Confession #12: Social Media, Apples, and Trees.

I know one thing for sure — I am my father’s child. I’ve heard the phrase “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” my whole life. And now, I know it to be true.

My dad was the original computer nerd. When my family moved from Ruston to Baton Rouge in 1983 for my dad’s return to school, he knew he would be writing the oh-so-long dissertation, a requirement for earning a doctorate degree. The dissertation is a massive research paper and, in pre-computer days, one big pain to type and re-type! As a result, my family became owners of one of the first home computers.

My dad encouraged me to “figure things out” on the computer. In those days, there wasn’t a lot to understand. A home computer primarly functioned as a fancy typewriter, allowing the user to make edits to a document and save them. When you are writing a book (e.g. a dissertation) or even a history paper (me – while in high school), you can see how this would come in handy!

My familiarity and comfort with computers has grown as the computer age has blossomed. And now, I seem to be the resident guru with my friends and family on computers, software and the application of technology to your lifestyle. My hunger for technology-as-applied-to-life began with a smartphone (a phone that can receive emails), followed by an iPhone (emails, internet, and lots of great tools and games called apps), and, most recently, a MacBookPro (Apple’s version of the laptop).

And so my friends, today’s column is for my friends who didn’t have a visionary, computer geek dad who saw the benefits of technology. Today’s lesson? Social media can make life simpler, more connected, and more informed. How? You’ve heard of the world wide web (www). Social media is becoming THE web ON the world wide web. Social media creates the connections that bind people and businesses together online.

Facebook. Fun? Useful? Yes. It’s that and much more. The most fun I’ve had on a computer in the last 25 years has been on Facebook. Facebook is like a class reunion, email, the newspaper, and your long-lost best friend all rolled into one. It’s a fantastic place to find people and become reaquainted. I found one of my best friends from elementary school, whom I had not seen in over 25 years. We’ve had a blast catching up with each other and seeing pictures of our kids — all through Facebook.

But Facebook is much more than just friends. Facebook is news. Facebook is news about your favorite businesses. The Minute Magazine is on Facebook (they’re giving away free tickets to Sci-Port). Seasons, where I serve as marketing director, is also on Facebook. Seasons and The Minute Magazine use their fan pages to create a conversation between business and consumer. On the Seasons page, you’ll find links to health & wellness articles, information about our services, information about local events that we support, special offers and discounts only available to Facebook fans, previews of upcoming specials, and much more. Even if you’ve never been to Seasons, check us out. You’ll learn a lot about health and wellness just by reading the many articles we post.

If you are nervous about jumping into the world of Facebook or any other social media for that matter, start simple. Visit Facebook, set up your account using an email address, and go straight to the Help Center. Stay there. Read about privacy settings and much more. Don’t do anything else on Facebook until you spend a little time learning about it. Then you can join the over 400 million people who are already using it.

Twitter. Twitter’s usefulness is growing by leaps and bounds. It has become my primary source for news. Posting a comment on twitter is called a “tweet”. Tweets must be 140 characters or less. So Twitter is comprised of little short messages to those who “follow” you.

Here’s an example of a “tweet” I posted this week: Coming soon to @seasonswc, Sunlighten Infrared Sauna. Watch @theellenshow TODAY to find out more about it! I posted this tweet to let my followers know the breaking news — a segment of The Ellen Show that day would be devoted to the Sunlighten Infrared Sauna which Seasons – The Spa is scheduled to receive in August of 2010.

If you are looking for breaking news, Twitter is THE place to find it. (Today that included the death of actor Gary Coleman). You can follow stars (Ashton Kutcher @aplusk has nearly 5 million followers). You can follow events like the Squire Creek LA Peach Festival. And you can even follow me, Dr. Goodyear, AND Seasons.

Foursquare. One of the most interesting and new forms of social media, Foursquare, is predicted by the social media/marketing community to be the next big thing. By “checking in” at your destinations around town, you can know where your friends are and what they’re up to. Today, I know that my friend Sarah was at Seasons – The Spa because she checked in on Foursquare and Blair was at Seasons Wellness Clinic. Many businesses, including favorite coffee spot Starbucks as well as Seasons, are already offering promotions via Foursquare. So check it out. You might get a free coffee or $5 off your next massage!

YouTube. By now, I think everyone with access to a computer has watched a video on YouTube. But did you ever think of YouTube as a tool? It has become a great place to research information on that blender you wanted to purchase or even a destination for vacation. Try it. At Seasons, we use our YouTube channel to give additional information about our services and also link to news reports about services such as food sensitivity testing. You can find Seasons on YouTube by clicking here.

Diigo. Diigo is one of my favorite social media services. It allows the user to bookmark anything interesting online. You can then share those bookmarks with your friends, your family, your co-workers, or any other group or list that you want to create.

So, for example, let’s say you are researching a trip to the San Juan Islands. You find 10 articles and/or videos that are interesting and you want your spouse and your kids to read them to help you determine your vacation itinerary. You can save each of those with just a click to your Diigo account. At the end of the day, Diigo will send an email to anyone on your group list with a summary and link to each of those 10 articles. You might have your spouse, your teenage son, and your mother-in-law on that list. And now, they can easily read all the same information about your possible vacation itinerary. Cool, isn’t it? I just love Diigo!

Diigo also monitors the most popular bookmarked spots on the web. One article I discovered has helped me plan summer activities for my kids. It was entitled “The Best Online Games for Gifted Kids.” I would never have found this article had it not been for my use of Diigo.

How do I use Diigo? Go to the Seasons Diigo Page by clicking here. You’ll find a list of health and wellness articles. Seasons offers its Diigo list as a service to the general public and we will continue to bookmark articles that we think are pertinent to today’s health and wellness conversation. Follow along. You will definitely learn something!

The apple and the tree.

While there are dozens of other social media sites out there, these are the most popular and most useful that I’ve found. If you are nervous about privacy issues, don’t fret. The great thing about all types of social media is that you don’t have to be friends with anyone you don’t want. Your privacy is always yours as long as you hang on to it!

You know, I wish my dad were around to see all of the latest advancements in computers and the information available to us. But, sadly, he died seven years ago.

He would have loved Facebook and, by now, would have more friends than I do on his Facebook page. He would be using Diigo to send me interesting links and info about education, his passion. He would be experimenting with Twitter and it’s usefulness. He would Check-In at my house on Foursquare. And if he had an iPhone, he would have been giddy with excitement. A computer/phone in his hands? And only the size of his palm?

One thing is for certain: I’m pretty sure he’s smiling at me from heaven. His encouragement of my interest in technology was worthwhile, trendsetting, and invaluable to my future.

Thanks, Daddy, for giving me curiousity and courage, and for making sure that this apple fell very close to your tree!

-Adapted from Confessions of a Hormonal Woman, a bi-monthly column published in The Minute Magazine and written by Elizabeth Haynes Drewett.

Social Media, Medicine, and a Great Story!

At Seasons, we love social media. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, You Tube — they are all great tools to help us communicate with our patients/clients and for our patients/clients to communicate with us. Seasons has been using social media for well over a year. That process began with a blog-based website, introduced over two years ago.

While this approach to communicating in the medical industry is rare, it is working. Case in point? Watch this video which tells a great story about a woman who had a misdiagnosed wrist injury. Twitter helped her find a correct diagnosis and then treatment and recovery from her injury.

Our thoughts? This is super cool and we will continue to use social media to interact and educate our patients and clients about the pursuit of wellness!