Take care of yourself

One of the speakers I heard at the Ag Media Summit last summer was Jackie Ferguson. She writes about work-related topics including diversity, harassment and stress reduction. I subscribe to her stress blog and recommend that all of you take the time to review her posts on destressing at work. I truly believe we will be better, more productive employees if we take care of ourselves, both personally and professionally. We are on the right track here with our wellness initiatives, and are very fortunate that we have a department and an administration that supports us in our quest to be healthier. But it is up to each and every one of you to take care of yourself.

We constantly deal with change (office remodeling is huge). We are still trying to figure out how to work better as a newly formed unit. Our media clients are going through drastic changes in operation. Plus the daily deadlines and work we do that adds to the stressload we each carry.

So take care of yourself. Look for those nuggets that will help you be more productive and focused at work and at home, whether its a quick walk around the block or reading Ferguson's blog. And don't forget to celebrate the small milestones. You'll be glad you did.

So, what do others really think about us?

Are you like me? Do you tell your friends and colleagues about positive and negative experiences you may have had with a particular company? a restaurant? hardware or software? athletic teams? There is software available for monitoring our online conversations. Ryan*MacMillan offered a survey of the 10 leading online conversation monitoring companies. It is worth a look and some time to think about whether or not we should be monitoring what people are saying about K-State Research and Extension or about Kansas or K-State. I do monitor the conversation somewhat, using Google Alerts and Twitter Searches. But as of this time, I'm not doing anything with the information other than forwarding to interested parties every once in a while. Let's have this conversation sometime.

Do you trust a stranger?

Please see this study on the rise of social media and how people are influenced more and more by people they don't know. See this summary on Mashable about the study.

Google maps

I'm learning how to use Google Maps to see how they can be used by Research and Extension staff. These are places I've lived. Enjoy!

Online Video

Forrester Research in a study commissioned by Veoh Network looked at online video and found that 2/3rds of people online watch video each month, with the average viewer watching 56 minutes per week. People watch all kinds of things: news, TV shows and animation. See the blog item by B. Harrison or J. McQuivey's blog. McQuivey talks about engaged viewers, those who watch more than an hour of online video each week. I think the take home message for us is that we need to be providing our content online, and not be concerned about the length or if it was on tv first. Engaged viewers pay more attention to online video than to tv options. People want the information when they can get it. Again, its all about valuing people and giving them the information they need.

Content, so important

I just read an article about how companies really need to develop the content on their web sites. I really believe this. And with that content, do we inform or entertain? This is all about engagement. It's about conversation. It's about creating relevant, compelling and consistent content. And it's about valuing people above all. Let's give them the information they need in the way that is best for them.

NYTimes/Linkedin unite

I find it interesting that Linkedin and the New York Times are using my social networking tools to help me find the articles most relevant to me as a communicator. It begs the question, "how can we (K-State) team up with social networking tools to help our clients find the information they need?" It's all about people and valuing what they need.

Seeking Broader Reach for Social Web Sites - NYTimes.com

NYTimes.com: "As the Web becomes a more social place, media companies are trying to make it easier to share links with friends, add comments to articles and extend users’ online identities."