The Power of Social Media

If you know me, you know that I am enamored with social media. I am one of those crazy people that always has Twitter open when I'm online and most of the time, I have Facebook open as well. While I am well versed in the growing importance of social media, it wasn't until around September of 2011 that I finally really started realizing how important websites that connects people are. 

First, let's start with the little bird that has gripped the nation.

I've had a Twitter account since about 2009 but to say I wasn't using it to the best of my ability is an understatement. I only had about 20ish followers and probably half of them were spambots. I also only tweeted my articles, I had no dialogue with any followers and I bet to most of followers, I was about as good as the spambots. 

Finally in September, the switch flipped that had me think "hey, maybe this is a good way to get my name out there and brand myself". Little did I know that it would become so much more.

I started out by talking to a ton of people, both from school and the people I followed. Slowly but surely, I gained more followers and started networking. Not only was I talking to my friends on Twitter, but I was also having meaningful conversations with people in multiple industries. By having those conversations, I slowly worked my way into what industry I mainly want to focus on (the horse racing people I talked to quickly reminded me why I should return to the horse industry, hence part of my blog a few weeks ago). With the positive response I got from these people, especially when holding a conversation about important issues, I stretched out farther and it paid dividends.

Finally, I was being recognized for my horse racing articles in the NTRA Notebook, something I consider to be a huge deal. I also made it into the Paulick Report, by giving opinions on questions they asked. To say Twitter helped me get into an industry that I may have had trouble getting into without the resources it provides would be a discredit to the technology.

I have much the same story with Facebook. I've probably been on Facebook since my Junior year of High School but *gasp* used it more like Myspace. However, again like Twitter, I realized the power of it this school year. It did take me a little more time to adjust to making my Facebook more professional (something I still struggle with at times) but out went the old too personal posts and in came a new group of "professional" friends, including some athletes that I cover on the school's sports teams. 

At first, I used this new power to connect for interviews in addition to getting to know the people I was talking to on a regular basis better. But as my confidence grew with both my experiences on Twitter and Facebook, I decided to reach out and see what would happen if I approached one of the people I admire most in any industry.

I am a HUGE fan of Three Chimneys Farm and when Jen Roytz joined the farm a few years ago, she became my inspiration for school. So when she accepted my friend request on Facebook, I was ecstatic. I mean, come on, one of the people I admire most became my Facebook friend. Then I decided that I had nothing to lose by trying to talk to her and sent her a Facebook message. She replied and that's about all she wrote (no pun intended) when it came to me getting stuck on social media (and reaffirmed my teenage self's idea that the horse industry is the friendliest one out there).

My love of social media has grown ten-fold in the past few months and as I get closer to graduating, I see just how important it is. Not only do I feel that social media is important to growing one's own brand but it is important to industries that want to not only survive but bring in more fans. 

Now it's time convince said industries that making their way to social media, and effectively using it, is worth it. I'm seeing a lot of baby steps happening in communications departments in coming years,

A Lesson in Life After Graduation

For the last time in my undergraduate career, I am on break at home in Washington. Spring Break for WT officially arrives tomorrow but due to my light class schedule I hopped on a plane on Tuesday to hang out here for two weeks. I expected to take the time off and not really learn anything... once again, I was proven wrong. In fact, I even got a glimpse at life after graduation. 

The first day and a half I was here, there was nearly no talk on facebook about school. But today, Facebook has blown up with "we are doing this or that at school/in the prairie lab". Since I am almost always in the Prairie lab or somewhere at school, this is extremely weird for me to see. In addition, I had a few friends tweet and facebook me about how weird it was not to have me in Canyon.

It hit me today after getting a few of these messages and seeing the statuses that for the rest of my life (or until my friends graduate), this is how life will be after May. I will see these updates, maybe get a few tweets or facebook messages about how I'm missed, etc. No longer is Spring Break just a break. Instead, it is a look into what lies ahead after May. And man, is it scary. The one thing I have going for me on *this* change is that I'm at home so it's not a total change for me but what happens when I move to Kentucky and I'm mostly alone and have to establish a new group of friends? I don't really want to think about that right now. 

For now, I'm going to enjoy the next two months (64 days) and not worry about the next step in my life when it comes to the social aspect. I've passed my senior capstone class with my interview last monday so while I still have eight weeks of classes, a research project to start, and my Fulbright application I am going to somewhat relax for the next eight weeks and soak it all in.

This break may be full of lessons but it's definitely not going to give me a panic attack like it would have in January. It's time to fully embrace what is coming, not hope that this part of my life never ends.

A Lesson in Patience... and Confidence

“A horse is the projection of peoples’ dreams about themselves – strong, powerful, beautiful – and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.”
- Pam Brown

Keeping up the theme from last week, it's time for another horse blog.

Almost seven years ago, the love of my life (sorry guys, you don't have a chance to take her spot) gave birth to a palomino tobiano filly. Little did I know at 4am in the morning when she was born that I would be on the adventure of a lifetime.

To say I cleaned up with that foal a year later in in-hand classes would be an understatement. She was extremely professional in the ring for only being a yearling (heading to the ring was another story).  But as I grew up and moved to college, she spent more time in the pasture than doing anything productive, so when I got the chance to move her down to Texas this year, I jumped on it.

Even though this horse is seven, with the lack of work I've put into her over the past few years, she's more at the stage of a four or five year old (if that) but can act mature at times. 

When I got her to Texas, she was a dream for the first several weeks. She rode like a dream and I thought we were getting somewhere with her training. But slowly, little signs started popping up, which led to a bigger problem.

By late November, I was truly frustrated and hated riding her so I let her sit and relax for the few weeks before I left for winter break, giving her a month and a half break just to relax. But when I got back, I still had the same problems. My horse was stressed out in the arena and all of our rides end in frustration and accomplished nothing.

Finally, I took a step back and evaluated everything from an outsider view. First, with the stress my horse seemed to be displaying basically all the time, I decided it wouldn't hurt to treat for ulcers and grabbed some aloe vera juice to see if that would help (its apparently a good cure for ulcers). 

I gave that a few days to start working then moved back to riding. But instead of pushing my horse and getting exercise in, I took it easy in the arena. We worked on walk/trot transitions and did absolutely no cantering. My goal was to keep her relaxed while also getting some work done.

Finally today, she was responding well and seemed relaxed enough that I decided to give it a try. Our first attempt at a lope was a little rusty but there was little fuss in the few times I cued for it and by the end, we were loping pretty much at the cue (something we've always had a bit of a problem with). During one of these intervals, I realized that something that my mare needed was confidence. And really, it makes sense why.

I had shipped this horse 1,700 miles, taken her from a pasture to a stall with a run, and basically isolated her from other horses (after my roommate sold her horse, there was no one next to her), THEN I had pushed her harder than she's been pushed since she was broke as a 2-year-old. If there was a way to do something wrong, I did it.

And like many lessons horses have taught me, Vegas once again taught me that I needed patience (as soon as I backed off and was patient enough to wait for her to show me she was ready, we were successful) and that I need to remember to build the confidence of my mount. On the ground, I can ask this horse for anything and she'll do it, but under saddle, she's not as sure of herself and I need to reassure her that she is doing fine and will be okay.

So I guess like always, it's time to salute my mare and thank her for teaching me a lesson that is also useful with humans. Who says horses aren't good teachers?

Until next time,

Mel