As many of you know, I have extensive experience in the Conference, Meetings & Events industry. (We love acronyms in that world, so it is fondly referred to as the MICE (Meetings Incentives Conference Events) industry in many circles.) Recently I attended a monthly meeting of a MICE industry association where the speaker gave us a rapid introduction to utilizing the Social Media tools available to us to promote our businesses. My eyes were opened wide!! When I think about how my first job to incorporate daily email and internet access was my return to the full-time workforce in 2002, imagine my surprise to also hear a news story this morning that the Social Media sites have now replaced email in time spent online! It's simply an astounding world we live in. 

I can attest that my initial foray into Facebook took place less than a year ago and was a very slow start. But just last night, I "friend-requested" over 20 people that I found through the friend listings of various "new" friends. These are people from the myriad of circles of my life's history that I cannot wait to re-connect with. (Shout out to all those MOPS connections!!) I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I've become that Social Media junkie, too! Jokingly people refer to Facebook as a "time-waster" and yet the phenomenon has grabbed the attention of academia, instigating research and new academic courses and even entire fields of study:  (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117917799574302391.html). 

I learned recently about the BlogWorld & New Media Expo and Conference October 16th-17th in Las Vegas. "This is first and only industry-wide tradeshow, conference, and media event dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of new media including: Blogging, Podcasting, Social Media, Oline Video, Music, TV, Radio, Gaming, Entertainment and Communities"(http://www.blogworldexpo.com/). Social Media is changing our world, and I don't want to be left behind, so Blogging is my newest attempt at full assimilation for greater understanding of my culture! Next to conquer: Twitter!