Klout and the Curious Case of Social Media Engagement

Oh Klout, you fickle tool you, made for measuring one's total influence on social media. I recently discovered you and thought it would be cool to see what my score was. Little did I know I would become overly intrigued by your premise and the value of your numbers.

I have a moderare case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), I'll admit it. This tool doesn't help with my growing overall obsession with connectedness. Now I can see how my engagement score is going up or down based on what I'm putting out there. At best, it is helping me stay faithful to tweeting, posting, and sharing anything and everything I think others will find useful and relevant. At worst, it is making me hyper critical of what I am posting and how often I'm putting out posts, so it may not be all that bad. I just know I get frustrated when my score doesn't go up for weeks at a time. It makes me feel as though I'm doing something "wrong" on social media and I need to do "better". 

My dilemma is if I should be putting a lot of stock into this single number that is supposed to showcase my entire online presence's engagement with my networks. Perhaps I should just take it for what it's worth as a simple tool for a complex aggregation and try to do the best I can with it. 

How do you all feel about Klout? Do you even use it?

Need Some Fresh, Positive Energy? Follow These Folks!

Happy Saturday, everyone! Just a brief post I've been wanting to do to continue to share what I'm into in hopes of making the world a little brighter. Here is a taste of some great people who are putting out great vibes daily. Most of them have links on their Twitter pages to their own sites with a plethora of more content but what I really enjoy is that by following them, I always get more than enough positivity in my news feed to keep me feeling optimistic and ready to tackle any challenges. Whether that is in the form of inspirational quotes, fascinating stories, motivational tips, or explorations of the human experience, there is something for everyone coming out of these fine folks' pages.

Positively Positive (@PositivelyPositive)

Brene Brown (@BreneBrown)

Happier (@happier)

The Good Life (@GMPGoodLife)

Highrise Habits (@HR_Habits)

Share any more pages you like in the comments! Enjoy!

Life Work Balances Podcast Episode!

Here is the fun episode I did recently for Conor McLaughlin's excellent Life Work Balances podcast. It was a really fun time and since I appreciate the podcast format, it was a cool experience to do one and help in my own way. Check it out and let me know what you think of it! Grad Student Bonus Episode: Dustin Ramsdell.

#Me: Instagram Narcissism And The Scourge Of The Selfie

I found this article a while ago but I was recently talking about the phenomenon. It gives a nice, brief overview of the "selfie" revolution that I feel like began on MySpace back in the day and has blown up recently with Instagram and the availability of smartphones. I enjoy the following quote which embodies how I see it and hope it can be used:

"Rather than being bombarded with those creations… we can look through our Instagram feed and see images of real people – with beautiful diversity."

Just some food for thought!

Five Fun, Educational, and Quirky YouTube Picks

Good day to you reader.

I thought I start my blog off with something I do every day that I've found to be a pleasurable and positive endeavor lately and that is learning through YouTube. I follow a few different channels, some of which I'm sure many of you already know about but I feel like I should at least recognize them anyway. I see YouTube as the epitome of new media right now. It's open to all to upload content and to view that content. The high quality stuff also has a way of making itself known and the site as a whole has shaped the way I get and share news, entertain myself, as well as connect with others since anything that goes "viral" usually seems to start on YouTube. So here are some of my top picks for channels who are consistently pleasing me with their moving pictures:

1. SourceFed

This channel is a great, fast-paced, fun news channel. They talk about anything and everything from Mormon Samurais to political developments around the world. Their hosts are engaging and quirky and I find myself always checking back for the next new story. They upload multiple videos daily and their always seeming to be expanding and improving. The channel was created by popular YouTube personality Philip DeFranco (who appears occasionally) and I see them doing great things in the future.

2. The Nerdist

I'll just start off by saying I am a big fan of all things Chris Hardwick (the creator of Nerdist Industries). He has become more of a household name recently with his stint on The Talking Dead but he has been a geek icon for a few years now. His channel has a plethora of fresh, original, nerdy content and I can't recommend it highly enough. Appearances by Matt Smith, Neil Patrick Harris, Bill Nye, Neil Degrasse Tyson, and other notable celebrities (especially on his show All-Star Celebrity Bowling) are common here and it is the heart of the Nerdist empire along with his blog and podcast of the same name. You'll thank me later for this recommendation if you haven't converted to the Church of Nerdist.

3. VSauce

This channel is an awesome educational channel that answers all the weird, random questions we all wonder about during the day. From what color a mirror is to why we have two nostrils, host Michael Stevens dazzles audiences with his passion for the mundane yet amazing science of everyday life. I find myself curious enough just by the enticing titles of his videos to keep going back for more. Go learn some stuff to wow your friends!

4. Geek and Sundry

Just like with The Nerdist, this channel succeeds under the cult of personality surrounding it's founder, Felicia Day. Another amazing geek icon, Felicia has created channel of cool original content that compliments the programming of The Nerdist quite well. It serves the niches of geekdom like tabletop gaming and science fiction/ fantasy novels as well as a weekly video blog for Felicia herself. With frequent celebrity guests and growing content base, this channel is definitely a keeper.

5. TED Talks

This one is a no-brainer. I use this talks during meetings and gatherings all the time and there is a huge curated base of content from the TED conferences around the world on pretty much any topic you can think of. Long and short, poignant and silly, these talks are an amazing way to spend some of your time during any down time. You'll feel inspired and engaged in the intellectual conversations of the day. If you haven't jumped onto the TED bandwagon yet, what are you waiting for?!

So those are my picks. Let me know if you have any other recommendations in the comments.

Have a good one!