Archive for September, 2008

Twitter hosts Election Coverage

By Ashley

While watching the Presidential Debate on Thursday evening, I discovered yet another social media tool to aid in my viewing. I frequently read updates on the Huffington Post during debates and speeches, but as you all know I am a Twitter advocate, and was excited to find the specific election Twitter feed. By simply leaving my window open throughout the debate, I was able to read insight, comments, and critiques from people all over the world. Unlike my own personal feed, the election feed displays tweets from anyone that makes a political comment, rather than simply friends and colleagues that I follow. In addition, at the top of the screen, updates from both political candidates are posted, as they both have members of their campaigns Tweet for them everyday. How tech savvy of them ;)

I urge you to check it out. It’s a great way to see what other people are saying about the campaign and candidates as well as an example of how Twitter works if you are new to it.

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This entry was posted on September 28th, 2008 under Social Media.

PR Takes it to the Blogs

By Ashley

Blogger relations remain controversial in any context. In PR, however, there are certain rules involved when pitching a story to a blogger.

Brian Solis’s e-book, A Guide to Blogger Relations, details the intricacies of PR/blogger relationships and suggests that many professionals in the PR industry need to improve both their knowledge and practices in regards to blogs.

In his e-book, Solis says,

“Oh trust me, I know you’re thinking, ‘Who has time to do this? To dedicate one-on-one time with bloggers in addition to traditional media exceeds the amount of hours in a day!’ Let me say this as clear as possible, ‘make the time.’”

Solis proposes a legitimate problem. However, it is not simply that there is not enough time in the day to dig through material on both mainstream media and blogs (or simply mainstream if you believe that blogging is mainstream, as Technorati asserts). But rather, how does PR as a whole deal with Social Media, and specifically-blogging? If there are mixed feelings on whether blogs are a legitimate concern and source of information, then how does one compare the use of Social Media from one PR firm to the next? In other words, Social Media may be creating enormous barriers between the PR industry itself.

In fact, Solis even suggests that some PR professionals (or perhaps un-professionals) are marketing Social Media as a service that they provide to clients when in fact they have no experience or understanding of what it is and how to use it (Solis 12). In my opinion, Social Media tools have become vital to the sustainability of a company and yet, many companies simply choose to ignore them or advertise that they understand, when really, they do everything they can to avoid them.

Solis outlines 10 steps for PR agents to adhere by:

1. What do you stand for? Answer that first before you try to convince people that are busier than you why they should take time to stop what they’re doing to pay you any attention.

2. It’s more than doing your homework. To some doing homework is building lists. Figure out what your are representing and why it matters.  How does it compare to other things. What do people need? What are their pains?

3. Practice saying it aloud in one to two minutes or less to a friend or in front of a mirror. Seriously. It works. If you don’t get it no one else will.

4. Less is more. Find the right people, not just because you read their profile in a database, but because you read their work and understand their perspective.

5. Engage in conversations outside of when you need something.

6. Build relationships not lists.

7. Humanize the process and remember that this is about people

8. Stop whining and making excuses. You are responsible for your actions so arm yourself with what you need to be successful.

9. Stop sending press releases without summarizing what the news is and why it is IMPORTANT to the individual person you’re sending it to.

10. Remember the reputation and the future of PR is on you. If you’re not in this to do your job better, then ask yourself why you’re here. If you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem (Solis 20).

I completely agree with each of Solis’s points, but would also suggest one more:

11. Provide information yourself. A person is only as reputable as what they produce and if you don’t produce anything worthwhile yourself, no one will believe that what you are pitching is worthwhile.

This applies to representatives as well as entire agencies. I feel that it is extremely important for PR firms to maintain blogs themselves. It is simply hypocritical to claim an understanding for the importance of Social Media (blogging specifically) if one does not participate in it. As a blog editor, I would personally be more apt to accept a story pitch if I knew that the pitcher understood blogging themselves and contributed useful material to the blogosphere.

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This entry was posted on September 28th, 2008 under Social Media.

Peer Perspectives: Part 1

By Ashley

As I mentioned in my previous post, Austin is a hot bed for social media. Therefore, I have decided to highlight several professionals that are well versed in social media over the course of the semester. This “Social Media: Peer Perspectives” column will feature interviews from local companies, entrepeneurs, and freelancers. 

Cullen Wilson is a tech entreprenuer who was born and raised right here in Austin, Texas. He has worked for multiple web development studios and is currently the co-founder of a local web development and design company.

 

What role do you see Social Media play in business on an everyday basis?

Social media plays a huge role for both small and large businesses and this growth will only continue. From the smallest businesses to freelancers trying to find new partners and clientele to corporate conglomerates attempting to curb their images and appeal to a wider audience or even fix a failing image, social media is paramount to the success of your business. You are either behind in the game or simply losing out on a potential market by not using all of the resources social media provides- especially the free ones!

How does social media affect your business and how do you use it to portray your company and yourself in a positive light?

One of the great things (or in some cases the worst) about social media is that it gives the general public a ground level view of how you operate your business and how you interact with potential customers. For example, anyone who follows my Twitter stream will know intimate details about my day to day duties which you would otherwise never know. This gives a business the opportunity to let a potential client or partner know exactly who they are going to be working with.

Would you say that social media use has changed over recent years, and if so, how?

Definitely. I think it’s become easier to use, much more accepted, and just generally more important in day to day operations. A few years ago the Washington Post did not have “Digg This!” buttons under all of it’s articles and political figures didn’t use Twitter to update supporters on their day to day lives.

How do you see social media being used here in Austin specifically?

Austin is pretty unique in that we are ahead of the crowd when it comes to the use of technology-specifically social media. We have social media companies headquartered here who are developing new tools, a huge community of freelancers and small business owners who use services like Twitter to connect and expand on a daily basis, and of course all of your standard larger companies who would be in any “tech city.”

As a professional in the web development industry, what would you recommend to students that are beginning to use social media tools in both their personal and professional lives?

Pick one tool and master it, then move onto another tool. Far too often I see students and even professionals who have been in their respective industry for years attempt to jump into using social media tools but become overwhelmed because they sign up for every service available to them. The nature of many social media tools requires you to constantly update them and because of this, it can quickly become a full time job just to let others know what you are up to. Many of these tools can also take a while to master, or fully understand, so jumping from using nothing to a full suite can be very daunting unless you have absolutely nothing else to do.

What are your favorite social media tools-both professional and personal?

I use various tools every day to stay connected with friends, peers, and even clients. Many of the websites I have developed, including my own blog, are all run by Wordpress, which is the best platform out there when it comes to hosting a blog or simple site. I’m an avid Twitter user- although when I am swamped with work I make it a point to stay away from it as much as possible (it can suck your time away pretty fast). I also use a few tools that are a bit more unique to my industry but are quickly gaining traction elsewhere like Basecamp for project management and collaboration within a team and your clients. Last but not least are all of the standard social networks like Linkedin, Facebook, etc.

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This entry was posted on September 21st, 2008 under Peer Perspectives, Social Media.

Where Will We Turn?

By Ashley

My foray into technology and social media has been a blessing and a burden. I say this because I am now fully aware of the impact that the internet and social media have on my identity, but I also often become overwhelmed by this same revelation.

My personal network of friends and co-workers is well versed in social media, public relations, advertising, branding, and programming, which has in turn forced me to adapt to the media driven world that we now live in. Although it may be upsetting to view Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Digg, Flickr, etc. as a direct communication to those in our professional lives, it is. Yes, privacy settings do exist, but there is never an option to completely erase your existence within the network-and why should you? Isn’t the point of these social media outlets to expose yourself to a community in which you can network, share information, develop relationships, etc?

Simply put, the answer is yes. However, the implications that follow this answer are strongly present. Through my own experience and in speaking with several anonymous employees of companies here in Austin as well as in DC, where I previously worked, I discovered that before a candidate is even interviewed, he or she is thoroghly researched. This includes “googling” the person, checking his/her facebook profile and pictures, finding information on myspace, reading updates on Twitter, etc. The more involved you are online, the longer that list becomes.

However, rather than viewing this process as an infraction of your privacy, perhaps you can learn to use it to your advantage. By utilizing various social media networks and projecting yourself in a positive, professional light, those that do find information on you will respect you as a person, both personally and professionally. Essentially, there is no separation between our personal and professional idenities.

I recently came across a newly published book, titled Born Digital: The First Generation of Digital Natives in which the authors, John Palfrey and Urs Gasser discuss the implications of a generation built upon online identities and the pressures of maintaining an identity that successfully reflects who we are in the physical world (meaning, not online):

“Born Digital explores a broad range of issues, from the highly philosophical to the purely practical: What does identity mean for young people who have dozens of online profiles and avatars?”

This question specifically appealed to me as I have been questioning how we, as the youth of social media, are to adjust. Previous generations have not created the same online blueprint as we have and therefore may only have their “professional” life online. In other words, think of your grandfather-he most likely began using the internet in his late 40s or 50’s (depending on his current age). This means that not only does he only have about 10 years of data on the internet, but the type of information available relates to his work and possibly e-mail with family and friends. Compare this to a student of our age that has an entire lifetime of data online from pictures on myspace, a secondlife account, a past hotmail account, a g-mail account, a facebook profile, a linkedin profile, twitter updates, videos on youtube, etc.

What does this mean? Are we of an entirely different culture? As I stated above, how do we cope with the disintegration of a separation between our personal and professional lives? And if there is no place to “let loose” online, where will we turn?

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This entry was posted on September 14th, 2008 under Internet Technology, Social Media.