Josie and the Podcast

Welcome back to our 6th season of Josie and the Podcast! I am so glad to have you back and excited to dig into this new season, which is all about change. Changes in life, careers, transitions, and how we can prioritize time management during these crazy periods.

Have you heard of the “pandemic skip?” Whether it was your relationship with your family, your career, traveling, or any other part of life, the pandemic uprooted all of us and stole a few years from us! This season, we're going to talk about it, and I’ll be asking my guests for lessons, things that they're still grappling with, and how we can all continue to move on after those rough and isolating years.

In this first kick-off episode, I'll update you on what's been going on in my life since last year's mental health season. And then we were getting into platform problems. (And yes, if you're humming Champagne Problems right now, you’ve got the right idea.)

We’re diving into the struggle-bus of Twitter/X, how I feel about Threads, the accessibility of all these different platforms, TikTok trends, how social media is the loneliest job on campus, and a few AI resources to take with you towards the end of the show.

Josie and the Podcast is a production of Dr. Josie Ahlquist and is produced by University FM. The show is also sponsored by Element451.

For all resources mentioned in this episode, head to: https://www.josieahlquist.com/podcast/platform-problems/

Connect with Josie:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Threads
• Twitter/X
• Facebook
• Website: www.josieahlquist.com
• Email: [email protected]

Josie and the Podcast is on social too!

• Podcast Instagram
• Podcast Twitter/X
• Podcast Threads

The people that you meet online aren't real. It's not lasting. It's not impactful. Blah, blah blah.

We’re constantly surrounded by people who invalidate or don't believe that friendships or connections online count as real. But if you’re like me, I’ve met so, so many of my friends and colleagues on Twitter, in seminars, and in other online spaces.

So today I want to talk about the intersection of friendship, community, networking, and how that shows up online and in all of life, as well as how this translates into our approaches to marketing and communications.

In this episode, we dive into my early struggles with friendships and being bullied — plus how hard it is to make friends as adults. We also discuss the increased levels of loneliness and depression, the difference between friendship and parasocial relationships, and some tips on maintaining these bonds, both in person and online.

Finally, I'll dig into how all this matters to our work in higher ed marketing and communications.

Please note: This episode touches on topics like depression. Take care while listening.

For all notes of this episode head to: https://www.josieahlquist.com/podcast/are-online-friends-real/

Connect with Josie:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josieahlquist/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josieahlquist Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/josieandthepodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/josieahlquist

Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/JosieATPodcast

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJosieAhlquist/

Website: www.josieahlquist.com

Email: [email protected]

Mentioned in the episode:

University FM

Campus Sonar

Open Eye Crystals

Depression - World Health Organization

Finding My Footing

Loneliness in America: How the Pandemic Has Deepened an Epidemic of Loneliness and What We Can Do About It (Harvard)

The Loneliness Epidemic Persists: A Post-Pandemic Look at the State of Loneliness among U.S. Adults (Cigna)

How to Be a Better Friend By Tara Parker-Pope (NYTimes)

Why Making Friends in Midlife Is So Hard By Katharine Smyth (The Atlantic)

Asking People about IRL Friends on Twitter

The Friendship Report 2020 by Snapchat

How many hours does it take to make a friend? (SAGE)

Epic Rap Battles of History - Youtube

Katie Spencer Johnson / Calle Goodwin Twitter thread

Jackbox Game

‘I was lacking deeper connection’: can online friends be the answer to loneliness? By Yasmina Floyer (The Guardian)

Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make-and Keep- Friends - Dr. Marisa G. Franco

Dunbar's number: you can only maintain 150 relationships

How to Make Friends As an Adult By Emily Burns (The Cut)

Dr. Miriam Kirmayer

Vina App

Peanut App

Bumble Friendship App<...

It's been a while since we’ve seen each other! When we wrapped season 4 in the fall of 2020, we thought of it as a kind of intermission. A 2-year long intermission. But we are finally back!

So we start off today's episode with a little reintroduction to myself, the podcast, and my mission.

But mostly, we want to check in with this shorty episode. This fall semester has been a tough one for me, there has just been a heaviness that I haven’t been able to shake. And I’m guessing I may not be the only one. So I want to check in with you. How are you supporting yourself when work and life get hard? What are your self-care routines, and are you doing them?

And I want to check in with your work. Are you being open and honest with your team about the support you need, and are you giving them the space to be honest with you? We’re hoping to crack the concept that we’re all doing fine. Because higher ed is indeed not doing okay.

For all notes of this episode head to: https://www.josieahlquist.com/podcast/hey-higher-ed-are-you-okay/

Connect with Josie:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josieahlquist/

Instagram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josieahlquist/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/josieahlquist

Podcast: Twitter: https://twitter.com/JosieATPodcast

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJosieAhlquist/

Website: www.josieahlquist.com

Email: [email protected]

Mentioned in the episode:

Josie Shorty: Applying Ease to Podcasting

Digital Community Building Cohort

NASPA Pillars of the Profession

Renew Retreat SeriesCultivating Critical Hope: The Too Often Forgotten Dimension of Critical Leadership Development

Dr. Adam Peck’s Tweet - National Coming Out Day

If you know me, you know I talk about community - all the time. Reflecting on the work of Marcus Collins, I spend this episode diving into the roles we all play in community, and how we can all evolve together. We’ll discuss how we can show up and be active advocates for our communities, defining belonging as a facet of community and how this all translates to student success.

But we’ll also dig into what a community really is. Is it though the memes we share on our schools’ social media account, the campus itself, the culture the students share, or the staff we bring on at the higher levels?

We’re also trying something new this episode, and sharing an interview I did recently with Tim Alexander, the Resident Director at Chapman University. If you were at the NASPA Western Regional Conference, you may remember he ended up being a big part of my session.

In this episode, Tim talks about how he implemented ideas from my Digital Community Cohort to create meaningful social media content that humanized Chapman’s RAs and staff even before the semester kicked off. He digs into his favorite parts of facilitating community on campus, and how he's serving the unique needs of first-year students.

Josie and the Podcast is a production of Dr. Josie Ahlquist and is produced by University FM. The show is also sponsored by Element451.

For all resources mentioned in this episode, head to https://www.josieahlquist.com/podcast/building-community-vs-facilitating-community-and-the-work-of-belonging-in-digital-communities/

Connect with Josie:

LinkedIn

Instagram

Threads

Twitter/X

Facebook

Website

Email

Josie and the Podcast is on social too!

Podcast Instagram

Podcast Twitter/X

Podcast Threads

Mentioned in the episode:

• If you didn’t share a recap video, did 2023 even happen? | The Washington Post
• Taylor Lorenz: Washington Post, Instagram, Book: Extremely Online
• Embedded by Kate Lindsey
• No or low spend challenges
• Renew Retreats
• The Digital Community Cohort
• Student Social Media Academy
• 2023 AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education
• Dr. Marcus Collins - Professor | Best-Selling Author | Keynote Speaker
• For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be by Marcus Collins
• The State of Social Media in 2023: How You Can Build Communities, Drive Sales, and Go Viral, According to 1,000+ Social Media Managers | Hubspot
• Podcast: