TOW #5

I have had a twitter for over a year now. At first, I was hesitant to sign up for a twitter account. I did not see the point if I had facebook. What was so great about it? Wow, I learned that I was wrong. Twitter has so many great things about it that nothing else can reach. I have learned that it is fun for both personal and professional use. I have learned this more since being I have been in Professor Nixon’s Public Relations class. I never knew how important twitter was in the P.R. world. Since I learned this, I started paying closer attention to businesses using twitter. I can’t listen to television without hearing, “follow us on twitter” at least once. Twitter is a great way to reach not only a younger crowd, but a bigger crowd. It brings business and media information directly into our home on our own command. I follow a lot of people/businesses that have to do with my passions/work. I work in weddings, so I follow a lot of wedding professionals and wedding blogs. Many post links on their twitter whenever they update their blogs or websites. It has lead me to great inspiration. Thanks to Barbara Nixon, I have also been following many PR reps throughout the country. I think this is a great way to meet connections and talk directly with people in the PR industry. I think no matter what field of interest you are in, twitter can benefit you. There are so many professionals in different fields using twitter. They are great to follow and you can really learn a lot.

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Chapter 4 Reading Notes

What is Social Media?

• Social media is ―often used to describe the collection of software that enables individuals and communities to gather, communicate, share, and in some cases collaborate or play.‖
• Social media has become a fundamental and widespread part of how people and organizations communicate and participate online.

What Social Media matters?

• Social media has been a component of that shifting communication landscape since the mid-1990‘s. Social media is changing the way organizations communicate with people, and the way people communicate and connect with each other, be they employees, customers, partners, competitors, adversaries, advocates, the general public, members of the mainstream media or others.
• With social media, many of the traditional barriers – between publics, between bloggers and journalists – have become blurred.
• Social media is also, in many ways, a continuation of the very best communicationprinciples organizations have long aspired to or practiced.

Social Media Characteristics

1. Authenticity. As ―markets are conversations,‖ people want organizations tocommunicate as they would in a conversation, in a human, authentic way.

2. Transparency. Organizational involvement in social media is also characterized and driven by a desire for more transparency from organizations.

3. Decentralization of authority. Social media is characterized by a decentralization of authority and by multi-directional and increasingly two-way conversations.

4. Speed. Speed is a defining element of social media and a characteristic that presents challenges for organizations in reputation management.

5. Collaboration. Finally, collaboration is an inherent part of what defines social media – it is the building of relationships, not just the exchange of information.

 

Source: Reputation Management

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Reading Notes Chapter 3

The Case for a Centralized Media Relations Function

• An organization should not communicate through the news media until it knows what the facts are, and then only when the organization is prepared to disclose those facts. And it needs to communicate with a single voice.
• To an organization’s constituencies, anyone from the organization who speaks about the organization is often seen to be speaking for the organization. But different people speak from different perspectives, using different vocabulary, and based on different levels of knowledge about an issue. The result can be confusion, inaccurate communication, and reputational harm.

A Pitch Is:

• An invitation to cover a story
• A concise, compelling, and customized invitation to interview an expert, preview an event, report on a phenomenon or trend, test a product or service
• An idea for a compelling story, and a road map for how to get the story

Successful pitching requires comprehensive knowledge of the targeted media, including:

• Prior and current coverage of your industry
• Style and bias of the outlet
• Format of specific columns, departments, segments
• Preferences and interests of individual journalists

Source: Reputation Management

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