FutureCamp: From a 2C's perspective!

First and foremost, thanks and congratulations to Zack and Jenna for doing a wonderful job. Futurecamp showed how insanely close everyone's become after only a couple of months. Public relations has proven to be just what we were told from the beginning, "work hard-play hard environment", but of course 2C isn't perfect (yes I know, hard to imagine) so we "work hard and play even HARDER" instead!!!!!!
We were asked to sit in our areas of choice, non-profit, corporate, social media, media relations, agency etc. After only four months it was interesting to see that people were starting to find their niches.

We began to plan a party 5 years from now, and I think that if we were truly sick of eachother then we would have settled for the PR.O.M. We discussed how we could make this happen, how would we keep in contact and inform eachother of what's really out there! Let's face it guys, it's a crazy world out there (most of us already had the honours of being introduced, right?)

There were concepts that Michael had introduced to us that we could now use to stay connected. Michael showed us the various outlets available and during classes we learned and practiced as much as we could. So now, we can use social media to stay connected, for example twitter: #YnotW...if you dont't know what that is well I guess you're outside of the loop, but as an emerging PR professional I will gladly explain. It is WHY NOT WEDNESDAY, a day that we have dedicated to true socializing! It is a night where as friends we all go out and just have fun!

First semester was amazing, I find myself very fortunate to have met some really great people that I can actually call my friends :) (don't start crying)
I hope that next semester we can focus on eachother and in augmenting these relationships because truly we made it this far because of eachother.

So.... with one more semester to go I say we join forces with 1C, polish up our gloves, fix our caps, pull up our socks and play some SOFTBALLLL!!!!!!!!! Oh yes, of course...and dedicate ALL other waking hours (as usual) to PR.

Hot Topic: Sound and PR

Johnny and Sam are both on twitter: Johnny is listening to noisy traffic outside his window and Sam is listening to Saade in the basement, do you think the sounds they hear can affect their comments?

Answer is yes. Sound effects along with music are vitally effective tools at the disposal of various social network mediums. For example the radio, internet, television, etc. Using these effectively, they can intentionally trigger alerts, moods or provide certain information for the listener.

This may not be so hot but it is relevant and something that should be looked into further. With all the social media around us at our disposal we need to be careful with how we come across to various audiences. A PR professional needs to be aware of this, during crisis management the atmosphere needs to be be considered as it may hinder the audience's perception of the issue at hand.

Sound can evoke in a person such a strong opinion that they may feel compelled to call in and voice it. Therefore, sharing their opinion with other listeners who at that point, while listening, are part of the same network.


“Radio for example only uses sound to communicate. This is one of the media’s greatest strengths. Using sounds alone can create more effective pictures than most visual mediums. Listening to the radio, the listener creates their own pictures. These pictures are much stronger than most visuals because they are self-generated; they are the listener’s unique images.” -Link for further reading





Julian Treasure is the chairman of The Sound Agency, a consultancy group that helps clients like Honda and Nokia better their sounds to support their brand. On his blog , Julian recommends an online presentation called The Power Of Sound, created by Bob McCurdy at Clear Channel Radio Sales.

If facebook for example had sound effects for every cow that was found, every zombie that was killed, or applause for every person who was now in a relationship... facebook would drive me just a bit more insane than it already does.
So when you're driving home at five listening to hammer or whoever and it's bumper to bumper... think about why they don't play Ludacris: "Get out the Way!!"

My WoRdLe

http://bit.ly/aQipKi

Your Caffeine Inspired Star-ideas ONLINE!

Mystarbucksidea.com provides customers with the opportunity to have a voice in the services that they would like to receive from Starbucks. Customers simply go on the site, sign up and let their fresh ideas run loose. Other social media savvy customers go to the web site, read the ideas and give it a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down”.

From a PR perspective, having this social media campaign Starbucks is building their personal online brand. In this new era of social media, an online brand is almost at par with your own personal brand in terms of importance. As mentioned earlier in classes, if you’re not online you’re no one.

My Starbucks Idea is prime example of marketing using social media to connect with new target audiences in order to expand their customer count. It is a genius and highly affordable marketing tactic for Starbucks.

Customers have the opportunity to discuss various aspects of what they would either like to see change from an environmental perspective or to what creative flavours they would enjoy sipping on. Customers can now have a potential role in aiding in the corporation's growth.

So get your Starbucks drink-on and start talking, because they're listening!

(If you're already sipping on a latte, take a minute and check out some other wise opinions on this new social media campaign)

Rachel
Jeff
Auravelia
Zofia
Sara

Personally Branded Just For You

Here I am, all nicely and personally branded just for you...
Lots of love,
Anna Czerniawski

View more presentations from Anna Czerniawski.

PR just keeps getting better... PR 2.0

Deirdre Breakenridge states in her article, PR 2.0: A Communicator’s Manifest, that “PR 2.0 puts the public back in public relations”. For a while, PR professionals took the back seat and worked behind the scenes of their brands and corporations. Due to social media, PR is back in the public world interacting and making appropriate changes to better businesses along with their audiences. Technology was able to connect the world through social media. It is important to understand as Brian Solis, principal of a PR and new media agency in the Silicon Valley, stated “understanding social media is more about sociology and less about technology”. It is about understanding social communications, where technology is only a vehicle, your fuel is social communication, you are the driver and your brand is the model.

Social media has directly affected the roles and lives of PR professionals. Social media changed the way PR had to connect to their audience and brands. The difference is that now PR jobs engage their audience in communication in order to better understand what it is that they need. Due to broadband connectivity, PR professionals can now use many outlets to relate to their audiences.

There was a time when it was only up to the professionals to create relationships between brands, especially in the world of business. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and various other forms of social media facilitate the ability to build relationships through communication. Today, you don’t need to be a computer genius to interact or communicate online, but you do need PR knowledge to brand yourself properly. PR professionals had to learn how to maintain these relationships because although they can be easily created they can be even easier to destroy. Blogs for example allow for personal expression from being the most simplistic to the most elaborate of ideas. Maintaining a blog is a key factor in identifying ones brand. Through online social media, people are still learning how to be careful with the information that they decide to post and allow other to see.

In Tom Peters’s article, The Brand Called You, his opening statement is: “It’s a new brand world”. It’s true; thanks to technology the world has evolved at a drastic pace within the last several years. Tom Peter continues to state that, “the Web makes the case for branding more directly than any packaged good or consumer product ever could.” Communicating with others and getting your brand out there has never been easier.

PR professionals had to be inside the scope of social media in order to understand their audiences. People started putting their thoughts and ideas out more readily than ever. This allowed PR to make use of the communication circling within certain audiences and use it to benefit that audience’s brand. As a prospective PR professional it is important to become a part of this growing giant called social media, because this trend is continuing to expand and with full force.

Namaslaughter? AHAHAHA!

Sitting in yoga class, my instructor decides to take the class for a little spin. The last ten minutes were dedicated to practice laughter yoga! I sat there thinking that this will be impossible, public relations homework, stress, the list is never ending.

Then to see random woman laughing hysterically for no reason became reason enough for me. Bellies shacking, snorting, even some knee slaps, these women really gave the works.

Let me share with you how relaxing it felt, spirits were up and tears were pouring. I never thought abs exercising could be this easy. I went home and had to read up on laughing yoga.

Laughter Yoga was started in Mumbai, India by Dr. Madan Kataria. Unknown to some, but laughter releases chemicals called endorphins in your body. This allows your body to feel good, release stress and promote good health.

Being architects of our own life, you have two choices: be sad or be happy. If you choose to be happy your outlook becomes optimistic, which leads to positive outcomes. You suddenly feel that your diet is just a diet. The stain on your carpet is just a stain. Always remember that it could be worse.

My grandmother once said, ‘that the only thing in life that will remain the same is change’. So laugh, your sadness for whatever legitimate reason is only temporary.

I recommend taking at least one laughter yoga class in your life. Not only will it relieve you of your tension but it will prepare you for World Laughter Day, which is May 6th.

Click here to see Laughter Yoga taking over the corporate world.

Need more stress in your life? Join WordPress.com

Like many of you PR students out there, I'm also new to this phenomenon of blogging. My Social Applications partner was more than convinced that WordPress.com is the blogging way! It initially appealed to me because of it's aesthetic appearance, it looked clean, fresh and professional. Appearance is vital in the public relations industry since it should facilitate communication without distracting.

Unfortunately, WordPress and I were no match made in heaven.

Allow me to walk you through my experience: "Another account to setup?" (not too pleased)...few clicks later..."Oh, no! I was supposed to click Yes!"...(determined to start again)...some more clicks later... "Can't delete my account?" All of a sudden I started speaking Italian.. "FORGETTABOUTIT!"

I couldn't come to terms with this application. It was not as easy as it claimed to be after all. With so many viable options these days it's okay to prefer one application over another. (Blogger- 1, WordPress- 0)

Prior to my experience, I would have introduced WordPress as follows: "WordPress is a free hosting service that offers an easy way to deploy a Wordpress blog on-line, first appearing in 2003. Thanks to the co-founders Matt Mullenwag and Mike Little. The name "WordPress" was suggested by Christine Selleck, Mullenwags friend (clearly someone wanted in on funds). In 2009, WordPress won the best Source CMS Award (no, they weren't the only ones running). Since the win, there have been 202 million noted websites using this application." As mentioned earlier, the aesthetic appearance to blog presentation is almost as important as the information itself. If your background colour overpowers your font, the reader will lose focus- even if you were writing out the directions to the fountain of youth.

Who else isn't pleased? Nope, Al Gore is on my side. His WP blog on Climate Crisis got hacked into back in 2008.

According to Google, there are over ten pages of how to hack into WordPress. If you would like, you can also check out youtube, there you can find at least half a dozen of different ways to compromise WP blogs.
How to Hack a WordPress Forum:



For WordPress, security has been their greatest vulnerability for quite a while now. Some critics blame it on their constant upgrading of the system. This allows for cracks to remain that are then overlooked by the system and yet hunted for by hackers. Don't you find that security of a blogging application is important? You share key ideas on there, personal information, and it could easily be jeopardized by some hooligan who decides to make you look like a porn star over night. Of course at the end of the day, you can chose whichever application suits you. This one, I didn`t fancy so much. No need to cry over spilt milk- there are plenty of other men.. I mean applications out there that will suit your needs. Best of luck and may the best blogging application win!

Click here for summary on this blog!


For those that enjoy using wordpress.com, have a look at my partner Caterina's blog, it worked for her so who knows maybe it'll work for you!