twitter

One Week of Twitter :: #PRCA2330 and #PRCA3330

On May 10, 2010, in Nixon's Classes, public relations, social media, by Barbara Nixon

Our One Week of Twitter assignment begins on Monday, June 7, and will end at midnight on June 13. Your blog post about this experience count as your Topic of the Week for Week Five.

First, Learn a Bit About Twitter

Listen to Laura Fitton discuss Twitter for Business.
Listen to my Twitter: What’s in it for me? presentation.
Read 10.5 Ways for PR Students to Get the Most Out of Twitter.

Setting Up Your Twitter Account

Go to Twitter. Click Get Started, and sign up. I prefer it if you use some version of your first and last name as your Twitter ID. (Avoid putting numbers in your Twitter ID, or you may appear like a spammer.)
Upload a photo or avatar.
Write a brief (160-character or fewer) bio. It’s good to mention that you’re a PR student. Consider mentioning your university.
Send a tweet saying “I’m a student in @barbaranixon’s #PRCA3330/#PRCA2330 class”. (Use the correct number for your class.) Be sure to include the #xxx1234 indicator, with no spaces between the hashtag (#), letters and numbers.
If you haven’t already done so, complete my form that tells me your Twitter username before midnight on Monday, June 7.

Setting Up Your Following List

Follow at least 20 (why not all?) of the people or organizations in my Twitter Starter Pack for PR Students.
Visit your class’ list at TweepML: PRCA 2330 or PRCA 3330. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to easily follow all the people on the list. (I created these lists on Tuesday, June 8, at 3 p.m. Only a few people had given me their addresses on time. I will update these lists again on Wednesday.)

Using Twitter

Over the course of the next week, send at least twenty tweets (Twitter messages of 140 characters or less). Tip: Rather than tweeting that you’re having ramen for lunch, instead consider what might be of interest to your classmates and followers. Perhaps point others to something interesting or funny you read online. Share a fact you learned in a class. Maybe you could even pose a question that you’d like others to answer.
In addition to the twenty tweets that you originate, respond to at least five of your classmates’ tweets. To respond, click on the arrow after a tweet. Or you can type the @ symbol followed immediately by a username (such as @barbaranixon).

Additional Information

Review my tips on how college students can use Twitter to their advantage and Choosing Whom to Follow on Twitter: My Strategy.
Review Prof. Sam Bradley’s College Student’s Guide: Twitter 101.
I find using the web interface for Twitter to be clunky. I prefer using TweetDeck, a free Adobe Air app that works great on PCs and Macs. TweetDeck makes it really easy to send URLs via Twitter, as it automatically shortens them for you.
I’ll occasionally post information on Twitter and use the hashtag for your class (either #PRCA2330 or #PRCA3330).By using this hashtag, I’m indicating that I want students in this class to pay special attention to the tweet.
OPTIONAL: If you’d like to publicize your blog posts via Twitter, you can it automatically in WordPress.

Blog About Your Experience

After the week is over, add a 300-word (minimum) post to your blog about the experience and what you got out of it. Include a link to your Twitter profile (here’s mine). Be sure to include at least one way you might find value in continuing your account in Twitter. Your blog post about this experience count as your Topic of the Week for Week ~~Four~~ Five.

Questions? Just send me a DM (direct message) or an @ (reply) in Twitter!

NOTE: Many thanks to Kaye Sweetser and Karen Russell for their ideas prompting this assignment.

How Twitter Makes Me a Better PR Professor

On April 11, 2010, in public relations, by Barbara Nixon

At the 80th Annual Convention of the Southern States Communication Association, I am contributing the panel discussion “Social Media and Public Relations: Twittering and Beyond.” Below, you will see the brief Prezi I created to frame my comments about how Twitter has helped to make me a better public relations professor.

How Twitter Makes Me a Better PR Professor on Prezi

Notes

UPDATE from April 14: My notes for the presentation appear below.

Collaborate {with Peers}

I simply can’t recall what it was like starting out as a new PR professor 20+ years ago at McNeese State University, not having the ability to bounce ideas off of other PR professors around the world in mere moments. Now not a day goes by that I don’t collaborate with professors on syllabi, assignments and more. Some of those whom I stay in touch with most often include:

Auburn University’s Robert French (founder of PR OpenMic)
St. Edward’s Univerity Corinne Weisgerber (with whom I collaborated using a wiki to develop a new Social Media for PR class)
University of Georgia’s Karen Russell
University of Oregon’s Kelly Matthews & Tiffany Gallicano
Marquette University’s Gee Ekchai
and many more

Converge {with PR Pros}

Part of my role as a PR educator is to prepare students for the “real” world of public relations. By weaving in ideas from successful PR practitioners into my classes, I am making sure I am teaching my students things that will help them in their entry-level roles. I am often surprised and delighted by seeing my students reaching out directly to PR pros on their own, too. For example, Mackenzie Stratton did her Social Media for PR podcast by interviewing Socialnomics author Erik Qualman over Skype. Other PR pros who are especially helpful to students are

Connect {with Students}

My students have learned that the quickest way to get an answer from me is to tweet (either through an @ or DM). If I notice that several students are asking me similar questions, I’ll respond with a tweet to their class, using the class’ designated hashtag. Sometimes, however, I do have to let my students know that even though I may be using Twitter late into the evenings, I am “off the clock” and will get back to them later.

{peek into the back} Channel

I love seeing my students help each other out by answering each other’s questions on Twitter.

{Keeps Me} Current

Though I have considered myself a news junkie for years, I tend to learn about breaking news (especially in the world of PR/social media) via Twitter. I frequently weave today’s current events into the classes I teach, and it’s much easier for me to get my news now.

I also discussed some of the social media fiascoes that have occurred (including Disgusting Domino’s Employees, #PepsiFail and Motrin Moms) and the Mumbai crisis.

Communicate {Concisely}

Since Twitter only allows 140 characters to share our messages, I have had to work on being less wordy. I find that when I plan mini-lectures in my classes, I design several “tweetable” segments, in case my students happen to be tweeting in class.

After our panel discussion was over, the real conversation in the room began. Our audience asked lots of great questions, including those around the blurring of personal and professional parts of our lives. I shared that in my first-year experience class (Making Connections: Facebook & Beyond), one of the assignments is for students to create their own Social Media Policies, clearly defining how and why they use different types of social media.

Tweetin’ in the Classroom

On March 22, 2010, in public relations, social media, social networking, by Barbara Nixon

At the annual convention of the International Listening Association, Chris Bond and I will be presenting a session titled “Twitter as a Tool to Transform Listening and Speaking within the Classroom and Conference Contexts.” Chris’ focus will be on conferences, and as I have used Twitter in my public relations (and first-year experience) classes for nearly two years, I will focus on the classroom.

Here’s a sneak peek at my presentation, where I share how using Twitter in the classroom can be both an advantage (w00t) and a disadvantage (meh). If technology is working as it should, I will create an audio recording of my part of our session on Friday morning and sync it to the Prezi below.

Tweetin’ in the Classroom on Prezi

Additionally, here are 11 tips for using Twitter in the classroom:

To help students get started using Twitter, use an assignment like One of Week of Twitter.
Create a Twitter list to make it easy for students to find each other on Twitter.
Let students know your specific expectations about Twitter usage in classroom.
- Some professors allow (and even encourage) Twitter usage during all class sessions. Others limit it to specific days or times.
Create several short Twitter breaks during class.
- Stop your lecture or discussion and ask students to synthesize and share what they have learned. Encourage them to respond to others in the class.
Monitor what they’re tweeting about during class time (once class is over).
- Redirect them if they’re off topic too much or if it appears that Twitter is a distraction.
Be considerate of those who do not have access to a cellphone or computer during class time.
- Encourage them to take 140-char notes, then tweet via a library computer after class.
Always use a class hashtag (like #COMM4333) if you want to make it easy for the class to follow the discussion.
Use WhatTheHashtag to create a transcript of tweets for your class.
Encourage students to share links to info that’s relevant to the class, along with the class hashtag, during times between classes.
Let pros in your field know when your class is, and ask them to contribute to the conversation by asking questions via Twitter during class time.
Consider having students participate in a scheduled chat (like #prstudchat) rather than holding a formal class once or twice during the semester.

What additional tips would YOU recommend?

(PS — When I attended the National Communication Association convention last fall, there was a bit of a kerfuffle about Twitter usage during conference sessions.)

Use Technology to Land Your Next Job

On March 17, 2010, in job search, by Barbara Nixon

Today I was invited by the Tampa Tribune and TBO.com to share my expertise regarding social media and the job search. Here’s a transcript of the live chat we held at noon, using CoverItLive.

Many thanks to Chris Taylor, AKA @TBOChris, for inviting me to the studio, to Daniela for moderating the chat, and to my longtime Twitter friend & Tampa Tribune writer Jeff Houck (@JeffHouck) for inviting me to lunch at The Taco Bus after the chat session.

Use technology to land your next job