Social Media Podcast #2 with ShareSigmaChi.com

This past September, I recorded a podcast with ShareSigmaChi.com discussing the Sigma Chi Fraternity’s social media efforts. Well, since the last one went so well, they were nice enough to invite me back for a follow up podcast on Sigma Chi’s latest social media efforts.

In the podcast we discussed what we like about Sigma Chi’s latest push into social media as well as pointing out areas where they can improve.

Here are some highlights of what we discussed this time around:

• Pros/cons of the official Sigma Chi Twitter account: @SigmaChi1855
• The good and the bad of the Sigma Chi Facebook application
• How Sigma Chi is utilizing their Facebook Fan Page

The podcast can be found here via iTunes. Running time: 31 minutes, 57 seconds (31:57)

I’m very pleased with Sigma Chi’s overall push thus far into social media. Although it is still early, I’m very excited to see what the Fraternity does in the future.

IHSV,

Brad Wellman
Initiated: April 2006
University of Minnesota
Alpha Sigma Chapter

Really?! THAT Is Your URL??

Okay, I just HAD to blog about this…

I happened to stumble across this news article from news station WPIX in New Jersey. It is an article about how recently, “The sudden death of four infants less than 4 months-old within an eight-day period in one New Jersey town has families and authorities baffled.”

While this is a tragic and very unusual story, as SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) affects about 1 out of every 1,000 babies born in the United States, what really caught my attention is the URL the news station used for this article:

Really?! Use the words “dead-babies” as your URL?! Can we please be a little more insensitive? Does anyone else find this a little offensive?

What do you think about this? Should a little more thought be put in to how organizations title their web pages?

Social Media Podcast with Share Sigma Chi

I recently recorded a podcast with Jacob Cook, founder of Share Sigma Chi. In it, we discussed Sigma Chi, their new website , what the fraternity is currently doing in the social media world, and what they could be doing differently.

Please have a listen, and let me know what you think

The podcast can be found here via iTunes. Running time: 1:04:03

Thanks again to Jacob Cook at Share Sigma Chi for this opportunity.

Help Me Eradicate Breast Cancer. It Won’t Cost You Anything.

Most people will at some point feel the impact of breast cancer. Whether it be you personally suffering from it, or a family member, loved one or friend who suffers from it, odds are that sooner or later, in one way or another, you will be affected by breast cancer.

I have had three loved ones suffer from breast cancer, one of whom lost the battle against it late last year. I know full well how scary it can be, and utterly powerless it can leave you feeling.

That is why I am on a mission to help bring an end to breast cancer.

I for one hate feeling guilty by not helping because I can’t afford to make sizable donations. But luckily, if you’re like me and would like to help but don’t have the means to do so (I for one am a poor college kid), there is still a way for you to help! Just click on the SocialVibe widget on the right hand side of my blog. I have been sponsored by TNT to make donations on your behalf. All you need to do is click and type a message, and TNT will make a donation to the Keep A Breast charity.

Its a great way to help a great cause, and best of all you don’t have to spend any of your own money.

Thanks!

License to Kill? Yes. License to Tweet? Absolutely Not.

By now you’ve probably heard that the U.S. military has banned the use of social networking sites like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook from being accessed by U.S. marines. The memo reads as such:

“THESE INTERNET SITES IN GENERAL ARE A PROVEN HAVEN FOR MALICIOUS ACTORS AND CONTENT AND ARE PARTICULARLY HIGH RISK DUE TO INFORMATION EXPOSURE, USER GENERATED CONTENT AND TARGETING BY ADVERSARIES. THE VERY NATURE OF SNS CREATES A LARGER ATTACK AND EXPLOITATION WINDOW, EXPOSES UNNECESSARY INFORMATION TO ADVERSARIES AND PROVIDES AN EASY CONDUIT FOR INFORMATION LEAKAGE THAT PUTS OPSEC, COMSEC, PERSONNEL AND THE MCEN AT AN ELEVATED RISK OF COMPROMISE. EXAMPLES OF INTERNET SNS SITES INCLUDE FACEBOOK, MYSPACE, AND TWITTER.”

While it is understandable from a defense standpoint that social networking sites (SNS) do provide a potential loophole in keeping classified information from getting into the wrong hands, the decision to ban the marines from SNS simply helps to solidify the lack of a cohesive policy for social media across the entire DoD. In a Danger Room article here, and similarly in a Stars and Stripes article here, it is apparent how the standards for each branch of the military when it comes to SNS are not so standard after all.

I’m not sure which is more troubling to me:

• That our armed men and women can be sent to fight for our freedom, and we trust them with a loaded weapon, but we apparently don’t trust them enough to not disclose classified information, or
• That social networking sites have become the easiest way for friends and families of our armed forces to stay in contact with each other, and I’m sure this blockade of SNS will surely not help troop morale, or
• That the DoD seems to have no discernible over-arching policy for social media across each branch of the armed forces

It seems to me that the DoD constantly plays the “security” angle as their trump card to end all arguments; that they only win through constant fear mongering.

What are your thoughts about this?