I thought it might be nice to introduce myself in hopes of establishing a familiar connection with you prior to arriving at IDEA. This way, if we come across one another in the halls of the convention center, we can enthusiastically reminisce about how we met online! LOL.
Below is a peek at my fascination with social media and internet trends...
I remember back in 1994 (when AOL was barely hitting a mainstream audience), I convinced my dad to let me have my first email address! Still in high school at the time, I found this to be a victory in favor of my independence towards connecting to the ‘outside’ world. Unfortunately, my connection was short lived because none of my friends had email accounts back then (nor even knew what AOL was!)
Needless to say, things have come a long way since then.
Cut to 1999: post-college, fresh 20-something fitness professional struggling to find work in Los Angeles. It was a time when web-based technology was evolving to where even the average person with limited technical expertise could create an online presence.
So, that's what I did.
I first explored the idea of using listservs to create a community for over 60 L.A.-based fitness instructors requesting subs for their classes. It effectively eliminated hours of phone calls and avoided the mass-email approach to finding subs. Essentially, instructors would post a sub request online and all instructors subscribing to the listserv would get the post. Simple.
On October 25, 1999, I created “AerobicsInstructorsTalk” on Yahoo!Groups (which is still active today with over 400 members). And eventually, (like so many people) I jumped on the internet 'bandwidth' and created my first official website (http://www.befitwithbiray.com/) which (to my amazement) is still operational today.
Today, email and websites are said to be 'old-school' - can you believe that? Words like wikis, blogs/vlogs, podcasts/vodcasts and virtual communities are part of the current vernacular. How to integrate these social media tools within the fitness industry is just the fun part...
Below is a peek at my fascination with social media and internet trends...
I remember back in 1994 (when AOL was barely hitting a mainstream audience), I convinced my dad to let me have my first email address! Still in high school at the time, I found this to be a victory in favor of my independence towards connecting to the ‘outside’ world. Unfortunately, my connection was short lived because none of my friends had email accounts back then (nor even knew what AOL was!)
Needless to say, things have come a long way since then.
Cut to 1999: post-college, fresh 20-something fitness professional struggling to find work in Los Angeles. It was a time when web-based technology was evolving to where even the average person with limited technical expertise could create an online presence.
So, that's what I did.
I first explored the idea of using listservs to create a community for over 60 L.A.-based fitness instructors requesting subs for their classes. It effectively eliminated hours of phone calls and avoided the mass-email approach to finding subs. Essentially, instructors would post a sub request online and all instructors subscribing to the listserv would get the post. Simple.
On October 25, 1999, I created “AerobicsInstructorsTalk” on Yahoo!Groups (which is still active today with over 400 members). And eventually, (like so many people) I jumped on the internet 'bandwidth' and created my first official website (http://www.befitwithbiray.com/) which (to my amazement) is still operational today.
Today, email and websites are said to be 'old-school' - can you believe that? Words like wikis, blogs/vlogs, podcasts/vodcasts and virtual communities are part of the current vernacular. How to integrate these social media tools within the fitness industry is just the fun part...
1 comment:
I have a confession: I am a blogging virgin. So, I'm so excited to post my first blog ever. I can't wait to go to IDEA and hear how technology is affecting our lives in good, healthy ways!
Rock on!
:-) Jen
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