The session went well. Unfortunately, we got a little side tracked a few times and the timing was a little off. I hope the attendees take a moment or two and check out the final few slides. Thanks go to my partner in crime and co-presenter, Terry Morawski. I would also like to extend a special thanks to our volunteer from the session (@mayday08) who set up her profile live for the group to see.
Let me know what you think especially if you were able to attend the session.
Social Media (sort of like Soylent Green) ...it's *about* People!
This idea came to me a couple of months back through a conversation I was having on Twitter. A quick search for the Soylent Green movie poster image, a bit of Photoshop magic and voila, I give you my quick take on Social Media.
Social media provides many exciting, accessible and affordable communication tools for school PR veterans and newbies alike. In this presentation we provide an overview of social media elements, practical applications for school districts, and additional resources to continue your exploration:
The presentation went well aside from an Internet snafu. Apparently WiFi does not quite reach to the 20th floor in that particular hotel. Luckily, I had taken the sound advice from Bryan Person and had a no-web-necessary version of our presentation. (Note: Bryan Person presented A Blogging Primer a day earlier at the conference which provided a great foundation for other conversations at the conference. Thank you Bryan.) Note: This post has been updated to include a link to Bryan's presentation.
School district communication/PR professionals are showing more and more signs of wanting to explore social media for school district use. This is highly encouraging both for our field and for the communities that we serve.
On Thursday, February 12, users of the micro-blogging service Twitter will gather in over one hundred cities around the world to share the love and raise money for charity:water, a not-for-profit bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. The event is 100% volunteer-run.
The Dallas Twestival at Mockingbird Station will feature live music by local bands, food and drink, a raffle, WiFi, feeds from other global events, a free film at the Angelica Theater, a show at Hyena's Comedy Club, and friendly, engaged Fort Worth and Dallasites united to "Tweet. Meet. Give." 100% of proceeds go to charity:water. Purchase your tickets now for only $10!
The Dallas/Fort Worth Twestival goal is to raise $4,000, which is the cost of one well. Dallas/Fort Worth Twestival volunteers are looking for sponsors at the $500 or $1000 levels, or who can offer goods or services for donation - these will be part of a raffle or silent auction. Sponsors' logos will be displayed at the event, on the Dallas Twestival website, and included in the live streaming web broadcast; they may also provide materials to be distributed at the event. The sponsorship package information is available online at http://dallas.twestival.com/dallas-twestival-sponsorship/.
Twitter can be a very useful resource for PR professionals once you get the hang of it. For beginners, I recommend starting with the short video, Twitter in Plain English. Once you have a handle on tweeting, you can start thinking of putting the power of the Twitterstream to work for you.
You can Learn a Lot from a Dummy (and smart people too) There is a wealth of knowledge and networking opportunity hidden to most people that do not dig deeper into Twitter. You can dig up this trove of resources and conversations by using hashtags.
According to the Twitter Fan Wiki, hashtags are "a community-driven convention for adding additional context and metadata to your tweets."
If you've spent any time in the space you may have seen the # symbol followed by word(s). In Twitter a hashtag looks something like this:
A few hashtags that PR people might find interesting to search:
#PRadvice - thoughts, conversations, suggestions and advice involing public relations
#PRintern - for the student, recent grad, or recently laid off journalist interested in PR, this hashtag is a good source for leads to PR internships
#journchat - (one of my favorites) is best described by its tagline, "an ongoing conversation between journalists, bloggers and PR folks" (more)
The above are just some highlights, there are many more. Hashtags can help organize Twitter and have as many uses as you can think up; from the silly or serious to the conferences and cocktails.
Your Turn... Have you found an interesting PR-related hashtag? Have you started using hashtags? Do you find them useful?
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