seconds to destroy it.

Do the Creep

Okay, so has anyone else realized how creepy and annoying Facebook is getting? It's starting to remind me of that one family member, usually uncles, that no one is really fond of and everone has to keep an on at family togethers. Or maybe that's just my family, so try to put yourself in my shoes.

At first you could see who was online by seeing the green dot on your messenger list. Then came the ability to see how long ago they were online, but now things are out of hand. The other day when I was on the site on my laptop I could who was online and via what medium, mobile or web. So now the, "sorry I can only use Facebook on my computer" is no longer an option, but again that could be just me.

It also bothers me that people can now see that I saw their posts or message and also when. Again, another excuse is not out of the window further obligating me to respond to people I may not want to talk to to begin with at a faster pace, thanks for that Zuckerberg.

I'm now waiting on the day when people will not only see how many people view their page, but can also see who has and how many times each individual has done so. Soon after that you may start to see who viewed your posts and pictures,

whether the liked or commented on it or not.

I dont know how you guys feel, but Facebook just needs to calm down. Or go back to the way it used to be. Whichever is easier.

Don't Bite the Hand That Feeds You

One thing that stuck out to me in this week's reading of Measuring What Matters Paine talked about keeping a good relationship with your local community. As Paine said "Communities with which you have good relationships can defend you in crisis." With that she used the example of when the killer whale killed the trainer the at SeaWorld, PETA attempted a "Free the Whales" campaign on FaceBook against SeaWorld. However, thankfully for SeaWorld they established a solid relationship with their customers and their Facebook community so the campaign wasn't successful.

This reminded me of many personal situations. One specifically was my when I got in my first school fight in fourth grade. I didn't do too bad in the fight, and by that I mean I won by a land slide, and was had to meet with the Vice Principle with the other kid the next day. Before the meeting, a couple of people were pretty "anti-Darnell" wanting me to get the suspension, even though the fight wasn't my fault. But, just like in PR, in real life you will  hit crisis and the unexpected. However, I had a SeaWorld moment of my own, and thanks to my good reputation with the teachers and the majority of my peers I walked away clean and the other kid got the suspension.

If you do what your job correctly such as respond to your customers and community in real-time, keep them up to date, and deal with crisis in a swift and professional fashion you'll build a good relationship and reputation with them. That's how they can help you in crisis, if one person has an issue with you and tries to bring negative PR to your company, your community can come to your aid and it'll backfire on the one rebel. I think that is one of the most important things to take from this chapter.