Using Pinterest in Higher Education (Distance Learning Edition)

Pinterest is by far my favorite type of social media for personal use, but it could also be used to give distance learning students a greater feeling of closeness with their university . Not many universities, or departments within universities, that offer exclusively online learning are using this tool. It would require quite a bit of manpower to do correctly, so I imagine that is why. However, some main campus Pinterest boards for other universities exist.

https://www.pinterest.com/TAMU/

https://www.pinterest.com/dukeuniversity/

If you notice, these universities have boards that are fun (tailgate recipes, fashion, etc.) and boards that are serious (students giving back, education technology, professor accomplishments). For those offering distance learning, following a similar model would be a cool way not only to showcase the variety of degrees offered, but also to connect students to campus.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that the tool is meant to be fun! Just as with most other social media tools, anything that is too sales heavy or pushy will be ignored by this audience.

Credibility In Social Media

At a crisis communication workshop I attended today, one of the speakers mentioned an issue with the credibility of social media during times of crisis, particularly blogs.

Blogs could easily continue a rumor mill, or they could be great ways to distribute accurate information and dispute negative information if approached using the correct credentials.

As practitioners, should we push for influential social media users to identify what makes them an expert on a particular subject? Should they be made to say I know what I am telling you is true because of this reason, while they provide witnesses? That would make them much more like journalists. Or should they be left to say what they want?

Recently, the print media has been accused of being a lap dog as opposed to its traditional role as a watch dog. The a fore mentioned bloggers could be a solution to the public’s growing distrust of the news media by making it more accountable, or they could exacerbate it.

Darron Moffatt, communications manager for The Century Council, said in a Platform Magazine article, “Traditional media is being challenged by social media platforms because people want to consume their news directly and without thinking that it is going through a ‘filter’ that will bias the objectivity.”

Blogging could be used by a company to seem “unfiltered” or real. It could be used to help or inform customers in some way, or it could be used to distribute facts that dispute other bloggers’ poor research.

Any regular Joe can create a blog and write what he wants, but it doesn’t mean people will follow or believe him.

I think that as people grow more accustomed with social media, they will learn to recognize blogs and other social media posts that are true and useful. We are already seeing people question online celebrity death announcements because of the many false ones released on Twitter.

Ultimately, I would like to see a professional social media code of ethics developed, but until then, use your social media platforms to promote the truth, not rumors. Do your research! If there is any doubt as to the credibility of information, don’t post.

 

 

Should All Companies Have A Social Media Policy?

Ten years ago who would have thought that something you posted on the Internet could lead to a serious libel suit or job loss or reputation damage?

I imagine that many people would have said that those circumstances were silly, but now that officials, employers and the general public are taking comments distributed through social media as serious as if they were on the 5 o’clock news, do companies need to develop policies to protect not only their employees, but also themselves?

Would you work for a company that doesn’t have a social media policy?

I’m not sure I would want to. Imagine if you get a job and tweet a complaint about work or a co-worker, which I see many young professionals do, and your boss sees it. You get reprimanded because “you should know better,” he said. Or in another scenario  you go have margaritas with your friends and post pictures to Facebook. It costs you a promotion. Better yet, what if you tweet, on purpose or accidentally, something untrue about the company or a co-worker and get sued for it?

Unfortunately there are many more instances of those situations. Not everyone knows how to manage their professional and personal lives on social media, so a policy to clearly outline what is and is not accepted in a company is a good idea. Not only that, but it also helps to keep employees from making social media mistakes that could have serious consequences.

Now that business owners are starting to notice the value of social media, I think companies should sit down with someone educated about social media and develop a policy for employees to follow, especially if that company has a strict moral code.

Some people might still argue that a social media policy for employees to follow is crossing  the line or that the employee should know how to behave, but company policies still tell employees how to dress don’t they?  By developing a policy, companies could protect their employees from hurting themselves, and protect the company from looking bad. It would also protect companies when they fire someone due to the employee’s misbehavior on social media if the rules were clearly outlined in a written document.

Many small companies don’t have social media policies. Some of them are not even on social media, but there employees are; therefore, a written social media policy would benefit them as well.

An Update On My Facebook Rant

Image via CrunchBase

A few weeks ago I discussed my anger with Facebook having promoted posts in the article,”Facebook Promoted Posts: Yes or No?.” Since becoming engaged and seeing how vendors take advantage of brides, the idea of promoted posts makes me even more mad. However, when Facebook first introduced the promoted posts it got people to thinking about, and talking about, how they don’t really have control over what they see in their Facebook timeline.

 

Today when I was reading Mashable I stumbled across this article. The article has a spokesman from Facebook telling you why they won’t give you a straight-up newsfeed. One thing the man said that stuck out to me was that, in their research,  the Facebook team found that people want to see pictures and games. Games? Really? Seeing my friends growing crops on Farmville or leveling up on Mafia Wars was cool three years ago, but that was never why I got on Facebook then, and it isn’t now. I got on Facebook to talk and see what people were doing.

 

The spokesman did say that if you wanted to see everything unfiltered, you could put your friends in a list, but many of the commenters said it didn’t work.

 

From a public relations standpoint, Facebook is doing a great job at growing public distrust. Not only that, but they also seem to be arrogant about it.

 

Weeks after the discussion began, people are still talking about how they want to see what everyone is doing on Facebook.  Facebook’s reply was essentially, no you don’t and our research proves it. You would think that the company that helped grow social media’s influence to what it is would listen when people tell them to do things differently.

 

I think I am just shocked at Facebook’s blatant disregard for what people seem to want. Obviously I haven’t done major research on it, but for the discussion to continue this long and on so many platforms, even on Facebook, I would think they would show concern.

 

I think it would be interesting for Facebook to show people what an unfiltered newsfeed looks like. Give them the option to choose the truly unfiltered feed, or the one Facebook derives for them. Show them, don’t tell them, that they won’t like it.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

 

 

Two Days After the Election, Do You Still Have Friends?

Voting (Photo credit: League of Women Voters of California)

The day of the election were you that person? You know the one I am talking about. The one who posted his or her very one-sided viewpoints every five minutes. If you were, you are probably smiling reading this. No doubt, you are very proud of your beliefs and want everyone to believe the same, but how many friends did you lose on election day? Have you looked?

Before I came to college my mother gave me some advice: “Never talk about religion or politics with people you want to stay friends with.” What my mother didn’t know was that in college, those rules don’t exactly pertain, nonetheless, I think her advice was very wise. It might not matter so much in college where almost everyone is opinionated and tactless, but in the professional world it matters a great deal.

How about in the online world?

For many years there has been discussion about how people’s inhibitions are lowered when they are communicating through a screen as opposed to in person. I wonder if these same people who were so passionately proclaiming their candidate’s virtues would do the same on the evening news or at a cocktail party? I highly doubt it.

With new mediums with which to express our views like Facebook, I wonder if conventional social graces (or what’s left of them) will be thrown out the window? If you are like me, you not only have your boss and co-workers on Facebook, but you also have adults and acquaintances who you respect. These are people who you might not know very well, but you wouldn’t mind calling them to ask a favor.

What do you think? Should we keep our political views off Facebook, or should we instead learn to look the other way? Are you still friends with that person on your timeline? Please discuss. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Low Art Becomes High Art Thanks To Social Media

For many people a Facebook photo is not something they would consider art. We have all seen the “kissy” face posts of our fifteen-year-old cousins and the “this smile hurts but I need a new profile” pictures. There are also the “look how fabulous my life is” photos and the ones that were taken ten years ago, but, among these, are there ones we would consider art?

One London group thinks so. It is their goal to have enough people participate in their mission to make a Facebook profile photo exhibition that the photos get displayed at London’s National Portrait Gallery, The Louvre and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Crazy!

Ten years ago it would have been impossible for an everyday Joe to get his picture in some of the world’s most famous museums, but, thanks to the power of social media, people now have this chance. How incredible is it that social media has the power to take something that is such low art and make it the equivalent of something by DaVinci?

We often hear stories of regular people asking celebrities on dates or interacting with celebrities through social media, but getting an everyday picture put in world famous art museums? That is incredible, and it is all thanks to the power of social media.

The group said in the video that they want to “claim this generation’s place in art history.” Could this be the beginning of our generation’s interest in art?

This is just another example of how social media is changing the way people behave. I understand that social media is by far not the end all, be all of communication, but even people who hate social media cannot argue the impact it is having on our culture.

This group’s idea absolutely fascinates me. Isn’t one definition of art taking something that people do not consider artistic or beautiful and making it so? This is a great idea and those interested should Be Art.

Social Gaming: Something Old Or Something New?

FarmVille (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In my game theory writing class we discussed how easily friendships can be made over a game whether the game is with strangers on the basketball court, or with people on the other side of a screen helping you become the victor.

A Mashable writer reiterated this point when he quoted Facebook’s Alex Shultz in an article, “When you sign up for a social game where only one or two of your friends are playing, it’s not as fun as if 10 to 20 of your friends are playing.”

People love connecting with and  making friends.  This could be one of the reasons that the number of people playing social games has risen by 35 million since 2011.

Although I don’t play a lot social games now (who has time?), I do remember playing the when I was younger. As a kid, when I was first learning the Internet I used to love Neopets. At the time, it was an early social network revolving around a game. I created a pet, made friends and played games to gain stuff for my pet.

Now I play The Sims 3, which has stepped up its social game in the last year. Now players can share their simming progress with their Facebook friends and Twitter followers, as well as upload their sims to the online community. Marketers and creators of the game took something that was independent and private and made it,  in a sense, multi-player.

These things, however, are not new concepts.

I think this new uptick in social gaming is the online evolution of a behavior that humans have had forever–playing games with other people. There is a reason we have team sports like football, basketball and others. We like to be part of a team and to win and lose with a community. Now with the emergence of technology that allows us to take our games and our friends everywhere, we can literally play out this behavior.

So what do  you think? Is social gaming something that was brought to us by new technology, or has it really existed all along? Do you expect Facebook games to increase in popularity, and, if so, how should marketers respond?

Pinterest Promotions

Due to my recent engagement, Pinterest has become my new best friend. Since I am not a girl who has had my wedding planned since I was five years old, the plethora of information and ideas available on Pinterest is extremely helpful. Within a week of becoming engaged, I had a general theme, color scheme and idea for what I wanted my wedding to look like.

I am also able to pin things that I like from multiple different places onto one page. This is awesome for communicating with my groom and bridesmaids.

It should come as no surprise that I was very excited this morning when I learned that Pinterest is now able to offer promotions. Yay! for brides. I immediately read the article and then visited the company’s pinboard. I browsed through its dresses, and then found myself on its website. Unfortunately their dresses weren’t my style, or I would have been excited to participate in their competition.

Finally! a company is running promotions that use new media in a way that understands its consumer. The company, Gilt, is doing something with this promotion that other companies should take note of.

Gilt is not interrupting brides. Gilt is joining brides, meeting them where they are at and giving them something they want. For the competition, what it asks brides to do is to pick one of the dresses available on its pinboard, and build their dream wedding around the dress to win money for a wedding and honeymoon. Obviously, Gilt has been watching how people use Pinterest. Women are already creating boards with their dream wedding. Gilt provided them a way to profit from it.

Pinterest promotions can be a great tool for companies that sell interior design services or home goods. Other companies that can benefit from this type of promotion are companies that sell clothing, make-up or baby items.

Another neat Pinterest promotion would be to choose an object that can be used for a variety of crafts. Encourage pinners to see who can come up with the most creative way to use the item. Find the top pinner a reward. Not only would your company have thousands of people showing other people how to use your product, but also you would build trust among the pinning community.

As long as Pinterest does not become too commercial, these types of promotions will be really cool, and likely well received. When Pinterest starts have promoted pinboards and things like that, they will lose the community and kinship among the women, who, for the most part, are total strangers.

Congratulations to Gilt for being the leader in Pinterest promotions. Hopefully you will pin the winning bride’s wedding photos and her pinboard to a board so that everyone can see!

 

Has Social Media Fundamentally Changed Public Relations?

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After reading this Platform Magazine article, I wondered about the question the author poses.

“Has social media fundamentally changed the field of public relations?”

Her primary sources both make great points, but I think it is an interesting discussion to be had.

For the answer to this question I think we must first look at the definition of public relations which, according to the Public Relations Society of America  is:

“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

Social media seeks to improve, foster and create relationships among others. In a corporate setting, social media could be categorized as a “strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

Applying the definition in this way further emphasizes the fact that social media is a tool to be used in conjunction with other tools to achieve the overall strategy and objective.

In the same article, one source said that social media has changed the industry because professionals are thinking about social media from step one. They are writing their press releases for the web first, not necessarily for a specific journalist.  Although this is a change, it doesn’t mark a fundamental change in PR. It is an example of simply refocusing writing based on audience.

Another thing that might help us answer this question is a list my professor gave us in class this week. She attended a professional conference where one of the speakers gave a list of 10 things the PR professional of 2015 must have.  Over half of them were related to social media.

This too emphasizes the importance of social media as a tool. Having a table saw is great, but for it to be effective, someone needs to be able to use it. Of course PR professionals of 2015 need to know how to connect with bloggers. Of course they need to know how to run and interpret analytics as well as use feed readers. Knowing these things now is as essential as knowing how to pitch to a journalist and acquire and cut clips was thirty years ago.

Social media has not caused a fundamental change in PR; instead,  it has caused a fundamental change in tools for PR.

Agree or Disagree?

Facebook Promoted Posts: Yes or No?

Image via CrunchBase

Yesterday I came across a Mashable.com article that contained some odd and disappointing news. Facebook is now charging users to make sure their posts appear on the newsfeed of their friends. A second article I read explains everything in detail, but basically, if you want to make sure your friends to see your important content, you will have to pay.

The price isn’t very expensive , but people shouldn’t have to pay $7 to show wedding photos. Scrolling through the comments of the second article, you see that, like myself, many people are unhappy with this change.

One commenter asked, “Who are the narcissists they are targeting with this service?”

Other commenters are worried that this is beginning of Facebook having a maximum number of free posts with the option to pay for more. Others worry what this will mean for them. How will it change the way they interact with their friends?

From a public relations standpoint, this is terrible for Facebook. They have created doubt and uncertainty among their customers. Many of these customers were already skeptical of Facebook because of privacy, content ownership and other events that have happened over the years. Now Facebook is trying to control how they interact? For many people, this will be too much.

I’ve had numerous friends who say they would leave Facebook if they could. It’s like they are trapped in a bad relationship, but they have invested so much into it they don’t want to leave. I wonder if, after this, some people have their foot out the door, and if some will leave permanently. MySpace has been getting a lot of attention lately, and there is always the one I am rooting for, Google+.

At one time, Facebook was the best social network. But, as it became more commercial, people became more irritated and now there are user promoted posts.

In the first article I mentioned, Samantha Murphy said this:

“Facebook is about communication. And while using Facebook is certainly not an inalienable right, it is the 900-million-strong default communication platform for much of the developed world. Using a freemium model here is not only socially irresponsible, but I believe it will be bad for Facebook’s business in the long run.”

What happens when the social network is no longer social? Are play for free, but pay to win games a model of what Facebook is becoming?

I wonder how promoted posts will affect bloggers. Will bloggers have to pay to promote their latest post to have them seen by more than a handful of people?

And what if I don’t want to see wedding photos or event invitations from people I  don’t really know? Will I be able to control what comes up on my newsfeed regarding promoted posts?

I should say that not all of the comments were negative. Some thought it was OK for Facebook to charge to promote wedding photos or invitations because people have to pay for those offline. Others thought it was going to be a good change for people who want to promote events or bands.

 

But I think that this is a bad idea. I can tolerate Facebook, until it tries to take money out of my pocket. It can have my demographics and my interactions and conversations with friends.  It can even suggest products to me. But I won’t allow a middle man charging me to share with my friends. Sorry Facebook, but I’m in the market for a new social network. MySpace, Google+ what will you offer me?

What are your thoughts? Do you agree? Can you answer my questions? Leave me a comment. I would love to hear your thoughts.