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A Twitter Starter Pack for PR Students

confused twitter birdAre you a public relations student (or recent grad) just getting started using Twitter? It’s usually best to test the waters a bit before you dive in. Try following some (or all) of these people or organizations in my Twitter Starter Pack for PR Students. They all have something in common: they tweet useful or interesting information for people involved in public relations. Read their tweets for a few days before you start tweeting yourself.

You may also want to read these two blog posts I’ve written about Twitter: Choosing Whom to Follow on Twitter: My Strategy and A Twitter Lexicon. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend Prof. Sam Bradley’s College Student’s Guide: Twitter 101.

Questions?

barbara_is_listening

(PS: Suggestions for other good people for PR students to follow? Please let me know with a comment to this post.)

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PRCA 4330 Article Review

For my PRCA 4330 Public Relations Research class:Reading Well by moriza.

Review an academic article on public relations that appears in a peer-reviewed journal. Your review is due by midnight on Tuesday, September 1. Recommended journals include (but aren’t limited to):

Choose the article you will review by August 26 at class time, and reply with a comment to this blog post with your article choice. Use APA works cited style to tell me which article you will review.

Your 500-word minimum review could take the following form:

  • What did you learn from reading the article?
  • What surprised you in the article?
  • What do you want to know more about, now that you’ve read the article?

It is acceptable to use first person for this review. Be sure to cite your source–in text as well as in your reference section–in proper APA format. (Using Citation Machine might be helpful.) This assignment is worth 100 of your 1000 points in PRCA 4330.

Turn this assignment in using GeorgiaVIEW by midnight on Tuesday,  September 1. No hard copy is needed.

UPDATE: On her PRConnections blog, Purdue University’s Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu shares her tips for how to read a research article. This is a MUST read. See the PPT version of her blog post here at Public Relations Matters, also.

Questions? You know where to find me . . .

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/santos/1704875109/

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Arrive, Survive and Thrive in Prof. Nixon’s Classes :: Fall 2009

cucumberAn Open Note to All of Prof. Nixon’s Students at Georgia Southern University:

We’re almost off and running in our Fall Semester classes at GSU. This semester, I’m teaching six (yes, six) courses. The syllabi will be have been e-mailed to all my enrolled students, and I’ll also post links to them (on Scribd) here.

So that we can make the most of this semester, please (Please, PLEASE) take some time to read through the blog posts I’ve included here. I promise you, it will be well worth your time. (How often do professors let you get inside their heads, letting you know their tips for success and their pet peeves?)

Additionally, here are a few more tips:

  • When communicating with me via e-mail (or Facebook), always put your course number (such as PRCA 3339) in the subject line to help me immediately identify who you are and frame your questions or comments. Do your best to write in full sentences, paying attention to standard English grammar and spelling. Always sign your e-mails with your first and last name, as your GSU e-mail address will not make that readily apparent to me.
  • When submiting an assignment in GeorgiaVIEW, always put your last name as part of the file name, and also include your name in the document itself. Papers submitted without your last name as part of the file name cannot earn full credit.
  • If an assignment is due in GeorgiaVIEW, the only way to get full credit for the assignment is to submit it in GeorgiaVIEW. (E-mailing an assignment to me can be risky; I receive 250+ e-mails a day, and there’s a chance I will not see it in my inbox.)
  • Follow me on Twitter, if you really want to get inside my head. (What’s Twitter?)

Let’s make this a great semester together!

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Real Talk in Tough Times: Communicating for Change

Reposted from Natalie Tindall, Student Advisory Committee for the National Black Public Relations Society (NBPRS)

Would you like a chance to win a scholarship to attend the NBPRS Conference and Career Fair in Atlanta (November 12-16 2008) –the largest gathering of African American PR Professionals?

The conference will provide four inspiring days of networking, training and honoring those who have paved the way for African Americans in the PR field.

Themed “Real Talk in Tough Times: Communicating for Change,” the conference will offer solutions for the practice of public relations in the economically, socially and politically challenging times society now faces.

Write a 250-word essay about our conference theme – “Real Talk in Tough Times: Communicating for Change.” Tell us how you will make your community better with Real Talk.

Send your completed essay to Dawn.jones@nbprs.org

Limited student scholarships available—All applications must be received by October 1, 2008.

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Sound Bites from the New Media Academic Summit 2008

Edelman and PR Week hosted the New Media Academic Summit 08 last month in Chicago. It was a fantastic opportunity for public relations educators from around North America to learn how new media is being applied and measured in companies around the globe. Below are some of my favorite soundbites from the Summit. For an almost-complete transcript of the dozen or so sessions, visit Edelman’s site where the sessions were live-blogged. Edelman has also posted video of all of the sessions.

Richard Edelman, President & CEO, Edelman

Weeklies (weekly newspapers) are in terminal decline.

Obama has surround sound; he is everywhere.

Google never forgets.

Conversational crack [view complete presentation]

Julia Hood, Publishing Director, PR Week

Pitching is broken art in public relations. [view complete presentation]

Alexandra Wheeler, Director of Digital Strategy, Starbucks

It’s not just launch and abandon; it’s also care and feeding.

Anyone with a keyboard has a voice. [view complete presentation]

Jim Kirk, Associate Managing Editor of Financial News, Chicago Tribune

The newspaper industry was in a recession before the recession. [view complete presentation]

Troy Mastin, Media Analyst, William Blair & Co.

You rule out a large portion of your potential audience if you force them to pay for content.

Most people will probably participate in a maximum of three social networks, one personal, one professional and one for their passion. [view complete presentation]

Neville Hobson, Blogger & Co-Host of For Immediate Release podcast

There is an educational need for the older audience in public relations because of the way we now share messages and information; the older generation helps the younger generation learn how the corporations work and communicate, and the younger generation helps with the new way their generation shares ideas and news. [view complete presentation]

Wolfgang Luenenbuerger, Director Europe, Edelman

The Internet is not yet 5000 days old and yet it’s this complex. [view complete presentation]

Marshall Manson, Director of Digital Strategy, Edelman

[There’s] a tension between language and geography in Europe. [view complete presentation]

Mindy Finn, Director of Finn Enterprises

Buzz is nice, but don’t do something for buzz only. [view complete presentation]

Mike Krempansky, Senior Vice President, Online Advocacy, Edelman

It’s happening whether you drive it or not. [view complete presentation]

Mark Monseau, Director of Corporate Communications, Johnson & Johnson

You don’t create communities; communities create themselves. [view complete presentation]

David Rubin, Brand Building Director, Unilever

We sell bottles of shampoo not entertainment.

No one really wants to visit a deodorant website.

The newer the new media gets, the more important it is to get back to communication fundamentals. [view complete presentation]

Marcel LeBrun, CEO, Radian6

The social medium is the message. [view complete presentation]

Charlene Li, co-author of Groundswell

Listening, talking, energizing, supporting and embracing [view complete presentation]

Rick Murray, President, Edelman

Look to others for innovation; look to yourself for innovation in process.

(Regarding current college students) Social media is part of their work and part of their world. [view complete presentation]