My desktop is on the net – Is yours? I'm talking about 'social bookmarking.' What is social bookmarking? Waters (2010) describes social bookmarking as a communication method that allows individuals to store, organize, search and manage bookmarks of web pages on the internet and share those bookmarks with others.
The more pertinent question is - how is the social bookmarking phenomenon relevant to us as PR practitioners? Some benefits of social bookmarking include: Ability to ascertain if people are bookmarking our organization's website or news related to our organization, and the numbers of people doing so. This reflects our visibility as well as brand loyalty and recall, and ultimately whether people are interested in our organization. Second, the types of tags people use to label our organization help in gauging public perception of our organization – do we have a favorable image? What can we do better? After running a campaign we can re-evaluate public bookmarks to determine if corporate image has improved.
Rule of thumb before embarking on a PR campaign - conduct research to effectively tailor your message to your target audience. So, I propose a fun, interactive exercise to better understand public tagging behavior. My question- How do you usually decide what kinds of tags to use? How do you classify tags? I’d like to hear from you.
I’ll get the ball rolling - I usually classify tags based on (1) topic or content and (2) field or genre. Using a standard set of keywords (e.g. Travel) helps me instantly recall the content. Also, by categorizing material, I can go back to it later, make connections and track story/issue developments. For example, for an article relating to touring the Grand Canyon, my tag would be 'Travel' and 'Grand Canyon.' Your turn now! : )
Public tagging behavior:
Q: How do you usually decide what kinds of tags to use?
Tags which:
(1) relate to the topic or content (e.g. Dieting Tips, Pierce Brosnan)
(2) relate to a specific field or genre (e.g. Health, Entertainment)
(3) indicate the author of the material (e.g. Waters, 2010)
(4) reflect my feelings or personal opinion towards the material (e.g. Funny, Interesting)
(5) indicate a follow-up task (e.g. For Work, For Shopping)
(6) indicate material relating to someone else (e.g. For dad, Tim’s class project)
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Blog 3 – The ABCs of Social Media…'E’ for Ethics
So you receive a Facebook friend request from your favorite brand and the next thing you know, this organization, let’s call it XYZ, is following you on twitter. You reciprocate the gesture by accepting the friend request and also start following XYZ on twitter. For XYZ, this is “mission accomplished!”
If you have signed up for company email alerts or entered your contact information for a contest, you are easy prey for organizations looking to add you to their Facebook page or to their list of Twitter followers. So here’s the question: Is it OK for brand personas to proactively follow/friend people in order to get a reciprocal response? Some view this as a strategic, deliberate tactic by organizations to gain visibility, expand their fan base and enhance popularity rankings. Ethical? Perfectly ethical as long as the organization does not misuse or abuse this medium to mislead consumers.
In fact, the PR practitioners representing XYZ are portraying the organization as personable, accessible and (for the younger, net-savy clientale) – trendy. Nothing wrong in being approachable, connecting to potential and current customers and engaging them in a constructive online conversation about your product/service.
For the organization, this is a convenient, quick way of gaining feedback, defending their brand, and providing honest explanations. For consumers, this is an opportunity to compliment, grumble or share ideas about their brand experience and ‘talk’ with fellow users. PR practitioners that employ such an approach (in a transparent, ethical manner) are effectively utilizing this interactive social medium to promote two-way communication and build relationships with stakeholders. Ultimately, for an organization, it’s about being where its customers are – Planet Social Media!
Thoughts anyone? And do take the online poll. : )
If you have signed up for company email alerts or entered your contact information for a contest, you are easy prey for organizations looking to add you to their Facebook page or to their list of Twitter followers. So here’s the question: Is it OK for brand personas to proactively follow/friend people in order to get a reciprocal response? Some view this as a strategic, deliberate tactic by organizations to gain visibility, expand their fan base and enhance popularity rankings. Ethical? Perfectly ethical as long as the organization does not misuse or abuse this medium to mislead consumers.
In fact, the PR practitioners representing XYZ are portraying the organization as personable, accessible and (for the younger, net-savy clientale) – trendy. Nothing wrong in being approachable, connecting to potential and current customers and engaging them in a constructive online conversation about your product/service.
For the organization, this is a convenient, quick way of gaining feedback, defending their brand, and providing honest explanations. For consumers, this is an opportunity to compliment, grumble or share ideas about their brand experience and ‘talk’ with fellow users. PR practitioners that employ such an approach (in a transparent, ethical manner) are effectively utilizing this interactive social medium to promote two-way communication and build relationships with stakeholders. Ultimately, for an organization, it’s about being where its customers are – Planet Social Media!
Thoughts anyone? And do take the online poll. : )
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Blog 2: Information on Social Networks - To believe or not to believe?
Social media brings with it several benefits, chief among which is “increasing our ability to build relationships with our stakeholders” (Waters, 2010). On the flip side, the use of social media can create problems for organizations and its stakeholders. Organizations may fall victim to inaccurate postings from disgruntled customers, competitors hoping to get an edge over their opponents, or from netizens who are simply looking to pass time.
How does one verify if the information one is reading online is true? When CNN’s ireport wrongly cited that Steve Jobs had died from a heart attack, Apple’s stock price dropped 10 percent immediately. Similarly Emulex’s stock prices plunged from $103 per share to $43 per share within 16 minutes after (incorrect) news that its chief executive was resigning, that the US Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the company and that its quarterly earnings report showed a loss.
The issue at hand is one of regulation - what rules and laws govern the posting of inaccurate and false information online? As PR practitioners, it is not possible for us to constantly monitor everything that is being said about our organization online. While we can only hope to act quickly to minimize damage to corporate reputation and reduce financial losses to our stockholders, the issue of information verification seems to be prevalent. The influx of citizen journalism sites only seem to add to this problem. Thoughts anyone?
How does one verify if the information one is reading online is true? When CNN’s ireport wrongly cited that Steve Jobs had died from a heart attack, Apple’s stock price dropped 10 percent immediately. Similarly Emulex’s stock prices plunged from $103 per share to $43 per share within 16 minutes after (incorrect) news that its chief executive was resigning, that the US Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the company and that its quarterly earnings report showed a loss.
The issue at hand is one of regulation - what rules and laws govern the posting of inaccurate and false information online? As PR practitioners, it is not possible for us to constantly monitor everything that is being said about our organization online. While we can only hope to act quickly to minimize damage to corporate reputation and reduce financial losses to our stockholders, the issue of information verification seems to be prevalent. The influx of citizen journalism sites only seem to add to this problem. Thoughts anyone?
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Earth, Mars, Jupiter…Social Media – The evolution of a new planet
Welcome to Planet Social Media!
The countries here go by the name of Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Linked In and Facebook. I beg your pardon… “The United Users of Facebook” (UUF for short). Considering that Facebook has 350 million active users (as of January 2010), UUF would be the third largest country on Planet Earth, behind China and India. It doesn’t take much to become a UUF citizen – just a Facebook account and a desire to connect!
One of your rights as a UUF citizen or a Twitterian is the power to connect online to your fellow citizens, share information and experiences, recommend or rate companies or institutions. Li and Bernoff (2008) call this new social phenomenon – the groundswell - A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other; rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.
In short, people on Planet Social Media are empowered to generate online content and share this with other netizens or cybercitizens. Such an explosion of content seems harmless one might think, but organizations bear the brunt of this. The groundswell is threatening organizations as customers are talking to each other about products and services and redefining brands which companies spent millions of dollars to create (Li and Bernoff, 2008).
This explosion of information compels organizations to be more socially responsible and enhance their product/service standards. Sadly though, sometimes, organizations are unfairly criticized by consumers and customers. Nevertheless, as public relations practitioners, we should adopt a two-way symmetrical model which advocates active listening and genuine dialogue with our stakeholders. What makes our endeavor tough is the disproportionate ratio of PR practitioners in an organization to consumers, and the constant need to keep abreast of technological advances to communicate with our audience. Let's move away from this initial reluctance to embrace technology, for the benefits are many. Ultimately, when our organization becomes a UUF citizen or Twitterian, we become more approachable to our fellow citizens, earn their trust, build relationships and improve our products/services from their feedback.
As PR practitioners, we are not alone in this journey to Planet Social Media. Many of us have made this trip before and succeeded! Join me every week as I come closer to discovering a whole new universe! Packed your bags yet?
The countries here go by the name of Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Linked In and Facebook. I beg your pardon… “The United Users of Facebook” (UUF for short). Considering that Facebook has 350 million active users (as of January 2010), UUF would be the third largest country on Planet Earth, behind China and India. It doesn’t take much to become a UUF citizen – just a Facebook account and a desire to connect!
One of your rights as a UUF citizen or a Twitterian is the power to connect online to your fellow citizens, share information and experiences, recommend or rate companies or institutions. Li and Bernoff (2008) call this new social phenomenon – the groundswell - A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other; rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.
In short, people on Planet Social Media are empowered to generate online content and share this with other netizens or cybercitizens. Such an explosion of content seems harmless one might think, but organizations bear the brunt of this. The groundswell is threatening organizations as customers are talking to each other about products and services and redefining brands which companies spent millions of dollars to create (Li and Bernoff, 2008).
This explosion of information compels organizations to be more socially responsible and enhance their product/service standards. Sadly though, sometimes, organizations are unfairly criticized by consumers and customers. Nevertheless, as public relations practitioners, we should adopt a two-way symmetrical model which advocates active listening and genuine dialogue with our stakeholders. What makes our endeavor tough is the disproportionate ratio of PR practitioners in an organization to consumers, and the constant need to keep abreast of technological advances to communicate with our audience. Let's move away from this initial reluctance to embrace technology, for the benefits are many. Ultimately, when our organization becomes a UUF citizen or Twitterian, we become more approachable to our fellow citizens, earn their trust, build relationships and improve our products/services from their feedback.
As PR practitioners, we are not alone in this journey to Planet Social Media. Many of us have made this trip before and succeeded! Join me every week as I come closer to discovering a whole new universe! Packed your bags yet?
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