SchwartzBlog

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Wow. It’s been almost 6 weeks since my last post. So what have I been up to? Not what I’m used to. Since midterms ended I have learned the practice of low stress. It’s not that I don’t do anything, but I simply don’t do anything I don’t want to do.

February then was pretty uneventful. That’s not to say that I didn’t have a lot of fun. Skiing, Trumpet, & just meeting new people. Uneventful, but I loved it.

This past monday I was invited to be part of a panel as part of a PTA meeting. The topic was students and social media, and I guess they thought I knew a little about that.

So I made a powerpoint with a few videos, some snapshots of my Facebook profile and others, and gave parents some suggestions on how to ease their kids into social media.

here is what I covered (in short):

Today your “Digital Identity” is more important then ever. Not only is everything you do public, but it is saved. And you never know when something you post today is going to creep back in the future.

Facebook is like a megaphone. It makes the good things you do better and the bad things you do worse.

As a parent, it’s important to be a part of the experience. Kids need to understand that while social media is a great tool, it needs to be used wisely.

What I also told them was that it needs to be a mutual experience. If a parent tries to put major restrictions on their children when it comes to social media, that kid is just going to find a way around it. It isn’t rocket science. If your parent has access to your Facebook profile, you make a new Facebook profile. If your parents put locks on your computer, you use your friends computer. All in all, parents cannot completely control internet access anymore. So if they want to be a part in it at all, they need to be more of a guide and less of a governor.

I gave them my checklist of what I think about before I post things online:

Would my mother have a heart attack if she saw what I posted online?

Would my girlfriend have a heart attack if she saw what I posted online?

Would my boss have a heart attack if he saw what I posted online?

Would Carnegie Mellon have a heart attack if they saw what I posted online?

Yea I know an entire school can’t have a heart attack. Just go with it.

In summary, I had a blast. but it wasn’t because I got to talk about Facebook. It’s because I got to talk.

I love public speaking. I love the idea that in a few minutes I can communicate so much to such a large group of people without missing a beat. And believe me, I don’t miss a beat.

That’s one of the reasons I decided to go into Information Systems. I love technology, but I can’t spend my life behind a desk. I need to be out there, I need to have that ability to change the minds of others.

BTW, after the presentation, a few parents came up to me and asked if they could pay me to come talk to their kids about Facebook. I told them I’d have to look at my schedule…

But that’s not even the best part. The next day I was exchanging emails with Tom Krieglstein. If you don’t know who that is, get a life.

Tom is a social media guru and public speaking guru. You can see why I would want to be exchanging emails with someone like that. So anyway he says he is doing an event at a nearby high school next week and he invited me to join him. Only problem is I’d have to miss school.

I walked upstairs to my parents office and said:

“Guys, I would never ask you this before I got into college. Next friday i’m skipping school to watch Tom give a presentation on social media. I’m not asking”

and they said

“You’re going to make up everything you miss. We’re not asking”

end of conversation.

I sent that transcript to Tom and he put it on his blog. Here’s the link.

So yea that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve got a few more posts in draft mode so keep tuning in and as always, thanks for reading…