For my PR students at Southeastern University and Georgia Southern University:
As this semester is winding down, please take a few moments to complete this Blog Checklist to ensure your blog is on track.
Public Relations Evaluation
In this week’s COMM 2322 class, we are discussing the fourth part of the RACE process of public relations, evaluation. Below are the slides to accompany my talk in class.
Public Relations Evaluation :: Slides
View more presentations from Barbara Nixon.
8 Common Errors in News Releases
After reviewing all the first news releases in PRCA 3330 & COMM 4333, I am generally pleased with what I saw, considering it is the first news release that many of you have written. The best stories were ones that passed the “So What?” test; they were newsworthy to those outside your client’s organization. They were well organized and clearly written. You must have remembered what you learned in your Intro to Journalism class!
Here are some common errors I saw:
- Using “we” or “our” when it’s not part of a quotation (a news release needs to sound like a story one would read in an impartial newspaper, not in a company newsletter). News releases need to be written in third person, not first.
- Improper use of commas (either too many or not enough)
- Puffery (making statements in the news release that don’t seem newsworthy. Some of these would be okay as part of a quotation, however.)
- Calling women “girls” or “ladies” (even though it’s common in sororities to do this, AP Style calls for the use of the word “women” when you are writing about female adults)
- Abbreviating the word Georgia as GA (rather than Ga.) or Florida as FL (rather than Fla.).
- Improper formatting on dates, times, numerals, etc.
- Format (forgetting to put an embargo date or For Immediate Release, end sign, page slugs, letterhead with mailing address, etc.). Check BlackBoard or GeorgiaVIEW for the template I provided to you; this will help with basic formatting.
- Including a headline that is not compelling. Your headline should be active and entice the reader to dive right into your story, not bore him or her to sleep.
Be sure to avoid these errors when writing future news releases. And you might want a quick refresher of how to flag your AP Stylebook for easy reference, if you haven’t flagged it yet. It’s a real time-saver; I promise. I’ve been using AP Style for all of my adult life, and I still need to look some things up.
Promoting Mark Lowry Performance :: Brainstorming
For my COMM 4333 class:
Christian comedian/singer/songwriter Mark Lowry is coming to Lakeland for a performance to benefit Southeastern University’s Communication Department. We spent some time brainstorming in class today for ideas for how to promote this event.
Please have one person in your team provide your list of ideas using the form below.
Inside PR :: Students Should Step Up Their Social Media
As a long-time listener of the Inside PR podcast, I look forward to each episode (seriously!), and I miss listening to new episodes during the summer hiatus. I always find something useful to share with my public relations students from listening to the podcast each Wednesday. But this week . . . what a great show! It’s a must-listen for public relations students.
Martin Waxman, Gini Dietrich and Joe Thornley spent this entire 20-ish minute podcast sharing their thoughts on why and how students who are planning careers in public relations should become involved in social media, along with what to avoid doing.
Standard Podcast [21:24m]: Download
Directly from the show notes, some of the highlights are:
- Joe shares the first tip: remember there is only one you and be consistent with how you present yourself across all mediums.
- Joe reminds students to build a professional profile from day one.
- Gini gives some advice for students who are hesitant to start a blog.
- Martin points out how important it is to be careful about what you post online.
- Joe stresses the importance of communicating and engaging.
- Joe shares the 3 places students need to be to build their online profile: a blog of their own, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Martin says students need to have a good RSS reader to organize all their feeds and stay current.
Give it a listen. It’s worth your time. And subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or Google Listen so you don’t miss another episode.
One Week of Twitter :: Fall 2010
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 #COMM2322 /#COMM4333 / #COMM4363 /#PRCA3330 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 Tuesday, September 21.
Setting Up Your Following List
- Follow me plus 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 3330, COMM 2322, COMM 4333, COMM 4363 (I will activate these links as soon as I have your class’ Twitter usernames.)
- For the purposes of this assignment, you will need to be following at least 40 people.
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. (UPDATE: The tweets cannot all be ones automatically generated from your WordPress blog. The point of this assignment is to engage with others on Twitter, not simply announce.)
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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
- If you already have a Twitter account that you use primarily for social (not educational or professional) reasons, you may wish to create a fresh, new account for this exercise.
- 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 (#COMM2322, #COMM4333, #COMM4363 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 the appropriate week.
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.
The Evolution of Public Relations :: An Interactive Timeline
In PR Applications class today, we’ll be discussing the evolution of public relations. See the timeline below, created by Dr. Corinne Weisgerber’s Introduction to PR class at St. Edward’s University, for an interactive look at how public relations has changed and matured over the years.
NOTE: As Dr. Weisgerber’s class was a few years ago, the timeline stops at 2006. What would you add to the timeline?
COMM 4363 Corporate PR Student Blogs, Fall 2010
Students in my COMM 4363 (Corporate PR) course at Southeastern University have started blogging. They will be adding to their blogs weekly throughout the Fall semester.
COMM 4333 PR Writing Student Blogs, Fall 2010
Students in my COMM 4333 (Public Relations Writing) course at Southeastern University have started blogging. They will be adding to their blogs weekly throughout the Fall semester.
NOTE: If you are a student in this class and your name is NOT on the list, please contact me right away.
15 Must-Have Android Apps for a PR Professor
The early adopter that I am, I just had to get my hands on the new Samsung Epic 4G when it became available at Sprint on August 31. And I am so glad I did. Though I was a Palm fan for more than a decade, I am definitely an Android convert now. The larger, super-clear screen and slide-out keyboard are fantastic. And the variety and amount of apps available through the Android Market can be overwhelming. Here’s a list of 15 apps I’d recommend for any professor, especially PR profs.
- Advanced Task Killer: To be sure that unneeded apps are not running and taking up precious battery power, try Advanced Task Killer. It will show you — at a glance — all the apps that are running, even those behind the scenes, and you can choose which ones to “kill.” You don’t want your Epic battery to die during your day on campus.
- doubleTwist: To sync my iTunes library, including music, video, pictures & podcasts, I’ve been using doubleTwist. Sometimes it seems like the podcasts don’t sync, but if I exit dT on my PC and open it again, the sync works well.
- Evernote: I listen to a lot of podcasts while take my morning walk every day. When I hear (or come up with) an idea that I need to capture, I use Evernote’s Audio Note feature. (Typing/texting and walking don’t work well for me. But I definitely can talk and walk.) I’ll be exploring more of Evernote’s capabilities in the coming months.
- TweetDeck: I confess. I am a tweetaholic. I use Twitter, for personal and professional reasons, several times a day. It’s a little tricky installing TweetDeck, since it’s not in the Android Market yet, but it’s worth it. (If you are not up for a beta app, try Seesmic instead.)
- Gesture Search: If I need to quickly find something (a contact, an app, a song, etc.) on my Samsung Epic, I like having the ability to search by moving my finger over the screen and not need to be as exact as when I an typing on either of the keyboards.
- Desk Home: In the computer lab where I teach, there is not a wall clock, and I haven’t worn a watch in almost four years. I use Desk Home to show a clean and easy-to-read clock. Don’t want to keep the students in class longer than my allotted time, don’t you know. (NOTE: This app may only work on the Samsung Epic. There are other clock apps, but this one is designed for my phone.)
- BlackBoard: Though the BlackBoard app doesn’t allow me to do everything that my desktop program will do, I can read discussion items, create announcements, e-mail students, and more.
- Kindle: My husband and I share one Kindle. By having the Kindle app on my Samsung Epic, I can read books in our collection even when it’s his “turn” to have the Kindle. And it’s great to show my students how many free classic books are available in the Kindle store.
- Barcode Scanner: This little app works with your Android camera. It will scan both barcodes and QR codes. It’s fun to show students what those little square codes are for, and equally fun to show them how to do price comparisons while shopping.
- Shazam: When I can quickly refer to songs my students also listen to, it helps me relate to them better. I cheat a little using Shazam. To find out what “that song” is, use Shazam. It will listen to the song and determine title and artist.
- Pandora: With Pandora as an Android app or on my computer, I can enter the name of a song I know my students like and create a playlist from it.
- Ringdroid: I wanted a ringtone that sounded like <gasp> a phone ringing. The Samsung Epic did not have a ringtone like this. So I found an mp3 that I liked, and used Ringdroid to create a ringtone for me. Please tell me, am I not the only one who despises other ringtones?
- Carr Matey: Have you ever forgotten where you parked your car? It’s happened to me before. Carr Matey is a fun little pirate-themed GPS app that will help me find my way back to my car. Backtracking in a parking lot in Florida is not only a little embarrassing, it’s downright hot.
- Instant Heart Rate: Ever have a rough class and wonder if your blood is really about to boil? Me either. But this app will still let you check your heart rate using, of all things, the camera. Don’t know how it works, but it does, and it’s cool.
- For Immediate Release: As an avid listener of the For Immediate Release: Hobson and Holtz Report for more than three years, I was very happy to see that there was an Android app for the podcast. You can find the app by searching in the Android Market, but I cannot find a link for it elsewhere. UPDATE: Though parts of this app work, I’ve recently learned that others don’t, so I am removing the FIR app from my list. I absolutely will continue listening to the FIR podcast, just not through this app.
So those are my favorite Android apps, based on the one week I’ve had my Samsung Epic 4G. Are there others you’d recommend?
