Teaching PR

They're no longer my students, but they're still blogging

From time to time I publish lists of links to student blogs to entice you, my loyal reader(s), to check out their work. This time, I thought I'd re-publish a few links to blogs written by former students who are no longer blogging for grades but are still keeping their blogs going.

• Ashley Biondich's Glamazon Guide (fun and fashion)
• Lauren's Nice Ideas (definitely wedding-related these days)
• Emily's ET it up "Between the Hedges" (Georgia football)
• Cory's Dicks Dig the Chick Flick (movie reviews)
• Emily's It's a Colorful Life (color and design)
• Andrea's Belle Appetit (food and fashion)

I know it's hard to keep blogging when jobs or more school get in the way, so I'm giving 'em a big old round of applause.

Are all our students above average?

As an incoming member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication's Standing Committee on Teaching, I attended the plenary session at the annual meeting with even more interest than usual (here's another good session from 2008). The topic this year, "Lake Wobegon meets grade inflation: Are all our students above average?" is one worth considering. I didn't try to take notes on the whole thing, but I did take down the keynote speaker's remarks. Stuart Rojstaczer, retired from Duke and now at gradeinflation.com, was funny and provocative, and had strong opinions to share. He said:

Grades have mostly been going up for 50 years-- why? Push for access (every high school student wants to/is expected to go to college; push for more graduates (emphasis on retention and graduation rates); push for more student satisfaction (consumer-based universities).

Higher education involves 10 million 18-24 year olds and is a $300 billion industry. It influences how democracy operates and influences our economic competitiveness. However, the academic component of college has been diluted. 

Evidence shows that grade inflation began in the 1960s, declined in the 1970s, began again in the mid-1980s and has continued; it's worse at private schools. Evidence also shows that 43% of all grades are now A's -- it's the most common grade! The C, which used to be the most common, is now just 15% of all grades. The numbers of D's and F's has remained relatively stable at about 5%.

People rationalize this in several ways: students are smarter (but the ACT/SAT scores haven't improved, and more students need remedial classes), we teach better, and students work harder (but student engagement, measured by study time, focus on academics, etc., is at an all-time low; literacy of graduates is at an all-time low; and students work less than they used to, not more).

More students are attending college, and many are not well prepared, yet they are still graduating. Faculty have reduced workloads and eased grading in order to accommodate those students. Another problem is the rise of the adjunct, who is poorly paid, has a heavy teaching load, and has little job security and relies on course evaluations to keep the job. The obvious solution for a person in that position is to expect less and grade higher.

Also, every faculty member is now expected to be a great scholar (faculty are distracted by the research imperative), and stagnating wages in the presence of rising college costs means students have high debt and take the pragmatic approach of focusing on the outcome of their degrees rather than learning.

Thus, we now have a "high-school plus" model, and a non-aggression pact between professor and student. "I'll give you high grades and low workloads, if you give me high evaluations and don't bother me after class." Less writing, less reading, dumbed-down texts, and failure is almost impossible.

Implications: higher graduation rates, a more educated populace overall but less education per degree, an unnecessary degradation of educational quality at the top schools. Students and parents want this, and it's what distracted faculty want because they prefer to do research.

So, PR profs, what do you think? Have you experienced grade inflation (I admit that I give more A's than I used to -- now entering my 19th year of teaching), and if so, have any of these factors been an influence? And students, do you think faculty are distracted or unwilling to give you time outside of class? Do you automatically give good evaluations to easy teachers, or bad evaluations to more difficult ones? I'd love to hear about all of your experiences.

Team Book Presentations

I reprised my Maymester team book presentation assignment and thought I'd share the results from this year. The assignment divides the class into small groups, each reading different books. I provide discussion questions (available to Teaching PR readers upon request) for four 50-minute small group meetings plus 1-2 hours of class time to prepare presentations. Each team reads one book but learns about three by listening to the other teams.

The teams are required to recap the key concepts from the book and to somehow use social media as part of their presentation.

The first team, which read Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, created a Tumblr with key concepts and relevent links. The second team presented Convergence Culture by Henry Jenkins, and live streamed their presentation -- clever. The third team, which read We the Media by Dan Gillmor, organized their presentation on a Twitter page (!) and even got an @ reply from the author.

The best part was when students in one presentation started pulling in (on the fly) the other books, making connections and demonstrating that they were learning from each other. Watching that is a lot more fun than grading traditional final exams.

Updated collaborative lit review project

A couple of years ago I posted about a collaborative literature review project I used during Maymester; this year I tried it again and made some changes to address some of the issues that came up the first time around.

First of all, I told students that our overall question was, "What do we know about how people interact with social media?" This helped them focus more on scholarly research (though they were allowed to include one newspaper/magazine/trade press article) and eliminated how-to tips and that sort of thing. Next, since the class includes a broad range of majors -- ad/PR, telecomm, consumer journalism, ag communication -- I asked that each student include at least two articles from their own area of academic study, plus two more from another area, such as psychology or computer science. This gave us a broad range of topics and subject areas, which in turn gave us more to organize.

When students uploaded their abstracts to our wiki (I used PBWorks), they organized them mostly around academic fields, so we had topics like "social media and advertising." In class, I gave a brief lecture on information overload and showed a video of Clay Shirky, who argues that the problem is not information overload but filter failure. I then asked the students to reorganize the wiki around overarching categories such as privacy or psychological effects. They needed about 30 minutes to accomplish this. Last, we watched Michael Wesch's video "Information R/evolution," and discussed how our project would change if we used tags rather than categories. 

I thought the project worked better this time and would again recommend it to others. It demonstrates the power of collaboration and has the added bonus of allowing students to practice working on a wiki. I do recommend starting the project off with a trip to the library -- our wonderful mass comm librarian provides a 50-minute presentation on how to search and which databases to start with, along with a helpful reminder that abstracts are copyrighted and cannot simply be cut-and-pasted to the wiki.

Because it's Maymester the students had only 2 days from start to finish; during a regular semester I'd suggest making it a week-long project.

Student blogs for Maymester 2011

• A Girl Should Be Two Things
• A Yankee in Dixieland
• asiarowe: International Documentaries
• Bridesmaid Banter
• Brushwork
• Dating the "Game"
• Dicks Dig the Chick Flick
• marcassimus
• recipeleek
• rojmonahan
• The Technology Blog
• Your Grandma's Dirty Laundry

These are the students who gave me permission to publish the links to their blogs for my social media class during Maymester, 2011.

Meet the Maymester students

I'm teaching a social media class again this Maymester (instead of 15 weeks, it's 3.5 weeks long), and it's a great group with a mixture of Advertising, Consumer Journalism, Mass Media Arts, and Public Relations majors.

I created a Twitter list of students enrolled. Please consider following each one -- there are only 12 13!

A day without water: I tried

Recently I wrote about my plan to go a day without water in support of my students' campaign to raise $5,000 to build a clean water well through charity: water. 

Well, I tried.

First of all, I know that planning ahead by putting a cup of water next to my sink so I could brush my teeth, or making a casserole to be baked that night without a need for water, or making a pitcher of lemonade to drink all day long is NOT the same as living someplace with no access to clean water, ever. 

 
Nonetheless, even with all of these preparations I still couldn't make it through the day. I don't think any of my students did either -- in my case, I was brushing crumbs off the kitchen counter with a hand (no sponge) when I walked over to the sink and rinsed my hand off: D'OH! That was a mistake, but then there were choices: after dinner I realized if I didn't hard boil some eggs there'd be no Easter egg dyeing tomorrow. And since I'd already blown it anyway I might as well rinse off the dishes rather than tempting the ants.

I think one of my students summed it up best when she said that just by trying, even though we failed, we're all more aware of how much we use -- depend on -- clean water. 

Many thanks to Teaching PR readers who donated to the fund. As of now the class has raised $941 (with more in cash from a couple of events not in the fund yet). Oh, and by the way, if you haven't donated yet, just click that last link.

Is yours clean?

I'm teaching a special topics social media class this semester, and I challenged my students to raise money for charity: water. We need $5,000 to build a well in Africa, which will serve an entire village for 20 years.

The class came up with the idea of collecting pledges to go without water for a day on April 22 -- Earth Day. I signed the pledge, and then I started trying to figure out how I could do it. I could sort of cheat by washing dishes, doing laundry, and taking a shower the night before. And, if I flossed and swished I could probably live without brushing my teeth. I could drink lemonade made the day before and I don't drink coffee anyway, so I could get by. I thought about eating in restaurants so dirty dishes wouldn't pile up unrinsed in the sink, but then the restaurant would be using water, so I'd have to prepare cold dishes the day before. No watering plants, not even my daughter's tomato seeds. The students assured me that no one is willing to give up flushing the toilet, so we're exempting that. Heh. Hand sanitizer all the way.

But what about my daughter? Quite frankly, I'm not willing to let her go without. But, watch this:

Jennifer Connelly in charity: water Public Service Announcement from charity: water on Vimeo.

 

Some people have to give water like that to their children every day. It appalls me.

I'm asking you, if you've found value in my blog over the years, or in my friendship, or if you just think this is a good cause, to make a donation to my students' campaign. $20 will give one person water for 20 years, but $5 or $10 will help, too, because 100% of donations go toward building a well (charity: water pays its administrative costs through other means). And, I'll be making a donation proportionate to what my readers give, so the more you give, the more I'll give. 

Mine is clean, and I bet yours is, too. How fortunate we are.

 

Update: links to student posts on charity: water

• Chelsea: Is Yours Clean?
• Brooke: Is Yours Clean?
• hthom77: charity: water and Donations Welcome!
• Lauren: Is Yours Clean?
• Emma: Water Water Everywhere
• Emily: BLUE for charity: water
• UGA PRSSA: Is Yours Clean?
• Sarah: charity: water
• India: Effortless FUNdraising
• Alex: Playlist of the Week
• Elizabeth: charity:water
• Caitlyn: The Water Industry vs. charity: water
• Ashley: Giving Never Goes Out of Style

Spring 2011 student blogs

Here are the links to my spring 2011 social media class student blogs (students listed here all gave me permission to post their links). They're a talented bunch -- be nice and leave 'em a comment or two!

• The World Through My Eyes (photography)
• It's a Colorful World (color and crafts)
• Notes (music)
• Adorn (decorating from the inside out)
• Jam Jive (live music)
• Athens Pianist (piano music)
• Training for the Trail (hiking)
• Nice Ideas (make someone's day)
• Creative Outings (entertainment)
• Especially Eventful (special events)
• Quoteweekly (thought for the day)
• Glamazon Guide (guide to an unglamorous world)
• The Great American College Tour (college towns)
• Bun Voyage (burger reviews)
• Travels and Tunes (music and traveling)
• More Than Billboards (political campaign advertising)
• Cheap and Easy (Athens entertainment)
• Fundraiser Fun (fundraising)

Meet the students

Or, more to the point, tweet the students. Here are the students in my special topics social media class who gave permission for me to post their Twitter usernames. I'm sure they'd appreciate a follow!

• Hannah
• Emily
• Alex
• Elizabeth
• Brooke
• Emily
• Lindsay
• Isha
• Kaylea
• India
• Lauren
• Ashley
• Emma
• Ashley
• Virginia

An awesome opportunity for multicultural PR students

Katie Alvarez from the LAGRANT Foundation contacted me to explain that TLF is accepting scholarship applications for 2011-2012 (due February 28). Applicants must be U.S. citizens/permanent residents and a member of one of the following ethnic groups: African-American, Asian/Pacific-American, Hispanic/Latino, or Native American/Alaska Native. Applicants must be PR, marketing or advertising students--graduates or undergraduates.

Here's the cool part: scholarship winners will get to go to New York City to attend an awards program and participate in a day-long career development workshop. Here's the really cool part: all expenses will be paid by TLF!

Grady College has had two recent LAGRANT Foundation scholarship winners, so I asked them about their experiences. First, Erica Holland, who earned a 2008 scholarship, says:

The support of the LAGRANT Foundation is unparalleled for minority students. Through this program, I have received scholarship help to study abroad in Argentina, met senior-level executives (one of whom helped me to secure an internship at his company for two years) and received career guidance after graduation. This organization prepares its scholarship recipients and other college students in so many ways, and I am so grateful for all of the opportunities I've been given as a LAGRANT scholar.

And, Debbie Ebalobo, who won not once but twice (2008 and 2009), adds this:

The Lagrant Scholarship is more than just money to fund your education. It's a gateway to multiple networking opportunities and to an array of great mentors. I've learned so many great tips about the industry from TLF, and moreover, I've met a diverse group of future professionals. If you're thinking about applying, stop thinking about it and just do it! Believe me, you won't regret it.

Take Debbie's advice and visit TLF's website to apply.

Assignment experiment: Let students create their own SM projects

• "I have found that Twitter was much more complex and time-consuming than I had expected!"
• "I began my social media project with high expectations."
• "Blogging is not as easy as I expected it to be."

I've written about my Public Relations Campaigns class many times before; it's our capstone course in which students work with real clients to solve real PR problems. During the past few years the student teams have successfully begun to incorporate social media along with more traditional PR strategies and tactics to help their clients communicate with their target publics.

In addition to the team element, I like to include some additional project so that students have an opportunity to demonstrate their individual skills (and to help me sort out who's actually working hard). Years ago I made them take on an additional client -- internship, organization, etc.; more recently I had them participating on PROpenMic with a set of instructions such as friending so many people and writing so many blog posts. Last semester a number of the students complained (on PROpenMic, interestingly enough) about this assignment, asserting that they didn't like to be forced to use one particular site when there might be others they'd be more interesting in trying. One student, whose opinion I respected, even suggested that I let everyone pick their own platforms.

My initial reaction was "That's insane." I imagined myself trying to write up a list of potential platforms and grading criteria for each one, somehow making a Twitter assignment that takes equal work, knowledge and effort as a blog assignment and a video assignment (and so forth), and then going through all of these platforms attempting to grade all of these different projects fairly. 

Upon further reflection, though, I decided I didn't really have to do that. I just asked the students to create their own assignment. During the first week of class, I explained about the past PROpenMic assignment and told them they could use that platform if they chose, but also said that students had suggested letting everyone choose their own platform. I asked them to write a one-page proposal explaining their project and setting measurable objectives for the semester. 

The social media project accounted for 20% of their final grade in the course, and the students not only took it seriously, but thought big. They proposed things like starting a blog about politics "because I don't know anything about politics but know I should." I reviewed their proposals --most students chose blogging or Twitter; a few chose Facebook for organizations-- and spent a little time cutting back on unrealistic expectations (100 blog followers, for instance, or 500 Twitter followers) and giving suggestions as appropriate.

By the time midterm rolled around, many of the students realized that they weren't even going to be able to make these rolled-back objectives, but I asked them to continue and to try new approaches as appropriate. I also tried to help by linking to good blog posts or retweeting student accounts and so forth.

At the end of the semester, I asked students to turn in a 2-page (or so) summary of their initial objectives, steps they took to try to reach their objectives, and what happened in the end. I told them I was more interested in what they learned than in their actual statistics. The result included some of the quotes you see above. Students reported that participating in social media is difficult and time-consuming, requires commitment, and demands passion and focus far beyond what they expected.

Many of the students said they appreciated the assignment and were happy that I made them try something new in social media, although the fact that their grade hinged upon their summary report undoubtedly had something to do with that. Heh.

These kids are slick

This semester I've got three teams and a total of 24 students in PR Campaigns. They've just completed their midterm client presentations, and for the first time ever, all three teams got the go-ahead on pretty much everything they proposed.

This isn't a complete list, but here are some examples of things the teams will be working on in the next month.

• Oconee Hill Cemetery: planning and running a Veteran's Day service next month; collecting information for a National Historic Registry application and researching potential grant applications; updating the website; building partnerships with relevant UGA departments (historical preservation, horticulture).
• Oconee County Library children's section: holding an open house event and building the infrastructure for volunteer recruitment and fundraising; building a database and doing a holiday card/donation mailer; creating a Facebook presence (87% of the respondents in a community survey say they're on Facebook!); planning a spring eco-focused event.
• Athens Nurses Clinic: designed a new logo and collateral materials plus a website; creating a marketing/publicity plan for the clinic's second-ever fundraiser; doing a volunteer satisfaction survey to provide feedback and testimonial information; developing a social media presence targeted at volunteers and donors.

Each team did a great job of basing their recommendations on the research they conducted during the first part of the semester, which made their proposals credible and realistic for each client's abilities and budget. I can't wait to see the results.

The Social Network: Or, what you don't know can hurt you

Earlier this month I linked to Richard Edelman's take on "The Social Network" as well as Tiffany Gallicano's comparison of Mark Zuckerberg's handling of the release of an unflattering film with William Randolph Hearst's reaction to the release of "Citizen Kane" (my all-time favorite film, by the way).

I went to see the movie with both of those posts in the back of my mind, but I emerged with a third view to add to theirs.

The film's first scene, in which he alienates Erica, the girl he's been dating, pretty much tells you all you need to know about this portrayal of Zuckerberg: beyond genius, arrogant, socially inept yet social climbing, intense, angry, determined to make his mark, and ultimately alone. 

The storyline, regardless of how much of it is true, is highly entertaining--even if you aren't a Facebook addict (if, on the other hand, you are, you'll learn why there's constant experimentation, a don't-look-before-you-leap attitude, and no one cares if you're pissed off about that). If you liked Aaron Sorkin's snappy, witty writing in TV's "The West Wing," you'll like the dialogue in this film, too. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the Harvard twins who say Zuckerberg stole their idea, gave the film a "Revenge of the Nerds" mentality (they're attractive, wealthy, and members of the best final club; he's poor, unpolished, and hangs out with a Jewish fraternity), which made it possible not to hate Zuckerberg altogether, and in fact to root for him at times.

Women, with the exception of Erica, do not come out well in this film. Most of them parade around in their underwear without the least provocation; they are girlfriends, not entrepreneurs; they are at best peripheral to Zuckerberg's Harvard and Silicon Valley experience. Based on his purported conversation with Erica, it seems that they only confirm his expectation that women advance their lives through sex and marriage (only).

The larger lesson for me, though, was how much Zuckerberg and his friends didn't know, and how it might've changed everything if they had known (or had the resources, or been less arrogant and more willing to ask). There's no doubt they were smart, innovative, and entrepreneurial. But they didn't know law or finance, and they certainly didn't know how to combine business and friendships.

Even if you're really smart, well-educated, and connected, you still have a lot to learn.

Online reputation is not 9 to 5

• At last week's panel on using social media to find a job, a student asked, "Where's the line between personal and professional?" The panelists suggested that you should show some personality; employers want to see it.
• During her school's spring break this week, Barbara Nixon tweeted that she'd be happy not to see "f-bomb-laden tweets about hangovers etc." and said "I guess some think that professionalism and reputation are a 9-5 thing."
• Also this week, Lauren Fernandez wrote a "Think Before You Tweet" post that said, in part, "Gen Y overshares, but most clients and bosses that you interact with aren't... There is no rule that you must share every detail about your life."

The simple truth is that every single thing you (or your friends) put on the Internet, whether it's on a locked Twitter account, a semi-private Facebook page, or a public blog, reflects on you as a person as well as a potential employee. There is no line between personal and professional. 

Once you post something, you cannot take it back. I have an example of this in my RSS aggregator: I favorited a blog post that the author later deleted because it showed poor professional judgment -- it criticized another agency's client. I still have it. I still show it to students. Once he posted it, even though he deleted it, he can't take it back.

So, that thing you post -- that funny picture, that negative comment about a company, that drunken tweet, that snarky comment about someone else or that thing you meant as a joke -- once you post it, you can't control what other people do with it. If I wanted to, I could link to an example of each and every one of these mistakes recently made by a PR student somewhere in the United States. I'm not that cruel... but other people will be.

Showing your personality is one thing. Showing a lack of judgment is another. 

Using social media to find a job

I had the pleasure of moderating a panel featuring recent Grady grads Lizz Judd (Newell Rubbermaid), Beth Farrar (freelancer) and Davis Adams (Brandware Public Relations) at Grady College's career day yesterday. I probably looked a little strange standing there taking notes while they talked, but it was such good information that I couldn't stand to see it confined to the attendees in the room.

Here are some of their thoughts and advice to current students:

On specific ways to use social media in a job search

• Building an online portfolio via LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social sites (Lizz)
• Creating a blog that establishes you as an expert in something you're passionate about and builds a network of relationships with people who know your work (Davis)
• Following job search specialists and recruiters, strategically targeting your social platform activities (Beth)

On building a social presence

• Be everywhere (not literally, but on a lot of sites) and link them all together. "Presence is a must" (Beth)
• Build a brand by showing your personality, but keeping it classy
• "I frequently Google myself," because you need to see what other people are seeing (Lizz)
• Assume that everything is public; don't put something up on any site that you don't want an employer to see

On benefits of social media participation

• If you want a job in social media, you have to be using social media
• People with social skills are valuable (as in compensated well)

On social media don'ts for students

• "Don't be disingenuous"; if you aren't really passionate about something or don't really hold a particular opinion but try to pretend you are or do, it will show (Davis)
• "Don't be private" -- that is, don't lock your tweets or hide your profiles; people will assume you have something to hide (Beth)
• Don't hide your personality, employers want to see a real person
• "Don't be comfortable where you are." Social media is always changing, so you can't just get on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook and think you're finished; try the new stuff (Lizz)
• "Don't be a lurker," participate in the conversation (Davis)
• Don't be unethical; be transparent and be yourself

No, I don't endorse buying class papers

Spammers for organizations that sell papers -- class papers, theses, dissertations -- love this blog. It seems like every day I'm deleting comments or trackbacks for these so-called "services." I block their URLs, and they come back with new ones. I close comments on old posts where I figure there won't be any additional comments, and they reply on newer posts that don't have anything to do with their product. I closed trackbacks on all posts, old and new. I can't really block their keywords, since things like research, paper, and dissertation have a legitimate role in the conversation here.

So, instead, I'll keep blocking and deleting and issue a warning to my readers that should you happen to see one of these spam comments before I get to it ... no, I don't endorse buying class papers. Anyone dumb enough to buy a thesis or dissertation will get what they deserve. Based on the quality of the writing in the comments, the papers aren't going to be very good anyway.

And, because this post's keywords are going to attract their attention, I'm closing comments on it now. (I hesitated, though, because it would be funny to see their spam comments on this post about their spam comments.) 

Legit readers can talk to me on Twitter. :-) 

Answering an FAQ: "How do I use PROpenMic?"

I can't think how many times students have asked me some variation on this question. I often require my students to participate on PROpenMic, and at least one of them will say, "I don't really get what we're supposed to be doing." (By the way, pros and educators, that's just more proof of this.) Yesterday I got a DM from @Mikinzie asking, "Would you mind giving me the basic rundown of PROpenMic?" so I know it's not just my students who ask this FAQ. I'm answering Mikinzie's question for everyone.

PROpenMic is a social network, just like Facebook, but it's used for professional rather than personal reasons. So far it has almost 5,500 members -- students, faculty, and professionals -- from around the world. Just like Facebook, participants register and "friend" each other, but since it's for professional use it's OK to friend people you don't actually know. In fact, the purpose is to add to your professional network by talking with people you don't already know.

Also like Facebook, you can join or create groups, which are just people interested in a similar issue, such as the internships group or the PR student bloggers group. PROpenMic does have something like a wall for messaging, but unlike Facebook, the discussions within the groups are more important than the walls. In addition, PROpenMic allows users to add blog posts, which are listed on the home page (scroll down a bit to see the latest posts). Many of us who already have blogs cross-post to our PROpenMic blogs, as I'm doing with this post.

To be a good, active participant on PROpenMic, here are some things you can do:

• Create a good profile with a picture so people can identify you with your participation around the site.
• Join a group and participate or start discussions on topics of interest to the group. If you don't see a group that fits your needs, create one!
• Read the blog posts and comment on them. Either set aside a time to check the front page, or follow @PROpenMic on Twitter so you can watch for new posts of interest.
• Add a blog post yourself (you can add one from your profile page). If you aren't blogging already, this is a good way to try your hand at it without making a commitment to running and promoting a blog. It doesn't have to be anything major-- just a link and a comment about an interesting video, news story, or class project will do.
• Friend people. Any people! PROpenMic is the only social media site I'm on where I automatically friend back -- the site is moderated by its creator, Robert French, and a group of administrators (disclosure: I'm one of them) to keep spammers out. Pretty much everyone who's on the site is there because they support PR education and want to work with students.
• Check the site frequently -- maybe mark a couple days a week on your calendar as a reminder -- because social networks move fast.

Well, Mikinzie, I hope that helps. If you --or other students-- have other questions, let me know.

#PRStudChat on public relations education

Ever participated in a Twitter chat? People interested in the same topic get on Twitter at the same time, someone poses questions, and everyone can discuss their answers real-time. The conversation is organized around a hashtag -- here's an example: #journchat -- and/or by a moderator, like this one: @u30pro. 

This week I'm participating in the PR Student Chat, that's #PRStudChat, organized by Valerie Simon and Deirdre Breakenridge, which will focus on PR education. The chat is Wednesday, 13 January at noon (Eastern U.S. time). PR student Mikinzie Stuart will moderate.

Questions or strong opinions about PR education? I hope you will join the conversation (...and here are some tips on participating). 

What students learned at UGA Connect

Lizzy Nephew, a member of the Connect social media team, is also the editor of PRecedent, the newsletter for UGA's PRSSA chapter. She solicited quotes from some of the students who attended Connect that really captured the day. Here's her PRecedent article, reprinted with her permission. 

Connect 2009: Integrating Social Media and Traditional PR 

Connect ‘09 brought together PR professionals and students to discuss social media and its effect on traditional public relations. Check out what students learned at Connect ‘09:

Before engaging with your publics through social media, know your audience, have a specific goal in mind and build a strategy to execute that goal. You should not join social media just because it exists. You need to know how you can best use it to engage your publics and foster two-way communication. As the PR professional, you are the spokesperson for your organization and need to know 100 percent about your brand. You have to live and breathe the brand and be fluent in the brand’s culture.

- Lesley Anne Dickerson

• Not everyone is connected within all of the social media networks including people our age. Young adults around the world are not as “connected” as UGA students.
• Online buzz is influencing offline buzz such as the growth of business by Naked Pizza, a restaurant in New Orleans, due to its Twitter account. The customer base grew tremendously.
• Gripe sites came before Facebook and Twitter. These gripe sites include Murder King, Wicked Wendy’s and other sites that bash companies. I didn’t even know it existed.

- Erica Holland

Connect taught me to look at social media in a strategic way. It is not about having the tools, it is about knowing how to use the tools. I encourage everyone to delve past the surface of social media. Look at how it can help the overall goal.

- Debbie Ebalobo

When it comes to social media, each organization must first decide why they need to have a presence and then how to best utilize the various platforms. These two considerations vary from organization to organization; however, there are certain guidelines that remain constant across the board: 1) People are talking about your brand in the social media space, whether you engage them or not. 2) Authenticity and transparency are essential for successful engagement. 3) Social media tactics should not serve as a replacement for traditional communication methods. Social media platforms should have a complementary role, not a supplementary one. 4) The same basic communication rules apply to social media. It’s not about changing public relations principles; it just provides new tools.

- Allison Brill

Cross-posted on the UGA Connect '09 blog

Mistakes student bloggers often make

The first time I taught a special topics social media class (shout out to the WOMmers who still read this blog), I asked them all to start a blog on the topic of their choice. Midway through the semester, I realized that they need a lot more guidance than just that, and since then I've noticed lots of other student bloggers making many of the same mistakes that group made. Here are some suggestions to help keep student bloggers out of trouble.

Don'ts for student bloggers:

1. Don't discuss multiple topics in one post. First, it makes your posts too long. Second, it messes with a search engine's ability to find your post. And third, it's confusing for the readers.
2. Don't delete posts or change the content of posts. If you need to make a small change, like correct a typo or grammatical error, go ahead. But if you're changing the meaning or correcting a major error, make addition to your post (marking it as an update), strikethrough words or phrases that were incorrect (so readers can see what was changed), or write a new post and add the link to the old one (so that readers who come across the first post can go to the second).  
3. Don't post when you're angry or upset. It's great to be passionate about your topic, but if you're really mad you might say something you regret... and I just told you you're not supposed to delete posts later. Save it as a draft and look at it again the next day. 
4. Don't start promoting your blog too early. You want to make sure you've settled on a niche and found your voice before you start inviting the world to stop in. 
5. Don't resort to the sweeping generalization just to attract attention. I used to just roll my eyes, but now I call it out in the comments when I see bloggers doing this -- "all PR programs suck," "all women do this," "no one does that," etc. Please. The world is not that simple. Either you think it is, or you're just trying to get everyone to visit your blog: is that really how you want people to see you? 
6. Don't quit. Don't worry, I'm not saying you have to blog for the rest of your life. But you do need to have an exit strategy, rather than just letting your blog die a slow death by neglect.

  Any other "don'ts" for this list?
  

Grady alum guest post: Kristina Summers on PR and social media

I recently received a note from a former student, Kristina Summers, updating me on changes in her job. Given the pushback I had from my PR students last semester, I was just happy that someone benefited from my addiction interest in social media. I asked her to write a guest post about her experiences to show my PR students why I'm so adamant that they learn about social media, even if they don't embrace it. Here's what Kristina has to say to my current (and future) students:

I work in public affairs for state government. When I was hired I was told that one of the most attractive things about my resume was my involvement with and knowledge of social media tools such as blogs, social networks and video and photo sharing applications. The world of PR and journalism is changing rapidly and it is all many organizations can do just to keep up. My employer wanted to "upgrade" their media relations tactics and felt that I would be a good person to spearhead the initiative. 

I have now been employed here for a year and a half and the changes are dramatic. We have gone from just e-mailed news releases to being on YouTube and Twitter and having an agency blog. I think that the best thing about all of these changes was that I basically got to create my own position, write my job description and then continue to modify it as needed. I have made contacts that would never have been possible without the use of social media and have been able to indulge my passion by creating an initiative that will help conserve wildlife in the state of Georgia in a totally new way. 

Yes, I am glad I had to learn about social media. My blog has become a job in itself, with a loyal readership and syndicated on three different Web sites. I receive invitations to speak on social media at conventions and have even been interviewed about my contributions to conservation using social media. I have grown as a PR professional, a writer and as a person and all because I decided that Dr. Russell wasn't crazy after all for being so excited about this thing we call social media. 

Hopefully you will have an equally valuable experience whether you are in her class or just a fan of her blog. Here are just a few lessons from her class to show how learning about social media and its various tools helped me to get to where I am today. 

Blog to be a Better Writer 

Starting a blog was a class assignment. While I was hesitant at first, I quickly realized that writing for such a public medium made me more aware of my writing style and really helped me to develop my writing skills as far as being able to market effectively to a select audience. Writing in a conversational style forces you to consider your content in new and different ways. You have to ask yourself, "would I want to read this online?" 

Blog to be a Better PR Professional 

PR is all about building relationships, building trust. Blogging has helped me to learn about how to do that in an entirely new way. Getting your content in front of more eyeballs is one of the biggest challenges for those in PR. Using the blog-o-sphere requires that you understand how to distribute the content in a way that won't immediately go into the trash/spam folder. Blogging taught me about writing more concisely, creating quality over quantity, getting to the point and how to reach out to new and unconventional audiences. 

Understanding the Power of Social Networks 

Like many college students I created a Facebook page and a Twitter profile while in school. What I didn't realize at first was the power and leverage that these social media tools can provide. Although I do use my Facebook page for personal use, to connect with friends, share photos, etc. I also use it in a professional sense in that I have developed personal relationships with many of my media contacts and I use my Facebook platform to share things I think they might find newsworthy. For example, when I come across an interesting news article that talks about wildlife conservation or DNR, I share it on my Facebook page. I also post the occasional news release or photo from the field. There have been many times I have gotten a message on FB about these posts from my media contacts. The same goes for Twitter. I tweet about just about anything that I find interesting or relevant to my line of work. As I gain followers I pay attention to where they are coming from, which gives me an idea of where my content is being read. 

I hope that you found this useful. Good luck!

Meet my social media special topics class

At the last minute my department offered me the opportunity to teach a Maymester course on social media. We meet three hours a day for 15 days -- the equivalent of an entire semester in 3.5 weeks.

I opened up the class to anyone who's taken at least one of the introductory survey classes in the Grady College, and despite the late addition of the course 13 students registered. They have a good mixture of interests and majors, mostly advertising but also magazines and various agricultural/ag comm majors. Unlike my PR students from last semester, they're not complaining that I'm requiring them to participate in social media. Which is a good thing.

So, meet my students:

• @lillyjones    blog: Seen on the Street
• @rcmay    blog: Rebecca May
• @Bom351    blog: William Moore
• @AlysonM3    blog: Service in Athens
• @Lauren_M_Riley    blog: New Rock CD Reviews
• @KateLWooten    blog: Patio Gardens
• @Andreahubard    blog: Discover Athens, Georgia
• @CathryneK    blog: Just A Girl
• @peterwbauman    blog: This Is Awkward, But I Like It
• @thompulliam   blog: Adgadget
• @mrcatchings    blog: The Hustle
• @DallasAnne319   blog: Meatetarian
• @crobcary   blog: The Cary Project

UGA Bateman team scores an Honorable Mention

The results are in and this year's UGA team scored another Honorable Mention in the PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition. The team's innovative "Game of Life" assembly (150 students), Web site (hundreds of hits, and an average viewing time of more than 5 minutes), and media relations (hits in more than 20 publications and a local TV program, with audiences totalling more than 320,000 people), plus lots of social networking, video viewing and one $500 scholarship awarded must've impressed the judges.

UGA teams have won 3 honorable mentions and a national championship in the last 4 years. Congratulations to Carrie Edwards, Leslie Emanuele, Erin Gentry, Stephanie Perrett, and Selena Robinson for upholding the tradition!

Grady alum guest post: Working in corporate communications

My third guest post from a Grady alum comes from Amy Mengel, a 2003 graduate who worked at Lockheed Martin after graduation and is now at Latham International. Amy offered to explain how the public relations function interacts with other departments in a corporation, and I thought it was a great idea. Here's Amy's post:

Many PR students begin their careers with a PR agency and so most of their co-workers are also communications professionals. That’s not the case in a corporate communications role, and sometimes you can be the only communications person in your organization. In order to be successful, you need to develop positive working relationships with employees from a variety of other functions—and many of them will have absolutely no idea what you do or why you’re there. So you’ll need to show them how communications can be valuable. Here are just a few of the functions you’ll need to work with in a corporate communications role:

Human Resources
If you’re in an internal communications role, expect to be tied at the hip to the HR team. Not only will you be the department’s channel to employees to communicate company policies and benefits information, but you’re also likely to partner with them on internal events like employee awards banquets, new employee orientation, and professional development sessions. You’ll work especially closely with HR during tough times, like communicating to employees about layoffs or divestitures. Human Resources professionals are focused building a talented, capable workforce for your organization and equipping them with tools and resources to make them successful. That means you, too. As a communicator, make sure that you take advantage of what your organization’s HR department offers: training, feedback, support. Building close working relationships with HR professionals can make it much easier for you to not only get your job done, but also grow and advance in your career.

Legal
You’ve written a case study about your company’s new product launch. It goes to legal for review, and when it comes back it bears little or no resemblance to what you submitted. They’ve added three paragraphs of disclaimers at the end and slashed every adjective you used to describe the product’s features. Sometimes nothing can be more frustrating than working with the legal department, but they’re there for a reason. Companies can get into serious hot water based on something as simple as the wording of product claims. Corporate lawyers are looking to mitigate risk for a company, which can result in some pretty strict guidelines around branding, product claims or statements made to employees. But for the most part, lawyers are good writers and good at parsing abstract information, like legal regulations, into actionable plans. 

Operations Management
The operations team of an organization is who actually gets your organization’s product or service produced, packaged and out the door. You’ll work with them to get the pulse of what’s happening in the organization. You may collaborate with them on projects to help make an operation leaner and more efficient. You’ll probably coach managers on how to improve communication, face-to-face and written, with the employees in their unit. You might work closely with management executives to write business updates that get published to a company intranet or industry trade journal. You could end up drafting talking points for managers to share with employees on a variety of issues. Operations managers can have a variety of backgrounds, everything from engineering to business to arts and humanities. You’ll need to get to know the managers within your organization to figure out how you can be most valuable to them. 

Sales & Marketing
If you’re in a marketing communications role you’ll constantly be connected with the sales and marketing function, and they are often a fun and creative bunch. You’ll work with them to understand your company’s product offerings and develop a communications strategy that touches customers—be it through direct channels, media placements, or industry positioning. You’ll probably collaborate with sales and marketing on new product launches by developing creative marketing copy and case studies for sales literature. You might partner with them to design and develop an interactive trade-show booth and produce video, webinars or presentations for the show. Measurement is extremely important to the sales and marketing function, so you’ll need to make sure that you have metrics in place to judge the success of your communications efforts. The ultimate goal of this department is an increase in revenue, so make sure that your activities are designed to not only raise awareness of your organization’s product or service, but also to drive action and sales.

Finance
If you work for a public company, you’ll be working closely with the finance department to release quarterly earnings statements, develop the annual report, schedule analyst briefings and create communications plans for events like mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and spin-offs. Most finance professionals I’ve worked with are good thinkers and very analytical. They are more comfortable with numbers, spreadsheets and bar charts than words, so often you may find yourself needing to soften or spice up their message. If you don’t work directly with finance in an investor/analyst relations role, you’ll most certainly butt heads with finance when you go over budget on your trade show booth or spend too much on printed materials. In today’s economy, finance departments are keeping tighter-than-ever reigns on spending. The fastest way to create enemies in finance is to blow your budget. Make a budget before you start on an event or communications project and do everything in your power to stay within those parameters. If you might overspend, make sure it’s not a surprise to the finance team at the end of the quarter – let them know where you stand, why you’re over, and where else you can make cuts to even things out.

So that’s a quick rundown of just a few functions that you’ll need to get used to working with if you should find yourself in a corporate communications role (I won’t even get started on IT… working with them could be a post in itself!). The key thing to remember is that you’ll be representing the communications function to these co-workers – so make sure that you show them how valuable our work can be to helping each of these groups meet their goals and enhance your organization.