Twitter

After recently setting up my Twitter account, thanks to the pushes of my professor Ellen Mrja, I have began to understand that Twitter is not only a personnel application but can be a useful tool for many business. Chris Bogan's article 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business describes how Twitter can take business to new heights without added expenses or misuse of time. Bogan's main ideas include:

• Immediately start using Twitter Search this application lets you listen for your name, your competitor's name and any related words.
• Be wary of always pimping yourself. Your fans will love it but others will tune out.
• Share the human side of your company. You are own Twitter for a reason and that means you value the public and honest conversation.
• Comment on other tweets and retweet to build a strong community.
• Twitter at company events etc. This will help create a backchannel for all your followers to listen.

Twitter is a revolutionary site and I am happy too understand why I need to participate and effectively help my future business.

PR on the Web

In research class this past week we have been discussing how to write effectively on the web. With the help of readability expert Jakob Nielsen and his article "They don't" I have learned the following:

• Use short sentences


• Use active verbs


• Do not use a lot of phrases, clauses and punctuation


• Keep paragraphs short. One or two sentences


• Use half the words that you might have used in a print story


• Use bullet points and lists


• Sound like a broadcast story


• Use principles of search engine optimization


• Use key words effectively in your lead and throughout your story


• Long stories should contain subheads

After taking in consideration of these rules I have rewritten Robb Murray's article 'Politics of Food,' other hot topics at Women and Spirituality Conference.

Women and Spirituality Conference

Vandana Shiva to disucuss "The Gendered Politics of Food"

MANKATO, Minn.-Minnesota State University, Mankato, will be featuring more than a 100 workshops and a keynote speaker at the Women and Spirituality Conference on Oct. 31.

Physicist, author and international leader Vandana Shiva will discuss "The Gendered Politics of Food" at 11 a.m in the Centennial Student Union Ballroom.

Shiva who has received the Alternative Nobel Prize and Earth Day International Award is an expert on biodiversity movements and an outspoken critic of biotechnology and genetic engineering.

Shiva has been described as an environmental hero and has helped founded Navdanya a national movement to protect resources and promote organic farming.

For more information and registration forms visit http://bit.ly/3enP6s

Corporate Blogging

While reading about corporate blogging I came across Ian Lurie's blog post "How to Write a Really Crappy Business Blog". This blog post described 13 easy steps to create a terrible blog and lose any customer respect in the process. I think it's important for businesses to understand that they can't get caught up in selling a product rather they should be a resource and enable valuable conversations. In Laurie's post three of the steps really stuck out to me. First talk about yourself. Second write badly. Third don't care. These steps might seem ridiculous but are often used in corporate blogging. I really liked Lurie's blog because it showed corporate blogging at its worst and challenged them to use their blog as a means of speaking directly to their customers.

Blogger Relations

Blogger Relations like any relationship is a two way street. Brain Solis the co-author of Putting the Public Back in Public Relations stated that blogger relations is built on respect, understanding, communication and information. PR professionals I think need to understand that their "audience" is not there anymore. They can't hassle bloggers without putting in the time and research to understand who they are. Adam Singer who also commented on the importance's of blogger relations made a great point in saying that in order to truly understand bloggers you need to become one yourself. I totally agree with Singer that if you know how something ticks you can use that as an advantage. Singer also emphasised the importance's of providing content in a pitch that is both remarkable and marketable. Singer has gotten me to realize that I can't just stop working hard when I find the correct people to pitch too if I pitch a boring topic I just wasted an opportune moment. Blogger Relations like any relationship needs to be worked on daily and I truly think the time spent on improving is definitely worth it.

Conversation Prism

Today in class we took a look at Brian Solis "Conversation Prism" which basically represents all the social tools, services and networks. Solis stated that we should find ourselves in the center of the prism whether we are observing, listening or participating. Being that it's so important to particapte in the social media I find this tool so helpful!

14 Key Skills & Attributes for Public Relations Professionals

It's so hard to try and measure yourself up without using any personal blinders. Most of the time I don't want to face the facts and still use the excuse that I will learn it tomorrow. After reading Dave Fleet's blog I feel comfortable in saying that I already have some of the skills necessary to become successful as a new PR grad, but to say the least I need allot of improvement. I feel that my communication skills, work ethic, productiveness and writing are key's to my success but what really scares me is the other skills I am lacking. It's really interesting to see that most of my needed improvements come from the skills related to online work. I say this because I am part of the "Internet generation" where we as a whole are more connected to online than any other age group. I feel that I need to take social media more seriously and learn the tools that it has to offer. I have to stop putting off twitter and learning about micorblogging, SEO and coding . I have waited to long to not become in tune with what online has to offer and I can't just wait around any longer.

Social Media Addiction Rap