Confessions of a Tweet-a-Holic

Before I began this program, I will admit that I had signed up for a Twitter account. This was mostly inspired by instructors at my previous institution encouraging me that Twitter was the way of the future, and if I was going to become a public relations professional that I too must have a presence in the Twittersphere. I really didn’t see the point of using such a medium to broadcast my every movement, such as some of my followers do. However, in recent weeks, I have begun to understand the importance of Twitter, and why as a budding professional, I must be present.

I currently work in a post secondary institution, where our main public is students. And where are students?! That’s right; students are on the Internet, at least that’s where the students at my tech-savvy institution can be found. In order to reach students then, I have had to develop creative social media tactics, including the use of Twitter, with #hashtags and all! So, from my own experiences at work, I definitely can understand how Twitter can be helpful in spreading one’s message.

However, the most powerful use of Twitter that I have seen in recent weeks has come in the wake of a horrible disaster, the BP oil spill. A previous PR practitioner from BP has created a Twitter account and released article’s explaining his dissatisfaction with the way in which BP has been handling the crises. The biggest argument is that while the oil spill in ruining more and more of the ocean and the lives of millions of aquatic life, BP is concerned about rebuilding its reputation instead of fixing the crisis. Through a series of mocking Tweets , the outraged public has joined together as the reputation of BP continues to decline as they fail at fixing the global crisis which they created.
What I’ve learned from this – there is a purpose for the existence of Twitter. There is an entire community of Tweeters who voice their concerns, communicate with friends and obtain information from this social medium. I’m proud to say that this community now includes yours truly.

SHOCKing PR

Volunteering has something that has been part of my life from a very early age. I was inspired by Clare’s blog on a “Cheeky Warning”, after my experience volunteering for the Crohns and Colitis Society. I agree that many organizations have jumped on the social media band-wagon and have begun to post messages of awareness on the like of FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube.


Most recently, over the 2009 holiday season, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation created public service announcements that encouraged viewers to give their spouses pap smears for the holidays. This odd and almost humorous gift choice received mixed reviews from audiences. Most importantly however, these add which originated on Television and then to YouTube, had a huge viral appeal. The PSA’s got people talking, and therefore built awareness.




Another trend that we’ve seen on television and magazines for a while is the use of celebrity endorsements. Recently, celebrities have been used in PSA’s. Specifically last month, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention created a campaign called “i know”. The campaign is created around social media outlets, and below you will find the video staring Jamie Foxx that was created in support of the campaign.




Arguably, these videos can make people uncomfortable and can cause a sense of shock – but shock, just like sex works. Shock grabs people’s attention, shock invokes the ‘I just have to tell someone ‘sensation and shock causes people to yearn for more. Public Health campaigns seem to have this down to a fine art – the art of shock. Does shock work in every arena or should it be left for those arenas that are embarrassing and that people don’t talk about unless forced to through shock?!

Mastery of the Blog

When I was determining what to do with my life once I had finished a post-graduate certificate in Corporate Communications, continuing with my education and going on to get a Masters always seemed like the next logical step. I have always believed, that the harder one works, the more they will succeed, or at least I’m hoping that will prove to be true when I’m finally finished after 23 years of consecutive schooling. Thinking about this concept, the importance of higher education brought me back to Sabrina’s post on the validity of PR qualifications.

It is logical that experience is invaluable, and for much of my job search, I have had to learn the hard way, taking entry level jobs as my education greatly surpasses my experience. I do however see the value in gaining an education, and I was pleased that there are programs that exist, such as the one I’m currently enrolled in at the University of Stirling. In keeping with this trend, I began to think more about the importance of education in other realms of communication, specifically in regards to social media. One of the largest areas of social media that we have explored today is the use of the blog. Many argue that as print media become less relevant, blogs are becoming more relevant and therefore more important. Some industry experts have even gone as far as stating that bloggers may well be the future journalists.

In Martin Waxman’s recent blog, he argued that perhaps there needs to be some sort of formal education for bloggers to learn techniques in writing, editing, publishing, etc. - the very same courses that journalism students today receive during their formal education. It is also argued therefore, that as the blogger becomes the traditional journalist, perhaps PR professionals ought to be paying even more attention to them and engaging them more often. This will mean that PR professionals will also have to receive further education on how to reach bloggers, how to capture their attention and how to monitor effectively what is being said about the clients that they represent.

As we find ourselves enrolled in a Masters of Public Relations, will there one day be an option to receive a Masters in Blogging?

The Future of Press Releases

As the world continues to be changed by advancements in technology and the increased usage of the Internet as a communication medium, bloggers continue to crave more information in a timely manner. Traditionally, bloggers write about products, their personal lives, perspectives on various world events or represent a company and promote their own agenda without having to go through the process of getting the traditional media interested in their story. Often, journalists had their own blog and would provide their perspective through this medium. It had been believed that as more journalists turned to the blogosphere, the methods in which stories were fed to them would have to change to meet the urgency demands of the blogs.

In an article written in this week’s PR Weekly by Mark Evans Tech , the notion of the social media press release was discussed. It made sense that to satisfy the demands of these bloggers, current information be delivered in the same method that it would be transmitted to audiences. The social media press release at one point in time, was believed to be the next up and coming trend to hit the world of PR. Not only would this new trend eliminate wasteful paper trails, it would provide journalists and reporters with the opportunity to gather time-sensitive information in a convenient and interactive method.

It is argued that although this method was seen as convenient for bloggers and profitable for PR firms, the trend never caught-on due to the fact that the press release is considered an ‘old’ method, regardless of whether it is published on paper or electronically. If this is the case, if it’s true that the very people that PR professionals spend hours writing these releases for, the journalists and bloggers, aren’t paying attention. Why do we spend so much time learning how to perfect this ‘ancient art’? Is it as Mark Evans argues, are relationships and the pitch that much MORE important? Or, as more and more companies and journalists choose blogs as the medium from which to communicate to their audiences will the social media press release live up to its potential and become a staple in PR practices?

Public Opinion Gone too Far - Save our Childhood Icons

As a little girl growing up in Toronto, it was traditional among my friends and I to have a birthday party at the local McDonald’s restaurant. The visit consisted of a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the kitchen, play-time in play area and most importantly a visit from the big red-headed man in the yellow suit, Ronald McDonald.

When glancing over this week’s US PR Weekly it came to my attention that there is a huge movement to get rid of this heroic icon from my childhood. An activist group has even been created in support of knocking down the Ronald empire and the campaign has grown with popularity through its presence on Twitter and Facebook. The associated website calls for the retirement of McDonald’s ‘most effective salesman’ and asks supporters to donate, speak-out and sign Ronald’s retirement card. The main argument behind Ronald’s forced retirement is that in recent years, there has been an increase in the number of adolescent diet-related diseases. Understandably, fast-food is not great for one’s health, but have these people never heard of moderation? Are the children taking themselves for a visit to Ronald’s haven? Unless the minimum age for working in the US has decreased without me taking notice, then I highly doubt it is the children who have the choice in what they’re going to eat for dinner, every night! Perhaps the real culprit is a lack of exercise – is the next spokes person to go into forced retirement going to be Mario from the Super Mario Brothers franchise?

The Internet provides the opportunity for people to speak their minds and to change the way that companies run business....it also has provided more work for PR people, how will McDonald’s PR department react to the public slamming of their lead spokesperson? Should the public have a say on the spokes people/characters who are used to promote the product? Should McDonald’s listen to their public and if it does, will the retirement of Ronald the icon cause irreversible damage on the McDonald’s franchise?



Ronald – keep doing what you do - I’m LOVING it!

Crisis Communication - How Will Russia be Covered?

In light of recent world events and my current essay-writing status, it's important to ponder how new communications technologies can be used in crisis situations. In researching how technology has effected the work of public practitioners, I came across an article entitled RUOK? Blogging Communication Technologies During Crises, by Mike Thelwall and David Stuart. Among other things, this academic journal article examines how new technologies were used in three of the most globally recognized crises in recent years, the 2005 London subway bombings, the New Orlenas hurricane and the Pakistan-Kashmir earthquake.

In a crisis, communication is critical and the evolution of the Internet provides the opportunity for more people to be informed more quickly from many different sources. New technologies such as blogs can influence what is reported, how it's reported the type of organization that reports it, the program format in which it's presented and the politics of the events reported. In the cases of the crises investigated, three forms of crisis media emerged including Wikipedia, Wikinews and Flickr. In particular, these new forms of media were used for sharing information and finding out facts concerning the initial event, afterwards however mainstream sources were able to deal most effectively with news coverage of its aftermath.

In terms of mass media, international broadcasters were represented during all three of these crises including BBC, CNN and Sky. In New Orleans, it was indicated that many local news stations were also sought after, but not in the London bombings or the earthquake. In the article, it is suggested that local media was more popular during the hurricane as it was a faster-moving crisis in nature and therefore real-time information may have been more critical.

Overall, the article indicated that the precise mix of communications technologies seemed to depend on the nature of the crisis, Wikipedia and Wikinews were only significantly present for London, local news was most important during the hurricane and no news was significantly more important than the other during the earthquake coverage in Pakistan.

What happened today in Moscow was horrific, and within time pieces of information will filter through the different mediums to reach global audiences. During this crisis, will blogs and mainstream media continue to be important, or will Twitter have it's place in communicating information about the crisis - from what I've seen today on Twitter, it already has it's place in crisis communication. With the widespread use of YouTube, and our obsession with seeing live footage, perhaps YouTube will provide the cutting edge, such as with this video below.



Personally, as I sit here in my parka in chilly Canada, I'm tuned into the BBC live-feed. Advances in technology force us to be more connected and less ignorant about the world we live in.

Awareness=Success in Social Media

Social media, to some merely a buzz word, to others the key to business success and for many an unknown realm of which they can't begin to understand the possibilities. Daily, there are reports and articles written about the newest social networking services to become available, one of the most recent being Blippy, which I focused on in my most recent post.

Millions of people each day log onto social media sites for various reasons, some looking for a way to pass some time or gather some information while others attempting to gain success through the expression of their thoughts. The way to gain success in the world of social media, is simple, you must be recognized and sought after. By providing a unique perspective, inside scoop or daring to say what others wont, you too can become a success in this realm.

In a news interview with Scott Monty who is the Head of Social Marketing at Ford and Michael Howard who is the CEO of Kiwibox, it was identified that in order for a company to be successful in the social media realm, they must understand why they are using social media in the first place. For Ford, social mediums are used for advertising purposes, but rather to communicate with their public. In order to build a successful social media plan, Monty provided the following insights used by Ford:
1. Companies need to focus on a social network that targets specific demographics
2. Must be able to find integrative and/or viral campaigns
3. Companies must be aggressive yet nimble

Howard who works for a social networking service designed for teens argues that what is most important in determining the success of an individual or an organization in the realm of social media, is their ability to determine which mediums are most effective.



Although these tips and insights may seem straightforward, it is undeniably important that companies and individuals alike have a plan before they start to penetrate the net for the purpose of being there. According to the article entitled Applying communication theories to the Internet, by Johanna Fawkes and Anne Gregory, public relations practitioners need to work harder to understand, anticipate and meet the needs of their publics and will be able to do this more effectively by determining the most relevant social mediums to their publics.

Please check-out this video which talks further to the point of the importance of knowing who you're targeting due to the amount of information available.

Shopaholics Beware - You're About to be Blipped!

What are you doing, when are you doing it and how are you getting there? It is an undisputed fact that today we are more connected than ever before to our friends and strangers from across the globe. Since the emergence of the Internet, we have more free access to news stories, information and social groups than ever before. Not only do we use the Internet to search for information, but we use it increasingly to communicate with one another.

Our obsession with sharing our woes with the sometimes unexpecting public began through the emergence of blogs. On a daily basis, bloggers can log-on and update their audience with the most intimate and often boring aspects of their day-to-day life, an undeniable cheaper alternative to therapy. Although still prevalent in society and increasingly more important in providing alternative news from the main-stream media, many blogs focused on the mundane aspects of the average were replaced by the use of Facebook. Facebook, provides the opportunity to provide updates more frequently to audiences and allows followers a one-stop-shop to be updated on the lives of all of their friends instead of visiting multiple blogs daily. The need for a more frequent, fast-paced social medium was desired and that desire was met with the creation of Twitter. With the opportunity to Tweet what you’re currently doing on your smartphone, audiences are kept constantly informed with your where-abouts and interests.

Just Tweeting what you’re up to arguably left too much to the imagination as indicated by Lisan Jutras in her news article in Sunday’s Globe and Mail. To make one’s life even more transparent, the new fad of geolocation allows social media users to indicate where they are at any given point in time; some would argue this is even slightly creepy. Not to fret, if you’re itching to share your global footsteps with the world, you two will have the opportunity to use this feature on your very own Facebook and Twitter accounts very soon.

All kidding aside, geolocation does have great potential to be beneficial to PR practitioners. With knowing where people are, where they’re going and what they’re interested in, we can better determine our audiences and focus our PR efforts more directly. Similarly, the newest personal-info disclosure service to surface the wire has the same potential to help PR practitioners better define their audiences. Blippy is a service that connects one’s credit card with their Twitter account. Whenever an individual purchases something, their Twitter status is updated with the vendor and amount spent. Why would anyone care and how does this help PR practitioners, you ask? Well, Blippy will let people’s friends know what their friends are interested in, what they are purchasing and perhaps where they can score similar deals. In the bigger picture and in specific why this matters to the world of PR, as written in a Tech Crunch article, “Many of the great businesses of next decade will be about making information about of our behaviors more visible”, according to Evan Williams, the CEO of Twitter, and this is precisely what Blippy will allow businesses to do. Blippy has the potential to determine customer desires, trends and perceptions; potentially we will be able to reach the right people with the right information more effectively and frequently.


For many, a service like Blippy is divulging too much personal information to too many people. Have we gone too far or is the sharing of this information a benefit to users and PR professionals alike? Will you be Blipping?

Want more information on Blippy? Check out the video below!

Social Media ....Will Shrink You?!

It’s no secret that technology has enabled the advancement and enlargement of many businesses. With improvements in technologies, companies can now reach more people, target their audiences more effectively and potentially become more profitable. Further, advancements in technology have even created the opportunity for new companies to emerge out of the woodwork. Companies such as FaceBook and Twitter have been created, all feasting on the desire that members of society possess requiring them to have access to information immediately and to be in contact with people constantly.

Companies are exploiting the connectivity of society to create solutions to perceived ‘new’ needs. Gone are the days that women gathered together to support one another in their trials and tribulations of weight loss at the weekly Weight Watchers meeting. Stealing a page from the Biggest Loser’s success story, numerous companies have decided to capitalize on society’s desire to be thin and have created social media platforms, where members can help one another to achieve their weight-loss goals.

Websites such as WeightLossWars, claim that members will succeed in their weight loss goals due to the support offered by staff and the sense of community facilitated with other members. With a society fascinated by the lives of others, companies such as WeightLossWars, have capitalized on profiling each of their members for which their reasons are twofold; 1) to encourage other members to obtain similar goals and to individuals that they are not alone in their struggle and 2) once information like someone’s weight is public, the member is likely to work harder to show their progress to their virtual community members which ultimately increases the sense of competition.
Other companies such as minnus , a Canadian networking-based organization, have used the hype of the most recent Olympic games to encourage individuals to increase their activity levels. The company is challenging people from across the world to get together in teams in a race to lose 12,000 lbs by 2012. The website promotes not only a healthier ‘you’ but ultimately a healthier world.

Further, with self-help guides such as Mashable: The Social Media Guide, becoming healthier and skinner was never so easy and accessible; with information from what to eat to where to get on-line support at the tip of our fingers. As society becomes more aware of the potential hazards of diet fad pills and easy-fix diets, what will happen to companies such as Herbal Magic and Weight Watchers? Will these companies who have feasted on the desire for society to be skinny for so long, become obsolete with the emergence of healthier, cheaper and more accessible on-line weight-loss support groups and resources? Is this a PR practitioner’s nightmare or an opportunity?

I suppose only time will tell – personally, I’m awaiting the emergence of on-line plastic surgery websites..perhaps we’ll learn to perform face lifts from the comfort of our very own computers one day!

They Say It's a Revolution...

Early this year, I was working with a group of students who designed a presentation focusing on how to effectively communicate to university students through social media. In their presentation, they included the linked video.

Understanding how to effectively use social media is extremely important to today's PR practitioners, and I believe this video is a good introduction to the importance of social media in our field. The message "Social media isn't a fad, it's a fundamental shift in the way we communicate", is a central concept to understanding how technology is impacting the world of public relations. As current and future practitioners, it will continue to become increasingly important for us to understand how to get our message to target audiences. As our target audience continues to become more and more connected through technology, so must we.




So, what do you think? Is this whole Social Media a fad, or is it our future?

Welcome!

Thanks for stopping by my blog created for the Public Relations Technology module at the University of Stirling. I'd appreciate any comments that you may have regarding my future posts and look forward to providing you the 'Canuck Perspective' on issues relating to public relations and technology. Please check back soon for updates, and visit often!

~ Katie