It's a hot one in Texas this time of year, but this year, it's especially hot.
Several days of 100+ temperatures and no rain were brutal, but apparently not enough, as my air conditioner decided to call it quits for a couple of days this week.
Air conditioning issues followed me to DFW airport on Saturday and afflicted my plane to Tampa.
I've interrupted my summer break to attend a workshop in St. Petersburg, Florida, this week. What better way to learn about what's the latest in journalism than by taking advantage of the great minds at the Poynter Institute and College Media Advisers.
I was finally able to cool off in the room at St. Pete after shooting this video of the beach directly behind my hotel. OK, so a little discomfort was worth it...
Stay tuned this week as I post to my blog, twitter and Facebook, the cool and cutting edge information I learn about convergence media and social media. But first, enjoy the beach!
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogs. Show all posts
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
I'm Creating Community. I'm Using a Tool.
In her post to the PRSA blog ComPRehension, Corinne Weisgerberger discusses those two statements in relation to social media. Weisgerberger has been teaching a Social Media class and made the discovery that students had a hard time connecting social media with the concept of anything other than creating community.
This is an interesting observation, and one that I've noticed not just among students, but among everyone--creating artificial barriers. I use Facebook to connect to community. I use MySpace to connect to community. I use LinkedIn to connect to community, and so on and so one. But I also use these social media TOOLS. And sometimes I don't use them in the way that most public relations people would use them.
In preparing for a presentation at the end of this week, I have made a discovery: We all need to change our way of thinking.
Book after book after book that I have read focuses on this concept--the innate desire from people to connect with other people. The creation of community or rather the desire to create community is something that we all have, which is why Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, et al have become so popular. You're able to create a virtual community. You're able to reach out and make that connection that we all long for.
How does this affect public relations? Well we have seemed to be stuck in the mode of this tool is for that purpose, and this tool is for that purpose, not bearing in mind that tools can be multipurposed. This requires a change in thinking--a lifting of the barriers.
If you think about social media as a tool that allows you to create community, the possibilities are endless on how that may occur. If you think about social media as one or the other, a tool or a place to create community, you've placed an artificial limit on the tool and the community.
This is an interesting observation, and one that I've noticed not just among students, but among everyone--creating artificial barriers. I use Facebook to connect to community. I use MySpace to connect to community. I use LinkedIn to connect to community, and so on and so one. But I also use these social media TOOLS. And sometimes I don't use them in the way that most public relations people would use them.
In preparing for a presentation at the end of this week, I have made a discovery: We all need to change our way of thinking.
Book after book after book that I have read focuses on this concept--the innate desire from people to connect with other people. The creation of community or rather the desire to create community is something that we all have, which is why Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn, et al have become so popular. You're able to create a virtual community. You're able to reach out and make that connection that we all long for.
How does this affect public relations? Well we have seemed to be stuck in the mode of this tool is for that purpose, and this tool is for that purpose, not bearing in mind that tools can be multipurposed. This requires a change in thinking--a lifting of the barriers.
If you think about social media as a tool that allows you to create community, the possibilities are endless on how that may occur. If you think about social media as one or the other, a tool or a place to create community, you've placed an artificial limit on the tool and the community.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Not feelin' the love
Okay, I've got to admit it: I'm not feelin' the love. Maybe it's because I'm sick today, but I don't seem to be feelin' the love from my peeps. Where are my followers? Where is my community?
I guess this is a wonderful lesson in creating community, and something that I hope many of my students will at least read, even if they don't follow. Just because you start a blog doesn't mean people will follow you. Uncanny how that works!! I guess that's why we PR Peeps, which is a community all its own now, just put things together and expect them to work, and we're quite dumbfounded when things don't work. I've called this the "If you build it they will come" marketing and public relations mentality.
Haven't you been in an organization that practiced this kind of community-building activities: Throw it all against the wall and let's see what sticks? This ain't spaghetti folks! A little more strategy might make everyone's life a little easier.
So what does this mean for my little community here in the blogosphere? Well, I'm working on a campaign to increase the little community to a larger community. Stay tuned to see what happens.
I guess this is a wonderful lesson in creating community, and something that I hope many of my students will at least read, even if they don't follow. Just because you start a blog doesn't mean people will follow you. Uncanny how that works!! I guess that's why we PR Peeps, which is a community all its own now, just put things together and expect them to work, and we're quite dumbfounded when things don't work. I've called this the "If you build it they will come" marketing and public relations mentality.
Haven't you been in an organization that practiced this kind of community-building activities: Throw it all against the wall and let's see what sticks? This ain't spaghetti folks! A little more strategy might make everyone's life a little easier.
So what does this mean for my little community here in the blogosphere? Well, I'm working on a campaign to increase the little community to a larger community. Stay tuned to see what happens.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The power of personal contact
In the past few days, I've been reminded of the power of personal contact--it can win friends, influence enemies, get you jobs....
In my perusal of the blogosphere and the internet, I was once again reminded of the power of personal contact this afternoon, and simple things such as saying thank you. http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=227
It's often these little niceties that we learned as children that will mean the difference between sustaining community after we've created it and making people feel as if they've been taken for granted. Don't let anyone in your community feel that way! Say thank you! And thank you for reading.
In my perusal of the blogosphere and the internet, I was once again reminded of the power of personal contact this afternoon, and simple things such as saying thank you. http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=227
It's often these little niceties that we learned as children that will mean the difference between sustaining community after we've created it and making people feel as if they've been taken for granted. Don't let anyone in your community feel that way! Say thank you! And thank you for reading.
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