Participation is the fabric wk10

The conclusion of Citizen Marketers left me with a renewed sense of faith in the future of social media. Like many people, I was a true skeptic of the Lonelygirl15 videos from the start. She seemed too posed and rehearsed for something as sporadic and candid as a YouTube video diary should be (as we've defined in our society). It's this system of checks and balances that applies to the world of social media and makes it so great. Those who care about social media (and probably even those who don't) are able to sniff out the "fakes" in the blink of an eye. It has become so easy to tell whether someone is being sincere or not. I'm confident that the future of social media is in good hands: ours!

One other quote that stood out in my mind was "Social media makes relationships easier to create and maintain because of participation, and participation is the fabric" (174). How true is that? There is no way that social media would work without participation. But the fact of the matter is there isn't anyone behind the curtain saying we MUST participate. The participation is voluntary. Just another example of how the power of one can turn into the power of many!

Social Media predictions of 2006... wk10

While searching for something to write about in PR/social media world this week, I came across an article written almost 2 years ago on the Communications Overtones blog maintained by Kami Huyse and Lauren Vargas. The title explained it all, and the blog outlined the 5 major trends of social media in 2006 that the writers felt would impact PR in 2007 and beyond. As a person from the "future," so to speak, I thought it would be interesting to review their predictions.

Firstly, I totally agree with the first trend on viral videos. I can only imagine how surprised the authors were when viral video avenues like YouTube not only met but exceeded their expectations as far as viral videos and social media.

I also agree that the misuse of social media has impacted PR in part, but it's also affected MANY people, not just those in public relations. It doesn't matter what the technology is, there will always be someone who abuses it. Another point was made about the 3D Internet movement. I'm not sure that I understand this concept fully, so I will have to say that I don't believe it caught on as much as predicted (or I could be completely wrong).

The new social media press release part made me smile really big! This could be because we worked on one in class, but at the same time it reassured me that this social media class has been worth it as far as teaching me skills I'll definitely use in the future. *Thanks Aggy!*

The only part of the blog I fully disagreed with was the fact that the authors felt that PR companies were getting shut out of social media sites and their services turned away. While that may have been a trend in the beginning, I'd say that now the companies are embracing any and all forms of PR in their social media world. Just look at how many companies have blogs maintained by their PR staff on their Web sites as one example.

Reading this blog made me wonder what PR practitioners are saying about current trends and what their predictions for the future may be. I guess we'll know in two years when we go back and read it (and probably laugh at how primitive we were, haha!)

Sodahead Polls.... wk 8

For the past several weeks we've all been learning about how social media provides a place for people all over the world to interact one-on-one by way of the internet.

To me, social media represents a lot of how I go about my every day.. whether it's on Facebook, MySpace or YouTube... I'm pretty sure I visit each site multiple times daily.

In the YouTube community, one of my favorite people to watch is Supricky06. The channel is run by a man named Chris from Los Angeles, and he basically just uses his channel to voice his opinion on a plethora of topics from his "man talk" episodes answering viewer questions, to his random rants about things that make him mad.

In the following video, Supricky poses a question that he also posted on another social media site, Sodahead. Sodahead is a place for posting poll questions and people have the chance to respond using your predetermined answers as well as by leaving comments. Supricky's video is about whether or not gay marriage should be legal. While I know this topic has been beaten to a pulp, I feel he makes a good argument. So of course I watched the video then visited Sodahead to voice my opinion! You should too!

1st Day

The first day of Social Media class is also the first day of classes in general for what would be my senior year here at Northern. Unfortunately because of changing my major last year, I will NOT be graduating this year as I'd hoped. This obviously started my day off badly.

I've had all but one of my fall quarter classes today and Social Media looks like it will end up being my favorite. The class length is a little long, but I'd rather be sitting in here than over in the Hill building wondering why history has to be so boring and why all history professors are born weirdos...