Bill Nye: from childhood hero to adulthood hero

“Bill Nye never explained science. He got on camera and told the universe how things should work.” -Me

The spinning head in the opening sequence was created by having Nye wear a green spandex suit in front of a green screen and kneel on a spinning office chair.

May 21 I got a chance to listen to Bill Nye speak. Yes, the Science Guy. He knows a lot. The Ohio Union Activities Board in conjunction with a few engineering clubs at Ohio State brought him here and gave out free tickets to students. Quite the deal.

I wasn’t just there to hear him speak, though. I went to live-tweet the event. I arrived 40 minutes early, and rude people already took the good seats. I say rude because they didn’t save one for me. While waiting for the man of the hour, I began tweeting a few random thoughts to build up to the show. I thanked OUAB, tweeted that quote at the top, and mentioned some facts about Nye. You can find cool information on his Wikipedia page and the page for his show.

He spoke about many things from space missions to the energy crisis and made-up words and sundials. I tweeted. Alone.

Well, not completely alone. Using the hashtag #OUABillNye (created by OUAB for the event), I encountered 6 other people who were tweeting. Live-tweeting did not prove itself to be an effective way to connect with others. I was retweeted twice, others were retweeted sometimes and none of us interacted beyond that.

Maybe OUAB didn’t promote tweeting during the event enough for people to get involved. I think social media is limited to the same rules as face-to-face social interaction. If you don’t know someone, you’re not likely to get involved in a conversation with that person. Social media will cause more interactions like that than face-to-face because you can hear everybody, not just the people five feet away, but I believe human nature limits its effectiveness.

Another rule of social interaction is that scientists aren’t very good at it. A lot of science majors went to hear him speak.

Not many people followed me, either. Granted, I don’t have many followers on Twitter, but the few I have said they weren’t paying attention throughout the event. For live-tweeting to work, it needs lots of hype, but I still didn’t find it very effective, just trendy.

What do you think about live-tweeting? Does it work? Let me know in a comment. Also, follow me on Twitter so that sad little birdy can smile again. While you’re at it, click the button on the right side of the home page to follow my blog. And this link lets you check out some other cool posts that have happened or are coming soon.

Peace. -Matt

 

Blog updates – May 18, 2012

Dear World,  I know you’ve been wondering about the future of my blog. Where is it headed? What life mysteries will Matt elucidate? I’ve got a lot of ideas for future posts, so I wanted to get information out there on what you can expect coming up in the near future:

1. Brochures – Print is far from outdated in business and advertising. Companies are constantly putting out brochures, pamphlets, fliers, etc., to get your attention. I’ll be taking a look at some cool brochures, what works and what doesn’t. I guarantee there will be neat pictures. This will be posted on Sunday or Monday.

2. Live-Tweeting – Twitter is being used in new ways every day, it seems. Live-tweeting events has grown significantly ever since Charlie Sheen’s ego trip trended across the world. In this class assignment, I’m going to be tweeting from an event on campus Monday. Follow me on Twitter @IllusionofMatt, and hear some insights about the world from… Bill Nye the Science Guy. I’ll then put up a post within the week about how efficient and effective live tweeting is, and how businesses make the most of it.

3. Nonverbal Communication – One of my primary goals when creating this blog was to talk about how nonverbal communication in advertising can persuade and transmit messages beyond words. I’m even writing a thesis on that starting in autumn. Unfortunately, I’ve been busy with other projects for class, so I haven’t been able to write as much as I’d like. I alluded to writing two posts in one of my first articles on physical appearance. Look for the expansion pack within these next two weeks.

Edit: I’ve finished them. Check out my simple tips to get better-looking hair for girls and for guys.

4. The Superbowl Archives – I love watching the Superbowl and the commercials that come with it. Every year I make a list of my favorite commercials, so I figured I would put those on the blog. (Hopefully all the videos are on YouTube. Other sites don’t seem to embed videos well.) I’ll then talk a little about why they’re such great pieces of work.

 

Project 80: The fallacy of social media

Social media is a quickly-growing realm, but people often get caught up in the social part and forget the media aspect. Businesses are racing to create Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, etc. We still can’t calculate the return on investment, but logic assumes the R.O.I. for social media is pretty high.

That’s where businesses are wrong. 1million likes on a Facebook page mean nothing if nobody buys a single product.

Don’t lose sight of the purpose of business.