It’s beginning to feel like the holidays! Our calendar for this month is insane with fun activities and celebrations but I am never too busy to write the Thursday Rundown. Ready or not, here are five topics…

Work Corner – Earlier this week, I was interviewed by WMBF about fake news. A recent untrue local story had made the rounds on social media, sparking the motivation for the story. Throughout my discussion with reporter Erin Edwards, my main point was simple: Yes, the social media giants are doing more than ever to combat the posting and spreading of fake news. However, spammers will always be one step ahead. We must take personal responsibility for not sharing or retweeting content that is fake. All it takes is a couple minutes to verify whether a story is real. Sensational headlines and sketchy URLs are dead giveaways about the authenticity of a story. When in doubt, find another source that corroborates the piece by doing a Google search or just asking a friend. We need to be informed, responsible citizens.

In other news, #CCUSocialMedia recently won silver in the W3 Awards. We entered our #PopCHANTet Texts campaign in the social content & marketing category. Although I prefer gold, I thought this recognition was noteworthy for two reasons. First, the trophy is really sweet. Second, the W3 Awards is not exclusive to higher education but open to marketing professionals in all industries across the country. As this was a user-generated content campaign, all credit goes to #TEALnation for enthusiastically participating.

Me holding the W3 silver award for social content and marketing.

Quick Laugh – You see jokes like this all the time. An elderly person is assumed to have co-existed with a historic figure during his/her lifetime. However, this cliché gag gets a spot in tonight’s blog post because it has a holiday twist and because I love Family Circus.

Poor grandma!

RIP George H.W. Bush – Regrettably, I have not watched as much coverage of President H.W. Bush’s life tributes and funeral ceremonies as I would have liked. However, one thing made me a bit emotional. When President Bush (#41) died, President Bush (#43) released a voiceover tribute. During it, he stated his dad’s most pressing question to his minister: When I make it to Heaven, will my daughter still be young or will she have turned old? George and Barbara had a 3-year-old daughter who died of Leukemia in the 1950s. Understandably, Bush never got over it. His question about her heavenly state made me tear up a bit as I thought about what it would feel like to lose a daughter so young and how it would be on your mind every day for the rest of your life. May President Bush, his wife, Barbara, and their daughter, Robin, all rest in peace.

George H.W. Bush with his daughter, Robin.

Top 5 Favorite Songs of the Year – Get ready everyone, my annual blog post listing my favorite songs of the year will drop next week. To get you in the mood, I wanted to share two previous versions that I posted on this date in the past. I published both my 2015 and 2017 lists on December 6. Do you think you can predict any of the songs I will be including on this year’s countdown? Let me know if you think you have an idea.

500 Days – Many of you might not be familiar with social media streaks so I apologize for ending this Rundown with a bummer of a topic. However, can you understand doing something 500 days in a row? Although “doing something” in this case consists of only opening an app, I am proud (or maybe a little embarrassed) to say that I have viewed my daily Timehop report for 503 straight days (I hit the 500 mark on Monday). I have had some close calls but I have been committed to keeping this streak going as long as possible. Expect me to devote an entire blog post to my streak when it hits 1,000 days on April 16, 2020.

I tweeted about my “accomplishment” on Monday morning.

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We have an exciting weekend coming up filled with church events, a birthday celebration, and other social gatherings. I hope your first week in December went well and that you are well on your way to ending 2018 on a strong note. Don’t Blink.