Entries categorized as ‘Technology’
I recently received this press release from the PRSSA chapter at my alma mater, and found the results interesting enough that I wanted to share with you. Basically, a research team found out that social media marketing might not be as hard-hitting in the college crowd as we thought. Granted, the sample size is a bit on the small side, but I do think the concept behind the research is worth noting: many college students only use these sites to interact with their friends, not with companies and brands. It’s hard for me to imagine this since it’s what I spend the majority of my day doing, but I’m really interested to see what you all have to say after reading the press release:
A recent survey conducted by a research team from the Walter E. Griscti chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America at the University of South Florida reveals that this generation does not understand the business applications of new social media sites like Twitter.
Of the 250 Florida college students surveyed, 99 percent use social networking sites. However, only 15 percent have an account with Twitter and 34 percent have never even heard of the site.Some 58 percent of the students who have Twitter accounts never use the service or rarely log-on.
“There is a stereotype that because students are always plugged in that they understand the strategic uses of social media sites,” said Kelli Burns, professor at the University of South Florida and author of the forthcoming Celeb 2.0: How Social Media Foster our Fascination with Popular Culture. “Businesses have a misconception that students know how to use Twitter; these findings prove otherwise.”
The research team survey results reveal two distinct findings. First, college students are not active Twitter users. More importantly, they are not interested in interacting with brands through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
A common misconception is that sites like Twitter offer an innovative way for advertisers and companies to interact with the young demographic. However, 75 percent of students say they would be “not at all interested in” or “don’t care about” following brands, companies, or organizations on Twitter.
Many companies assume that social media enables college students to be smarter consumers. Sites like Twitter, social media analysts claim, act as a medium for the new two-way communication between brands and consumers. Given the media chatter about the importance of social networking for corporations, there is a disconnect between the promise of social media and reality.
Results reveal that a mere 6 percent of college students follow companies and only 4 percent follow brands on social media sites. These findings suggest that if corporations and communicators continue to bet on college students using social media sites effectively, they may come up empty handed.
The fact is that college students use social media sites primarily for keeping in touch with friends, not for networking or brand interaction. Until Millennials become less weary of this interaction, the gap between what business professionals expect and what college students actually know will continue to widen.
Do you think this report is accurate? Do brands communicating online miss the mark when attempting to engage with collegiate consumers?
Categories: Gen Y · Social Media · Technology
January 30, 2009 · 1 Comment
Robert Gibbs recently held his first press conference as the new press secretary for the White House. The PR student in me listened intently to this man, wondering how he will adapt this traditional government role to an aggressively innovative administration.
Adapting to a Technologically Conscious White House
Similar to many government press secretaries, Gibbs has a strong background in traditional media relations, but how will he integrate his established skill set to a role that will probably heavily rely on new technology? Though his role in the White House focuses on interacting with print and broadcast outlets, his involvement with the Obama campaign most likely showed him the importance online communications will play in this administrations’ daily activities.
I hope Gibbs will reach out to bloggers and online news sites for press conferences, interviews, and other events. He should also maintain a prominent presence on change.gov and the interactive new whitehouse.gov. Bridging this gap between the president and citizens while providing access to variety of journalists will be difficult and time-consuming, but it is necessary to maintain the level of transparency Obama’s team keeps stressing.
Keeping Up with the President
While serving as press secretary for someone as savvy as Barack Obama, Gibbs is going to have to be aware of the precise action a transparent government demands from the official spokesperson. That’s why it surprised me to discover Gibbs already slipped up this month when he avoided answering the most popular user-submitted question on Change.gov, forcing the President to answer it on live television. As Nisha Chittal points out, aides can’t practice “politics as usual” in the Obama administration. I hope Gibbs will learn from his mistake, and will practice the type of transparency Americans are now demanding from their government.
So, as President Obama receives immense praise for the actions he took during his first week in office, how do you think Robert Gibbs has done as the new press secretary? Do you think he will continue practicing politics as usual, or will he match the standards set by his administration?
Categories: Public Affairs · Technology
Tagged: politics, press secretaries, Robert Gibbs, Role of PR, social media tools
People are getting the bulk of their news from the Web, and many traditional news outlets are nervous about the future of print journalism. But should they be as worried as they are?
This article from ESPN.com inspired me, not only as an athlete but also as someone who studied mass communications.
The piece is a riveting account of two strangers overcoming the same tragedy – the first fatal shark attack in the San Diego area in a half-century. Instead of a typical online article that is brief and straight-to-the-point, this one is detailed and personal, and fairly lengthy. Usually, I can’t finish longer articles because even the most interesting topics can seem monotonous on a computer screen with long blocks of text, bolded subheadings, and static pictures.
Tom Friend’s “Back into the Water” held my attention, and it wasn’t only because of the unexpected story. Friend’s writing was excellent, but the ESPN designers did a great job laying out the piece. The title and heading resembled those found in magazines. Large pictures and short videos made the story even more personal, and simple elements such as detailed subheadings (not just the standard bolding and large font size used on most sites) helped break up the large blocks of text.
It’s one of the first online articles I’ve seen that seemed more like a print magazine piece. I’m sure I’ve missed others, but I hope this is the beginning of a new trend for journalism on the Web.
Categories: Technology
Tagged: ESPN, journalism, online news, print journalism, Tom Friend
“Greetings, earthlings. Take me to your nearest 7-11 so I can buy some Doritos.”
Not the words I thought extra-terrestrials would be uttering in their first conversations with us, but maybe Doritos is on to something.
Doritos new contest invites the British public to film 30-second spots about life here on Earth while simultaneously promoting the cheesy tortilla chips. On June 12, the winning commercial will be beamed into outerspace—to Ursa Major, some 42 light years away.
This advertising campaign is fascinating to me, and not because Doritos is trying to target alien consumers, but because of the relatively large amount of press coverage Doritos is receiving from this far-fetched idea.
All of the links in this post are articles about the competition, and I’ve seen mentions of it in numerous print publications. Not one article exposes the company for implementing a highly developed, extremely creative, very expensive media campaign. But, isn’t that exactly what this is?
The idea is so outlandish and innovative that it makes pitching relatively unnecessary. Who wouldn’t be intrigued about intergalactic advertising?
Even if the message doesn’t reach its target audience, Doritos has done a great job of capturing the attention of those here on Earth. And, aren’t we the ones with the buying power?
Categories: Media Relations · PR · Technology
Tagged: advertising, Doritos, media, PR, space, space advertising
Last week, Ryan Paugh of Employee Evolution gave me the idea to write a post about why more college students aren’t blogging. Immediately, I accepted the challenge and started pounding out a post. Seven-hundred words later, I realized my post had turned into a rant. While it felt great to vent about my lack of peers in the blogosphere, I wasn’t sure the post would actually benefit anyone, so I saved it in my files but never posted in on my blog.
Now that some time has passed, I find myself still thinking about the issue, but with a little less… fiery anger, if you will.
So why aren’t more college students blogging? I can only think of two people my age who actively blog, and one of them I made do it because he is the Student Body President and I’m the Director of Marketing and Public Affairs, which means I can force him to try new marketing programs whenever I want.
The buzz in the industry is that blogging catches attention, enhances your writing skills, builds an online social network, and, ahem,
affects the hiring process.
But that doesn’t seem to be enough incentive, so what keeps students from blogging? I’ve made some assumptions, but please, feel free to add to it!
- Lack of time – College students have hectic schedules, and after long days of classes, studying, and interning, the last thing they want to do is spend time blogging. This is my advice: posts don’t have to be long! Some of the best are less than 250 words, in fact, readers’ attention spans are short, so no need to write lengthy essays! Also, you can blog as much or as little as you want—it’s about quality, not quantity.
- Lack of ideas – Many of my peers say they don’t know what to write about. I suggest finding someone’s blogroll and following it for a while. Interact with the bloggers—leave comments and participate in the various dialogues. This will not only give you ideas, it will also get you active in the community. This can help in the “lack of time” category, too (two birds with one stone, anyone?). Kudos to my classmate Tory for being a pro at this. Even though she doesn’t blog right now, she is involved in the blogosphere, which keeps her up-to-date on industry trends and earns her some much-deserved recognition.
- Lack of Knowledge About Blogging – This one kills me. College students could potentially have some of the most fascinating blogs as they are constantly presented with new ideas in their classes, activities, and social lives, but they don’t blog about it because they “aren’t really sure how.” WordPress and Blogger are fool proof, so log in and start writing!
- Apathy – The last reason is that many students just don’t care. Unfortunately, there isn’t much that can be done about this, but I hope as more students are rewarded with jobs, internships, and scholarships they will find some value in this medium.
It’s upsetting that more of my friends and classmates don’t blog, and not just because I’d like a larger readership (ha), but because I know the importance of social media. As Chris Clarke said, blogging no longer makes you exceptional—it’s expected.
Well, that’s my take, but I’m interested in what you all think.
Categories: PR Education · Social Media · Technology
Tagged: blogging, college students, college students blogging, Communications, Job Search, PR, public relations, Social Media
