Monica Peterson-Social Media Assignment

The social media that I chose was the website Hi5 (www.hi5.com). Attached is my paper.

 

-Monica Peterson

Flickr

Kat Donovan

www.flickr.com

 

Social media takes many forms for many different uses.  There are many social media that contain photo usage, but there are also social media that focus only on photo publishing. Flickr is a program that allows users to post their photos with descriptions, join groups, enables other individuals to comment on others’ photos, and allows users to “follow” other users to keep up with their latest work.  Flickr also allows users to post their photos from Flickr to other blogs, such as Twitter and personal blogs. Users can send photos directly from their phone to Flickr.

One organization that uses Flickr is NASA. NASA has an account on Flickr that I have subscribed to follow. NASA’s profile information contains a section about their photos that are posted and how they are available to the public and news organizations. NASA gives permission on their profile for the photos to be used, with due credit. The photos cannot be used in any way that suggest NASA gives approval or endorsement for another product. They have posted photos since February of 2009, and have photos taken as early as 2004 posted to their account.

There could be many benefits of companies and organizations using Flickr. Flickr provides a way to post photos that is credible, reputable and, most importantly, instant. Photos that need to be made public can be uploaded to Flickr and obtained by the public and the media extremely quick.  The photos can be reused and posted in a way that is easy and dependable.

 

Podcasts as an Excelling Form of Social Media by Laura Yeager

Podcasts have proven to be an emerging trend in the public relations industry. The public relations industry is constantly changing and adapting to keep up with technology and the public. Podcasting consists of recording a digital file that can be distributed over the net using syndication feeds to be able to be played over the computer, MP3, or via IPod ( Faulhaber). Especially when related to public relations, the importance of podcasts is to reach an audience. When it comes to public relations and reaching a specific target audience, the more people that are introduced to the product or service the more successful that product or service is. PodGarden, an innovator of online marketing, states that it is projected that by 2013, 37.6 million people will be downloading podcasts each month (Podcast Importance.) This proves that podcasts are an outlet that if used correctly, can reach the masses.

Those who receive a podcasts are called subscribers and the podcast receiver is the technology that allows the subscriber to receive the podcast content. The receiver produces technology that has a way of narrowing down the subscribers specific podcast interests. This allows podcasts to be targeted by individual interest.

Podcast websites have even targeted the public relations profession, to provide a tool to the individuals in the public relations industry. Podcast websites such as PRWebPodcast provides an aid for public relations professionals by featuring interviews about press releases, producing the ability to bring news releases to life, and once again connect with the public.  

           Eric Schwartzman, founder and chairman of public relations services provider, iPressroom, states that “Public Relations podcasting initiatives can whisper in the ear of an influential, outspoken audience of brand ambassadors and compelling listeners to serve as word-of-mouth agents, repeating what they hear to friends and family” (Schwartzman.) Podcasts can be an extremely valid public relations tool for organizations. Podcasts provide a way for companies and organizations to develop and emotional bond with their customers (101publicrelations.)

 Podcasts can give companies more of a personality and hence make the company and the services it provides more relatable to the customer. Multiple companies including BMW and General Motors have podcasts linked to their company website to create more of an integrated relationship with their customers. The messages these companies send out via podcasts include messages for the CEO, new product launches, service use information, and technology briefs (Faulhaber.)

Apart from providing public relations for products and services, as well as being able to appeal to specific audiences, podcasting can also produce a public relations campaign for individuals. California Governor Arnold Swarzenegger used podcasts to package and distribute political speeches (Fernado.)

Communication is the core of public relations. A global study by Universal McCann found that the number of podcast listeners in the United States has doubled in the last year and a half (Schwartzman). With its availability on the internet, podcasts can be reached throughout the global marketplace and can provide a public relations tool for a variety of different outlets. Podcasts are one of the latest communication tools used by all generations and most target groups, and will continue to be a successful public relations practice.

 

Faulhaber, P. (2008). Podcasts and public relations. Suite 101, Retrieved from http://marketingpr.suite101.com/article.cfm/podcasting_perfect_tool_for_public_relations

Fernado, A. (2005). Podcasting, anyone?. Communication World, 22. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=112&sid=98683033-0c5c-4fb6-88e5-d9d7f1c35465%40sessionmgr111&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d

(n.d.). Podcast importance. Retrieved from http://podgarden.oneupweb.com/podcast_importance.htm

Shwartzman, E. (2008). Study suggests corporate podcasting is a growth opportunity for communicators. Comprehnsion, Retrieved from http://comprehension.prsa.org/?p=141

(n.d.). The Value of podcasting. 101 Public Relations, Retrieved from http://101publicrelations.com/blog/the_value_of_podcasting_001792.html

 

 

 

 

Facebook

Facebook

By Kathleen Ostby

Facebook is a social networking site that allows all members to add friends, send messages and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.  Founded in February of 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook took off in usage among college students.  Originally intended to help students on the Harvard campus connect with each other Facebook has expanded, first to college students, then included high school students in 2005, and now currently takes any members.  It is an organized way to invite people to events, get groups together, find out more about friends, and post pictures and videos.

Facebook is now open internationally and currently has more than 350 million active users worldwide and helps people connect all over the globe, making this world just a bit smaller.  For example, as a member of Facebook I am able to add friends from many other countries, which helps me connect and stay connected with people I’ve met in my life and also makes communication with people who are not in the same city easier and more efficient.  Facebook revolutionized the way people communicate and stay in contact.  Last summer I spent two months in Jacksonville, Florida away from my friends and family and everything I knew.  Facebook helped me stay connected with them because instead of calling each of them and updating them about what was going on in my life I was able to post a note about what was happening and ‘tag’ everyone in it, this way I saved time and was still able to stay connected with family and friends back home. 

Since the launch date Facebook has changed drastically.  Now instead of just being able to communicate with friends and family you are able to play games, use applications and take personality and IQ tests, you are also able to join groups, support causes and view ads on the side of the page that are related directly to you.  Many companies use Facebook to sell to their direct client by placing ads according to what interests the person by learning from their profile which is really helpful for business and PR people.

LinkedIn to Business

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site. Founded in December 2002 by Reid Hoffman and launched in May 2003. It is used as a professional networking media. The new CEO of LinkedIn is Jeff Weiner, who was once a Yahoo! Inc executive. LinkedIn allows members to create business contacts (called connections on LinkedIn), search for jobs, and find potential clients. Members have the ability to create their own professional profile that can be viewed by others in their network, and also view the profiles of their own contacts. Employers can look for people to hire also, as you can post your resume.

There are more than 55 million people on LinkedIn taking advantage of all the professionals who get on this site and network. Executives from all fortune 500 companies are members. Over half of these people are from the United States alone, 11 million are from Europe and 3 million are from India. There are170 industries and over 200 countries around the world using LinkedIn.

Networking is important when you are trying to get a job, ever hear it’s not what you know, it’s who you know? This is a website that combines both of these! You post what you know, and meet the people you need to know to get ahead. By adding all the people you know to your connections, you can see who they are connected with too, and if they know someone you want to be introduced to for a job, you can ask them to introduce you. This is like ‘mutual friends’ on facebook. If there is someone you would like to meet, you would search your mutual friends and that is how you would be able to meet that person.

Also, when you are researching a company you may want to look for, there are all kinds of statistics about the company. These statistics include female to male ratio of the employees, the percentage of most common titles/positions in the company, location of company’s headquarters and offices, or it could even include a list of employees who work there or used to work there.

There are other features of LinkedIn like LinkedIn Answers and LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Answers is a lot like Google Answers, or Yahoo Answers, except more business oriented with the questions and the people who answer the questions. LinkedIn Groups are like the networks on Facebook, but can include anything from alumni to greek or sports teams. With LinkedIn groups, this is a good way to see what you have in common in life outside of the business world with other people in your industry.

http://press.linkedin.com/

How Stores Use Kaboodle to their Advantage

By: Tiffiny Towne


The organizations that would use Kaboodle are on-site and online shopping stores like Walmart to overstock.com.  So shoppers can make a wish list for certain holidays like Christmas, Valentine’s Day or their birthday for their family and friends to view. The business can see what the consumer likes by how many people are adding their products to their favorites. The stores can also market their products to these online shoppers than better before. Now products have reviews from real people and are not being censored on the website. If a company takes forever to ship a product then other consumers will know what to expect or go to another store.

For example, I ordered the Putting Public Back in Public Relations textbook from SuperBookDeals.com because that was the cheapest price and according to Amazon.com, it had four out of five stars. Which is not too bad compared to my other options. I am a poor college student so I hate paying for shipping so I decided to pick the cheapest shipping option. The option was two to fourteen days, I figured since the order was being shipped from Indiana that it would not take too long. Apparently I was off on my estimation because it has been exactly fourteen days and I still have no textbook.  The shipping did not provide tracking like if I would have ordered it from Amazon.com and paid a few extra dollars. So now, I have to call the store to find out what is going on with this book. Like, have they even shipped it yet? If I would have read somewhere about their shipping problems then I would have picked Amazon.com because I am familiar with them but just wanted the better price.

Examples from “Kaboodlers”

"I love Kaboodle because it's my memory. I have a terrible memory, so Kaboodle helps me keep track of the things I need, want and dream to own. Beyond all that, shopping alongside people worldwide offers the opportunity to discover things you might never have known to exist otherwise. Who doesn't love that?"
- triplyksis, Kaboodler since January 15, 2007

"I became addicted the first time I used Kaboodle and by the next day, I had sent out at least 50 emails to friends telling them to join because this was the greatest thing since sliced bread! I love Kaboodle because it makes life easier. Kaboodle is like a layaway for the mind and a personal shopper all in one! Who can beat that?"
- adriannaa, Kaboodler since December 11, 2006

Glenn Beck ends his first year at Fox with great ratings

Glenn Beck celebrated a year at Fox News last week. His ratings are
extremely high for the 5 p.m.EST time slot. http://tinyurl.com/yaednqa
Beck's numbers were four times better than CNN and were just short of
the ratings for Bill O'Reilly at 8 p.m.

MSNBC insults Massachusetts voters

While Fox News and CNN provided balanced coverage of the
Massachusetts' election results lat week, MSNBC's comments and
coverage were vitriolic and demeaning. A good summary of MSNBC's lack
of journalistic integrity is found in Glenn Garvin's blog Changing
Channels. http://tinyurl.com/ydoqfkr

Look at Bill O'Reilly's comments about Fox news coverage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXPKccesQmE&feature=player_embedded

How Stores Use Kaboodle to their Advantage

By: Tiffiny Towne

The organizations that would use Kaboodle.com are on-site and online shopping stores like walmart.com to overstock.com.  Shoppers can make a wish list for certain holidays like Christmas, Valentine’s Day or their birthday for their family and friends to view. The business can see what the consumer likes by how many people are adding their products to their favorites. The stores can also market their products to these online shoppers. Now products have reviews from real people and are not being censored on the website. If a company takes forever to ship a product, other consumers will know what to expect or go to another store.

For example, I ordered the Putting Public Back in Public Relations textbook from a little known book seller because that was the cheapest price and, according to Amazon.com, it had four out of five stars. That was not too bad compared to my other options. I am a poor college student. I hate paying for shipping so I decided to pick the cheapest shipping option. The option was two to fourteen days. I figured since the order was being shipped from Indiana that it would not take too long. Apparently I was off on my estimation because it has been exactly fourteen days and I still have no textbook.  The shipping did not provide tracking like Amazon.com. Now, I have to call the store to find out what is going on with this book. Like, have they even shipped it yet? If I would have read somewhere about their shipping problems then I would have picked Amazon.com because I am familiar with them.

Kaboodlin'

By Tiffiny Towne

Kaboodle's only function is to be a resource for shoppers like an online shopping community. It has tools to help shoppers organize their shopping through lists; discover new things from people with a similar taste in style while finding the best prices. Shoppers can even personalize their profiles with polls and other widgets.

I will now describe the steps on how to kaboodle. Go to kaboodle.com and register. Please remember to write down your user name and password. It is important to register so your family will remember what you want for Christmas or other holidays. You will need to check your email for updates.

The items can be classified according to different departments like home and garden, electronics, music, and computers. You can also classify your products into gifts or in ranges of price like less than twenty, twenty to two-hundred, or if I had a million dollars classification.

Now it is time to "connect with Kaboodle members, write reviews, play games, shop, add friends and join groups as desired or time allows." If you want to products private from other users then there is an option for that.

You can invite your friends to the website through email and also they will see your gift list. There is also a way to select a few email contacts.

There is a toolbar that Kaboodle offers that when you are shopping online, you can click "add to caboodle" when a product pops up that you like so you can put it in the proper list.

There are email subscription options. Please choose wisely; they can sometimes overload you.

I went ahead and created my own Kaboodle because I believe it is more important to learn from experience than from reading someone else's.  When I was registering, they gave me a big variety of different brands to choose from. I picked twelve from overstock.com to Sony. I do not have any friends yet but it is on my to-do list.

Air America ends broadcasting short of its sixth anniversary

By John Fisher

The progressive radio network Air America goes off the air on Monday
night at 9.  That's almost six years after the network started March
31, 2004.
David Hinckley in the New York Daily News lists a number of reasons
for the network's failure.
First, talk radio has to entertain.  But Air America wasn'tentertaining.  Instead it had an agenda, based on ideology.
Air America brought in professional entertainers Al Franken and
Janeane Garafalo, but neither were radio people.  Rachel Maddow
learned radio at Air America and then went to MSNBC.
Second, as The Daily News' David Hinckley wrote, "If people can't hear
you, what you're saying doesn't matter."
Air America was underfinanced and so didn't find any major stations to
host their shows. In addition, Air America didn't get the publicity
from the liberal media to boost its popularity.
While Air America was a failure, it could be argued that it made Al
Franken a U.S. Senator.  It also made Maddow a star and gave voice to
other progressives.
It may have also may have helped progressive politicians like Obama.
But this has its downside.  While progressive radio had plenty to talk
about under Bush, it's hard to bash your own man when he is president.
Air America could have gone to the Internet like Moveon dot org and the
Huffington Post. However, the web isn't a great money producer.
While it could be argued that diversity in opinion is important,
reinstating the Fairness Doctrine is not the answer.  In a democracy,
any media, including radio, needs to stand based on its ability to
gain an audience and run at a profit.
So, while Air America is signing off permanently, conservative talk
show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and Michael Savage continue
to reach huge audiences.

The media and sources

KCMO's Chris Stigall interviewed MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski today. She said anytime a White House official wants to come on her program they're welcome.  Asked if conservatives were welcome she said it depends on their score on the BS meter.  Sounds like BS is okay from government officials, but other sources may not be as welcome. This is typical of the way journalists handle sources. Official sources get airtime anytime, but it's harder if your are not on the "approved" source list.