TUESDAY IS TEST DAY! Remember — I don’t give makeups. You write a term paper on the impact of Social Media if you miss tomorrow. (it’s in the syllabus). If you studied last Thursday’s post, you’ll do fine on the test. The test is 25 questions. Be on time.
And be thinking about our friends at Delta State.
If you don’t know what a crab crawl is, I really can’t show you. I look like a dog rubbing his butt on the carpet when I crab crawl. Thanks to really, really, really messed up shoulders, it’s my weakest exercise. Of course, I had to do it 40 yards this morning.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. But it does make you thankful it’s dark at that time of morning.
This weekend, I ran 12 miles. In a row. And nothing was chasing me. Well, yes, a few things were chasing me: Heart disease, diabetes, depression, some types of cancer — you get the point. I got up at 5:30 and hit the trail on Saturday. The cool weather was a gift after a brutal summer. I still managed to sweat a few buckets. I looked like I had been for a swim, not a run.
I title this series of blogs “The Advertures of an Awkward Athlete” because I am not pretty when I work out. I don’t look good in my outfits. My hair is a mess and I look like a Clydesdale. I probably don’t smell good, either. I really don’t care. I bumble, stumble and fumble. But I get out there.
The statistics are there in black and white. And the obituary page confirms them. I’m at an age where males like me just drop dead from heart attacks. I’ve had cancer once (melanoma) and don’t want it again. I am on the board of the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi and really don’t want to play around with Type 2 Diabetes. I don’t want to be a statistic.
So I crab crawl. I rub my butt across the turf and struggle. I run, I struggle and I get my heart rate elevated for at least an hour a day. Why? I do it for my boys. They need a dad in their life. And I’m proud to say, they are learning to love exercise, too.
People ask me if my kids draw. They don’t. They are amazingly talented young men — but not with my talent. And I couldn’t be more proud. Why? Because I am watching them chase their passions with guts and energy. And I’m watching them succeed. Oh, they’re all very creative. They just haven’t picked up a pencil. With them, it’s about music, engineering, math, writing, athletics and comedy. I couldn’t be more proud. Because it ain’t about me. I have my talent and I’ll continue to chase it. But part of my mission is to make sure my boys find theirs. That’s what being a parent is truly about.
We had our chairs in a circle, almost like they were Old West Wagons circled for our protection. Tuesday I had lectured from the podium — and I’ll admit, I bored myself. So today, I thought I’d try something different. I told my students they’d be teaching my class today.
That’s not what happened. But like good Social Media, it became a discussion. We talked about the information that will be on Tuesday’s test. And as we talked, it happened — it was a breakthrough of sorts.
I realized my students were me 24 years ago.
They’re Mass Comm students. Each has their own dream — one wants to be a PR expert. One a television performer. One a radio host. One wants to make documentary films. But what we all have in common is that crazy dream –– That gnawing itch that keeps us from being happy in a 9 to 5 job. I told them that at times I envied my friends who are doctors or accountants. Not because what they do is easy (I couldn’t do it) but because their (very difficult) path was laid out for them.
Our path is more nebulous.
My dream was a job where there were less than 200 positions in the country. Now, I probably could count the number of full-time editorial cartoonists on my digits. There was no path for me to follow. It was trial and lots of errors. I fumbled and stumbled. That’s why I worked as a janitor. But I moved and enjoyed great experiences. That’s why I worked in Texas and California.
But like a compass always finds North, I found my dream. And l like I told my students today, that dream is ethereal and always changing. People say you must always keep learning. I learned that you also much always be changing. And it has changed me for the better.
Chasing a dream will do that. And as their professor, I vow to help them find their path like I did so many years ago.
It was dark and rainy this morning, but I got my sleepy butt up and went and worked out. Why? Not only did I know someone would call me on my laziness, I also would have been pissed at myself for the rest of the day for sleeping in. But I’ve moved past outside accountability. Now, I answer to myself.
And I am a massive pain in the rear.
Speaking of pain in the rear, we worked really, really hard today. Coach Clark did his Clarkapalooza (what I call his solo beatdown). I think everyone’s favorite was the snake drill. I moved fast on it — because somewhere along the way I figured out if you really push it, you get done sooner. It’s funny what motivates you. We also did some Yoga with Coach Neil and an Indian Run. Bottom line? It was a good way to end a tough week.
We also weighed in. And guess what? Clydesdale here lost three pounds. My goal? 195 lbs. I have a long way to go before I get there (20 lbs.) but with the Mississippi Blues Marathon coming in 121 days, I had better get busy and start losing. At least I am headed in the right direction.
You ask, “Marshall, you look thin. Why do you want to lose 20 more pounds?”
Hauling ass is not a good thing when you are running a marathon. The less ass you have, the less you have to haul.
And I’ll look better in a two-piece. I’m not accountable for that image burned in your brain, though.
Have a great day. Eat healthy and get moving!
The mission of this class is to study the world of social media, to build a strong personal brand, to learn to use the different platforms effectively and to avoid ethical disasters that can instantly blow up the strongest brands. We’ve studied how social media has affected a shooting, getting information out about a potential active shooter and politics. We’ve also began to read the book Platform by Michael Hyatt. We’re learning that the true secret to building an effective social media presence is to have amazing content and engagement.
Class notes.
But even by one recent estimate from Borrell Associates, 9.5 percent of political media budgets could go towards digital media — a total of $1 billion.”
From Platform by Michael Hyatt. Chapter One: Create a Compelling Product (Content).
You are Not So Smart — A blog by David McRaney From Hattiesburg. Describes ways your brain is deluding you. http://youarenotsosmart.com
Think “what would make this really cool?”
Chapter Two: Bake in the Wow.
Chapter Three: Platform Michael Hyatt
Exceed audience expectations. Create content to meet your audience’s expectations and needs. Uses the example of Spiderman:Turn off the Dark — a show on Broadway.
What does meeting them look like?
There’s plenty of talk about freedom on my social interwebs. People are mightily concerned that Group A or Group B is out to steal their freedom. But the one thief that never gets much mention is the thief that looks you in the mirror when you brush your teeth. I know. I came face to face with that thief this morning. He tried to pin me down and keep me in bed when my alarm went off at 3:49.
That thief, of course, is me.
Yesterday, someone said, “I wish I was in shape.”
I said, “You can be if you chose to be.”
I know first hand. Three years ago, I weighed 50 lbs. more than I do right now. I was winded when I walked and was the poster child for a heart attack. My waist was 41 inches and my muscles atrophied.
And you want to know the really sad thing? I had run a marathon just a year before.
I had gone from 195 lbs. to 248 lbs. in 12 months. Why? I gave up mastery of myself.
No, I am not talking about the Seinfeld “Master of My Domain” — thats a blog I will never write. I’m talking about how to achieve true freedom: Self discipline.
You are the sum of your choices. If you eat poorly, make bad health decisions and are disorganized, you will be a slave to your bad habits. If you only choose what makes you feel good, you won’t have the training when things get really bad.
Today’s workout was a beast. And I’m exhausted. But I got up and pushed myself. I made a choice that will make me healthier.
I overcame the person who wanted to steal that from me. I overcame myself.
That’s true freedom.
It you came up and poked me in the tit right this moment, I’d crumple to the ground. I’m sore. Very sore. As I like to tell people, I am doing acid — lactic acid. Doing a bootcamp at 5 a.m. will do that to you. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I like to look for meaning in strange places. I usually get some pretty hefty life lessons out of my morning workouts. Our coach, Paul Lacoste, likes to say “it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.” Or as Paul Thorn says, “Everyone looks good at the starting line.” For me, this morning was about the importance of putting in the effort. To make the most out of my time on the field.
I’ve done the PLS bootcamp 10 times. When I push myself hard, I see amazing results. When I cut corners, not so much.
See the metaphor? It’s not just a workout routine where effort matters. It’s your job. Your marriage. Your health. Your kids. Your friends. Your life.
You get out of life what you put in it.
Whatever you do, throw your heart into it. And you will be amazed at what you receive in return.
I got to run. Not as in “to run.” I need to go teach a class. I had this same conversation with my son this morning. I’ll have it with my students, too.
You get out of life what you put in it.
Just don’t poke me in the tit.
Did the NFL diss Tom Brady on Social Media? from USA Today
“Innocent oversight or direct shot? You be the judge.
On Sunday night, the NFL’s official Twitter account posted a photo about possible quarterbacks who could carry their team to Super Bowl 50 this season.”
Guess who was left off.
WWE star Kevin Owens is destroying John Cena fans on Twitter Owens doesn’t just run smack in the ring. He also does it using Social Media.
How Social Media is changing elections.
How Social Media is ruining politics. From Politico
If traditional print and broadcast media required candidates to be nouns—stable, coherent figures—social media pushes them to be verbs, engines of activity.
“Twice before in the last hundred years a new medium has transformed elections. In the 1920s, radio disembodied candidates, reducing them to voices. It also made national campaigns far more intimate. Politicians, used to bellowing at fairgrounds and train depots, found themselves talking to families in their homes. The blustery rhetoric that stirred big, partisan crowds came off as shrill and off-putting when piped into a living room or a kitchen. Gathered around their wireless sets, the public wanted an avuncular statesman, not a firebrand. With Franklin Roosevelt, master of the soothing fireside chat, the new medium found its ideal messenger.
In the 1960s, television gave candidates their bodies back, at least in two dimensions. With its jumpy cuts and pitiless close-ups, TV placed a stress on sound bites, good teeth and an easy manner. Image became everything, as the line between politician and celebrity blurred. John Kennedy was the first successful candidate of the TV era, but it was Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton who perfected the form. Born actors, they could project a down-home demeanor while also seeming bigger than life.
Today, with the public looking to smartphones for news and entertainment, we seem to be at the start of the third big technological makeover of modern electioneering. The presidential campaign is becoming just another social-media stream, its swift and shallow current intertwining with all the other streams that flow through people’s devices. This shift is changing the way politicians communicate with voters, altering the tone and content of political speech. But it’s doing more than that. It’s changing what the country wants and expects from its would-be leaders.
What’s important now is not so much image as personality. But, as the Trump phenomenon reveals, it’s only a particular kind of personality that works—one that’s big enough to grab the attention of the perpetually distracted but small enough to fit neatly into a thousand tiny media containers. It might best be described as a Snapchat personality. It bursts into focus at regular intervals without ever demanding steady concentration.”
Social media favors the bitty over the meaty, the cutting over the considered. It also prizes emotionalism over reason. The more visceral the message, the more quickly it circulates and the longer it holds the darting public eye. In something of a return to the pre-radio days, the fiery populist now seems more desirable, more worthy of attention, than the cool wonk.
Social Media ready to cash in on the 2016 Election
President Obama revolutionized the use of Social Media in 2008. In fact, it is credited with his overwhelming election and reelection — his ability to reach out to grassroots groups and fundraise on the micro and macro level. Television is the king of election advertising. But Social Media is quickly rising because of the ability to focus the message to tailored groups.
“While billions will be spent on political advertising over the next year, television remains the prime mover and budgets for digital ads trail traditional media.
But even by one recent estimate from Borrell Associates, 9.5 percent of political media budgets could go towards digital media — a total of $1 billion.”
“Observers predict platforms like Facebook will remain dominant in 2016 with a user base that makes up nearly three quarters of online adults in the United States. And search advertising will remain key.
Insurgent companies like Snapchat though are catching advertising buzz with offerings geared specifically to young people.”
One factor makes Facebook distinctive in the race for political ad dollars: its massive audience. The company says it can offer campaigns the ability to reach a broad swath of the American public — around 190 million people in the country use the platform every month — and hone in on particular groups of voters.
Operatives can target ads to potential voters who are interested in certain issues, like gun control or the economy, or based on demographic characteristics.
Facebook has a robust set of data about its users. Users tell the platform about their likes and dislikes and are controversially required by the social network to keep the name they “use in real life.”
Google has an election team of 10 to 12 who are pushing presidential campaigns to adopt the advertising tools that made the search engine a multi-billion dollar powerhouse.
Those include the three traditional drivers of its advertising revenue — sponsored links in Google searches, YouTube video advertising and so-called programmatic advertising, where the tech company provides ads to millions of online publishers like The New York Times or HGTV that can be targeted for specific content.
Twitter has positioned itself as the destination for campaigns looking to engage in real time — a reputation bolstered by the numerous political operatives and reporters who use the platform obsessively.
The primary vehicle for advertising on Twitter is through promoted tweets, or messages that a campaign or company pays to place in the feeds of certain users. Campaigns can also pay to promote hashtags.
SNAPCHAT
“Snapchat is still in its advertising infancy compared to more established social media companies and 2016 will be the first election cycle to test out political ads on the platform.
Snapchat is pitching its video ads — no longer than 10 seconds — as more analogous to traditional TV and targeted at young voters who have cut the cord.
The company says its ads are geared towards persuading voters to align with a candidate. One criticism is that its videos, unlike some digital ads, do now allow people to click through to reach a candidate’s website where they would be encouraged to donate or volunteer.
Besides video ads, candidates can also purchase filters touting their campaign, which users can add to their photos and videos. The company recently hired Rob Saliterman to lead political ad sales. He previously helped lead the politics team at Google and served in the George W. Bush administration.
Snapchat touts nearly 100 million people using the platform daily, a sizable number, but one dwarfed by Facebook’s 1 billion daily users.
And campaigns are limited in who they can target on the platform. Snapchat is almost exclusively used by people under the age of 34, and more than a quarter of users are younger than 18 and ineligible to vote.”
A few Politicians to follow on Twitter:
The Democrats: @TheDemocrats 409K followers
The Republicans: @GOP 386K followers
Mississippi Democrats: @msdemocrats 2,980 followers
Mississippi Republicans: @MSGOP 5,965 followers
Donald Trump: @realDonaldTrump 4.08M followers There is nothing tradition (or at times rational) about how Donald Trump runs his Twitter feed or his campaign. It’s full of insults and boasts — a constant stream of self promotion. But it works in the sense that it gets attention for Donald Trump. And that’s what he wants most of all.
Dr. Ben Carson @RealBenCarson 559K followers. Dr. Ben Carson is a neurosurgeon who speaks softly but is carrying a big stick in the polls. His Twitter Feed is a more traditional mix of RT’s, news about the candidate and other Ben Carson policy statements.
Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton 4.18M followers. Tweets she actually writes are followed with a “-H.”
Bernie Sanders @SenSanders 641K followers. Tweets he writes end with “-B.” Otherwise it is staffer driven.
President Barack Obama @POTUS 3.96M followers. This is the account that President Obama actually writes on. He has taken to Social Media recently to promote his global warming initiative and his trip to Alaska. He actually took the pictures that he posted on Instagram.
Jeb Bush @JebBush 228K followers
Governor Phil Bryant @PhilBryantMS 22.8K followers.
Sen. Chris McDaniel @senatormcdaniel 6,229 followers.
Rep. Bennie Thompson @BennieGThompson 4,839 followers.
Many of you who knew me growing up know my dad, Dave Ramsey. Yes, he’s who the one on the radio is named for (Radio Dave is my first cousin). Dad owned a car garage for many years and gave a lot to our Sprayberry High School community. He was funny, grumpy and well, much like me. I won’t say he was perfect — only one human has been — but he was a perfect dad for me. Because even with his faults, I knew he loved me.
As many of you know, Dad has dementia. I remember when he didn’t know me last November (thankfully the Aricept cleared that up for now) But that was a punch in the stomach.
I know the time is coming. I know I’ll see him and he won’t know me.
The one given I’ve had in my life is that I know my dad loves me. He loves his kids.
I don’t get to see him as much as I’d like because we live seven hours apart. And I pray he does know me when I walk in the door the next time. But even he doesn’t, I will take his love for me and pay it forward to my boys. Because learning to love your children is the greatest gift he gave me. And loving my family will be my thank you note to him.
