Dish Doggin’ Delight

Back in the day, long before I would dare label myself a “media mogul,” washing dishes was my evening duty. Four nights a week you could have found me in a sweltering kitchen of a Mexican restaurant known as “The Nook.”  It wasn’t uncommon for me to diligently scrape 2,3,… sometimes even 4 soggy enchiladas off of a platter plate simultaneously. The most famous entre was called a Tijuana Bypass, which always reminded of triple bypass surgery. (Word on the street is that two don’t coincide, and I’m not just saying that for the benefit of Chef Brett.)

As Mike Rowe probably knows best, “it’s a dirty job, but somebody has gotta do it.”  Oh, not only did I do it, but I loved it. Friends were there with me all of the time, my favorite music always played in the background and the pay was great for a sixteen-year old.

While my co-workers feverishly tried to get promoted from the dishes, I remained there content as a dog with a brand new bone to chew on. Those dishes and I had somethin’ special, unlike my relationship with the garbage disposal (but thats another story). Through word of mouth, the restaurant became popular among the high school crowd. People would casually enter the kitchen, just to hang out and watch excess taco lettuce fly to the floor in what seemed like a pre-meditated occurrence. Part of my dishwashing aura was that I was quick. If there weren’t any dishes for the cooks, then I simply wasn’t payin’ any justice to the underrated world of dish doggin’; so I made a point to get those heavy saucers into the hands of the cooks stat. A freakin’ beast with the dishes is what I spent my teenage years aspiring to be. Others tried, but to no avail to keep up with me. Some didn’t want to get their clothes dirty while another group of useless wannabe’s treated a dirty plate like a piece of colored toilet paper -they stared at it for hours, confused, then finally wiped it off once I threatened them with a shower of stag dish water. Cruel, yes, but I’ve since changed ways. Enough rambling, the point is.. I knew I was a total bad ass on dishes. It has been over four years since I set down the dishwashing spray hose, and my legendary dishwasher status lived on….

 that is, until THIS GUY stepped in. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet dishwasher Pete. I can’t wait to pick this book up to see what kind of dish doggin’ stories he has to tell the rest of the world.  Unfortunately, its not likely that I’ll be challenging good ol’ Petey to a dish-a-thon any time soon – The Media remains my central focus, so the pruney dish doggin’ fingers will have to stick to my own personal kitchen.

Beer & Social Networking? Hmmm.

According to the Wall Street Journal online, beer giant Anheuser-Busch has plans to integrate a social networking community into their web site, a wishful attempt of leaving an “edgy” impression. So naturally, I hurried over to bud.tv to witness their original site. Web design isn’t my calling in life, but the site looks SLOPPY. Not “left-over-crumbs-from-a half-eaten muffin sloppy,” but “cake-all-over-a-kids-face-on-their-first-birthday sloppy.”  All I see is an ugly brown registration form and an image that informs me that i’ve been replaced by a chimp – oh, excellent.

I’ll stop being critical about the web site for a minute, but no long-term promises. As a beer drinker, what would I think about a social networking section on the “bud.tv” web site? Only one way to find out. Wow, two registration pages later, and I could have already went to the store, pounded a couple 40’s, and passed out in a drunken stuper. Strike 1.. bud.tv. 

After stopping just short of writing my life away to join bud.tv, I’m greeted by an obnoxious video. Surprise, surprise, an advertisement for bud light. It gave me a few chuckles, but if the stop button wasn’t available on the application, I would have given up without thinking twice. Strike 2… bud.tv

Now i’m just lost. Bud.tv supplies a cluster of random links such as a countdown to the NBA finals, and a section called “what girls want,” which professes to young bachelor types the attributes that women like — cool? no. If i wanted to see that, I could just watch “Blind Date.”  Strike 3… bud.tv

But wait… Bud just struck out in my books, but apparently they want to step up to the plate once more. Hence, the reason the company brought in focus groups to discuss how to revamp the web site.

Here are the advantages of having a social networking web site that deals with beer:

1) You won’t get too wasted, but through discussion with your virtual beer pals, you’ll be able to piece together fragments of the night before when you hugged the toilet, all thanks to the beer.

2) Comradarie building. It’ll be just like havin’ the guys over to take down a few.. only online. uhh, cool?

3) Games. I’m not sure this is the direction of travel for the site, but maybe you can discuss some fun beer games that they might add on. ’

So I struggled to compile that list of advantages. As a beer drinker, I simply don’t care about the internet when I’m drinking. I understand that its a business and if a product or service is marketed well, then it doesn’t matter if the only thing the beer community does is count your BAC (not saying it does).

The bottom line:  Will a social community help the site? Probably.  Will it be better than the current site? I hope so. 

 Let’s hear YOUR opinions on a social networking community involving beer as the subject. Would it work? If so, under what circumstances?

Identity Risks with Myspace or Facebook? No way!

Put down your coffee, take your feet off the desk and prepare for some ground breaking news:

I hate to break it to you, but if you have a Myspace or Facebook profile, then your identity stands at a greater risk for unwanted exploitation than if you don’t have a profile at all. Don’t believe me? Then read this article on social networking security.

Okay, so that article is well written despite being quite obvious. Stating that social networking sites place your identity at further risk should be apparent to anyone, in my opinion. I call this a “John Madden” article. If you don’t know who Madden is, then you’re not ENTIRELY missing out. He’s captain obvious to the world of professional football and infamous for the quote “When your arm gets hit, the ball is not going to go where you want it to.”  You get the point. Just like our football friend John Madden, it has become quite obvious that security risks do in fact arise while using ANY web site on the internet that collects personal information.

So what is the problem then?  People, young and old strongly believe that they are anonymous online. It’s almost as if internet users think that there is some sort of virtual shield blocking off hackers and online predators. The fact is, social networking sites have a required privacy policy to do their part in keeping users safe online. That is the bare minimum, and even that information is to be taken with a (pardon the cliche) grain of salt. The brains behind top social networking sites have developed enhanced security options that users must control themselves, in order to prevent an unwanted leak of personal information. For example, if I don’t want anyone other than my friends to see my photos, then it’s just one check-box-click away.

In summary, there are several ways to be safe online and free from privacy intrusion. Familiarize yourself with ANY web site that you encounter, especially those that you sign up for. Use quality passwords that you will remember (“password” is not a good password….. “jelgeaktt83″ is an example of something better). For a full list of ways to be safe online, then I highly suggest checkin’ out the following site. It’s called, Net Smartz. This is a valuable resource for anyone wishing to be safeonline, kids included.

War on the Web?

In lieue of Memorial Day, The History Channel has implemented a web site to get you as close to a war battle as possible. To do such a thing, the station provides all sorts of interactive features for current soldiers, family members and veterans alike.

This article from Newsweek goes into further detail about the website itself, which includes a forum for veterans to share their brave experiences serving the country. The concept of having a source of communication through the war is far from innovative. You could argue that journalists themselves have risked their lives while reporting the latest war news. But what is becoming a trend is the idea of war blogging.

 The Band of Brothers blog, as described in the aforementioned Newsweek article is a top-notch idea. Without intentionally being political, I feel that if we must fight in a war then its important to keep the communication alive. Certainly, a blog would do its best by capturing the reality of the situation by putting us right in the action through video sharing from none other than the soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obviously, its important not to compromise the security involved when linking users up to the war action via a blog. But, it’s crucial to consistently inform families, friends, and the media in general as to the general status of our soldiers. I definitely support mass communication trends, and especially on this significant holiday where we honor our veterans. I believe that we need to show our appreciation in any way that we can. The upcoming Band of Brothers blog could be a new way to do just that.

Myspace vs. Facebook: Facebook’s quick jab.

*Ding ding ding* Round 1, let’s have a good clean fight.

Ok, who am I kidding.. Both Facebook and Myspace are the undisputed heavyweights of the social networking world, so a bout between the two would prove nothing more than who can flex a larger bicep. But just for the sake of debate, i’d like to point out some arguments for and against each site. You never know, maybe Facebook will deliver Myspace a sucker punch to the face, in which case , I can say that I called it.

I’ll start with Facebook. I vividly remember my sophomore year of college when someone asked how many friends I have on Facebook. On my whatbook? Hmm never heard of it, let me check it out. 48 hours and no sleep later, I’m searching everyone I know in the Facebook directory. Bobby, the smelly kid in elementary school that everyone picked on for riding his bike without a seat is now my facebook friend. Oh, and Jill, yes.. we made eye contact once, i’ll add her too.  Oh Facebook, how SIMPLE you are. Never in my life could I imagine such a simple utility that is completely FREE of charge would be available to me. But something’s not right here, nothing in life is free. Wait a second. Hey Facebook, why can’t I add my cousin Shirley, who can’t afford to go to college and be a part of this fantastical social network?  No problem, let’s open it up to the general public. They ARE Facebook after all, and that means that they meticulously provide users with WHAT THEY WANT AS SOON AS THEY LOG IN. Those smart Facebookilians, always ahead of the game. And what does facebook figure that we want?  Well, with consideration that humans are naturally curio… okay nosey beings, we want to know WHAT’S GOING ON, WITH WHO, AND WHERE. It’s providing that who,what,when,where,why and how to the Facebook community that keeps it thriving.  But to the misfortune of anyone not wishing to be stalked, students have returned from a tedious day of statistics class, only to discover that their facebook profiles have been shared with everyone in a NEWS FEED??. Now we know TOO much about everyone, and they now know all about me! Ahhh, freak out and start the virtual protests! Time to delete my Facebook profile.

Not so fast. It appears that Mark Zuckerberg knows a thing or two about public relations. He handles the situation perfectly by admitting that the actual intentions of the newsfeed were compromised by lack of information provided to  users. Like clockwork, Zuckey and co. fix the problem by hand-feeding resolutions and increasing security measures. Fast forward a good year or two and now Facebook plans to open up to developers who can build applications to integrate into Facebook. Sounds like a win-win situation for both developers and Facebook itself. Why? Because if Facebook can preserve it’s fine user interface, then there’s no way to go but up for the social networking giant.

Safety for All

I would like to present an anecdote to you all. 

So there I was, sprinting about the sidewalk, watching a few rabbits hop about the comely chicago suburban landscape. In my periph, a throng of students burst out of the nearby middle schools’ doors signaling that they were now free as birds. Naturally, I ogled at the sight of the kids and fell into a heavy daydream about my own amazing childhood. Responsibilities were far less prevalent at age 13, albeit on the horizon. Very quickly, a heavy set man holding an octogon sign ruined my perfect day dream with one painful blow of a whistle. “STOP!!” he shrieked. I looked at my surroundings and saw two of the giddy middle school kids safely crossing the street while I was being halted by the crossing guard. At first, I was offended. I didn’t need anyone to tell me what to do, especially when it comes to crossing the street. Was it my backback? If so, I could just buy a man bag, those look more professional anyway. Or, maybe I still look 15? None of these ended up as rational questions, so I just obeyed the man and waited for clearance on the narrow road.

It didn’t take long for me to snap back to reality. In fact, the crossing guard was merely doing his job – and doing it well. Hmm, and I had something in common with the guard; both he and I have jobs where we ensure the safety of not only children, but anyone who comes in contact with the community. As an online community screener, I hold up that stop sign everyday in the virtual world. And tantamount to cars going 50 in a 35 mph zone, you have people logging in at rapid paces testing the robustness of the virtual word security. You will continue to see that I take great pride in keeping the online community that I work with safe, so maybe next time when I’m stopped by a crossing guard, I won’t even question the need for someone to ensure my safety and in their community.

Rolling Out the Red Blog Carpet

Greetings!  So this is what it feels like to be on the forefront of the blogging world eh?  Well, alright then – let’s start off with an explanation about the content of this up and coming blog.  As you can see, the name of my blog is “Media Mogul.” It’s probably not every day that you hear the term “mogul,” and for good reason. Moguls have an unmatched persona as they consistently absorb three unique c’s in life: confidence, cunningness and capablility.  

Need an example? Rapper Jay-Z is a mogul. I’m no expert on the hip-hop scene, but such is not a requirement to recognize one of the biggest names in the business. Not only is he the CEO of Def Jam and Rockafella Records, but also co-owner of the New Jersey Nets NBA franchise. Hip-hop fan or not, listen to his lyrics carefully just once and you’ll discover that this mogul had a rough childhood. Completely abandoned by his father at the age of 12,  Jay-z communicated his life struggles through the medium of hip-hop music. There was a point where Jay-z was just a boy with a dream… and now you have an idea of what happened next - he’s living it.

 Which leads me to my point. I’m a media mogul in the sense that I devote countless hours analyzing the media. I breathe it, speak it, read it, write it and work it. Not a day goes by without sticking my nose in the latest information pertaining to new media trends.

Finally, its impossible to ignore that most moguls are established – but undoubetly - they all had started somewhere, and here is my start. I am grateful for a current job working as an online community screener for an entertainment company, a perfect compliment to my experience and degree in Communications. I’ve learned so much about kids’ communities and how to keep the chillins’ safe online. Every day of work, I walk in with a whole piece of “online community pie,” only to finish the shift with crumbs all over my face and an uncanny appetite for more.

I fully intend on updating this blog on a fairly consistent basis. New media, Kids Communities & Effective Communication will be the three main sub-topics for this bloggerooski, with the occasional tangent to make things as interesting as possible. So, without further ado, I bring to you.. the Media Mogul Blog. Enjoy!