University of Michigan Library and other interesting stories

You can tell a person is a "total nerd" when on the second day in a new town, they go to the local university library.

Yes that is me. Got up this morning on a sunny Ann Arbor day and
headed for the University of Michigan Graduate Library.

I am afraid I am getting "twitter boring" (no one is interested in the day-to-day details of my life).

Now here is an interesting story that does not involve me getting up in the morning: The Department of Defense is consolidating all its public relations activities into one body: the Defense Media Activity.



This means that the following bodies will be consolidated into one command:
the Soldiers Media Center, Naval Media Center, the Marine Corps News, Air Force News Service and the American Forces Information Service, Stars and Stripes newspaper, the Defense Information School.

Now here is where it gets interesting: all of these entitites (about 600+ people) will be based out of one facility they are building in Maryland (home sweet home).

Wow! That many pr people in one building. That should be a study by itself.

For job seekers, they are hiring:
http://tinyurl.com/ld9258

It is my first day at PRIME Research.

Lessons learned:
1. PR research in the real world is fast paced. I haven't seen anyone work so hard since my 1st year in the PhD during final exams.
2. The issues are complex: It is not just counting media hits (you know that). It is understanding the client issue to in-depth.
3. It is actually quite fun: Forget your old text book.
4. Downtown Ann Arbor is actually quite nice: Its actually much nicer than Urbana-Champaign (oops).

P.R. company seeks source of fake 'tweets'

If you have not already done so, I would recommend you secure your name or company name on Twitter. In fact, I would do the same on Facebook and the other social networking sites

Nothing can destroy your reputation faster than a fake social networking account.
This PR company has learned the hard way:
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090613/BIZ04/906130331/1013/P.R.-company-seeks-source-of-fake--tweets-

Job of the Day: Communications Coordinator

Where: Fort Wayne, IN
https://chs.taleo.net/careersection/10001/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=0908773

Don't bite the Social Media Hand that Feeds You

In public relations, social media is the king in 2009. If you visit any pr blog, you will see extensive discussions on social media. Most of the pr bloggers are twittering and blogging.

Even I, your humble PhD student, is spending the summer researching social media at the Institute for Public Relations.

But in our enthusiasm for social media, we should not forget several things:
1. A large segment of the world lacks rudimentary access to the internet.
2. Even in the US, there are segments where internet access is limited

3. Some parts of the population (e.g. blind, deaf) are not being factored in many social media tools. Ajax, the primary programming language for many social media applications, has been extensively criticized for making it harder for the disabled to access information online.

Social media is viewed as the cure pr needs or the instrument for its demise (depending on which blog you read).

What we need are tools to engage all relevant publics in dialogue. Social media is great if it allows us to have honest conversations with groups were are talking to right now and groups that we have had difficulty engaging before.

The challenge isn't simply to reach the twitterer with his iPhone or the facebooker on her Blackberry. Rather, we should be concerned with engaging all relevant publics (especially the disadvantaged and marginalized).

When we champion social media tools, we should be cognizant of issues such as who has access to these tools and who can't access them.

Public relations can't simply be concerned with the privileged because pr issues do not simply arise from privileged sectors of society.

As we all know, some of the biggest pr challenges of the century(e.g Union Carbide at Bhopal, BHP in Papua New Guinea, conflict diamonds in Sierra Leone) emerged from areas where many households lacked telephones, running water, and electricity.

prstudent.com

A school in Ireland has created a site advertising all their MA in PR graduates.

http://prstudent.dit.ie/students_mapr.html

An interesting concept. In the US, this is done primarily for
PhD students. Don't know if it could work here (privacy rules).

I think students could band together and create their own site like this.
Maybe use www.ning.com as a platform.

A really interesting concept.

Buzzstream: Application of the Week

I was reading Venture Beat and came across this:
http://venturebeat.com/2009/06/09/buzzstream-a-contact-manager-for-pr-people-and-bloggers/

They describe it as something that "supercharges your online PR, blogger outreach, and inbound marketing efforts with a a systematic approach to social media engagement and tools that automate the labor-intensive work"

If I can get an invite, I will tell how well it functions. The video explains more:

Job of the Day

PR Specialist: Rutgers University
Posted: June 11, 2009
To apply:
http://uhr.rutgers.edu/jobpostings/aps/Detail.asp?id=09-000478

PR News All the Time on your iPhone or iTouch

MWW group has a pretty neat concept:
http://www.mwwpr.com/minsight/

An application that streams Public Relations news 24/7 to your iPhone or iPod.
On my PhD budget, I am definitely not getting an iPhone ($3000+ a year for a phone..ouch).

Maybe an iPod touch. However, I like my shuffle just fine and it was free (won it at Piccadily Circus in the UK).

However, if you have the money for these devices, check the video below:

Is PR Dying (A never ending argument)

Every couple of months, I come across a news article, blog post, or podcast arguing that PR is dying. Here is an example:

http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2009/06/the_new_rules_i.php

PR is not dying. Old business models are certainly going out of fashion. Traditional PR skills of the past may no longer be relevant. Other sectors (e.g. consulting) are entering the PR field.

The reality, however, is that as long as human beings exist (who knows how long we will be around), there will be a need for a function that facilitates dialogue with an organization's publics.

Human beings communicate and we often do a poor job at it. PR people try to help us communicate better and avoid those mistakes that can cost billions.

It is that simple. Just like there will always be a need for someone to report the news, there will always be a need for someone to facilitate dialogue.

We should not confuse the fact that some skills are no longer relevant with the idea that a whole field is no longer relevant.

When I started at US Airways PR over a decade ago, we compiled news clips by hand. I would literally clip out sections from newspapers, glue them, and present them to the CEO.

A few years later, I was doing this using Factiva and Lexis Nexis. Today, I imagine interns are using other fancier tools. They are using RSS feeds, tracking blogs, and listening to podcasts.

Technology is constantly changing and skills can become obsolete. The need to communicate will not.

End of the Summer Class

It is the last day of my Summer 2009 class.
My students this summer are truly an excellent group.

They are motivated young men and women who are going to do great things.
When they leave this class, their plans are varied:

Travelling to Europe
Apply to volunteer overseas
Working for a top ranking firm
Interning for advertising firms
Trying to break into the music industry
Tackling one of the hardest tests ever designed
Relaxing (they deserve it)
Taking more classes
Continuing to serve their nation in the armed forces
Refining their portfolios

In the days that follow, I will post links to the projects they designed to give you an idea of caliber of students the U of I produces.

In the meantime, you can listen to some old school Mariah.

When I am happy, I go back to the old school (1997 that is). This song is how I feel for the class. I will miss them greatly.