PRStudent

Curtain Call - Goodbye

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Thu, 03 May 2007 21:21:00 +0000

9 weeks of constant blogging, it's time to say goodbye, well the last post for PR & Tech module.

I must say I appreciate this opportunity of doing this paper and getting my hands on all the communication technologies. I have learnt a lot.

As I am a newbie to this whole social media, I feel that I'm not so qualified to comment on these communication developments and as a student perhaps the application of these ICTs aren't so obvious....learning as I go....I suppose.

Introduction to all these new things everyday is great, especially when it relates to PR. With this experiences, I hope to some time in the near future to apply it to the context of PR in my home town, Saigon, known as Ho Chi Minh city now.

These new ICTs have perhaps influence the way PR is practiced and will continue to make an impact on the industry and its way to professionalisation. PR practitioners now will have many challenges ahead yet continue to grow globally.

I would like to say thank you to Derek, our lecturer and to all my classmates for participating in this paper. I have learnt so much from you guys, from reading your posts and your thoughts. I am sorry if I haven't contribute as much.......my knowledge is limited. ;-)

I wish all of you happiness, success in whatever you choose to do in life after graduating.

Good luck and Goodbye

The curtain is drawn.

What to Measure & Monitor

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Thu, 03 May 2007 20:01:00 +0000

The last topic of this paper 'Evalutation for the social media', our tutor doesn't has the answer to what would be the appropriate method of monitoring and measuring application.

More than 60 million blogs, countless forums and social networking sites, perhaps it's a little bit overwhelming. How can PR practitioners keep track of their client's name and exposure among plethora of the net. There are companies specialise in media monitoring, listed in PR Week, some would offer service to measure and monitor online media.

PR Weeek March 9th suggested to measure and monitor 'most relevant and influential media and influential bloggers', also keep an eye on 'sites are the most active...tracking the story back to where the news first broke, and seeing how it spread'. Citation indexing can help to detect influential sources of news such as links on blogs.

"Basically, RSS TiVos the Net for you. It captures everything on the Web that you care about and pulls it down for you in feeds. The minute something is mentioned about a client of mine on a Web site, I'm alerted to it. That's what makes RSS so powerful." Rubel said on Roger

On top of the keeping track of the traditional media, PR practitioners now also need to target online sources, double the workload. So the old principle still applies really....you can't possibly monitor and measure all but you need prioritise, filter what most appropriate sources best suit for your client say a focus on their particular industry and what the papers, influential opinion leaders are commenting about client's brand. Of course it's difficult to define which websites, social networking sites and blogs are relevant and 'influential'.

PR Week suggest 3 ways of determinng influence:

"number of links between sites, which sites mention other sites most, which sites carry stories that have already been highlighted as bieng influential".

This is where keyword search, SEO, and RSS feeds technologies come in handy.

On the other hand, a simple service like Stats Counter can provide usefull information about website's visitors and their behaviours. Monitoring this will also help PR practitioners to target their audiences effectively.

There's no black/white answer to this solution, no exact method of what to measure and monitor because the social media and ITCs are fluid and constantly changing. The next best solution is the ability to adapt and adopt appropriately, timely, and stragically. Traditional media up to this point is still valid and sometimes blogs do repeat or comment on what has been said in the newspapers, but perhaps on a more personal tone. Then it is worth investing time to engage in those relevant blogs to understand the stories further.

"We can highlight the most important media, but it is up to PR professionals to use that information wisely and ensure that they are engaging with those media" Market Sentinel's Rogers in PR Week March 9th.

For Ogilvy, measuring social media also mean to measure success, ROI and:
If the program is meant to create more

digital word of mouth
product or service recommendations
raise awareness
raise or add search engine results

Last few bits of RSS

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 10:23:00 +0000

My presentation on RSS is available to download as image file or view in Flickr. Click on the presentation, view as slideshow in Flickr.

Apart from my previous posts about RSS, here are the few remaining bits.

1. Why syndicate your site, among many other reasons: increase traffic, bran awareness, search engine ranking, marketing tools

2. Other uses of RSS:
Applications to area like Real Estate, Job Openings, Auction Items, Forum Headlines, Product related Sales or Specials, Airlines report, School announcement, Entertainment, Press Distribution, News and Announcements, Document listings, Bookmarks and other external links, Calendars, Search results

3. Tracking measurements
Track reads, clickthrough, circulation of subcribers
Make it easy to subscribe, personalised content for SEO
Own your Feed URL (own hosting services)
Ensure listing display correct and up to date information like ‘Add to MyYahoo’ actually works
Use your RSS Feeds address = your webpage address
Great for building network of links: blogrolls, trackbacks for BLOGS

4. This marketing site claims to have implication of RSS and PR. In fact, as I was scanning through the titles/articles/interviews, most of the content are for Marketing.
RSS & PR
http://rssdiary.marketingstudies.net/content/cat_rss_public_relations.php

5. Security implication such as virus, spyware when receiving a Feed file. FEEDEMON offer security
http://www.articleclick.com/what-are-the-security-implications-of-rss.html

6. Tips for maximise RSS Feeds
Original content
Content should be compelling and unique, with an interesting angle
Quality
In contrast with frequency, readers will be tired of nonsense posts that contain no value to them, therefore a focus in providing quality information, just like anything really. This includes making sure RSS Feeds work properly; verify your feeds and information before making a post. Do apply the rules of correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. This is not a SMS
Balance
Title of your Feed item should relate to the content of the actual post in the link. You could use the same headlines for both: in the Feed title and the article title. Having said that, there’s no need to be boring. Using creative, catchy titles wouldn’t hurt but make sure it’s the same information.
Focus
Stay on the topic, be specific and don’t stray
Length
The balance of just right amount of word: not too long, not too short. Post length should be consistent throughout the entire blog/feed
Credibility
Inaccurate information can damage your credibility. After all, this rule applies to anything you publish really. Do provide credentials when offering opinions and ensuring factual information is accurate.
Link
You may include links to related content in the RSS Feed, a good way to supplement content. Outgoing links could result in links back into your website.
Consistency
It’s vital to stay consistent, don’t vary too much in your daily posts
Listen to Audiences
Readers can communicate what they like/dislike about your content. So stay in tune
Ads
It’s possible to put up ads with your Feed however balancing that with quality content is a must.

Like most of website content, published information, it’s easy to attract
readers at first yet maintaining their interest is more difficult. RSS Feed is
just like any tool. It requires strategic planning, sensible and appropriate
content to maximise its application, usage and potential. Quality control,
measurement, and evaluation still apply.

GPS on your mobile

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 11:43:00 +0000

(credit for pic of New York: http://image51.webshots.com/151/1/71/98/495517198ISewQi_fs.jpg )

Mobile Augmented Reality Applications is a project that Nokia research team is about to release....a GPS navigation on your phone, not only in your car.

What this technology can do, according to Technology Review at MIT:

'Using data from these sensors, the phone can calculate the location of just about any object its camera is aimed at. Each time the phone changes location, it retrieves the names and geographical coördinates of nearby landmarks from an external database. The user can then download additional information about a chosen location from the Web.....

.....Finding your way around a new city can be exasperating: juggling maps and guidebooks, trying to figure out where you are on roads with no street signs, talking with locals who give directions by referring to unfamiliar landmarks. If you're driving, a car with a GPS navigation system can make things easier, but it still won't help you decide, say, which restaurant suits both your palate and your budget.....'

This could help to eliminate the amount of papers you're carrying around while exploring the new city: maps, Lonely Planet books, discount vouchers.......and make you look less like a tourist....

So if you're a PR consultancy and your clients are tech-savvy or interested in ulitising mobile technology for their publics, perhaps getting your clients' names on this list of providing information to publics' mobiles seem to be a good idea. Although the cost of listing could be huge since it's a new technology. There are some concern over investment in this mobile technology for marketers such as ROI proof, response rate to subcriptions...etc. The trend towards this application is rising not only in the US and Europe but also in South Africa.....the technology is changing the way farmers are doing business. (see list)

The N95 phone, although doesn't look fashionable for a girl, I've been waiting to get my hands on it since Jan.

More on Internet for your phone can be found at:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/18239/

or Mobile web search with pictures:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/18368/

Farmers and mobile:

http://digital-lifestyles.info/2005/07/05/african-farmers-boost-profits-with-mobile-phones/

http://www.cio-asia.com/ShowPage.aspx?pagetype=2&articleid=2170&pubid=5&issueid=55

http://www.centerdigitalgov.com/international/story.php?docid=57265

http://grandioseparlor.com/2007/03/mobile-technology-from-nigerian-yellow-pages-to-bluetooth-enabled-marketing-in-south-africa/

The bright side of Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:23:00 +0000

(from http://marcellomedia.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/hunde.jpg )

After having a row with my friend about Twitter and its usage, there's something to learn.

The way Twitter works, or work efficiently, for eg you have 5 friends who only YOU choose to have your feeds of the Twitter either on the phone or pc. The 'beauty' of this beast is its speed and it's instant. Perhaps in a case of ' I need information on this' or in urgent recruitment of people/talent to do the job. If my friends/followers check their phone/pc and receive my message then they can act/respond instantly.

I was thinking how on earth is this technology evolutionary? Well the argument, my friend's point of view, is no other technology can do this up to this point in time, although IM I think pretty much do the job. Another point is that you limit who can subscribe to your Twitter and whether they have access to phone/pc at the time of communication, they can respond right away. There's a chance you can get the text update FREE on your mobile. For UK number: it's +447781488126

I asked, yes this is all wonderful but do you ever think about people at the receiving end? perhaps that person's preferred method of contact is calling, text, or email or whatever. The answer is of course all participants must share the same enthus and idea to make it happen.

Ah....here is the drawback....people can decide whether they want to join your Twitter updates or not....so you can't really impose anything on them. From a marketing point of view, you have a list of well targeted consumers/audiences who would potentially buy in our products/services.

So for PR, various applications, and please comment if you can think of more ideas I love to hear, from this Twitter magic, are:

Internal communication
Freelance PR
Crisis communication
Updates on current events faster than Feeds/Emails
Personal PR: use for practitioner own's benefit such as bloggers like Drew

Twitter, the 'hot' tool

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:34:00 +0000

With 140 words limit, you now can give your friends or the 'public' or whoever happens to be online at the time, your whereabouts, what you're up to, a personal brief diary 'What you're doing?' on Twitter.com

Drew B, a prominent PR blogger, provided intensive information about this new social media tool, in which he is a fan of. Also, the Guardian's post on the topic shows similar support. So I was curious and wander to the world of Twitter, created an account for myself and see what's the happs. Just like other social media tool, a bit like Instant Messenger (IM) but of course more sophisticated. I can post my current 'doing' such as 'I’m feeling stressed about the Tech assignment' onto Twitter. I can invite my friends to be on it so that we all can view each other's updates, of course with the condition that we must be on the net....pretty regularly.

I also can get updates on my phone, view Public timeline (what other people around the world are doing) every second. Another option available is 'Followers' who are people get my updates on their phone or IM. And there is a Twitter Blog, you can participate in.

So I get it. You and me, geographically distant, if we're both connected via this Twitter, I will know what you're doing right now at this moment, via my phone alerts. The Guardian called it evolution of blogging. The Twitter package also extents to Google Reader and Yahoo Pipes or Google Talk, many other and of course the familiar RSS feeds.

Question is SO WHAT?

For me it's like another version for IM, which really if you have a Blackberry and get all the updates, feeds, news, email and other million things, Twitter is perhaps another of that similar kind, a relative, another bug that would crowded my phone. And if this tool has any advantages for marketing purpose or PR (I can't find any usage for this), I truly doubt its ability and capability of getting the messages across to the intended user, bear in mind the competitive environment that other tech tools are crying out to be heard. It’s the same situation really, more tech-tool for communication, more choices and the audiences get confused, and the boomerang effect…..

I’m feeling sorry for audiences whom are targeted by this whole new social media world. How on earth can on suppose to read so many feeds, and updates and everything……Just like advertising, so many out there and if one catches your attention, it must be really lucky.

Yes I cannot ignore the potential for any technological advancements, but getting all ‘enthus’ about something without critically assessing its application is like a reflex when you visit a doctor and get a knock on your knee…what will happen?

Wires- Just a thought

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 09:14:00 +0000

A world of wires, connected to each other, interlinked, intertwined, crossing each other and all the possible adjectives to describe the connections and relationships among these wires, just like human being.

Yet what is so amazing about these wires: their power and existence in this world. They're everywhere, in your personal computers, inside each wall of your house lies telephone wires, cables, electricity, Internet connection and perhaps many other places...even in your toilet/bathroom, if you have a boiler.

Similarly, this phenomenon of interconnectedness originated from us, people, whom among themselves, desire to be linked to each other to whatever degree. The invention of tech-communication is just another example of this urge, the urge to be closed to each other....at times to the point of choking themselves.

This network of people, network of wires spread on the global scale. People now, almost everyone, carry a telecommunication device, such as cellphone, blackberry, PDA, 247 with the hope to stay updated, stay in touch to all current events.

Maybe it is our nature to be so closed to each other that we strive to invent countless technologies and equipments, although not all proved to be useful. The 'invention' or idea of Instant Communication with real time features enable us to see who's online, to call PCs, to do voice call, to chat, to share files, diaries, thoughts and emotions, after all to communicate with one and other. A simple wish but resulted in so many different variations of equipments such as SMS, IM, Cellphone, PDA, Yahoo/MSN, Blackberry, and Twitter...etc

It could be the end for all these wires when we move on to the wireless world, when we abandon these messy cords lying around, taking up all our precious spaces. A wireless world. Yet the simple wish, of communication, remains the same. Do we ever stop to think...what is all of this?

The point of Web 2.0 isn't scary enough but there's Web 3.0 NOW. The continued journey to endless gadgets just to aid one purpose only: Be together, Be closed together like those wires inside a personal computer.

And for PR, this industry absorbs telecommunication like a sponge. After all, it is communication and relationship which PR depends on. Will it catch up with the technological race or will it stop and think and choose wisely? A question yet to be answered or not?

How Juicy your site is, inspired by Google Trends topic from Evi

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:04:00 +0000

After reading a piece on Google Trends on Evi's post, i was curious! So i typed in the term 'public relations' and restrict the region to 'United Kingdom' and here is how the trend look....

(http://www.google.com/trends?q=public+relations&ctab=0&geo=GB&date=all)

All the A,B,C letters stand for the events in which people were searching for i guess. And the city Bournemouth topped the list among UK's cities. Not sure why this is. Also you can't go back to many years before to have a decent comparision so only from 2004. A small fall but im not sure why either.....maybe more research needed. But this is interesting. I clicked onto letter A, the peak trend but the link failed.

Confusing......

So i called for help....at Google. The Google Trends analyse a fraction of the web search for the number of searches on a particular 'term' and then compute it and total the number over time, then display on the graph as a volume search. Gosh...what a mouthful....sound like the horrible Stats we have been doing at uni. So like the stats, you can compare up to 5 items....

And i remember Derek mentioned about Google Juice, interesting concept....maybe it related to the Trends search option. Google Juice, ranks your website on the scale out of 10, the more 'Juice' you have, well your web has, it is likely to reach your target audience, so a bit like Search Engine Optimisation.

If you like to know how Juicy your site is....enter the URL from this link and see it for yourself.....result could be devastating or maginicent....it will make you rethink your web again.

http://www.googlejuice.co.uk/find-out-and-predict-your-google-page-rank/

Have fun

RSS in action - from a PRP (Public Relations Practitioner)

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 12:13:00 +0000

Some of you may wonder how RSS realistic application onto the daily live of a PRP, here is a comment from one and how it is used.

My comment on this would be....not everyone would have a Blackberry but if you're in a big ORG or ORG whom likes techno stuff, you'll likely to get one. I've seen one myself, like a PDA really. It's very popular. My friend has one and he said it's useful but INVASIVE! It provides email feature, global roaming, Internet access. It's a SMART phone 2 in 1, hey value for money. On the evil side.....it's a 247 thing so EXPECT to be woken up by your incoming emails by midnight.

So who say TECH doesn't change the way things are? Now we're all PLUGGED in the TECH world as a PRP, it's part of your life. Not only you have to do the SCANNING of the media via the TRADITIONAL method, now a fraction of your time would be dedicated for the NEW TECH. Although I must say time spending on the Internet eg your company/client/personal website probably would take up even more time of your office and personal life. And what happened in a crisis? You'll be on it 247, monitoring, responding, etc.

My view on this whole TECH world is that it's happening, it's a reality and it will continue to grow at a scary rate almost unable to capture. So it's about time management now, to dedicate a part of your life, to accept the reality but also be in control, now what you're doing. Afterall, you have to be a trend spotter anyway and working in the media industry, it's almost part of your work. The Internet now also provides a different social flatform, despite its negative points, which is benefitcial to some extend.

So smile....and keep on smiling and happy blogging.

from http://theblogconsultancy.typepad.com/techpr/

March 09, 2007
How I read my feeds
Steve Rubel asked - how do I read my feeds? It seems I'm not the only RSS addict in PR.
'Course, RSS isn't new, but most RSS geeks are geeks, not PRs. But as I work in a PR consultancy I need to track what's being said about the brands, people and issues that my clients are involved in. As a blogger I need to track conversations about my chosen topic. And as a consumer I track stuff that I might find interesting.

I use Bloglines to track my feeds - about 400-odd of them. Bloglines is my fave over the likes of Google Reader for two reasons.

1. Its desk/laptop interface has always been top notch for my needs - such as speed, organising, subscribing and presentation (Google Reader has a lot of buzz but I'm afraid it's not for me just yet - really basic things like you can't change the width of the sidebar really wind me up)
2. It integrates with my BlackBerry perfectly. As I spend about a third of every working day on the move this is really important to me I have 30 folders in my Bloglines, which I organise like this:

1-2 - must reads: These are required-reading blogs (at number one) then my must-follow conversations and mentions based on custom-built RSS feeds (at number two). This folder contains any crisis work I'm also involved in

3-11 - client and industry feeds: These are split sector-by-sector for the clients I work on and contain mentions of their names, competitors, products and people. the folder also includes my industry feeds, podcasts, Twitters, aggregators/memetrakers and buzz-topics

11-12 - personal feeds: These I dip in and out of as they include hobbies or tracking the low-profile personal sites I run and incoming traffic

13-30 - sleeper feeds: These are for when clients call upon some tracking and monitoring of an issue on an infrequent basis. In other words I'll get asked, and can respond on demand, what blogs are saying about a niche topic. This happens once every few months so I keep the feeds ready and waiting once they're built

My habits - I'll tend to check feeds on my BlackBerry on my way into the office, then they'll be on in the background through the working day on my MacBook. I'll check them on my way home again on the BlackBerry. Evenings and weekends I'll dip in and out but not too much.
In response to Josh Bernhoff who asks whether people work better when they have time to switch off from feeds, I would answer yes. Same as email. Sometimes you need to focus and switch off from things, not that I often get that luxury working in a service industry.

The reason I organise my feeds the way I do is so that I can dip in for a very short time and still get the important stuff done. But I have the choice to immerse myself in information and still get most of what I need brought to me instead of havig to search an infinite number of mags, papers, sites or stations to get it. That's the importance of RSS to a PR person, in my humble opinion. Not that I ignore print or broadcast media - they're in the office too so I can keep it retro. I know some people are saying TV is full of yesterday's news, and that dead-tree media is dead, but they still wield enormous power as media, so can't be ignored.

How about you?

State of the Blogosphere, April 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 15:55:00 +0000

from: http://technorati.com/weblog/2006/04/96.html

BLOGGING, from academia

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 15:15:00 +0000

Have you ever wonder what BLOG actually mean? One could say ' Silly, that's a stupid question!' But hey, many people use abbreviations without actually know what it is....because VIP could have many alternatives...Very Important/Impolite Person/People, etc...

BLOG, as far as i know is short for WEB LOG, basically DIARIES/LOGS of your activities. So it's a personal diary really. But a personal diary that not so personal at all if anyone who is 'plugged in' into the Internet and the World of WWW can view, access, and comment on what you wrote.

This BLOGGING phenomenon, like many others, caught the interest of the academia although admittedly these researchers and theorists can't (and never will be able to) keep up with the rapid growing rate.

You'll find various definitions and explanations in both articles, trying to describe and study this phenonmenon, while perhaps its impact and application have already widely visible.

Some key points from 1 article.

Blogs are considered as social activity
There are 'object-oriented activity in Blogging such as: Update others on activities and whereabouts, express opinions to influence others, seek others’ opinions and feedback, “Think by writing”, and release emotional tension
Relationship between blogger and reader is asymmetrical: although feedback is vital, there are limitations

Some advices on Designs for blog, according to the below sources:

Integrated text-based media and tools
Photoware
Browsing and Search
Audience Specificity and Privacy
Collaboration
Ease of use

Article from Science Direct mentioned some interesting point. Authors conducted research on PR blogging and power. It concluded that apart from using Blog for information routinely, practioners who use Blog frequently than others use the technology more strategic and professional way to establish 'expert' status. Certainly we can see this practice applied by many practioners through various personal blogs

Sources:
http://home.comcast.net/~diane.schiano/CSCW04.Blog.pdf

http://www.www2004.org/proceedings/docs/2p28.pdf

Blog power: Examining the effects of practitioner blog use on power in public relations. From Science Direct, Public Relations Review 33 (2007) 92–95.

Cyber-activism: Non-profit Blogging scene

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 16:05:00 +0000

(picture taken from http://www.cynical-c.com/archives/bloggraphics/r3409015972.jpg )

'....resources in media relations. Seventy-four activist Websites were analyzed.About one-third (32.4%) included organized online press rooms. The most commonmedia relations materials were organizational history (70.3%), organizational missionstatement (54.1%), organizational publications (47.3%), press releases (33.8%),and policy papers (31.1%)...'
(Kim, J.K. & Reber, B.H 2006 How Activist Groups Use Websitesin Media Relations: Evaluating Online Press Rooms, JOURNAL OF PUBLIC RELATIONS RESEARCH, 18(4), 313–333)

Blogging technology is so widely available now that non-profit organisations, such as Greenpeace on the previous post, have taken up this cost-effective and interactive tool of communication into the next level, a pro-active approach.

Charities and non-profit organisations like: World Vision (http://wvus.blogspot.com/?cmp=ILC-blog), Oxfam (http://www.oxfam.org.uk/generationwhy/blog/) among many others have all got themselves 'plugged in' the world of BLOGGING.

The term 'cyberactivism' sounds scary and new to some but it's just a new term for an old, existing concept. Cyberspace and ICTs allow 'offline' activists individuals, groups and organisations to ulitise the new way of communication and technology to enhance their course of action.

New communication technology allows and provides interactivity, involvement and information accountability and transparency in reporting their achivements and budget/funding via RSS Feeds and Poscasts and other technologies. Also the 2-way communication ideology is said to be in practice here where there's a great opportunities for feedback and almost instant. Activists and their publics now can listen to each other needs and views, facilitate interaction point of engagement and thus produce necessary results.

For me, ICTs provide extra flatform where the same principles of PR ( interm of activism) applied in a different context. And usually programs on cyberspace INTEGRATED with already exisiting ones, adding the extra weight....Cyberspace elimiates the boudaries obstacles, brings people together, in this case to fight for their shared beliefs and values. The net is now the way to go esp for activists. Direct connection, communication and interaction with opponents, alliances, and supporters can be done easily, fast, and if managed properly can be cost-effective and achieve great results. Some argued that cyberactivisim balances the power of the 'marginalised' and provide spaces for democracy. Large corporations, esp multinational ones like McDonald, Starbucks, Microsoft, Apple, GE and many others are target of social movement organisations. Increasingly they are facing the pressures of being even more transparency and pressure of CSR. The rise of cyberactivism will create either threats to their existence and legitimacy or opportunities to be even more successful. The potential is there. Just another 'battlefield'.

Greenpeace has got 'Cyber Center' and involved in blogging scene, forum, My Space, and consider investing resources on this technology (See Annual Reports 2006).

And for the formal part, definition of cyberactivism is:

'Cyberactivism is a means by which advanced information and communication technologies, e.g. e-mail, list-serv, and the www of the Internet, are used by individuals and groups to communicate with large audiences, galvanizing individuals around a specific issue or set of issues in an attempt to build solidarity towards meaningful collective actions.' from
http://netpublics.annenberg.edu/taxonomy/term/19/9

More RSS- A Global example

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 15:34:00 +0000

From: www.globalprblogweek.com/2005/09/21/falkow-rss

RSS, Online PR and Brand Perception
Posted by Administrator on September 21st, 2005
By Sally Falkow, Expansion Plus Inc.

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a technology that allows you to share your headlines and other web content. Think of it as a distributable "What's New" for your site. RSS leverages the Web's most valuable asset, content. It makes it easy to display high-quality relevant news on your site, and syndicate this news and content.

You can use an RSS feed for a variety of content – product news, press releases, technical articles. The list is endless.

The number of people reading RSS feeds is growing by leaps and bounds. Feed Burner reports that subscriptions to the feeds they manage are growing by one percent a day. And the people reading feds are the ones you want to reach – they’re opinion leaders and early adopters.
RSS is the perfect way to meet the needs expressed by consumers in the recent Ponemon Institute study. Over 80 percent of respondents said they want to be updated on news and offers from companies if it is relevant to them and 64 percent said they’d trust the marketer more if they were in control of how the message was delivered to them. Spam pollution has made delivering your message via email a challenge. The world is fast moving from a push-based information delivery (where you send information via emails) to a pull-based information delivery (where the subscriber accesses your information as and when he/she wants it.)

RSS news feeds offer your visitors a way to get relevant information in a way they control. They can subscribe anonymously and judge whether your content is relevant to them. They can unsubscribe at will, without any problems and delays. There's no spam. No lost deliveries.
RSS feeds give you an edge over your competitors who are slow in adopting this hot new technology. We've all book marked hundreds of websites – and then forgotten to go back to them. With an RSS feed every time new content goes up on your site, visitors who have subscribed to the feed are alerted and enticed back to the site to read the new content.

Feeds Boost Your Search Visibility:

The purpose of a feed is to deliver content and news to your public. So by its very nature a feed has constantly updated content. It’s focused on a narrow subject matter (your business/industry) so it tends to be keyword rich. This gets the attention of the search engines and they index your feed more often. When your feed is picked up and used by other sites it creates links back to your site, which also increases your search engine visibility.
By writing news update about your business/cause/idea/industry for your feed you naturally generate a wide array of keywords and phrases about that subject. The search engines index these keywords in your feed and within a few months you’ll find you’re getting page-one search results on many terms relevant to your business.

Searchers generally do a series of searches, narrowing down their focus on keywords as they go. If your website shows up on page one in every search they do it builds brand awareness and value. BTI Communications, Limited is a privately held company in the business telephony space. In August 2004, when Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phones became such a hot item, BTI was faced with new competitors with deep marketing budgets. They had no online visibility at all and had to make their presence known fast on a tight budget.
BTI started a blog called VOIP Insights, http://blog/btigroup.com using the MyST Technologies Blogsite platform. One of the features of this platform is that it utilizes RSS feeds to the hilt. Here are just some of the page-one positions BTI now has in Google. As a result the traffic to their corporate website is up by over 70 percent.

#1 Voip vs traditional phone system#1 VoIP solution provider#2 VoIP small business#2 VoIP architecture#5 VoIP phone equipment#6 VoIP benefits#7 VoIP Small Business costs
Search results like these depend to a large degree on making your feed known. PRESSfeed has a great list of sites where you should register your feed. The BTI RSS feed on Voice Over IP for Small Business was picked up by an Hispanic website about VoIP. A reporter from Hispanic Business Magazine, looking for information for an article, saw this feed and called BTI for an interview.

BTI did not even know there was a magazine called Hispanic Business, let alone that they were doing an article on VoIP for small business. That’s the power of RSS.
“Lockergnome.com, one of the most popular tech sites on the Web today, used to distribute more than 400.000 e-mail newsletters weekly? says Rok Hrastnik, author Unleash the Marketing Power of RSS and editor of www.marketingstudies.net.

Today, they have 5 times more RSS subscribers than e-mail subscribers and their clickthrough rates (the % of people that clicked on a link in the message received) are 500% greater than their e-mail clickthrough rates, which means that now more people actually read their content and respond to it. Success in online marketing depends on being found in the search engines, getting qualified traffic to your site, marketing to the visitors who have been to your site, delivering relevant messages to them in a way they can control to build trust and relationships.
RSS feeds do it all.

Become an OCEAN DEFENDER

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 14:43:00 +0000

Feeling generous and wanting to save the world? Here is one way of doing it....Become a Ocean Defender as the 'Greenpeace' International suggests.

http://weblog.greenpeace.org/oceandefenders/

Greenpeace International has started to utilise the capacity of the Internet and the BLOGGING world to get people involved in 'saving the planet', in this case saving the ocean and all the whales, whose numbers have dropped drastically due to over fishing in waters like Japan.....the country is to blame for its 'extravagant diet routine': whale meat and what not.

Greenpeace International Annual report 2006 showed an interest in using 'cyberactivism' as part of its strategy to get more supports from the public to pressure government and companies. The Blog itself (the link as shown above) has regular information on politics, reports on Whale issue, 'call to action', and loads of information on the work they carry, yet when looking at COMMENT sections, there ain't many post contributions on the topics they post.

This blog section has links to MYSPACE, caters for those who uses MSN services and also has a Forum section which seemed to attrack more visitors and anticipations from web-bloggers.

Cyberactivism is a new term but isn't that 'new'. Using Blogs and other recent Technologies to gain supports for their work is a cost-effective way for Greenpeace. Although their blogs haven't yet shown 'results' or proven to be 100% effective, the potential is there.

Apart from Ocean Defenders blog, Greenpeace International also have BLOG section where 'Making Waves' http://weblog.greenpeace.org/makingwaves/
is another area of concerned issue, waiting to be participated.

And finally, looking to buy an APPLE pc? Here is another way of making the APPLE, greener
http://www.greenpeace.org/apple/

RSS First Counter

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:14:00 +0000

(from http://www.faganfinder.com/search/rss.php)

What is RSS?

RSS can actually be explained in three words, but depending on who you ask and what version of RSS you are speaking about, it may stand for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, or a variation on one of those. None of that matters to you anyhow. Another thing that you don’t need to care about is the versions. There are 0.90 and 0.91 (created by Netscape), 1.0 (by RSS-DEV), and 0.9x and 2.0 (by UserLand Software) versions, but almost all applications that handle RSS feeds can read all the different versions. There’s also a similar format called Atom, explained below.

RSS is a text-based format, a type of XML. You should know that only because often RSS files are often labeled as XML. RSS version 1.0 is also RDF (whatever), which, again, is important only because an RSS file may be labeled as RDF. RSS files (which are also called RSS feeds or channels) simply contain a list of items. Usually, each item contains a title, summary, and a link to a URL (e.g. a web page). Other information, such as the date, creator’s name, etc., may also be available. The most common use for RSS files is for news and other reverse-chronologically ordered websites like blogs. For example, this particular page on Fagan Finder has a changes log, which is also available in RSS format. An item’s description may contain all of a news article, blog post, etc., or just an extract or summary. The item’s link will usually point to the full content (although it may also point to what the content itself links to).

When a website has an RSS feed, it is said to be “syndicated.” There are various other syndication formats besides RSS (such as Atom), but RSS is by far the most widely used and supported today. RSS files do not have a common file extension, although they frequently end in one of .xml, .rss, or .rdf (note that other extensions may be used also). The term “scraping” refers to creating an RSS feed for a website that doesn’t provide one itself (i.e. scraping the text off of the page). That is, scraped feeds are not created by the same people who created the content within the feed. Scraped RSS feeds may stop working if the page changes its layout.

What is Atom?
Atom is a format quite similar to RSS. It was created by people who felt that RSS could be improved upon, and some that disagreed with some of the politics regarding RSS. Some people are heavily involved in the (quite unimportant, in my opinion) argument as to which format is better. The Atom format is in development, but as of February 2004, Atom version 0.3 is stable. There are pros and cons to the format, but that’s more complex than I am going to deal with here. The basic difference is that while Atom is somewhat more complex (for producers of Atom feeds), it is also able to carry more complex information, and it is consistent across the syndication, storage, and editing of information. Just about everything on this page which discusses RSS applies equally well to Atom. You can learn more about Atom at the official website, AtomEnabled.org.

Subscribing to a Feed
There is no agreed-upon standard for how to subscribe to an RSS feed, although some developers are working on this. So there are roughly two ways to subscribe. One is to enter the URL of the RSS feed into your aggregator. The other is to follow a subscribe link from a web page; the problem with this is that practically every aggregator has a different way of doing this. So you might see links labeled as subscribe with Bloglines or add to My Yahoo!. Two services exist to deal with this problem: Syndication Subscription Service and quickSub, which was inspired by the former. Links labeled as will take you to a page on the Syndication Subscription Service which itself contains direct links to subscribing using various aggregators. QuickSub is similar. Links to RSS feeds using the quickSub tool will popup a list of links to subscribing with various aggregators.

Very nice RSS aggregators will allow you to enter in the URL of a web page and it will then read its RSS feed. These tools support RSS auto-discovery (and anyone reading this who is writing RSS applications I encourage to use the Ultra-liberal RSS locator). Most RSS aggregators, unfortunately, aren’t that nice; you’ll need to copy and paste the RSS URL into your aggregator.

Finding the RSS Feed for a Website
The websites you already read may have an RSS feed. So you want to find it. Go to BlogStreet’s RSS Discovery tool and enter in a website. It will return the feed for you.
If that doesn’t find the RSS feed, go to the website whose feed you’re looking for; if it has one, then it probably includes a link to it. Try looking on the page’s menu (usually left side or right side) and the footer. Most often RSS feeds are linked to with an small icon. The most common is an XML icon like this:

but there are a number of variations on label (RSS, RSS2, XML, RDF, Atom), colour, and size, such as and . Other times there may not be an image, but text with one of those lables, or a link labeled “Syndicate this site.” You may also see a variation on the standard XML icon such as and ; these are direct links to subscribing to an RSS feed in AmphetaDesk and Radio UserLand (both are RSS aggregators) respectively. Radio’s coffee cup icon is sometimes shown alone. If you are running one of these news aggregators, click on the icon to subscribe, otherwise just use the usual icon. Note that not all XML icons link to RSS feeds, because there are many other XML formats. If it isn’t labeled or self-evident, just try reading the file in an aggregator; if it doesn’t work, it is probably not an RSS feed.

If you still haven’t found the RSS feed for a website you can try searching in one of the tools listed below. Failing that, write an e-mail to the webmaster and suggest that they create an RSS feed. If they don’t know what that is, you can point them over to this RSS Workshop and these RSS specifications. Lastly, you can scrape the website. MyRSS is a tool for scraping. A number of news aggregators, such as Syndirella, have the ability to “create” an RSS feed, but the feed will only be accessable to people using Syndirella.

News Is Free
News Is Free is an online news aggregator and a directory of RSS feeds, over 5,000 of them. You can search (also available on Fagan Finder), or browse the directory. News Is Free also provides scraped RSS feeds for a number of websites.

BlogStreet’s RSS Directory
BlogStreet contains a number of blog-related tools. The directory lists the RSS feeds of over 10,000 blogs, organized alphabetically.

Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Ann Ha) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:26:00 +0000

A space to call your own, for the purpose of learning, is a great place to start.

During the course of this paper PR & Technology in MSC in Public Relations at Stirling University, under 'captain' Derek Hodge, I believe we shall sail to success. I find this project, creating a very basic blog and therefore keeping up-to-date with the new media and technology available on the web, is essential and useful.....and perhaps fun.

I hope in the weeks to come, this space will be more 'colorful' and rich with loads of valuable knowledge...being shared and studied.