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    Safe Social Media: Your Blog

    Photo by iowa_spirit_walker
    Photo by iowa_spirit_walker

    For the final installment of the Safe Social Media Series, I’m going to talk about our blogs. As you can tell, my blog is an amalgamation of everything I post/share on the Internet. My shared links and Twitter feed are to the right and I link to my more popular social networks, on top of writing articles on tech, politics, and whatever else catches my interest. You’re blog gives you the most control over your online presence, but it’s also the most insightful into who you are. For that reason, it takes the most upkeep.

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    Safe Social Media: Facebook

    Facebook LogoTo continue the Safe Social Media Series, today I’ll be talking about Facebook. Facebook’s ever changing platform caters to millions of people worldwide, is the 3rd most used site (behind Google and Yahoo!), is the number one social networking site in users and traffic, and is the number one place to share photos. Facebook connects people. Therefore, where Twitter is more about using your own discretion in keeping a good reputation, Facebook takes a bit more work.

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    Safe Social Media Series

    Photo by iowa_spirit_walker
    Photo by iowa_spirit_walker
    Inspired by this article on CNN, I’ll be doing a four part series about security and social media. The topics will all revolve around the dos and donts of your social media profiles- specifically for students and employees. I’ll be covering proper management of Twitter, Facebook, and your own blog. I’ll wrap up with some miscellaneous sites and practices.

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    The 7 Day Work Week

    It used to be the case that Sunday truly was a day of rest. Shops closed, people went to church, had an early dinner, and called it a day. Then stores started to stay open on Sundays. The hours got longer. Now some places are open 24 hours, 5 days a week. Some 24/7. It used to be the case that once you left the office for the day, you were done working. How could you work? All your stuff was at the office. How would anyone reach you? Now we have cell phones, IM, email on our phones; we are reachable all the time. “Open” 24/7. And that’s what people expect now. Our culture is moving towards a 24/7 work mentality to be more productive, and make more money. That needs to change.

    It’s more coincidence than anything that I started to  have these thoughts before, but on the same day that, I started reading The Four Hour Work Week. I’m just into it, and this post is not a book review, but Ferriss does talk early on about some of the stuff that spurred these thoughts. I wrote a while back about not responding to email right away. It’s not to be rude, but to set a precedent and draw some boundaries. If people think you are always available, they will expect you to be on call all the time. This isn’t healthy for you or them. And it’s not just with email.

    I’ve had clients call me at midnight because they ‘needed’ to talk to me. I get calls on the weekend, and people who want to schedule meetings on Sundays. And it’s not that I’m lazy that I don’t want to do that; people can’t work all the time. It’s not physically or mentally healthy. So how do we solve this problem?

    Don’t be afraid to draw those boundaries. Tell your clients or co-workers that you’re only available during business hours. Don’t answer business email on the weekend. Take the weekends for yourself. I took the 4th of July weekend completely off. From Friday to Sunday I did no work- I even put up an email auto-response. It was the first time in a long time I did that because I have the same mentality others do- I work a lot. Usually I take the weekends for side projects or small rush jobs I want to get out of the way. But it’s that mentality that causes a lot of people to burn out hard and fast.

    Maybe it’s that we are in front of a computer anyway, or we think, “Well I’m not doing anything now,” that we take that call or work on that project. But we don’t have to produce all the time. It’s ok to do nothing. Having a lazy day is perfectly acceptable, and in some cases, needed. So far I like The Four Hour Work Week because Ferriss talks about how to be more productive in less time, and how to take time for yourself. I’ll post more about it as I read it, but remember this: Working 24/7 is NOT a good mentality. I think we should remember the days when Sunday really was a day of rest.

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    On the Personal Side of Things

    It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here or on Freelancing the Net. In my defense I’ve been extremely busy, but that is all coming to a head on Wednesday. This semester, my final collegiate semester, has been by far the most challenging. All 9 of my credits have challenged me; my thesis by far the biggest challenge. I will come up with a post on that as well as post my final presentation, which explains what I did. However, I’ve done/am still doing significant things in my other two classes, and may post on them too.

    Then there is the business plan competition. A couple of friends and I entered this contest in hopes of winning funding to start a business and we took 3rd place. We are incredibly excited and have already begun work on setting up the business, our new office space, and are courting clients. There’s a good chance this blog will change speeds after I graduate to talk about what I am going through in relation to that.

    So there is a quick update. Keep your eyes open for a post on my thesis, coming hopefully soon.

  • Do or Do Not. There is no Try.

    That is one of my favorite quotes (and not just because it’s in Star Wars, or Yoda said it). It has a lot of meaning to me. And this quote, I suppose, is the theme of my Year in Review post. In the past I’ve said, “This is a benchmark year, blah blah blah,” and then listed things of note that happened to me that year. 2007 was particularly good. But 2008 I feel, was a year of almosts.

    I almost signed that big client or launched that project. I almost got an A, I almost met that goal, I almost said what I really wanted to say. This really goes against the quote that is the thesis of this post, and one I’ve been trying to live by since high school. To me, almost is trying and failing. So for 2009, I’m going to do or do not. I’ve set a business plan for my business and it will be a good year. I just need to follow through instead of just thinking about it or saying I’m too busy. I’ve also set some personal goals for myself, which I will also follow through with.

    So I guess the quote is also my New Year’s resolution. Here’s to 2009. I want to leave you with another 2008 Year in Review post I just read over at SimpleBits. It’s very pithy, to the point, and also holds true for me.