Obviously a personal blog is not something I am the best at keeping up. With Twitter and now Tumblr making it so easy to just quickly update exactly what I’m thinking, the long form of blogging has faded away for me.

I miss it. I used to blog all the time. I moved from LiveJournal to Blogger to wordpress.com to hosting my own blog and a few others. But obviously the more social forms (twitter, facebook, tumblr) are where my heart lies right now. It is honestly probably a convenience factor. I’m a junior in college; it’s just easier to send a text than to sit for an hour writing a blog post. Also, tumblr comes with lots of funny pictures…and the procrastinator in me LOVES it.

So if you want to see the random, funny and cute things I come across…check out my Tumblr. And Twitter.

Hopefully I will be back soon to update, but for now…that is where to find me.

Leave your tumblr in the comments so I can follow you on there too!

Wow. It really has been far too long since I have blogged. Embarrassingly long. If anyone is still paying attention to my blog, I apologize to you. I will try my best to be better about blogging. Cause I do miss it.

Hmmm…let’s give a bit of an update of what’s been going on in my life.

College

I’m back at MTSU for my Sophomore year. I made it through my Freshman year of college. That fact makes me so happy. I’m about to change my major (surprise! haha) from Digital Media Communication (DMC) to Public Relations (PR). I have discovered that DMC is really a graphic design focuses degree with a little bit of communications. My heart really lies with the communications aspect so I’ve decided to switch to a major that I feel will really help me grow in that field. Basically, I love talking to people more than playing around in photoshop. (The talented graphic designers I know, I’m sure gonna be calling you for awesome graphics when I’m out and about in the job world. )

I’m back living in the dorms. I’m still working on decorating it, so be looking for the obligatory photo spam post soon.

LeakyCon 2011

I am happy to say that I have joined the AMAZING LeakyCon 2011 Communications team as the Social Media Coordinator. I shall be organizing our Internet presence, or as I say, taking over the internet. haha I am really so excited for this conference. If you have any interest in Harry Potter, you will want to be at this con in Orlando. The amount of amazingly fun things we have planned and want to happen will blow your mind. (You say it is in under 300 days? Oh gosh.)

The Social Network

This movie has piqued my interest. I’ve always been curious of the story behind Facebook. I’m looking forward to seeing this movie. What are your thoughts on it so far?

Formspring

Have any of you heard of Formspring? It’s a great website where you can ask each other questions. I’ve been playing around with it for a while. It’s fun. Here’s mine: http://www.formspring.me/lizziekeiper Do you have one?

Twitter

Of course, I’ve been living on Twitter for while. Look to the right of this post to see my updates.
That’s all the updates I can think of right now. I’m sure I left out a ton. Once I think of them I’ll post another entry.

So what’s been going on in your lives?

Say what you want about Grey’s Anatomy. I used to love this show, but then I went to college and this show and a few other ones had to go as my free time dwindled away. I hadn’t watched this show in 6 months, probably longer, when I saw a preview for its season finale a few nights ago. I thought that as it is summer now, I have some free time, why not see what the characters have been up to? So I hit that record button on my DVR remote.

Fast forward to tonight. I’ve just finished dinner and have settled down to continue working in photoshop on a project. I see that Grey’s Anatomy recorded, and I figured I’d put it on so I can watch as I edit. Little did I know that from the moment I hit Play, I would not tear my eyes away from the TV screen. (I am so grateful I waited an hour to start watching so I could fast forward through the commercials…as even fast forwarding at top speed wasn’t fast enough.)

Let me let you in on what the main plot point what. I do not think it is a spoiler as it was in the previews, but if you have no idea then read at your own risk. There is a shooter loose in the hospital. Who is out for revenge on a few doctors who “played god and killed his wife” in his eyes. Let’s just say he’s a crazy, angry, heartbroken, gun wielding man so frankly all bets are off on what he’s going to do or who he is going to shoot. The key ingredient to making your audiences sit on the edge of their seats, with hearts racing, until the very last second. I won’t continue on about the plot as I do not want to spoil it for anyone that has it recorded on their Tivos and DVRs. I understand how that is.

Now, I had not watched any episode or really read anything about this show for pretty much this whole season. For this show to suddenly grab me by the face and make me not stop watching for two hours, is astounding. The script was brilliant, the acting fantastic and the directly moving. I’ll be very surprised if this show doesn’t at least get nominated for an Emmy on this episode alone.

This is what television should be. Fantastically written dramas, comedies, romantic comedies, etc. that tell you a story and make you root for the characters. It breaks my heart to see the such huge popularity of FAKE reality shows. (Wait, you guys do realize pretty much everything is staged on reality shows right? Please tell me you do..) I’m talking about shows like the Hills, Real Housewives of Somewhere, Big Brother, etc. (Side note: I like game/contest shows. Yes, they are constructed, but you do really want to root for the person to take the chance or take the cash.)

Basically, it made me so happy to be unexpectedly pulled into an episode of a show I hadn’t seen in forever because of its brilliant script. I hope to see more shows take as many chances as the writers of Grey’s Anatomy did tonight. Even though those chances may leave my bawling for my favorite character.

Grey’s Anatomy managed to grab me back as a viewer, even after my year away. I’m sure they will continue to do so, as I’m sure this blog post isn’t the only one around. Bravo, Grey’s writers. Bravo.

I miss blogging.

Yep it’s true.

Twitter has been a great resource and fun for me, but it really has cut into my blog. I’ve just found it so much easier to send a quick 140 character tidbit or thought then to type up a full blog post. Everytime I look at this blog, that the amazing Nicholas Young redesigned for me last year as an awesome graduation present, it seems neglected. That makes me sad.

I mean, of course I’ve been busy. I did just complete my first year of college. Which was an exciting, challenging, incredibly fun ride. Can not believe it went by so quickly.

So now it is summer. I have more free time. So I pledge to update this blog with whatever I’m interested in at that moment. Whether it is a photo I snapped on my iPhone or Canon XTs, a book or movie review (cause I plan on reading and watching a lot of movies this summer) or just a commentary piece. We’ll see what comes up, but I’ll promise to update at least once a week (and hopefully more than that).

Hold me to that okay?

Oh and if you have any book, movie or topic suggestions leave them in the comments please. I know I’ll need some.

Part of my Portfolio for my English class last semester was a research paper. I chose to write it on a topic that I knew very well and wanted to learn even more about: How Companies are using Twitter.

I’ve been toying with the idea of posting it on my blog since I wrote it in December, and I finally decided to just do it. I’m posting it unedited from what was given to my professor so you’ll see some format weirdness and the lovely in-text citations and more from the MLA requirements. (Really don’t like MLA, but that’s a whole other blog post.)

So here it is and let me know what you think.

Tweet Your Favorite Company

More and more companies have started using social media to connect with their customers. Burger King launched its “Whopper Sacrifice” campaign that offered if you “unfriended” 10 of your Facebook friends, you would get a free hamburger (Quenqua 1). That was one promotion that did not go over well. Other companies have tried a less controversial approach by communicating with their customers through Twitter, a very popular microblogging website.

Twitter is the online tool that is opening up the window for conversations between companies and their consumers:
“In the past, companies would hire a market research firm to understand their audience,” says Mike Hudack, CEO of Blip.tv, a New York-based video website. “Now we use Twitter to get the fastest, most honest research any company every hear– the good, bad and ugly– and it doesn’t cost a cent,” he says (Graham 2). “More than half of the Fortune 100 companies are using Twitter for customer service, recruiting employees, blasting news and announcing promotions, according to the study by public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and its digital- media unit, Proof” (Swartz 1). There are many different ways those companies have utilized this new technology: whether it’s the CEO speaking directly to their customers, travel companies talking about deals, or automakers promoting the newest speedster.

The industry in which Twitter usage is most prevalent is travel. Many hotel chains, and almost every major airline have some kind of presence on the social networking website: JetBlue, Southwest, Tablet Hotels and Marriott Hotels to name a few (Pegorano 1-2).

JetBlue views Twitter “as a virtual “information booth”” (Learmonth 1). Morgan Johnston, manager of corporate communications for JetBlue says, “The ability to engage directly with our customer humanizes the brand, creating a deeper level of engagement with our customers that fosters loyalty” (Learmonth 1). JetBlue watches for situations happening on Twitter, and then responds with tweets directing people to tools available on JetBlue’s website, such as flight-status updates (Heslin 1).

JetBlue does more than just point people in the right direction; they will take action to help a customer with a more complicated issue. For example, when Tony Wagner was flying with his wife and two-year-old daughter on a JetBlue flight, he realized that they weren’t seated together. He tried calling the customer service line, but they told him it was something that he would have to handle at the gate. He decided to try tweeting to JetBlue’s Twitter account to see if they could help him. JetBlue’s Twitter team saw Tony’s tweet, flagged his issue as a priority concern, and he, his wife and daughter were then seated together on the flight (Higgins 1).

Tony Wanger probably received better service via JetBlue’s Twitter feed due to the viral nature of Twitter (Higgins 1). It was very easy and commonplace to ReTweet (or forward) a person’s tweet, so information spreads quickly. Companies… “want to head off the conversation as quickly as possible,” says Mr. Wagner (Higgins 1). He continued, “it’s in their best interest to make people who have a pulpit happy” (Higgins 1).

Southwest Airlines is one of the airlines that is using Twitter to its full potential. To Christi Day, an emerging media specialist for Southwest Airlines, “[Twitter] is a great way to have your voice heard. I don’t know if that’s the best way to have your problem solved” (Higgins 2). It’s due to that mentality that they don’t just use their feed for customer service and informational updates about their flight schedules, they also post fun updates about the daily goings on of the flight attendants and the passengers. For example: “One day in August, [Christi] Day fired off 11 messages, known as tweets, covering such issues as a gate agent’s cranky behavior, Southwest job openings and a passenger’s in-flight meltdown that led to his taking off his clothes” (Pegorano 1). Southwest also hosts “Tweetups”, meetings of Twitter users who follow them. Southwest will send out a message like this one: “Traveling through DAL, DEN, or PHX today? 10am-5pm we’ll be wrapping your gifts with our Container Store friends in the SWA gate areas” (Heslin 1). “If a company’s DNA is not truly dedicated to listening and responding to customers in a genuine and timely manner, no technology will provide a solution, according to Lloyd Trufelman” (Swartz 2). It is Southwest’s understanding of its customers and their activities, like Twitter, that makes them so successful in such a harsh economy.

Just like airlines, hotels have been embracing Twitter to help with customer issues. For example, Tablet Hotels uses Twitter to keep a look out for customer complaints so they may be able to help (Heslin 1): “We had one of our (frequent guest) members Twitter from the front desk when the hotel was giving her a hard time,” Michael Davis, co-founder of Tablet Hotels says. “We caught it within 30 seconds of posting, and our customer service called the hotel to resolve” (Heslin 2).

Effectively, Tablet Hotels was able to resolve a problem and stop the spread of bad press by the customer’s tweet.
Hyatt Hotels have a Twitter set up, @HyattConcierge, to assist guests with anything a real-life concierge would do, like dinner reservations, etc. (Higgins 2).

Omni Hotels is using Twitter for more than just resolving customer complaints. Recently they saw that one of their soon to be guests tweeted about his plans to watch a game at one of their hotel’s bar. When this customer showed up, they surprised him with a reserved table with a fantastic view of the TV and free beer (Higgins 2). It is cases like this one that show a company can use Twitter to generate good press by not just responding to potential customer issues.

Other companies with time-sensitive customer service issues, like Comcast, are following the travel companies’ lead in using Twitter to turn around negative perceptions.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, an online shoe and accessories company, has made himself available to his customers via his personal Twitter account. “For people who follow us on Twitter, it gives them more depth into what we’re like, and my own personality,” he says. (Graham 2) Zappos is responding to its clients in a unique and personal way. That has proved to be successful for the company, which was just bought for $800 million by online retail giant Amazon, which has a policy of being very customer centric like Zappos (“What” 2).

Comcast is one company that has found almost a saving grace in Twitter. Frank Eliason, director of digital care at Comcast, has turned to Twitter to save Comcast’s bad reputation for frustrating customer service. “He has 11 people working under him to handle queries from 33,500 followers. He points out that Comcast uses Facebook, YouTube, blogs and help forums in addition to Twitter” (Swartz 2). Though Eliason is certain to point out that Twitter has made “more transparent and showed the benefits of listening to our customers through all communications channels” (Swartz 2). Eliason’s team has “helped solve about 21,000 customer issues [via social media] since they started the work a year ago” (“Comcast’s” 1). The key to that is Eliason and his team’s unique approach to solving problems. They don’t force themselves into the conversations they see people tweeting about. They simply ask, “Can I help?” (“Comcast’s 1) It is that simple phrase that has changed the way companies use Twitter, and all of social media, for customer service.

Customer service now centers on the conversation between the customer and the Company. As the above companies have shown, people are responding positively to feeling heard and being helped by the companies whose products they use daily. More companies should follow Southwest, and others’ example and start talking to their consumers.

Okay, here’s the obligatory picture tour of my dorm room! As you’re looking at the photos you’ll see some of the art on the walls are fun doodles & drawings by the fun and talented Frak.

My Bed! With my Owl pals, Index Cards with college advice on them and fun art.

My Desk! With my MacBook, Printer & a few books.

My Closets (full of stuff! haha) and my extra desk which is now my TV’s home.

This is what I call the Food Corner, for obvious reasons. And that’s my door.

I also have an extra bed which I have my two dressers under. There’s also a “needs to be constructed” clothes drying rack on it, so sorry, but no photo of that mess!

So what do you think? And if you’ve just moved in or are already in college, leave me some photos below. I’m always looking for decorating ideas!

PS: I’d like to say thank you to everyone that left such kind messages on my last post. You all are too good to me. Really means a lot. And yep, I’m loving college so far!

So here I am. Months after writing the last post on this blog…about to pour a bit more of myself onto the internet. Just bear with me please. There will be more posts to come soon, that won’t be the plethora of angst you’re about to read.

I leave for University/College in less than 12 hours. Frankly, I’m pretty much terrified… Now, I’m excited to be starting a new part of my life. But that’s it, the whole *new* aspect of it. If you didn’t know this about me: I tend to like to be in control of things. (Which is probably a big reason why I love being an assistant.) This whole “college” thing is COMPLETELY new. Let me give you a little back story: I haven’t been to “regular school” in 2 1/2 years. For those years I was homeschooled. Which needless to say, I didn’t do the “normal” way either. So this whole structure of classes and homework and papers makes me very nervous.

Now, I know I’m an intelligent person. I started reading when I was very young. Read the first Potter book by myself when I was 7-8 yrs old. I learn things quickly, take tests well, and have some really good common sense. But this idea: college and going off on my own into the world, down right terrifies me. I just… don’t want to fail and disappoint my family and friends that are rooting for me.

That’s it…I’m afraid of Failure. And here’s hoping that I won’t fail.

And here’s to the many unknown adventures to come.

Wish me luck?

I got this email today, and it made me think. We think we know everything, and I’m sure we all know a lot, but these were interesting tidbits of info! I knew four of these answers. How many do you know?

This is a quiz for people who know everything! I found out in a hurry that I didn’t.
These are not trick questions. They are straight questions with straight answers
1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn’t been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters ” dw” and they are all common words. Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter “S.”

Alright, you got your answers written down? No cheating! Only read these when you’re done!
Answers:

1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends
Boxing

2. North American landmark constantly moving backward.
Niagara Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every
minute.)

3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons.
Asparagus and rhubarb.

4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside.
Strawberry.

5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle?
It grew inside the bottle.. The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.

6. Three English words beginning with dw.
Dwarf, dwell and dwindle.

7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar.
Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation mark, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh.
Lettuce..

9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with “S”.
Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes,
stockings, stilts.

I was messing about on Twitter (which is a big reason why this blog is so neglected. I’m sorry.) and I saw a tweet by Rebecca Jones linking to a very entertaining review of the Twlight Movie.

This review made laugh. It was just honest. And I think spot on. And funny. I saw Twilight at midnight. I thought all the way through “I’m SO HAPPY I’m not as die hard Twilight fan as I am of Harry Potter. Cause I would be SO ANGRY. Thank god these people didn’t do the HP movies.” I then went back and saw it again 2 weeks later with some other friends, and laughed the whole time at it’s ridiculousness.

I’ve read Twilight . I love the series until the final book. I hated it. I disliked it so much I didn’t go to the Stephenie Meyer signing in Chicago three days later that I already had tickets for. A very nice friend of mine who still wanted to go got my book signed for me though. I know there are Twilight fans who read my blog who won’t be happy with me. Whatever. I don’t care. I respect the series for what it is. Young Adult fantasy that won’t live on past the final movie. (ouch. even I cringed at that one. oh well…)

Don’t get me started on the fact that they are planning, shooting, and releasing the “New Moon” movie in under a year. Crazy they are. That will be interesting to see how they butcher that book.

And would you PLEASE stop comparing Twilight to Harry Potter? Twilight isn’t even close to the same quality.

My friend Melissa posted a few fun random questions on her blog, and I thought I’ll answer them on here. I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in ages. I will try very hard to stop doing that. Once you read my answers, I’d love to see yours. So please leave a comment with the answers or a link to your own blog post.