I thought I would drop you all a little note about a new social networking site that I found. It is called Stickam, and basically it is like Myspace but with webcams. The site features user-submitted pictures, audio, video and live webcasts. Additionally, it allows users to embed their streaming webcam feeds into other web sites via a flash player.

I think this could be huge because it incorporates everything we love about myspace and facebook - profiles, pictures, video, networking - with the extra twist of being able to show you friends what you are doing at any point in time. It’s like twitter, but with web cams!

]]> http://stephaniepr.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/a-new-form-of-social-media/feed/ sdaland2 http://stephaniepr.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/credibility/ http://stephaniepr.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/credibility/#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 18:22:28 +0000 sdaland2 http://stephaniepr.wordpress.com/?p=27

The idea behind the “Made to Stick” chapter called “Credibility” is that readers are trained to be skeptical about where there information comes from, and we as writers must find ways to give our writing more authority. The Heaths talk about a few different techniques for giving your message more credibility: external validation, statistics, testable credentials and using examples that pass the “Sinatra Test.” An example passes the Sinatra Test when one example alone is enough to establish credibility in a given domain.

External validation is a nice way of adding credibility to your message; especially if that person giving the validation is an antiauthority. An antiauthority is a person who you would not expect to serve as a spokes person; for example, a woman dying of lung cancer doing an anti-smoking ad instead of a traditional authority like a doctor or nurse.

Statistics are also a good way to increase the credibility of your ideas. Statistics are concrete and easy to understand (e.g. you are 25 percent more likely to eat a hot dog today than a corn dog). People like statistics because they add authority to the message, and no matter who did the study, most people take the numbers to be true.

As public relations professionals we must be able to add effectively add credibility to our message so that people will not assume every press release or media advisory is just a cheap sales ploy in disguise.

In chapter 3 of “Made to Stick,” authors Dan and Chip Heath discuss the importance of using concrete language to convey abstract ideas. The curse of knowledge is a very important cause of poor writing. Sometimes a writer will be doing a story on a subject that they know very well, but the resulting work is confusing and uninteresting. The reader cannot understand the story in the way the writer does because they lack the same knowledge. As writers, we need to learn to take a step back from our work and read it through the eyes of our readers. Using lots of examples and metaphors are a good way to explain your subject matter. The Heaths described a story in which an accounting teacher had great success by using  the example of helping a friend run their business.

The creative team at HP took it to the next level by building a life sized display to demonstrate how its computers could help run Disney theme parks.

So how do we learn to make our writing more concrete? I think the most important this book tries to convey is that we should think like our readers. What do they understand? What would make our writing more interesting? By doing that our ideas will become less abstract and our stories more sticky.

Two weeks ago I got an email from Catie Ciciretto, a multimedia reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald, saying she was interested in doing a story on the U of O Equestrian Team. Since I am always game for some free publicity for the team, I happily agreed. Her is the video that came from it. It features myself, coordinator for the equestrian team, Mike Galloway, owner of the UO Equestrian Team’s new home barn, Triple Rise Equestrian Center and Major Defoe, owner of the Oregon Horse Center. It is set during the annual Mother’s Day Classic at the Oregon Horse Center.

What I like about this video, and I think Catie did a good job conveying, is that horse shows are not just a hobby for some people, they’re serious competitions and big business for a large niche of people. At the Mother’s Day Show especially, people put down big money to train and prepare for a shot at the $10,000 prize of the mini grand prix, a competition featured in the video in which a rider must guide their horse through a course of nearly 5-foot-high fences (this is generally the highest level of competition).

Catie is a very cool girl and my team and I had a great time showing her the ins and outs of the horse show world. Hopefully, during our the Equestrian Team’s competitions, we will have a great contact at the ODE and be able to create more good PR for the team

*Warning Spoiler Alert*

Although I was pleasantly surprised to see Whitney Thompson become the first plus-sized model to win ANTM; I couldn’t help but notice that public relations wise, the she was the better pick over her competitor Anya.

Whitney is student from Atlantic Beach, Florida, and she has spent her whole life battling stereotypes against full figured women. She proclaimed in the casting session that “I have hips and I have breasts and I am proud of that.”

Compare that to Anya, the Hawaiian native who seemed to do better overall in the competition, but came across as a ditsy blond with some sort of strange speech impediment. She had a great energy in her photos, but her TV commercial was pretty terrible.

As much as Producer Tyra Banks and her band of zany judges try to deny it, ANTM is about producing models that will appeal to the masses. Girls like Whitney are repeatedly chastised for being too “commercial,” and yet the prize is all about being commercial, and being the best role model. Girls are punished over and over for being “fake,” but every picture is taken in a ridiculously unrealistic situation and then retouched to the point where they look more like paintings than photographs. Whitney’s story is endearing and relatable and will make a perfect cover story for seventeen magazine.

With Dove’s Real Beauty campaign seeing huge success, it was the perfect timing for curvy Whitney to take the crown. Even Tyra herself has become a spokeswoman for healthy body image when appeared on the cover of People Magazine, after an unflattering picture appeared in the tabloids, with the caption “You Call This Fat?” Perhaps, after eight seasons of stick thin models winning, Tyra saw this as the perfect time jump on the “real women” band wagon.

What do you think? Does Whitney’s win change your perception of ANTM or the modeling industry?

The American Quarter Horse Association announced it is lowering the amount of points necessary to qualify for the Bayer Select, Bank of America Amateur and FedEx Open World Championship Shows, the three biggest competitions for the association. The decision comes after a trying first half of the year. The price of hay, grain, and shavings (the three basic ingredients for caring for a horse) have skyrocketed. With the addition of gas prices looming at around $4 a gallon, getting a horse to a show is more expensive then ever. Getting a horse from point A to point B requires a gas guzzling truck or SUV to pull a horse trailer. Generally speaking, a truck that gets around 12 miles a gallon normally will only get 8-10 while hauling horses, which means a lot more trips to the gas station.

Horse owners are stuck between a rock and a hard place because you have to feed and shelter the horse first, but once you get done with that the amount of money left to pay for horse shows is significantly smaller than it used to be. So what do you do? Not feed them? Unlikely.

AQHA President Ken Mumy had this to say: “In these days of increased prices for nearly everything, we want to serve our members in the best ways possible. With today’s rising fuel costs, exhibitors are feeling the pinch, and by lowering the points, our hope is that members will be able to qualify more economically. We always look forward to seeing the best competitors at the World Show and want to help people who are World Show bound.”

The AQHA reports that qualifiers are already up compared to 2007, which was also a tough year in terms of prices.

I think this is such a smart move on the AQHA’s part. It is so simple and yet I believe it will have a huge impact on the association’s image. It makes them seem more human, and in touch with what is happening in the world. The PR department is doing a good job communicating with its members, through website announcements, newsletters, and articles AQHA trade magazines, to assure them that while there is this problem of rising prices, the AQHA is going to stand by them and try to help.

While, I would imagine competitors who have the means to pay the huge entry fees to the world shows, which can range from $500-$4000 per class, probably don’t worry too much about the cost of gas, it is still a nice gesture for the association to make.

Last Tuesday I woke up very early caught the van up to the PRSSA’s Regional Activity “Northwest Networking: Hiking Towards PR Success.” As part of the activity, I toured Edelmen and Maxwell PR, attended a job fair, and listened to a great speaker, Kyle Warnick.

The whole trip was pretty fun, I got to hang out with a lot of people from the journalism school who I have had classes with, learned what the inside of a PR agency looks like, and talked with some people who actually work in some agencies.

I wanted to take the time to say thank you to one of the people who made the regional experience worthwhile: Taraneh Foster, general manager for Woloshin Communications. Taraneh was nice enough to spend almost an hour and half talking with Bryan Saxton and I when we were only suppose to have a half hour. She actually read our resumes and writing samples and gave good, helpful feedback. Unlike the woman who scoffed when I told her I wasn’t sure what a media list was, Taraneh seemed to be there to help future public relations students instead of simply searching for cheap labor. She gave tips on everything from what to put on our resumes, to where to get cheap business cards. She even encouraged us to send us revised copies of our resumes, so she could critique them. I really feel she went above and beyond the norm of what’s expected at a job fair, and just think that as students we should be so very grateful to have role models like her to look up to.

So here’s to you Taraneh, thanks for making the Portland Paddle a great experience, and I promise this blog post is not in lieu of a thank you card.

When I first learned about PROpenMic in class, I was absolutely fascinated. The site was created by Robert French, a professor at Auburn University, and is aimed at public relations students, faculty and practitioners. I think it is so cool that a social network can be so narrowly focussed towards one segment audience. I think part of what makes this site successful is the time and dedication that French puts into it. He comments on almost every member’s wall and actively participates in almost every discussion (although that might be getting harder since membership passed the 600 mark).

PROpenMic was created through a Web 2.0 site called Ning, which allows users to created their own social networks. I couldn’t help myself but create one of my own site. It’s called Equine Enthusiasts and it is a network for people who, ride, train, own, or are involved with the horse industry. I had originally named it Horse Space, but I decided I don’t want Tom, you know the “Tom,” suing me when my site gets to be as big as Myspace.

Launching Equine Enthusiasts has been a great exercise in networking. After I launched the site, I emailed everyone that I know who is involved with horses, which is about 30 people. I asked that each person check out the site and tell everyone they know who might be interested. I also posted a Myspace bulletin, and personally invited my horse-riding friends on Facebook. By about 11:30 p.m. last night, two hours after it began, I had four members. I considered this a victory in itself, because most of the horse-related networks on Ning only have one or two members. Following French’s example, I welcomed each member and tried to engage them in conversation by asking them a question or commenting on something they wrote in their profile. By early this evening, our membership was up to twenty-two. French must be an extremely busy man because I am already spending a lot more time on managing the site then I ever intended too, and I have only a fraction of the membership! Not to say that I’m not having fun, for I’ve met a lot of people who are interested in the same things I am, and have made a few good contacts with local barn owners.

If any of you out there are looking to practice your social networking skills, I would say starting a Ning social network is a great way to do it. The pages are easy to set up and manage. Plus, I bet it would be a good thing to put in an E portfolio because it demonstrates the following skills: leadership, management, technical and public relations.

Today, in class, we learned about the new social media release created by Todd Defren. The new template is useful for disseminating information to the media because it allows them to pick out which information they would like to use and leave what they don’t. The new release will be beneficial for companies because it will increase transparency and open the lines of communication between the organization and their audiences.

The template allows the public relations professional to post links to articles that relate to the topic. This helps with transparency because it shows that the company is not trying to hide anything. Our teacher, Tiffany Derville, pointed out that journalists are going to find out everything about your company anyway, so you might as well just make their job easier and put it all out in the open.

Another reason that the social media release will be useful for companies who are trying to reach a younger audience. Most young people don’t want read a text heavy document, the social media release allows viewers to get the information through different media such as video.

One of the best reasons to use a social media release is that is accessible to everyone, not just journalists. Companies can post the release on their website, and then anyone who does a simple search can find the information they need.

What do you all think of the new social media release?

I was interested in the Yahoo! Search Blog because of the recent swirl of controversy over Microsoft’s huge offer to buy Yahoo! I was expecting to read a blog that was boring and full of technical jargon that no normal person could understand.

I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find that the Yahoo! blog is easy to read and full of interesting updates for users. The posts contain pictures and clear, concise instructions on how to use features and how they can improve the Yahoo! experience. Many of the posts were about events that Yahoo! is hosting such as conferences with speakers, or trade shows they will be attending. I think that information would be appreciated by Yahoo! followers because might see that an event is being hosted in their area and decide to go.

Overall, I rate this blog: Good

On a scale of 1-10

Ease of Finding: 8 - The blog is pretty easy to find; when I typed in “Yahoo blog” into my Google Search - sorry Yahoo, but Google is my homepage - it came up third on the list. Not bad, I certainly didn’t have to search for it, but it seems like they could do some kind of search engine optimization to get it to be the first link that pops up.

Frequency: 4 - A little inconsistent. Some of the posts come about every other day and then they will just stop and there won’t be another post for around a month.

Engaging Writing: 9 - The writing is conversational and easy to read. Use of bullet points and graphics also makes the posts engaging to read.

Relevant: 9 - All of the posts are relevant to Yahoo readers.

Focused: 7 - The site is geared toward Yahoo! users and the posts are focused on topics casual Yahoo! users would find interesting. Perhaps they could include more posts for the technically knowledgeable.

Honest: 8 - The site seems to be very honest. The posts don’t come across as promotional or “fake.”

Interactive: 6 - The site is pretty interactive. Links take readers to other posts and users can make comments about the posts. Additionally, readers can add the posts to their del.icio.us and digg pages.

Responsive: 3 - It’s hard to determine, but I looked at some of the comment pages and Yahoo! does not seem to respond to the comments posted on the site.

Yahoo! Search Blog received a total of 54 out of a possible 80. Not too bad. Overall, I enjoyed reading the Yahoo! Search Blog and I would encourage frequent Yahoo! users to check it out!