Time Spent in the "Real World"

 Happy Sunday, everyone!

As I sit here after 11 PM on Sunday night, I realized I only posted two blog entries this week. I'll be honest, the end of the month is crazy for me, and while I was very happy to make a couple posts at the beginning of the week, I did not have the time no energy to engage here as much as I would have liked to.

I would like to check in and say a quick thank you to everyone who has read and commented so far. I am thoroughly enjoying the community we are building outside of Canvas, and I am so excited to see where this journey takes us as the weeks progress. I look forward to reading more of your blogs and engaging with you on your platforms next week after things calm back down.

I wound up working a half day today (alas, hotels never close, so I can go in at 7 AM on a Sunday and it's not that unusual), but afterward I had the opportunity to brunch with some of my former coworkers at a restaurant I had never been to. So while most of my posts so far have involved building friendships on social media, I'm so glad I had an opportunity to unplug for a bit and enjoy a sunny afternoon with friends. I also love trying new restaurants, or supporting pop-ups from small businesses and local vendors. 

Now that the world is opening back up post-COVID, it's so refreshing to do simple things like sit inside a restaurant with your friends -- and feel safe and comfortable doing it! 

How do you feel about businesses reopening by you? Do you feel safe interacting with people IRL again, or would you prefer to maintain distance a little longer? This is such an uncertain time, and obviously there are no right or wrong answers, but it's nice to have a platform where we can gauge each other's thoughts.

                                                                           -Ello

Encouragement from the Twitterverse

 Hey y'all, happy Tuesday!

I just wanted to share a snip of a tweet I saw last week that really resonated with me. I don't even follow @veekster, but her tweet has been liked and re-shared all over twitter AND other platforms (I originally saw it on IG).

Screenshot of @veekster's tweet from 5/19/21 

I thought this tied really well to my last few tweets about reaching out to accounts I follow. It's really easy to think that "influencers" are major figures, or that popular accounts are run by huge teams of people. However, one important idea of produsage is that we as individuals are often contributing knowledge, skills, and content to our online communities. That account you follow could be a labor of love by one person trying to make their own corner of the world a little bit better, and your comment or show of support could really boost their confidence and reinforce why they started posting in the first place.

This shouldn't even need to apply exclusively to accounts with big followings -- Just take a moment to tell someone in your life you appreciate them! You never know how much someone needs to hear it.

                                                                  

                                                                          -Ello 

Social Media vs. Productivity at Work

 Happy Monday, everyone!

Just curious: how many of you check your social media at work? Obviously the work I am paid to do [usually] comes first, and of course there are busy days where I barely have a chance to stretch my legs and refill my water bottle, let alone see what's going on in the interwebs...

However, I have begun to recognize that taking a little social media break during the day is just as beneficial for my mental health as a walk around the block on my lunch break (which unfortunately probably won't happen as often as the summer heat starts to hit us). Taking a few minutes to check in on friends, find a funny meme, or even look at my "on this day" posts gives me an opportunity to reset and prepare to knock the next task off my to-do list.

Social media is even an aspect of the job -- while I sadly do not manage it, the hotel I work at has an Instagram account, and we're constantly interacting with guests and local influencers. It's amazing to me that someone gets paid to manage social media for a company -- that barely existed 10 years ago, but it has certainly gained momentum since then (and I'm sure Dr. Dennen has some amazing insight on the trends she's observed in that time). Even if the rest of us aren't managing IG or tweeting for a company, we're still using platforms to connect with our coworkers. My hotel uses Microsoft Teams, so staff can instant message, host virtual meetings, and share projects during the day. This makes it so much quicker than drafting an e-mail and awaiting a reply, and allows for a little more casual conversation and banter that makes it easier to build relationships at works. Teams even incorporates emojis and surprisingly timely and relevant gifs to share!

Anyway, I should head back to work -- and so should you! Leave a comment if you have had similar experiences using social media and/or communication platforms at work!

                                                                     -Ello

Blurring the Line between Online and Real Friendships

 As a follow-up to my earlier post regarding my Instagram friendship with @soupbelly_atl, I wanted to expand on the significance of forming friendships with people through online platforms.

While I argue that I'm an introvert (though people love to argue with me that I, in fact, am not), I can be social when I want to. This can especially manifest itself when interacting in online platforms like twitter and Instagram. I already discussed my relationship to twitter last week, so let's look a little at IG...

I am not one to follow someone for the sake of it. When I first join Instagram back in 2012, I made it a point to not follow everyone I knew just because I knew them -- Facebook was a place to keep in touch, but Instagram was to engage with accounts I wanted to see. For the most part, I have stuck to that, though I have also let a few accounts in as a way to support small businesses or a few online personalities I admire. However, I still strive not to remain too passive in my consumption of these accounts.

Like most IG users, I am no stranger to the "like" button, and I will make a comment if I feel I have something to say (an occasional snarky comment, perhaps? or maybe a show of support, or an exclamation that a meal looks good or I wish I were on the same vacation). But what I really love is when I can engage with the account in a more personal way. I love to reach out to the author (that's how I'll refer to the account creator moving forward) through DMs (or direct messages to the uninitiated) to show my support, admiration, etc for something they post. I will do this for anyone, whether it's someone I already knew, or even if it's a total stranger. For me, the goal is to create a meaningful connection, to make a friend I might otherwise never meet. This doesn't always work -- sometimes authors receive dozens, maybe hundreds (or more) similar messages, and they might be overwhelmed; or, they might not be interested in replying to every random person who reaches out. However, there are times when you might surprise yourself!

Sometime last year, I started following an account called @defunctfashion to indulge in my enjoyment of fashion and culture. I don't even remember what I said at the time, but I somehow sparked a conversation with the author that drifted from the account itself to my time in Tallahassee...and eventually found out he was an FSU alum! The author lives in Colorado and is a fashion historian who runs a popular account with 70k followers -- what are the odds that this mostly anonymous person and I were actually at FSU close to the same time?!?! 

In another instance, one of my yoga instructors recently started following me. Again, one of us commented on something familiar we recognized in the other's Instagram story, which led to a conversation that we were both Resident Assistants as FSU (though I had long graduated by the time she started). So not only did I respect and appreciate her for being my instructor and aiding in my wellness journey, but I also knew another 'Nole in ATL!

I'm sure I'm not the only one with stories like this (and I even have more to share someday), and I'd love to hear from people who have had made friendships through social media!

Instagram Friendships and Using Platforms for Social Justice

 Earlier this week, someone I follow on Instagram shared an episode of a podcast she had recently been invited to speak on. While I'm not here to advertise the podcast specifically (though it is well-worth a listen and I'm happy to recommend the ep I listened to), I wanted to share how I came to listen to it in the first place.

Candy Hom, aka @soupbelly_atl is an Atlanta-area blogger who I started following a few years ago when I discovered a network of very active ATL foodie accounts (I'm always looking for restaurant recs!). While I do not really know Candy -- we do not meet up for lunch, and I probably won't be invited to her daughters' birthday parties -- we have developed a sort of friendship through Instagram. That, to me, is what social media is about -- taking the opportunity to form meaningful connections with people you might not otherwise have an opportunity to meet IRL. 

Anyway, this podcast episode came out last week, and I learned so much about Candy, her life, the purpose of her blog, and what she does on- and offline to support social causes she cares about. Specifically, she uses her platform to address two causes: using mutual aid (in the form of cooking meals and dropping them off around town as part of the free99fridge program) to support people experiencing homelessness, and uplifting the AAPI community in Atlanta through support of Asian-owned businesses and speaking out against Asian hate crimes. It was amazing to have the opportunity to actually hear how she got involved with  both issues, as well as how she uses her platform to speak up.  

Food is such a powerful symbol of our cultural and personal identities, and Candy is using her love of food and pride in her heritage to speak out against hate and support the local community.

Photo credit: The Food that Binds Podcast

Privacy Online

My mother passed away a little over a decade ago. The only reason I bring this up is because I don't think she would be able to handle the amount of personal information that is shared online today. We rarely discussed my budding "social media" (the term hadn't even been widely adopted) presence in high school and early college, but there were a few times where she'd approach me -- probably after reading an article or seeing a news segment about Facebook or Myspace-- telling me that she knew I had these accounts and how she hoped I wasn't sharing any information about myself. To her, the internet meant easy access to peoples' identities, and rampant fraud. meanwhile, I was posting song lyrics and telling people to get cotton candy in the student union. Besides identity theft, I'm sure she feared that something I posted could impact my ability to find a job after graduating. 

I was never really the type of kid to post things anyone would consider incriminating (frankly, I didn't really do anything that would be considered incriminating either!) on the contrary, I consider myself a fairly private person; I don't always tell everyone what's going on in my head, and I often keep my opinions to myself when among people I do not know well. However, I strangely do enjoy sharing information online. From my college days through the present, I have always enjoyed and appreciated being a resource for others. To me, that means leading by example, which in this realm mostly means social things like attending events, or museums, or even protests -- anything where I am highlighting somewhere positive that I feel other people can be a part of. I feel I am at by best when I am supporting others publicly, and giving them an opportunity to receive exposure. 

I am by no means an "influencer;" my meager reach primarily touches people I already know. But there's something incredibly validating when someone tells you they tried a restaurant because you tagged it in a story, or when your boss tells someone else at work that you're the person to ask about things to see or do in town. It sounds silly (and looks ridiculous here in writing), but that's simply the "social" part about social media that I appreciate the most. Having an outlet to express your thoughts and opinions, and to share those with others, can be incredibly cathartic. However, it's still important to remember that all of those littler interactions -- geotags, live updates on your whereabouts, and your affiliations with organizations and people -- are ultimately personal information that ties back to you.

Twitter Fan From Way Back

 This week, Vanessa posted in the official EME6414 Blog about comment responses from people regarding twitter. Incidentally, while I don't use it as often as I used to, I am a fan of this particular platform. 

I first created my twitter account in 2009 as part of a campaign tool for FSU's student government election season. The organization I was associated with decided that we should use twitter to reach out to the student body to ensure our candidates were elected into office. I did what I was told and created the account, but after we won the elections I had a difficult time determining how this form of media fit into my life. 

I was still very active on Facebook, and that platform had only just expanded membership to anyone, as opposed to only students with a valid .edu e-mail address like when I joined in 2006. While I was not a huge fan of the increased users, I did like the enhanced usage of status updates, and the incorporation of "likes." As a student leader, I was constantly updating my Facebook status, alerting friends, residents, and other peers of events going on around campus. As a way of interacting with others, I would like other peoples' posts as a show of support -- I was even given a superlative at an end-of-year banquet awarding me "Most Likely to Like Your Facebook Status," which I accepted as a high honor!

As I completed my degree and went on to join the workforce, I found that I had fewer status updates to contribute to Facebook -- after all, I was no longer part of campus life. However, the spirit of the status update, or the stream-of-consciousness flow of thoughts and ideas captured in small posts, found new meaning on twitter. There, I was able to post what wanted and ineract with people outside of my immediate community. I mostly followed friends from college, but I found that I could also follow humor accounts, authors, or even shows I enjoyed. I learned about "hashtags," and how incorporating one into a post made it viewable outside of my circle. I became obsessed with live-tweeting, or keeping a running commentary of awards shows, sporting events, or live specials. My interactions also awarded me free perks, such as a gift box of branded items from hostel finding travel site hostelworld.com after I used them for a trip and tweeted about my experience, or vouchers for free pierogies after the company Mrs. T's used my tweet during a special broadcast.

Today, I use twitter less than I used to -- I don't have cable, so I don't live-tweet, and I prefer to interact with my peers on Instagram. However, I recently returned to it to use it as a resource. There are podcasts I started listening to at the beginning of the year who focus on special issues, and I have used twitter as a jumping-off point to learn more about the particular issues, follow guests who have been interviewed, and educate myself. I appreciate that all of these resources are in one place, and easily accessible on social media; however, I can also keep them separate from my other social media accounts.

Welcome to my Blog!

Greetings! My nickname is Ello, and I am in my third semester of the ISLT Master's program at The Florida State University. This will be my second degree from FSU, and I hope to apply the skills learned through this program to encouraging cross-training among hospitality employees, especially within hotel operations.

I am so excited to see where this particular semester takes us -- I am fairly active on social media in my personal life, and I'm very interested to see how I can transfer that into the world of instruction. I have also always wanted to start a blog, but could never quite figure out what to focus on -- for the next twelve weeks, I at least know that my posts will revolve around academia, trends in social media, and how both apply to my life and the lives of those in the communities with whom I interact.

Then who knows -- perhaps I'll be inspired to continue writing on this platform! either way, I look forward to interacting with you here and through our other platforms. Please feel free to leave a comment and introduce yourself.

To show you how long I've been a 'Nole, here's a picture of me with my parents during Parents' Weekend 2006