Organizations on Twitter

For my Twitter assignment, I wanted to judge the effectiveness of organizations’ use of Twitter in 3 categories. I decided that I would name an organization “effective” if that organization tweeted about once a day or more, tweeted about something relevant, and linked more useful information in the tweets.

One organization I followed was @BarackObama. I counted Obama as an organization because I realize that others in his administration likely tweet for him. Starting on November 3, the beginning of the timeline that I was following for this assignment, the Obama administration tweeted almost every day, some days multiple times. November 6-8 tweets were all about the health reform act and voting. Some links were provided to followers to voice his/her opinion. This makes the Obama administration an “effective” organization on Twitter, in my opinion.

I also followed @ohionorthern. Ohio Northern University was significantly less prevalent during the week I was following the two organizations. ONU only tweeted 3 times from the beginning of my observations. I am certain that more tweetable activities are happening on campus, so I am a bit disappointed in ONU’s coverage. What about sporting events or school organizations who win awards (ahem…PRSSA)? Also, while ONU linked more useful information to the 3 tweets, the tweets themselves didn’t include much information and because of that, weren’t very interesting. So, I would say that ONU ranks somewhere in the middle of my spectrum of effectiveness, but closer to the lower half.

Twitter is still a new technology to many people and organizations. Some organizations are using Twitter to its fullest potential, but still others are not. Twitter is similar to a blog in the way that the author must keep up with the content to have effective material.

Back to Ada... Almost.

Here I am, 37,000feet in the air over Arkansas, writing a blog post. Technology is so cool. I am headed home from PRSSA National Conference in San Diego. I loved Conference and I fell in love with the city of San Diego too. Conference is now among my top greatest experiences. I learned so much more about the profession of public relations, and along the way, I met some great professionals and students. Oh, and the city of San Diego was pretty cool too. My group made sure to go sightseeing a bit in between our sessions and such. I am so excited to go to conference again next year in D.C.

I am really proud of the fact that the ONU PRSSA took 10 students, at least a third of our chapter, and that everyone attended all of the sessions. My fellow members of Ohio Northern University's PRSSA are an amazing group of students, and I am happy to be one of them. I am so impressed that PRSSA chapters from across the nation gathered over 1,000 students in San Diego. The talent of some of these aspiring professionals is baffling. The public relations profession is without doubt going to benefit and continue to grow in the hands of this generation of students.

Through PRSSA National Conference, I gained the experience of a lifetime. I took my first trip on an airplane, my farthest trip from home, I gained many new friends and contacts in PRSSA from across the country, I created contacts with professionals, and I absorbed information about the PR profession like a sponge. Students of ONU PRSSA and of PRSSA from all over the nation, listen to me when I say, GO TO CONFERENCE. I have earned so many benefits from my experience, I will definitely be going back next year. I hope to see you there!

Gillin's Guidance

Paul Gillin offers guidance to bloggers and future bloggers as well in chapter 11. Gillin is inspiring and authoritative in his advice, giving guidelines and warning to companies and individuals who are blogging or thinking about blogging. Through the chapter, appropriately entitled Next Steps, Gillin gives a few points to remember about the blogosphere.

Gillin uses Debbie Weil’s work and says to “blog or be blogged” basically what he is saying here is that even if you or your company chooses to stay away from blogging, someone is still likely going to talk about you online. When someone does talk about you, a blog is probably one of the best platforms to create a response. Also, if you don’t have a voice of you own in the blogosphere, you are likely to fade from peoples’ minds altogether. Beyond Weil’s advice, Gillin instructs asking a number of questions of the blogger before beginning a blog. I found myself answering the questions, too.
Gillin asks,
“Does my culture value transparency?
Are we good communicators?
Can we live with the commitment?
Do I believe that small markets are important?
Are you ready for a wild ride?”

I answered the questions as follows:
Yes! Transparency might be my favorite quality of social media!
I like to think that I am a good communicator, so I am going to say yes.
The commitment… honestly, I am not sure.
I don’t know very much about small markets, but I think that they are just as important as large ones.
A wild ride? I suppose… just let me buckle up?

I have a lot to think about and work on before I can have a successful blog. As this academic quarter comes to an end, I realize that I will now be completely and totally responsible for every topic I choose to blog about. In a way I am excited to explore all of my options, but then again, what if my blog just dies? Hopefully with all of the advice from the authors we have read this quarter and the instruction of my professor, I can be a great blogger.

YouTube Video Fail

So basically, for my sweet social media class, I was asked to create and post a YouTube video. I pretty much failed at this because I have no idea what I am doing. However, seeing as my life is a learning experience, here is my video that is not worthy of it's content. (ONU PRSSA)

Public Back in PR

Reading Gillin's The New Influencers this week, I read chapter 7 in which David Meerman Scott's electronic book, The New Rules of PR: How to create a press release strategy for reaching buyers directly. I used the e-book as a source on a research paper once, so I was familiar with the content. Scott's idea is very forward-thinking and PR people should heed his advice.

Finding reasons to send press releases all the time rather than just when news happens is a novel idea, but don't take the "all the time" too seriously, or you could become annoying. Really, I think a good blog with keywords and tags and great content is more effective.

"Social media is PR's turn to shine."

I love this idea. I love that PR people are open and willing enough to be the users and the influencers and find out how we can really use these tools to better our field.

National Conference!

This week I'm not sure if there is much going on in the world of public relations. I mean, there's this little thing called PRSSA National Conference, but that's not really that big of a deal. Actually, yes, yes it is a big deal. Actually, seeing as my fellow travelers and I are leaving for said conference in San Diego this Thursday, National Conference is pretty much the most important thing on my list right now. (Yes, even trumping classes, GASP.)

For me, Conference is going to be a lot of firsts. For example, good ol' Ada is basically the most West I have ever traveled. I been South and East, but never West. I have also never flown, and some of my classmates seem to think that picking on me about that to make me nervous is funny (I think it's pretty funny, too.) San Diego will be the furthest from home I have ever traveled, which is cool. I am really glad for this opportunity to travel while I can, because something tells me I won't get to do much more traveling in the 'real world.'

Halloween and Identification

I am thinking to myself about the weekend as it comes to a close, and I realized that I don't want Halloween to be over. When I go to class on the fateful Monday that is upon us, I want to continue seeing people as "construction guy," "Raggedy Anne," "sombrero man," "toast," and "Little Bo Peep and all of her sheep." Real names and identities are just so normal, so mediocre, so easy to forget. When I can identify people as something other than a run-of-the-mill human being, I seem to really remember them. Or, at least, who they were dressed as. I am sure that in all of the festivities of Halloween weekend, someone identified me as "Lifeguard girl," and I am perfectly okay with that.

Actually, people trying to get my attention who do not know me did call me lifeguard, and I did the same to others who I didn't know. The whole idea of identifying people by what they are wearing or who they are is something that we as a society have been conditioned to avoid, but somehow, identifying, nicknaming, and possibly judging people on appearance is acceptable, no, encouraged during Halloween festivities. Perhaps judging a book by it's cover isn't such a bad thing. Of course one must dig deep enough to observe actions and base judgements off of those actions. Though, I often find that my observation of actions more often than not actually supports my theories based on looks.

Interesting to think about when dressing for everyday life. People are only human; they're probably judging your character and personality based on what you look like or what you are wearing. If you dress to impress often, then people will be more likely to judge you in a positive manner. Maybe your identity will be, "good-lookin,'" or maybe, "girl who dresses really cute all the time." So remember, what you wear affects who you are, whether you are ready for that or not.