I’ve been thinking about NotNurseRatched’s post about the state of nurses in social media. I’ve definitely retreated from social media for some of the reasons she describes (incivility, name-calling, pitchfork wielding), but the truth is that I want back in. I love blogging. How much sense does it make to give up something you love because of a little unpleasant conversation? Read more
Tag: social media
Nurses: Let’s Talk #Vanderbilt
By now many of you have read about Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s new policy requiring nursing staff to perform janitorial tasks.
Many points have been raised including the possibility of cross contamination (scrub a toilet, administer IV meds – what could go wrong?) There’s also the illogical decision to eliminate lower paid employees and reassign their tasks to higher paid employees (staff retention, anyone?) But probably the worst aspect of it, as NotRatched points out, that lately nursing seems to be a dumping ground for extra tasks and responsibilities.
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GAME DAY! The social media sports bar
Last fall I got a little disenchanted with the whole social media scene. I blame the US election. It seems as the election got closer the tweets got meaner and stupider. And I’m talking about both sides here. It was really disheartening.
You know what saved me though?
Sports.
First it was the Phillies.As they got closer and closer to winning the world series, I always turned to Facebook and Twitter so I could feel more connected to Phillies fans. As a Philly transplant, it was kind of lonely watching the series here in Maryland. Tuning into twitter was the next best thing to sitting in a sportsbar in Philadelphia, watching the Phils win the world series for the first time since 1980.
And then there was football.We have a little bit of a conflict in my household. My husband is a Redskins fan. I kind of toggle back and forth between the Ravens and the Eagles. But the bottom line is that we love to watch football; any team, any time. So last season if the Redskins and the Eagles were playing at the same time, I would use twitter to track both games.
Eventually I would have 7 or 8 search windows open so I could track multiple games. You could tell if something exciting was happening in one game because the amount of tweets would shoot up dramatically. It made game day extra fun. Again, kind of like sitting in a noisy sports bar, cheering for your team.
So I had to laugh when I read this:
Sports and Social Media: Where Opportunity and Fear Collide
Just another example of how old media just doesn’t get new media. How ironic. As the NFL, the SEC and ESPN put more and more restraints on how players and fans use social media, I am finding social media makes me more of a sports fan than I was in the first place.
My prediction is that social media and sports are already colliding in a big, messy, incredibly entertaining way and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.
I also predict that the Ravens are going to have an awesome season.
I am still here.
I’ll be going back to the MICU for a contract that starts at the end of April. For a variety of reasons. Still twittering at times but overall have been feeling burned out on the whole social media thing. I made the mistake of following a bunch of Chris Brogan types and all of a sudden my twitter stream turned into this big circus of social media types high fiving each other all day long. After awhile I started to prefer those who tweet about what they are eating. My blog was hacked (again) while I was on vacation. This time it was because I didn’t update from WordPress 2.6 to 2.7. Needless to say, I’m not really feeling the love for WordPress. But what’s the alternative? My husband got me a Nikon D90 for Christmas! I’m really excited to get outside and start shooting away (that doesn’t sound good, does it?) but unfortunately it’s been so dang cold around here. I have been utterly obsessed with economics, politics and the Great Depression 2.0. I’ve gone from confusion to outrage to fear to bewilderment and now I’m think I’m starting to make peace with the whole idea. Hence the MICU contract. Don’t you just love it when a blog post comes full circle?
BlogHer DC Wrap-up
On Monday I attended BlogHer DC, put on by the good folks at Blogher. This was an excellent event. I’ll admit, I went there with skepticism. This whole google wordpress drama has kind of put me into a existential tailspin with regards to blogging, plus I never really got the whole “BlogHer” thing. Really the only reason I wanted to go was to get to meet Mother Jones, RN in person and to hang out with the guys from JNJ to talk about social media. As it turns out, the event itself was great. The best part of the day was getting to meet so many other bloggers and to hear about the wonderfully creative things they are doing. (Hmm… Did that sentence make me sound like a high school art teacher? I had a blast hanging out with MJ! I taught her all about Twitter and now she’s one of the regular *medtweeps.* It was also great to see Dr. Val. She has a great new site, and I’ll be blogging about it very soon. I also met a very technically savvy blogger named Roni who blogs about weight loss, food, and healthy living. She gave me some great technical help with wordpress that’s going to enable me to improve OrientedX3 and take it to the next level. I also enjoyed hanging out with Rob and Marc from Johnson & Johnson. It’s interesting to see what they are doing with social media. Some have been very distrustful when they see corporations like JNJ entering the social arena and I think they are missing the point. Expect a big blog post on that later in the week. And finally, in case you missed it, I wrote a summary of my trip to Blog World Expo and the future of healthcare blogging over at TravelNursingBlogs.com
Blogging Under the Influence: How a glass of wine (or 2) can make you a better blogger.
(creative commons image courtesy of slack 12)
One of the great benefits of attending Blog World Expo 2008 was all of the great advice and inspiration I got that will help me to keep on blogging.
Hands down, my favorite blogging advice was dispensed by Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week:
Talk to your readers the way you would talk to your friends after 2 drinks.
This makes perfect sense to me, and here’s why:
What happens when you sit down with some friends and have a couple drinks?
You start to get that relaxed, warm fuzzy feeling.
You start to loosen your inhibitions.
Your enthusiasm starts to bubble up to the top and affects what you say.
As people who blog, we all have something to say. The question is, What’s the best way to say it? And how do we write a really good post without letting all of our little insecurities and doubts get in the way? And the answer is, blog like you’re buzzed!
I think the 2-drink rule is brilliant, and I’ve already started to implement it. And what’s more, Tim Ferriss actually wrote his entire book with that rule in mind. Did I mention that it’s a New York Times bestseller?
If 2 drinks are good, wouldn’t 3 or 4 or 5 drinks be even better?
Easy now, I don’t want to encourage any lush-like behavior. At three drinks you start to take that turn where warm and fuzzy becomes silly and sloppy, and bubbly enthusiasm can turn into incoherence and long-windedness. Which is fine if you’re at the bar, or a party, or even sitting at home watching House and tweeting – Goodness, who would do that? ; ) – It’s probably just not good for your blog.
And obviously the 2 drink rule would need to be adjusted to fit your weight and tolerance. If you weigh 98 pounds, a scant glass of sherry might do it for you, but if you’re > 200 pounds, you might be halfway into a six-pack before you start getting the warm fuzzies.
And remeber, we juSt pretending we had two drinks, right? Not like we drink so much we forgette how to type an spell. And maibee even fall off out of the chair wile we are blogging.
*hiccup*
I see you later. guys,. Got t0 go take nAp.
o_O