This blog is a showcase of examples for PR in the social media age, starting in spring 2009. Various subjects will be displayed because PR is ubiquitous.
In one of the most hotly anticipated programs of the tech world, the first round of Google Wave was released to a select group of testers, according to a CNN article. Their job is to help the creators find glitches in this stage of the program and address them in time for the public release at the end of the year. The creators, Jens and Lars Rasmussen, also developed Google Maps, and their goal for The Wave is to become the new wave of communication for the future. Combining the present communication methods (i.e. e-mail, IM) into one program.
The most widely experienced problems with the program at the moment is its sluggish response time and inclination to crash. However, tech bloggers report that it is one problem that will eventually be solved over time. Overall, they cannot wait until The Wave is ready because the blog, TechCrunch, is convinced it will be ’a new communication platform for a new web.’
The Google Wave development news was unveiled at the company’s I/O Convention this May in San Francisco. It is a communication tool described as a “hybrid of e-mail, live chat and blogs,” according to iReport. Though a beta version isn’t set for release until September, Google is offering a sneak peek of the “wave.”
There are three main ideas to the Google Wave. The first main idea is the balanced operation between chatting and files. People can collaborate via chat on documents, including text, videos, maps, photos, etc. Like a wiki, the second idea behind the wave is that it is a shared effort. The invited parties can organize, edit, and even invite other participants to join. An added feature is a playback option where you can “rewind the wave” to view the chat conversation again. The third main idea of the wave is that is live, so working on a project online can happen in real time. The subsequent video, as well as an official Google tutorial can be found here. You can also sign up for a personal alert from Google to know the minute the "wave" is released.
The new communication tool is still an open-source project, which a report from Canadian outlet, CBC, is saying that over 6,000 enthusiastic volunteers helped to perfect. Due for a September 30 release, Google Wave hopes to combine several online tasks. According to the article, other features of the “wave” are a “natural language” spell-checker, a real-time translator, real-time games like sudoku and chess, and an embedding mechanism for websites which shows the most recent updates made on the “wave”. While some technology bloggers say Google Wave will ‘change everything,’ Microsoft’s chief software architect, Ray Ozzie, argues that the “wave” seems a bit complicated.
It seems as though the wave will be something which the younger generations will embrace, and it may be the way they communicate, as opposed to previous generations. It’s combining several programs which will only occupy one window on our desktops, and it may prove beneficial. I think its main uses will come from students of all grade levels working on group projects and business people. It’ll depend on the average person and whether or not they’d like to stick to their current communication technology.
In the social media aspect of public relations, it could be used for collaborative projects with another office, or even internationally. Google’s Wave would definitely revolutionize the way businesses can collaborate on a project, no matter where they are in the world. The instant messaging translator furthers the argument that anyone can work on a project anytime, anywhere, and in any language. Maintaining contacts in a public relations sense has taken another step. Social media is about connecting people, and with the translator application, that is very much possible. When reaching out to people or letting them know you are available for discussion, the “wave” just might enhance that capacity where a language barrier once presented itself.
Unfortunately, I notice many homeless people when I ride the bus into downtown. Homelessness is an issue in all American cities and especially around the world. In Austin, there are many panhandlers standing outside as we sit in out air-conditioned cars waiting at a red traffic light. Some people spare some change, but most try to avoid looking. It is disheartening to see so many people in dire conditions, and sometimes one feels they can do nothing.
The idea behind this project was to show images at which it is hard to look. The video is simply a slideshow, but I hope the images are enough to provoke a sense of compassion. These are people on the streets in America, and they may still be there. Maybe nothing has changed for them since their pictures were taken. From the first image to the last, I hope it is conveyed that a change should be made.
I chose to start the video with an image I found about how America needs change regarding the homeless situation. It states that more than 15,000 people are homeless in San Francisco alone, and that a sort of revolution should be started. It sets the tone for what the video is about, and the images that follow show panhandlers and people with signs. Most of us in the classroom do not know what it is like not to have a home. Seeing such images in succession for a full minute makes one aware of what it may be like for homeless people after we pass them at the traffic light. That is why I asked in the video, “Where do you sleep at night?” Then multiple images follow of how these people spend their nights to get some rest. They sleep sitting down on benches, or they choose to sleep on the sidewalk. The purpose of the last image was to make a moral statement that everyone should have a home. That subject can certainly be debated, but it is the statement I wished to make with the video.
Although I do not offer a solution in the video, I think it would be beneficial to support a non-profit organization which works with the homeless. Another way to help may be to volunteer at a homeless shelter. Homelessness is a difficult problem with which to solve, but hopefully enough people will care to take action, no matter how small. If enough people did enough small actions, it could make a difference.
To go along with the viral video theme discussed this week, Samsung released a video ad, which is intended to go viral, for its I8910 camera phone, which I found on a Geekology post. It seems to be a trick camera, and the point of the ad is to challenge the people in cyberspace to figure out what the trick is. The guy in the ad challenges everyone to guess how the ad was filmed; he claims that it was all done in one take without editing or special effects.
In the ad, which is 1 minute and 44 seconds, a guy is in his house filming with the camera phone, and he wants to show everyone in cyberspace how great the camera is. After he films his live-in girlfriend, asking her to say hi, he walks over to a mirror and begins filming himself. At one point, he waves his hand in front of the camera so that everyone in cyberspace can see nothing but his hand pass, and when the screen is hand-free again, the camera with which he’s filming seems to have disappeared, or at least invisible. The trick is - he’s still filming. We can see him still filming himself in the mirror, although there now is empty space where he appears to be holding up the camera. He even pans the camera, and it really appears as if he’s still filming. He waves his hand again, and the camera reappears; the challenge is then issued.
The ad appeared to be informal and a bit grassroot-sy, which I think worked. As far as social media is concerned, I think it tries to engage the audience with the guy talking to the camera, even daring them to guess how he was filming with a camera that didn’t seem to be there. While I think it was made obvious that it was an official Samsung ad, I didn’t mind that it was written in a script that the “girlfriend” showed her annoyance with her “boyfriend,” as if they were a real couple. I thought it was a funny, and it rang a bit true. Although some people may be allowed with viral videos, I think this one was fine. At least it wasn’t trying to pretend like it was a real guy in his real apartment. I could tell it was professionally done, and I found it likeable that it wanted to initiate two-way communication in the honor of social media.
I shouldn’t admit this, but I’m always the last to know about viral videos. I didn’t know anything about the Dove Real Beauty campaign until I saw it in a PR class lecture, and apparently it was a really big deal. I wonder how I miss them and not know what’s going on. Viral videos are almost like a pop culture icon which will represent the age of social media.
Ever since I’ve taken this class, I’ve come to the realization that I always need to be exploring new technologies and social media. It’s not going to go away, and it’s not a fad. Social media has become a way of life because it’s about people. Social media is a new way to reach out to people and connect. Viral videos are a social media tool which get people talking to one another, not only creating buzz for the product. People are what make the video go viral in the first place as they send it to family and friends with which they want to share it. Social media is growing, and that seems to be a great thing.
Second Life has become controversial in Britain after it was reported that the British government spends 12,000 pounds ($17,500) for the Department of Work and Pensions by a Sky News article. It is mainly controversial because the DWP website does not even advertise it. Furthermore, it seems superfluous to maintain a Second Life community when a million people are likely to lose their jobs in the current economic climate. The account initially cost 20,000 pounds ($29,000) to build and costs 12,000 pounds a year to maintain.
The case for the account, according to the department, is that it will eventually save money in the long run. “We believe it could help make sharing technology more efficient and save taxpayers money as meetings, events and shows can be held online at a fraction of the cost and resources,” they said. While 15 million people have signed up in Second Life, active users only count in the hundreds of thousands.
While Second Life does seem to be struggling to catch on, I think it just needs some time. Because the economic climate isn’t very favorable these days, this type of social media which costs money to maintain may not have much support. Even so, if it will save money in the long-run when people do not have to travel for work because they can virtually meet clients, then it will be much more appreciated. However, it seems that free social media is where the support lies during this time.
After we had the speaker on Second Life, it seems that it’s more than a variation of the once popular Sims game. Second Life can be used for a social networking tool for school and work, in addition to making online friends. More importantly, it can be used as an educational tool. I was impressed with the virtual illustration of Dante Alighieri’s “The Inferno.” I believe this is a particularly useful tool to engage students when studying the classic Italian literary work. The simulation included an interaction between the user and a chat within the game, which was pre-programmed with the questions asked of Dante in The Inferno.
As an educational tool, I think Second Life will eventually skyrocket as a means of interactive learning. Teachers can use Second Life to their advantage, even if students never use it afterwards. Illustrations always serve as a positive tool for learning. It is still a question of whether Second Life could serve as a sort of tool for education 2.0. Because social media has become second nature to tech-savvy adults and young adults, why couldn’t Second Life become second nature to upcoming tech-savvy students?
The question of how Twitter would be able to make money is still being debated. The latest method, according to CNNmoney is to be acquired by Google. One source says the deal is about to be sealed, while another says that negotiations are in its 'early stages.' The reason Google is even thinking about acquiring Twitter is for its increasingly popular "real-time" search engine capability. The article suggests that "it's too early for Twitter to sell itself." It also suggested that when it does, it should be for cold, hard cash. The main reason there should be no hurry to sell is that Twitter has raised $35 million of "new financing," according to a Business Insider article. Now, Twitter has a value of $250 million. This huge value is due to the site's active user growth of 900 percent. Despite this huge number, Twitter isn't actually making any profit. However, the article states, "we still think Twitter is in a very good position to become the 'rails' that the real-time Web rides on... and that could be worth a LOT of money someday."
In an opinion completely independent from the article, I think that if and when Twitter is bought, not a lot will change for the user. The article reminds the reader that Google bought Youtube. I think the main thing that changed was that advertisements started popping up on youtube, and I think the same will be true for Twitter. As a social media, Twitter is proving more valuable as time passes and it becomes more mainstream. According to the article, "Its growth shows no signs of slowing..." I think Twitter will only become stronger and more prominant in the social media arena, and I think it will be a totally different force in a couple of years.
The podcast describes how Twitter can be used in journalism, by the average person, and for companies.
Show Notes 00.14 Juan begins to introduce the show. 00.38 Juan introduces the various topics that will be discussed on the podcast. 00.42 Sara begins to talk about the use of Twitter for journalists. 01.49 Juan transitions topic to Kirby. 01.58 Kirby begins to talk about the advantages of Twitter for the average person. 03.01 Juan transitions topic to Joe. 03.12 Joe begins talking about the advantages of Twitter for business. 04.38 Juan ends the show. 05.13 Podcast ends.
In this week’s lecture, the Machinima animation of USAir’s Hudson River Landing illustrated what occurred during the emergency landing, and this scene system is said to be “democratizing access to technology.” Another machinima film shown was of the French activists during the 2005 Paris riots. The animated scene system used showed the events leading up to the riots, which the French media did not cover.
Machinima reminds me of how the news started showing footage from the Vietnam War on television, and how it “democratized access” to information. It was the first time a war had been broadcast, and people were able to see the reality of war. People started to protest, as it is a whole different situation to see something happen, rather than read about it. It seems to make a big difference, and at least the story from the other side of the Paris riots was told. Many more stories could be told.
Social media has infiltrated many aspects of daily life, from meeting friends to finding a job. Aardvark, a social search website, enables the social media network to answer your everyday question when you need it. It’s like an instant message program where you can type in your question, then Aardvark will reply, “Thanks for the question, I’m on it!” It will then find a person with the most helpful response and retrieve it for you in a couple of minutes. While it is technically a technology rather than a real life person who is answering your question from the other side of the instant message window, the answer was at least written by a real life person. The technology just helps you find the answer.
According to the website, Aardvark is valuable because “A real conversation with a friend (or friend-of-friend) can provide much better information than a web page. Think of all the knowledge and experience that you have in your head, but haven’t published on the web!” By making the search more interactive, Aardvark takes the idea of 2 way communication in social media, rather than the 1 way communication of web 1.0.
Furthermore, the website says that the “Social Search enables you to tap into the wisdom of your real-world social network, in real-time. Aardvark applies advanced technology to identify the right person, among the tens of thousands in your extended network, to answer a particular question; and then lets you reach out without bothering people, spamming friends, or imposing on someone who isn’t interested.” A search on Twitter found that people have heard of Aardvark, and most seemed to like it. One tweet from davelavinsky said, “Looking at Aardvark - very cool social search tool to get answers to questions. Twitter could add similar functionality - http://vark.com/” Another twitterer, Denizeda, said, “Playing around with my Vark account. I love it!” There really wasn’t any negative tweets about it, except maybe calling the Aardvark experience “weird.” Stebe said, “vark.com —man, that was weird.”
Apparently Bebo wants to contact aliens, so the site is organizing 500 of the best messages from the public (celebrities are invited, too) until September 30th, when the poll for the best message will close. The transmission will take place October 9 from the National Space Agency of Ukraine, via its giant RT-70 radar telescope, according to a Sky News article. The planet at which the messages are aimed is called Gliese 581c, which is 20.5 light years away. The messages are scheduled to arrive in 2029. This marks the first time in which the public has been offered the chance to send a message to outer space, free of charge.
Virtually, social media is the spread of information, and now that includes sending information to outer space. Whether it is important to send a message to space is not the issue; it is the notion that it is possible which makes it important. Bebo’s offer to send messages to space illustrates how social media has changed the way the world works. People are more aware of what is going on in the world, and they have the capability to voice their opinion, whether positive or negative. More importantly, they have the capability to do something about it. For example, Twestival, which was organized using Twitter, is an event that is hoping to raise $1 million dollars to get clean drinking water to people in developing countries. The charity event was announced on January 8th and had 24 participating cities. During the following day, the number of cities doubled. By the end of the week, more than 100 cities wanted to participate. Furthermore, it was a global event. According to a Sky News article, “And, through the power of online networking, over 1,000 volunteers across the world from Beijing to Brighton, Dallas to Dhaka will be hosting Twestival events.” Ultimately, in one month 20,000 people in 185 cities were involved.
Social media has no boundaries, and it’s an exciting time in which to live. It seems like everyone is getting closer and closer together, meeting people from across the world, working towards a common cause, as in the Twestival case. If Bebo accomplishes what it has set out to do, maybe we will have someone else to meet and with which to communicate in 2029.
The 2008 Presidential Election was full of firsts in the nation’s history, and the election may have even invented a new Internet term. A CNN article discussing possible approaches which may prove useful to President Obama with regard to persuading Congress to ratify the federal budget. The Republicans are threatening the budget with a filibuster, but according to the article, the best tool for Obama to counter is the use of ’netroots.’ As a play on grassroots campaigning, the way ‘netroots’ would work is through the online communities, such as Facebook. Called ‘Facebook Politics,’ the article said that ’netroots’ would “raise money to campaign against opponents of Obama's budget proposals. They might also encourage volunteers to explain and promote Obama's policies to their neighbors.” In addition, “They could also provide a forum to counteract Republican attacks, and remind senators of the kind of voter turnout they might encounter in the midterm elections if they decide to stand in the way of Obama's program.” The article, however, is mainly speculative, and it asks the question of whether the concepts of ‘netroots’ and ‘Facebook politics’ are even legitimate ways to build support for a campaign. It seems positive and that social media is the way of the political future, but the last line of the article raises doubts. It reads, “On the other hand, when he calls on the netroots to support him against those pesky senators, he might learn that many of his virtual supporters have already clicked onto another page.”
Although it still is speculation, I think it’s likely that ‘Facebook Politics’ and ’netroots’ are the way of the future. Some say that Facebook was one of the ways in which Obama gained support from the young voters and that social media really helped his campaign. Although the article does point out that Obama used grassroots instead of ‘netroots’ campaigning to win support for the stimulus package in the red states, it also points out that he did this after he strongly surmised he had already won support from Congress. In any case, I can also surmise that ’netroots’ will become a commonplace method in the political future. I read another student’s blog post last week that Congressmen and women were using Twitter to update their constituents on the latest activity. Social media is becoming more and more prominent as time goes by, and it’s getting more difficult for people to continue with a traditional way of doing things. The prominence of social media, after all, has changed the way the PR industry works and is the reason why a social media in PR class is offered.
This week’s reading, Better Monitoring for PR 2.0, is about how professionals keep in touch with the public and monitor their image online. I was particularly interested to find that “As a group, PR practitioners have not historically been the most advanced at embracing new media tools (Breakenridge 75).” The reason to point this out is not to criticize, but make the readers, who are potential future PR professionals, realize the importance of monitoring new technologies in order to be the first to find out what people are saying about their company’s brand. It can only benefit them because Breakenridge also points out that “The worst thing for you, as a communications professional, is to have your executives find out about communication in the market before you do (75).” The chapter continues to talk about blog monitoring and how more and more companies are screening their presence online.
I’m interning at an organization right now where one of my tasks is to monitor where the organization is mentioned online in blogs. The organization actually compiles all the mentions of themselves in a binder for the board members to look at, so mastering those online tools is something necessary for the digital age. We have to know the second our organization is mentioned and we need to log the information. This task is not only for the board members, but it is also for the organization to know how they’re being perceived. It’s like a digital focus group, and the organization needs to know if their methods for getting their name out in the world is working or not. If not, they need to know so that they can find a different way.
Just as Brian Solis said that social media is about people, Facebook has tried to reach out to the social media community after the story broke of how their terms of service indicated that Facebook owned users’ content. After a protest in the social media community, Facebook wants people to vote on how policy documents will be phrased. In a statement from Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, said, “As people share more information on services like Facebook, a new relationship is created between Internet companies and the people they serve.”
In order to give users more input on the site, Facebook’s method will be online voting and “virtual ‘Town Halls’”. With these methods, they can take users’ comments and review them in order to see how they should reword their policies. For future policies, Facebook will install a user council.
As a Facebook user, I think Facebook is trying their best to build a relationship with their users and try to correct the misunderstanding of the past policy mishap. Facebook is representing how the social media community operates, and that is, above all, that social media is about people. Users are what helped the site grow, and it’s important that it’s never forgotten. I believe Facebook is now giving the opportunity for people to be happy with how Facebook will be operated, and now users just need to take advantage of that opportunity.
Reaction to Blogger Relations - Brian Solis’ e-book As a PR professional in the social media era, Brian Solis gives advice on how to connect with bloggers. The main point he tries to make is that “social media is about people (12).” As a part of the public, I always thought professionals’ focus should be pleasing the customer. Solis seems to agree, calling this concept common sense. He also says that PR professionals have become lazy, and social media has been the very best thing to happen to the field of PR. He says: “The game of PR has largely enjoyed the comfort of existing behind-the- scenes and this exposure and public ridicule is forcing PR out of its comfort zone, which at the end of the day will only make PR stronger and more effective (18).”
As a public, I can only hope that this becomes true. As a professional, I think I’ll be under scrutiny for every move I make, but also I think it’s what PR was meant to be. As a professional, I’d like to establish relationships and keep them. Solis says that very few professionals take the time to build relationships with bloggers, and even their publics.
After reading “A Guide to Blogger Relations,” it’s clear that I have to do the best I possibly can to not be viewed as another annoying PR professional. Not all PR professionals are annoying, but they’re definitely viewed that way by techniques they’ve been using. The trick now, as I enter the workforce, is to know my public, know those who I want to help me, and know those bloggers.
Ch 4 Citizen Marketers: Everyone is a Publisher; Everyone is a Broadcaster
We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
It’s hard to believe how media has evolved. Romans, one of history’s greatest civilizations, used to carve into stone in order to broadcast their news. Johann Gutenberg’s moveable type propelled us to the point we are now, and it’s been an amazing transformation.
In the Internet age, there have been blogs, pod casts, RSS feeds, and so many new technologies such as Tivo. Much like when Gutenberg enabled everyone to start reading with moveable type, the Internet enables everyone to be a broadcaster or at least be technologically savvy. Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba says that these technologies, especially Myspace and Youtube are “democratized,” meaning that anyone can navigate them to express themselves (90). It’s like a New Age of Reason or Scientific Revolution, although different tools are used. There are so many new Internet technologies to learn, and it makes me wonder what technology which we thought was new and advanced in the past, if any, will be rendered obsolete.
Social media has leaked into almost every facet of our lives, and we’re even taking a class on how social media has to be used in PR because the traditional ways are not enough anymore. It seems everyone uses these new technologies, and CNN reports that social media has even found its way into a hospital’s operating room, using Twitter. This is the second time which Tweets have come live from an operating room. A surgeon at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit had a laptop in the OR during a “potentially risky” surgery of removing a cancerous tumor from a man’s kidney. While the surgeon only tweeted before the operation, he fed updates to his chief resident, Dr. Raj Laungani, who tweeted during the operation. Dr. Craig Rogers, who performed the surgeries, said the reason for twittering was to broadcast the procedure in order for people to know that the entire kidney did not have to be removed when extracting a cancerous tumor.
Comments, or tweets, used in the article were from those who followed the operating room twittering session. The commenters explained that they were fascinated by having the chance to follow an operation, but mostly, others were grateful to know that they could count on up-to-the-minute updates on their family member. Many of the comments in response to the CNN article were negative. They thought the chief resident should’ve made better use of his time, rather than twittering. For example, “Joe Don” commented: “So, does insurance have to pay for the chief resident to sit at a computer twittering? No wonder health care in the US is so screwed up. Think of all the useful stuff he could have done instead during that time. Like, I dunno, save a life down in the ER or something.”
There were a few positive comments, and one of them from a “Andrew W” said:
This is excellent news! Really, it's no different than video recording the procedure and releasing it online... except this is far more convenient. It can be used for a variety of educational purposes for not only college students pursuing a career in surgery, but also for other surgeons to study the strategies of other surgeons. I know some people will be up in arms about this, but it could greatly improve the ability of our surgeons if used on a massive scale.
Social media has proven to be beneficial to small businesses, reaching new audiences for established businesses, and even finding a relationship. Has medicine found a use for it, too? Has twittering in an operating room gone too far or is it just the beginning?
February 15, 2009
Social media as a PR tool is at work again, but the power of social media can work against the public. While the power of social media means the public can voice their opinion, it also means that the opinion of one public can be commented on by another public’s opinion. For example, a CNN article reported that a group of fans are adamant about having Heath Ledger as the last actor who will ever portray the Joker in the Batman film franchise. The comments under the article indicated that retiring Batman’s main arch nemesis was unreasonable: “This is idiotic! Heath Ledger turned in a great performance as The Joker, but to say his death means the character should be "retired" is preposterous.” One comment seemed to agree with the petition: “Difficult to achieve the quality, mannerisms, sadistic psychotic state that Ledger's performance obtained in this movie. He is "the soul" of the movie; and his tragic death immortalized him as the best "Joker" of all movies.” The entertainment blog, Iwatchstuff.com, picked up the story and actually made fun of the online petition, which has 2, 431 signatures. The blogger’s commentary included, “2,431 supporters? That's nothing. That's like a reasonably-sized high school supporting it. The Joker petition probably has the same number of votes as the student council petition for the lunchroom to serve pizza twice a week.” In addition, the users who read the post left comments to mostly agree with the blogger’s comments. Once comment said, “…petitioning for the character of the Joker to be taken out any future batman movies is ridiculous. You CANNOT have Batman without the Joker, you just can't. Joker is a main villain, the most important villain who Batman\Bruce doesn’t understand.” The same commenter further argued that Warner Bros. will not pay attention to the petition anyway. The commenter wrote: I don't even think Ledger himself would want his fans or simply fans of the comic books and movie franchise to be doing this. And lastly, Warner Bros isn't going to do anything about it. They didn’t even care about fans when they pushed Harry Potter back nine months. It seems that the public wants to have a say on everything, and web 2.0 encourages it. Though there is an online petition which wants one thing, the public reaction is largely negative. If Warner Bros pays attention to the free information at their disposal, they will determine that the larger consensus is that the Joker character should continue to appear in the Batman movies.
It’s hard to believe that only one percent of Internet users create content, but it is even more unbelievable that it is a part of a power law called the 1% Rule. Though it makes sense that “Not everyone will take up the offer to participate…” based on the fact that “distribution of action is uneven across a widespread field of play.” It just makes sense because the text, “Citizen Marketers,” says that people will generally choose not to become active participators and instead become spectators, which are more comfortable observing the content. It is simply a social law that more people will have the enthusiasm to create, and it introduces the rule that “inequality is the rule, not the exception.” That is why the distribution of information seems a bit uneven (McConnell 38). I love how the one percenters are described as outlaws, based on the motorcycle club anecdote, but it does have some truth to it. However, there are so many accounts on youtube and blogging websites that it seems more than one percent of Internet users. There is some great content out there, and it opens another world of creativity which may have remained undiscovered. The Internet serves as a different creative medium, and I wonder what will be created in the future.
At the grassroots level of public relations, Facebook has become a new way for companies to connect with the public, but a CNN article speculates as to whether Facebook can continue. The social networking site isn’t a “slam-dunk success,” as Adam of Lashinsky of Fortune Magazine says. Even though the site is selling advertising, it isn’t as profitable as other social networking websites. For example, in 2007 Microsoft paid $250 million for a 1.6 percent share, earning Facebook a $15 billion value. However, the present global economic crisis raises the question of whether Facebook can sustain its web advertising, which is its main source of revenue. Web advertising has particularly taken a hit in the economy, and it seems that “those sort of figures now appear to belong to a bygone age.” Social networking web sites have become an important way for fledging organizations and businesses to establish a reputation. Even though Facebook has reached its 5th birthday, it is uncertain whether or not it is a technological fad due to the “rapid evolution” of the Internet age. It is too soon to tell, but the site’s founder, Mark Zuckerman, says that the site will continue to work on innovative measures. He stated, “The challenge motivates us to keep innovating and pushing technical boundaries to produce better ways to share information.” Though it seems unlikely that Facebook will shut down, it does make one wonder how small organizations can begin to grow without the use of the free social networking accounts on the Internet. If the economy does become that terrible, what will happen to social networking in this Internet age?
I thought the reading, 95 Theses from the “Cluetrain Manifesto,” holds as true today as it did when it was written 10 years ago. It demands from the big corporate companies that they listen to their audiences. The only problem about the 95 Theses was that it was repetitive at times. For example, number 77 states, “You're too busy "doing business" to answer our email? Oh gosh, sorry, gee, we'll come back later. Maybe.” Then number 88 states, “Your product broke. Why? We'd like to ask the guy who made it. Your corporate strategy makes no sense. We'd like to have a chat with your CEO. What do you mean she's not in?” I could see why it could get repetitive, as the author was cleverly trying to cleverly allude to Martin Luther’s 95 Theses from the Enlightenment age in Europe. It’s about humanizing the audience. The big point is that the corporations need the audience, as described by number 78, “You want us to pay? We want you to pay attention.” I think it’s absolutely true, and it’s a pity that the world ever got to that point of treating humans as dollar signs in order to make more money. Of course making money is the idea, but it became too much of the idea, causing the real definition of the audience to fade. Now the 95 Theses are talking about a movement where the public realizes the corporate world doesn’t control them. As stated in number 88, “We have better things to do than worry about whether you'll change in time to get our business. Business is only a part of our lives. It seems to be all of yours. Think about it: who needs whom?” Public Relations is about communicating your organization’s causes to people or perhaps trying to persuade them to see why your cause is so important. Like anything else, the original message could’ve been taken for granted or gotten lost in the money-making process. Essentially companies want to provide a service, and it’s important that they never forget that.
In one of the most hotly anticipated programs of the tech world, the first round of Google Wave was released to a select group of testers, according to a CNN article. Their job is to help the creators find glitches in this stage of the program and address them in time for the public release at the end of the year. The creators, Jens and Lars Rasmussen, also developed Google Maps, and their goal for The Wave is to become the new wave of communication for the future. Combining the present communication methods (i.e. e-mail, IM) into one program.
