Digital Presentation and Plan

Hi class,


Just wanted to get some feedback on how to plan the digital presentation and plan, which is the final project for our class.  Following are some questions/ideas - let me know your thoughts.

• We have 20 students in the class so we can do four groups of five students or five groups of four students.  We have plenty of time for either scenario.
• Do you want to pick your own groups, have me assign them or sign up for a group based on the organization that you are developing the plan for?
• Do you want to pick your own organization or have me provide a list of recommendations?
• Also, there is one group that will present July 21st - if you are missing the last week of class or would like to be in that group for other scheduling issues, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

PK

June 30, Social Media Day

Mashable declares June 30 to be the Social Media Day. Check this article out. Here's also a link to the official page of the Social Media Day http://mashable.com/smday/

I don't know whether it's just a coincidence or not, but we'll be celebrating the Social Media Day with Ogilvy tomorrow :)

http://www.designtaxi.com/news/32203/Mashable-Declares-June-30-Social-Media-Day/?page=1

Popular social media blog Mashable has declared June 30 as ‘Social Media Day’, a day to “celebrate the revolution of media becoming social”, Mashable said.

Mashable encourages those who use social media to organise real-life meetups and events in their areas, “connecting with other enthusiasts”.

At the time of this report, there are 576 meetups organised worldwide with a total of 8,783 people attending.

Mashable have, unsurprisingly, set up Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and Flickr albums devoted to Social Media Day. The blog will be announcing a prize for those that tweet or post to Facebook about the celebration.

Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia, is the first city to officially proclaim 30 June as Social Media Day.

Visit the official Social Media page for more information.
Follow the event on Twitter at @mashSMday
See the Facebook event page here

Social Media Policies of 113 Organizations | Social Media Today

Thought this was a helpful link in light of what we talked about yesterday regarding developing policies. Some good examples here for a variety of different types of organizations.

Social Media Policies of 113 Organizations | Social Media Today

The Impact of Twitter Places--Is it too personal?

http://tiny.cc/faah4

This article discusses how Twitter Places will revolutionize the way we connect with each other, as well as the way companies advertise. Places has been revamped so that now users can choose when to add their location to their tweets, instead of being forced to like previous versions. This author believes that this application will turn location-sharing into a mainstream activity. As such, it is expected that the projected popularity of Places will boost the use of other applications like FourSquare and Gowalla.

I suppose I remain a skeptic in the practicality of these sorts of features. Personally, I don't think I want people to know exactly where I am, with geographic coordinates and all. If they really want to find me, they can do so with those satellites that can locate someone within a few inches. That is scary enough for me--I don't feel the need to broadcast my exact location otherwise. To me, it's a safety thing. Especially after reading the blog about the Please Rob Me site...there are too manny nutters out there that I wouldn't trust with the information. It's one thing to say you're at a specific event or at a certain mall, etc...but giving out the address to where you are just seems unnecessary to me.

I am really curious to see how things like FourSquare take off. Who knows, maybe one day I will create my own account. But is this just one more example of how social media is becoming a bit too personal? The article says that location-sharing will allow for location-specific advertising. Ok, fair enough. But should we be sacrificing our anonymity to do so? I guess I am going to need a lot more convincing to turn on my Places feature in Twitter, because at present, the ability to get a specific Starbucks ad is not enough incentive for me to broadcast to who-only-knows about where to find me. Don't get me wrong, I love Facebook and Twitter, but I'm a little gun shy about getting this personal. And better yet, will this really have that much of an impact on advertising? Maybe so. I'd love to see if it proves useful in that arena. But my bigger question is....is the personal cost too high?

A Brazen Careerist

Brazen Careerist has been dubbed by the media as "LinkedIn for Generation Y". Brazen was founded by members of Gen Y Ryan Healy and Ryan Paugh (both graduates of Penn State University 2006) and prominent bogger Penelope Trunk.

Like many companies starting out, Brazen has changed its path many times. The site launched in March 2008 as a compilation of Gen Y bloggers. It then reformed itself into more of a social network site, still aggragating blogs, but allowing features such as profiles and groups. Finally, Brazen began to transform the site into a career management tool for Generation Y.

Although Brazen isn't as popular as many social networks, it's growing every day. While the founders recognize that Facebook is "home base" and LinkedIn "is the dominant player in the online career network space," Brazen Careerist allows Gen Y to "meet new people, build a network, and have work related conversations" in ways that people do not actively engage on Facebook. And, unlike LinkedIn, where "profiles emphasize experience- something people in their twenties are a little short on," Brazen caters to the younger generation.

I learned about Brazen from Ryan Healy, COO, after meeting him in person in November 2007. For my Interviews and Profiles class at Fordham University, we had an assignment to interview someone "famous". Now, as you know, in the world of reality TV and stars like Heidi and Spencer, "famous" is a relatively subjective term.

I decided to interview Ryan after seeing "The 'Millennials' are Coming" on 60 Minutes. Generation studies-specifically the Millennial generation, also known as Gen Y-have always been one of my interests. At the time, he was in the process of launching Brazen Careerist. He described Brazen to me as a site where Gen Y would be able to interview future employers instead of the other way around. As the Millennial generation enters the work force, he told me, we have the opportunity to change the way things are done. We are entering the workforce in record numbers. There are 80 million of us to be exact. And as the Baby Boomers retire, Generation X will be about 30 million people short in replacing their positions. This means, in many cases, Generation Y will move up the ladder quicker.

As the company started out, Brazen Careerist experienced growing pains, but lucky for them, Generation Y is known to be forgiving- especially when the mistakes are transparent- and as members of Gen Y, its founders seem to understand this.

As Healy puts it:
You might be thinking, why does Brazen Careerist keep changing what they’re doing? My response to that question is, we didn’t really have a choice. Over the past six months we’ve listened to the community and we’ve listened to the marketplace. And what they both keep telling us is that young professionals (Gen Y) are looking for a professional home on the internet.
(Sound familiar? Listening to your audience? Isn't this what Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff have been saying all along in Groundswell?)

The site has all the basic elements of a social network. Users make their own profiles, create their own contact lists, join groups, etc. Brazen allows users to combine everything on the site- from blog posts, to group chatter, to profile updates. In addition, the site allows you to showcase your resume, but while Brazen Careerist is a career management tool, it emphasizes ideas over experience.

At its most basic element, Brazen is a site for Generation Y to connect with each other. Personally, I haven't experienced much with the site. Although I have a profile, I have almost no contacts on the site and don't know many others who belong. I do, however, turn to Brazen to read articles, and receive their newsletter updates that describe the progression of the site.

As Brazen catches on, and the conversations continue, it will be easier to connect with others and share your ideas with "the people who look for them", as Brazen puts it. Specifically:

• Employers and recruiters looking to hire
• Peers at work or in your field
• Entrepreneurs seeking collaboration
• Reporters looking for expert opinions

BP (really might) Care

If you haven't heard of it by now you must be living under a rock. BP Global PR on Twitter is an extremely popular parody account. Started by an anonymous person on May 19th, the account is definitely a parody, though it gives no indication of being so. Currently it has over 179,000 Followers and tweets rather humorous PR-like statements regarding the BP Oil Spill.

This brings into question, as a PR professional, how can you control a message in this situation? Is it even possible?! The account has been up for a month now, is still active, and seems to be prospering. On the other hand, BP_America the official BP account on twitter (for... America... wanted to point that out just in case) has only 16,000 followers and is mostly an object of ridicule in the Twitterverse.

What can be done? In this extreme situation, probably nothing, but it is an example of the worst Social Media job in the world right now, working for BP's twitter.

Please Rob Me

GPS is supposed to be the trend of the future, but does it also create a security risk?

I'm not on FourSquare, but I imagine that when I finally jump into the 21st century and get a smartphone, I will join. I mentioned that to my brother the other day and he told me about an interesting development from the tech community: a website called "Please Rob Me" that uses FourSquare data to tell the world when you're not home so that robbers can safely come by and steal your stuff.

Not really knowing how FourSquare works, I had assumed that it only spread your location information to people you know, who you've chosen to include on your FourSquare network, and who you trust not to rob your house. Apparently, this isn't quite the case, as Please Rob Me actually takes streaming information about people's current locations to create a list of empty homes with no one to guard them.

Security risks posed by social media have been raised in the past. We all know the dangers of "sexting" and how it can ruin potential future careers (and dignity). A hapless teen that sends one photo to his/her significant other can then turn around and forward it to 20,000 more by posting it to the Internet. I'm sure it was a hard way to learn that Internet data doesn't die. There are lessons to be learned here, too, but how seriously do we take them? Who is in charge of evaluating these risks, and should there be a group that attempts to govern them? Is the new trend of 'checking in' bound to be the next Internet trend that is too-late-discovered to have unexpected adverse effects on individuals and society?

Huffington Post article: http://tinyurl.com/yj49zuk

How Weekly World News got to 40,310 Facebook Friends in 4 Days

Weekly World News recently went from 3,244 Facebook fans to 40,310 in just four short days with some very strategic planning. Here are the things they suggest to get a high number of fans as well as the right fans. The full article is here.

1. Ask users to like you in an ad. This is now possible in Facebook.
2. Send users to your Facebook page, not your website. If you send them somewhere else, they will forget about liking you.
3. Create an incentivized LIKE page. Weekly World News created a tab that had a blurred out news page with text over it saying "Get the latest terrifying news on Facebook by becoming a fan!"
4. Do NOT send users to your wall. Send them directly to the incentivized like page.
5. Rotate your ads DAILY. Facebook is a daily site, so don't bore targeted fans with the same ad.
6. Optimize primarily to cost per fan, not just click through rate or cost per click. This will help you target the most relevant fans.
7. Separate into test and production campaigns.
8. Send updates regularly to fans. Facebook allows you to send your fans an email through the site. This will remind your fan to go to your page, which hopefully will generate some activity on his or her newsfeed and get you more fans.

Sensitive Topics on Twitter

The controversial tweet of Mark Shurtleff, Utah's Attorney General, announcing that he "gave the go ahead" for the execution of a prisoner forced many to consider whether there are some topics that are off-limits in social media. Misty Harris addresses the debate in her Vancouver Sun article. Some experts and bloggers have argued the problem isn't necessarily what the attorney general said, but the medium he used to communicate it. Harris writes:

New media expert Alfred Hermida says the problem is that social media straddles both the personal and the professional, meaning staid messages are inevitably going to share space with posts about people's coffee preferences.

"In some ways, technology moves faster than our social and cultural practices," says Hermida, assistant professor at the University of British Columbia. "The execution (tweet), for example, stands out as inappropriate in that context, even though I don't think the message itself was inappropriate."

But what context would have been appropriate? What medium should have been used - and could or should social media have been involved at all? Shani O. Hilton writes in The Atlantic that just a tweet linking to a press release on the execution would've changed things. At first, I didn't consider this to be much different from what Shurtleff did. And while I'm still not sure of the idea, I can now see a clearer distinction between the two approaches. While tweeting a link to the release would still be using social media, it would be using it much less directly - as a bridge to the message rather than the message itself. A press release, considerably more thoughtful, formal, and substantial than a 140-character tweet, changes the context of the message.

While it's unlikely that most involved in PR will have to deal with a topic quite like this, there is no shortage of serious and sensitive messages that they have to communicate to the public. The lesson we can draw from this controversy is that the medium should match the seriousness of the message you're trying to convey. While PR practitioners don't have to avoid social media completely when broaching these sensitive issues, they will have to be smart about how they use it. Using social media as a means to direct readers to a more formal statement may be the answer.

How Social Media is Changing Personal Relationships

When browsing Mashable, I stumbled on “The Forgiveness Engine”. According to theforgivenessengine.com, the site is intended to be a place to make amends.

The way it works is this: you log in with a twitter account and write your story (what you forgive/apologize for) and it simply tweets that you forgave or that you asked for forgiveness. The specifics are not tweeted, but are saved to the site and you are then free to scroll through their list of stories. The official rules are: “Say what you have to say, make it sweet. No names, and when you save your story, we update your status for you.”

If you find an apology and a forgiveness that are similar, you have the option to “match” them (for example, “I apologize for using my roommate’s soap” and “I forgive my roommate for using my soap” = match!). The two are alerted of the match, and have the opportunity to connect at that point. Mashable’s article interviews the developer, Jasper Sparre Andersen, who suggests that the matching option can provide empathy and support to those experiencing similar situations, as the opposing viewpoint gives a different understanding of the same issue. (The matching function is not yet up and running.)

Andersen also recently launched Avoidr. The Foursquare plugin helps to avoid running into people such as exes and “ex-friends” by labeling who to “avoid” or finding places to avoid, based on where those people are.

But with all of this technology, are we just avoiding unpleasant conversations/confrontations because it’s the easy thing to do, or is it “the way of the future”? The Forgiveness Engine might be a good way to connect with others in the same situation, but in the end it doesn’t let the person know that you’re sorry or that you accept an apology. Avoiding conversations and accidental run-ins seems like it only delays the inevitable, making it even more awkward and uncomfortable when it happens sometime in the future.

What do you all think?

New, Creative Ways to Get a Job

Only a few years ago, the Internet was rife with warnings about all the ways that social media use could get you fired. This ranged from the various thoughtless things people posted on Facebook, to the infamous Ketchum/Fedex Twitter disaster, when a Ketchum executive posted a rather unflattering tweet about his client's hometown.

More recently, though, we are seeing how the reverse can be true as well: using online tools and social media can land you a job, especially if you can use them creatively.

A great example that was making the rounds last month was the advertising copywriter who used Google AdWords to land a job. Noticing that no ads popped up when he googled the creative directors he admired, Alec Brownstein purchased ads for these searches; thus, upon googling themselves, the first thing they would see would be a link to Alec's website. Ultimately, Alec got interviews with four of the creative directors, and two offered him a job.



Another example of advertising directly to employers comes from Marian Schembari, who used Facebook ads to land a job in the publishing industry. Initially, she was unable to get interviews, so Marian started taking out ads targeted toward people working at major publishing houses. She was able to get a job within two weeks, and even a year later, colleagues she meets at conferences still remember her as the girl whose ads appeared on their Facebook.

Clearly, both strategies relied on a certain level of originality. But can we use these same strategies, even if we won't be the first to employ them? In part, it depends on the position you want to apply for, but ultimately, it's another potential route to getting a job. In response to the criticism that this approach may no longer be considered innovative, Miriam says, "Would you not write a cover letter just because it’s not “innovative” enough?"

Or, as Alec Brownstein puts it, "The people who you want to work for can’t hire you any less than they already are. So shoot for the moon."

iPhone smoothie

I was happy to see this post about Blendtec's latest "Will It Blend?-iPhone 4" video on Mashable today because, just yesterday, I was reading about their videos in Groundswell.

Blendtec's high-end blenders will cost you $439.95. But just wait til you see them in action -- Blendtec has a series of videos called "Will It Blend," in which CEO Tom Dickson tests the company's blenders on everything from glow sticks (it makes a glowing smoothie out of them in minutes) to expensive technology. Groundswell discusses its destruction of the original iPhone. Blentec has since pulverized the iPad. And, now it has proven that the iPhone 4 is no match for its Wildside Blender.

Groundswell goes into just why these videos are effective. They are produced for relatively little, and there's no need to buy time for them on television networks -- they are racking up millions of views on willitblend.com and on YouTube. Moreover, they entertain rather than shout at customers.

The iPhone 4 video is no different and demonstrates just how good this company is at talking to the Groundswell. In addition to the usual formula of blending something to smithereens, this video parodies the incident of Gizmodo buying the new iPhone after it was found in a bar. It even includes a nod to the viral sensation "Don't tase me, bro" video.

Blendtec's video is savvy. It knows it doesn't exist in a vacuum and makes itself stronger by incorporating other internet phenomena that its audience will recognize. Most importantly, the video won't just gain the company customers -- it will gain it fans.

How powerful is social media today?

There is no doubt that social media has been given more power with the advent of the Internet. Five years ago when I first came to the United States, I heard about eBay where people can purchase online. Since I am not a trendy person, I had no idea whether China had similar platforms for consumers to conduct transactions at that time. Five years later, not only Chinese “eBay” websites are emerging at a fast speed, but also consumers’ decision making on shopping is influenced by social media.
In the article Social Media Affects Awareness and Purchasing in China, Thomas Crampton draws highlights of a report regarding how social media affects Chinese consumers. I would not say that social media in China is entirely different from that in the United States, but some indigenous factors influence the way how Chinese views things and make decisions. For instance, Chinese consumers like to refer to consumer reviews and ratings of items they would like to purchase online, but their US counterparts seem to pay little attention to this. This difference revealed in this article may stem from the core cultures of these two countries: China is perceived as a collectivist society where relations with others are more valued than a society dominated by individualism such as the United States. Chinese consumers prefer to buy things that receive more comments and higher ratings from others. This is a critical point that public relations professionals have to take into consideration when launching a product or campaign.
Despite that China is still a developing country, it catches up with media trends very fast and even surpasses their counterparts in the developed world. There is an eBay in the United States, Chinese “eBay” followed the transaction model and has gained popularity in China; when Facebook, blocked in some developing countries like China, is expanding its business around the world, Chinese Facebook has caught the attention of younger generations (For more information about Chinese Facebook, please see Why Renren is Better than Facebook.). Social media is not only influencing people’s decision making, but also changing the way that business was once conducted.

The Facebook Movie

According to Mashable, a movie entitled "The Social Network" is expected to be released this October.  It's about Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, and his rise to success (he's a billionaire.)  It also touches on how much Facebook has changed and the privacy issues that accompany it.
Okay, I'm not going to lie, I hate Facebook.  I seem to be the only 20-year-old who doesn't have one.  However, I don't hate it for everyone.  I personally just got sick of it.  Anyway, I think a movie like this is a very good idea, because it makes the online-site-that-you-just-can't-seem-to-tear-yourself-away-from
even-though-you-have-so-much-work-to-do a much more tangible enterprise.  Everyone loves an underdog story.  I think it's going to give Facebook a lot of good publicity (if done correctly) and will help spread Facebook's purpose to more countries worldwide who may not support it because they do not understand it. The Public Relations crew at Facebook headquarters is pretty smart for doing something like this, because they know that Facebook has so many people, young and old, completely crazed that they will go out and buy a $9 ticket to see the movie.  I might even go myself.  We'll see.

Facebook is great for companies who want to promote themselves because you can "Become a Fan of" any product that has a Facebook page.  It has evolved how communication is carried out (even though that 26 year old billionaire Zuckerberg stole Twitter's ideas) and has allowed companies to reach a new level of targeting their products to consumers based on their personal information.  It is the definition of social media.  I hope this movie doesn't put Facebook or Zuckerberg on too much of a pedestal, though.  Because people will see right through it.

Mashable's story is available here:
http://bit.ly/ale1rX

The Facebook Movie- is the world ready for this?

I'm sure that many of us have seen the posters for "The Social Network" movie (a.k.a. "The Facebook Movie") that were released recently. It showed a headshot of an actor portraying Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg. But now there's a teaser trailer to boot!

I have to say, watching this trailer for the first time made me laugh. A lot. It's trying a little too hard to be dramatic if you ask me. "If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you would've invented Facebook!" Lines like that and "I can't wait to stand over your shoulder and what you write is a check," had me snickering and rolling around on the couch. Who wrote this script?!? Furthermore, I wonder what Zuckerberg is thinking about this onscreen depiction. Watch it here.

Anyway, in all seriousness, the fact that a social media application could have such an impact on our daily lives and culture is pretty amazing, and it probably does warrant being documented on film. Facebook has fundamentally changed how people, and especially young people, connect and develop relationships. Most of us are on Facebook and routinely check it for updates from friends, for event invites, and interesting news posted by those in our networks. Facebook has completely redefined how we look at terms like "poke," "like," and "friends." In fact, when reading the paper this morning I noticed a "Dear Abby" column where a woman was asking for advice on how to deal with an ex-boyfriend from high school that wanted to reconnect with her. The only problem is that he was married with kids and was clearly trying to hide his outreach efforts from his wife. Meanwhile the woman saw on his wife's profile how it said, "happily married to my best friend." Complicated to be sure.

Though Facebook has allowed us to say in touch with acquaintances, it has also caused more problems in our lives. There are now social networking etiquette rules to be aware of, which are constantly evolving with the technology. And Facebook founder Zuckerberg has frequently been in the news regarding the questionable practices of Facebook's ever-changing privacy policies. (Although I'm not going to go into the whole privacy issue debate, Zuckerberg has been learning the hard way that Facebook belongs to its users more than it does to him. If the users don't approve of the changes boycotts ensue.)

While I do find the idea of a Facebook movie comical in some regards, I suppose they had better make a movie about it before another social media application steps in and destroys Facebook's popularity and significance. As the article mentions, movies are a social experience and what is on film does usually prevail in our poplar culture.

So let me pose this question: will you be lining up to see this movie? And more importantly, does this mean a Twitter movie can't be far behind?

Twitter Using Promoted Links

For any of you steady Twitter users, you might have noticed something interesting on the Trending Topics recently.  Toy Story 3, which was released June 18, had a little gold box next to it on the site.  In the box it says "Promoted."  You can click on it.  When you do, you are taken to the hashtag (#) search of Toy Story 3 or #toystory3.  Under each tweet it says "Promoted by Disney.Pixar" in the same gold box.  Essentially, instead of having advertisements, Twitter is allowing companies to pay to use its site for promotion of their products via Trending Topics.  I'm pretty glad that this beaurocratic invasion of cyberspace isn't coming in a form like Facebook's advertising, which not only flashes in front of your eyes but also targets you via your age, interests, gender, et cetera... Did you know that switching Twitter into the Japanese language causes a huge advertisement above your personal information on the right sidebar to appear?  Only in Japanese, though.  Interesting.


Anyway, I think this helps PR gain something that might have been lost with the emergence of all this social media and self-promoting.  Promoted links allow the company to attach its brand name to something as flimsy as a Trending Topic on Twitter.  And that goes a long way.  It puts much more control in the company because it's paying to see it's product being discussed on Twitter.  And because it's "Promoted," the company is more likely to pay attention of the tweets of users/ viewers who were either satisfied or discontent with the product.  I think that knowing that Disney.Pixar cares enough to pay for a link on Twitter makes users more willing to mention it in their tweets.  I like this new system very much, but I believe that in the future it's not going to be enough.  Corporations are going to realize that the online community is growing and eventually Twitter is probably going to turn into another Facebook with target advertising.  In the meantime, this is a big step for Twitter and it's not too much of an inconvenience for the users, either.




read Twitter's blog post about Promoted links here:
http://bit.ly/bkPDOf

Gautrain uses social media to spread its message

I was reading David Meerman Scott's The New Rules of Marketing & PR (2010), and there's something the author said which I found interesting. Scott (2010) says that prior to the Web, organizations had only two significant choices to attract attention: Buy expensive advertising or get third-party ink from the media. But the Web has changed the rules. The Web is not TV. Organizations that understand the New Rules of Marketing and PR develop relationships directly with consumers like you and me (p. 5).

So this morning when I came across this article from the Mail & Guardian Online - one of South Africa's major publishers - I immediately remembered the quote from Scott (2010).

According to the article, an organization that totally gets the news rules of marketing and public relations and is using it is Gautrain,a state-of-the-art rapid rail network in Gauteng, South Africa. Last march, the company sent out Twtvite to its over 1442 followers on Twitter to a Tweetup on the rails. The purpose of the meet was to explain the company’s plans to increase rail lines in the country to ease congestion.

About 200 excited fans gathered at the Gautrain depot in Midrand, South Africa. Clutching glasses of fruit juice and plates full of complimentary breakfast buffet food, they wandered around the demarcated area in the big storage shed, examining the models of four Gautrain stations that were on display, and taking pictures of each other next to one of the Gautrains. People recognized each other from Twitter or Facebook, and enjoyed the chance to poke and be poked in person.

The management of the company used this opportunity to explain the benefits of the program to the participants and to also allay any concerns the community might have. Of course, as the Tweeps listened and participated in the events, they were all the time Tweeting, which meant many more people could share in their experience and Gautrain's message was further spread.

So what Twitter had done was help Gautrain cut costs it would have incurred to print invitations and or posters to attract people to its event. Furthermore, the middleman role of traditional media - print or broadcast - was eliminated. Gautrain therefore had more control over its message. Ingenuous.

What I ask myself however, is this: what happens with the section of the population that does not use Twitter, but still rely heavily on the traditional media? So while the new media are definitely a good tool to use in our marketing and public relations campaigns, I believe there still is and should be room for traditional techniques in marketing and public relations programs.

http://tinyurl.com/2g7zldv

I Quit!....and so should my publicist?

For a hot second the internet got abuzz with the news of Actress Amanda Bynes' announcement that at the age of 24 she has retired from Hollywood. Bynes'decision to leave her movie-making past was unveiled through social media--Twitter. The article I have linked talks about how Twitter was the outlet of choice for the star and opens thought about the role of the publicist or spokesperson in light of social media. Some stars, it seems, are skipping the press conference and leaving their publicist out of work--or at least in the sense that news is coming from celebrity social media accounts and not from their hired mouth pieces.

This I think might point to some questions down the road especially when we consider public relations and the environment in which a message is given. Is it, for example, better to disclose information on Twitter as compared with a traditional press conference if that information might cause a backlash? Or does that depend entirely on the information at hand. One thing is for certain, whether or not Tiger Woods Tweeted his marital apologies instead of hugging his mom in a press room full of silent friends, it still made for an awkward conversation. But the PR industry would do well to consider how social media might soften, lighten, harden, or otherwise taint information because of where that information was presented.

http://tinyurl.com/3745nxa

PR more vital than ever for business...

I found the following article to be quite relevant. In class, we spoke about how PR has and will be affected by the social media era. With the BP oil spill crisis, PR has proven to still be vital. One thing that is evident and obvious about social media is that it spreads information significantly faster and to more people. It also allows people to broadcast their personal feelings about the oil spill through an outlet that consumers and BP officials can access very easily. PR is definitely still important in this industry, in this case we learn that it is being used in crisis communication to counter the mass amount of information, opinions and in some cases lies spread through social media.

To read the entire article visit:
http://tinyurl.com/24nzrdl

World Cup

This New York Times blog post about the sponsorship of the World Cup discusses one of the points covered by the Sports and Social Media Conference: With the potential power of social media when it's used correctly, the importance of official sponsorships doesn't carry as much weight. Instead, it's all a matter of audience engagement. Bet Adidas wished it thought this one through a little more...

Adidas uses creativity to find social media chief

Retrieved from: http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/index?id=5318808

Using an unusual approach, adidas Golf is looking for a new social media catalyst. So the company created a globetrotting adventure, called Wear in the World for two finalists to travel to nine countries on three continents over 50 days. They begin their adventure this week at adidas' global headquarters in Germany and the winner will get the job.

The two finalists -- Wisconsin's Steve Olsen and Oregon's Chris Dukeminier -- will compete through a series of challenges and will be tasked with creating compelling content through social media. This leads to a finale where one winner will come away with a job.

"This is too good to be true," said Olsen, who has a background in marketing and public relations. "When I got the call that I was a finalist, my hands were shaking and I could barely breathe. There are two things I'm passionate about: golf and marketing, and this job can combine the two."

For Dukeminier, he understands that knowing golf is a prerequisite. "I've been a golfer since I was 1 years old," said Dukeminier, who has experinece in marketing and was on the University of Oregon golf team. "My interest was sparked when I realized that I could travel the world and play a bunch of golf at a lot of famous sites."

Harry Arnett, vice president of brand and marketing for adidas Golf and Ashworth, said the company thought a program like this would be a fresh way instead of a traditional search.
"Our hope is through this unique adventure, a talented applicant will emerge," Arnett said. "At the same time the applicants are competing, they are going to be playing golf in various weather condition which by its very nature highlights the performance benefits of adidas Golf clima products. … We wanted to test these finalists with the most authentic challenge that would demonstrate their ability to create great content."

Olsen said he is ready for the challenge. "We're both very competitive guys," he said. "It's going to be a lot of fun competing for this job. We both want it badly."

To follow the applicants and see video and pictures of their adventure, visit here.

OMG, a CMS for Facebook? I need to lie down.

If you've ever managed one of those fancy-schmancy CMS (content management systems) for a web site, you probably know all the fun work-arounds and glitches that those systems have. Nothing ever works perfectly and you hardly ever want just the out-of-the-box functionality. With that in mind, consider a CMS for Facebook.

Nicole Landguth at Ogilvy 360 introduced this idea in her post on June 18th: TGIF: CMS for Facebook with some clear pros and cons:

• Scale over multiple platforms or Facebook Pages in one dashboard so instead of posting a video several different places you can do so once
• These systems are constantly updating but there will still be lag tag for any new features Facebook adds.

She also mentions something that was my biggest concern when reading this post:

• The same pitfalls of linking Facebook and Twitter still apply- messages could get cut off, hashtags could end up where they don’t belong, and the nuances that make each platform sing can be lost.

Essentially, different tools for different audiences, with different messages and objectives, all funneled from one single source.

I'm taking a break from our marketing & pr team retreat today and all we have been talking about are the different reasons students use our various social media sites. Facebook Group members come for support and we may be wasting time giving them news stories but Twitter members like to re-tweet the news stories about successful GED students.

My point is, I love the idea of a better way to organize all the social media schtuff, but maybe one single messaging engine like this CMS isn't the best way to do it. Or, maybe they just shouldn't brand it as a "CMS" since there are too many negative connotations with that known product and system.

Idea - awesome
Functionality - mediocre, at best
Name - dealbreaker

Welcome to Social Media!

Course Description:

Social media, which includes Facebook, Twitter, Second Life, YouTube and blogging, among others, has significantly changed the public relations industry. It is no longer acceptable for organizations not to engage with their customers or audiences through various social media platforms. But social media is not just another tool to add to a campaign checklist; it is a dynamic communication channel that has the power to transform the communication strategy of any organization or institution.  Organizations need to think strategically about what platforms are the best way for them to communicate to their target audiences.  These target audiences in turn have high expectations on how companies interact them with through social media.  They expect the communication to be authentic and honest as well as provide a forum for open and candid two-way communication.

This course will explore the ever-changing world of social media and its impact on the public relations profession. It will focus on understanding how organizations, including corporations, nonprofits and the government, use various social media tools. Search engine marketing, mobile communications, and viral campaigns also will be examined. A key question we will ask is whether social media has changed the way communication strategists approach their work and in what way. The course will feature case studies, hands-on use of social media tools, and experts in social media from various fields.