Living & Breathing PR

If I Had Known Then What I know Now..

Lauren Hopkins — Tue, 18 May 2010 16:11:08 +0000

I’ve always told myself I would’ve graduated on time two years ago. If I did, I would not have the knowledge that I have now. “Things I Wish I’d Known in College” by culpwrit posted by @Uandrews caught my eye because there are certain lessons that can be passed on to college students so that they are aware that college isn’t about going to class. College inspired me to not give up on myself nor my education after being told I was not college bound. In addition, here are my tips below. Feel free to add to the list!

If I Had Known Then What I Know Now(In addition to ”Things I Wish I’d Known in College” by culpwrit):

take electives that interest you and that you could minor in
Always understand and double-check behind your advisors
Make sure all paper work is completed
Know the consequences if you have to transfer
Begin writing your resumé before sophomore year
how important your GPA is even in your first year
ALWAYS read the syllabus (it will haunt you if you don’t)!!
Try to understand the reasons why professors need certain assignments to be completed
Lastly: Make a list of your talents by your sophomore year to narrow down what major you want to declare

I would not change how long it took me to earn my college degree because it taught me life lessons and skills that are needed in the professional work force. What would you add to the list? What have you learned outside the classroom during your college career?

Be My Guest Kelsey Hendrix

Lauren Hopkins — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:32:27 +0000

Celebrities Using the “R” Word

March 3, 2010 by Kelsey Hendrixkelseyeh–>

There is a movement happening that I first learned about through Twitter called “Spread the Word to End the Word”. The “word” that is being referred to is “retard” or “retarded”. The word is often used in a disparaging way and the goal is to get people to stop using it in a derogatory manner.

The actual definition of “Spread the Word to End the Word” is found on the Special Olympics Website, and is as follows:

Spread the Word to End the Word is a campaign created by youth, in an ongoing effort with Special Olympics and Best Buddies International, to engage schools, organizations and communities by raising the consciousness of society about the dehumanizing and hurtful effects of the word “retard(ed)” and encouraging everyone to stop using the R-word.

March 3, 2010 marked the second annual day of awareness to Spread the Word to End the Word, hence the significant trending topic on Twitter. Someone had issued a challenge to see which celebrities were using the word and to try to get the message across to them to stop. I did some research and found out which current celebrities often used the word.

1. Chelsea Handler hosts the late night talk show “Chelsea Lately”. She averages 764,000 viwers/episode and has over 2 million Twitter followers (Source). Below is an example of Handler using the word “retarded” in a disparaging manner.

“E! tries to tell me, “Ooh, you can’t talk about Denise Richards or Dina Lohan, when they have shows that are debuting,’” she said. “And I’m like, ‘Listen guys, the reason I have a show on E! is because of people like Dina Lohan and Denise Richards!’ So you can’t forbid me from talking about them – that’s retarded.” Source of Quote

2. Paris Hilton is an heiress and has 1.5 million followers on Twitter. She starred in several seasons of “The Simple Life”. The first season of The Simple Life premiered to 13 million viewers (source).

On rumors that she is adopting children – “That’s retarded. No I’m not,” reports PEOPLE. Source
Hilton: I think I am a good role model, and a lot of mothers come up to me and they’re really happy, and I think if any girl follows their dreams then anything can happen to them. Source

3. Guy Ritchie referring to Madonna,

“I still love her. But she’s retarded, too.” Source of Quote

4. Kristen Stewart

“I just didn’t pay attention,” Stewart recalls. “I was like, ‘You guys are celebrating something that has not come true yet. So, you are really retarded and have nothing to do with this creative process and I really don’t want to hear you celebrate in front of me. Get out of here! It’s my responsibility!’” Source of Quote
Stewart is even more emphatic: “It’s so retarded,” she says. “We’re characters in this comic book.” Source Quote

5. Lindsay Lohan

The hot young star has been upsetting some advocates for the mentally disabled by using the word “retarded” as an insult.
When asked about rumors she’d had breast implants, for example, Lindsay replied, “That’s retarded.” And, referring to reports that she was feuding with Hilary Duff, Linsay said, “It’s retarded.” Source

7. Perez Hilton – Ranked #2 by Forbes on the list of the most influential people on the web.

“For the third year running controversial gossip blogger Perez Hilton (real name: Mario Lavandeira) reigns supreme over the world of Web celebrity. He runs what he calls “Hollywood’s most hated Web site,” an off-color blend of rumor, opinion and immature humor. The site attracts more than 7.2 million people a month, putting it among the 500 most-visited sites on the Internet, and Hilton has more than 1.77 million Twitter followers. Hilton’s online fame often spills into the offline world…” Source
Listen to his retarded rant. (above) Article titled “Danny Glover is a Moron” Source
Emotionally stunted? That’s a nice way of saying retarded! — Article: Britney Spears is Retarded - Source

Most of these celebrities have a extremely large audiences. Paris Hilton, Kristen Stewart and Perez Hilton have younger, impressionable fans reading and listening to what they say. These young fans will pick up and repeat what they have read and heard. I think that these celebrities should use more caution when being interviewed, writing on their blogs, or when hosting their television shows.

Entry Filed under: PR Connections- PRCA 3330, Pr Writing 3330- Section A. .

More Social Tools (ch.11)

Lauren Hopkins — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:57:32 +0000

Three main social tools that benefit most social media strategies are social calendars, wikis, and social pages. Social calendars such as Upcoming offer an easy way for companies to post events and highlight the events on different social media tools and sites including blogs, RSS feeds, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Upcoming allows users to search for events by region and the users are able to RSVP to the evnt and share the event with other users.

Social pages are pages that are created about a specific topic. Social web users can search for pages on certain topics. Squidoo is a social page that is “about finding people when you care what they know instead of who they know” (Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization). The way that Squidoo operates is through what’s called lens, better known as a page. In order to use Squidoo successfully, it is a good idea to have more than one lens you write about or the type of service you offer (Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization).

A Wiki is a “collaborative Website that allows anyone to update its content” (Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization). Wiki means fast in Hawaiian. To find existing wikis rather than creating your own, Google “social media wiki.” Wikis become “an ever-changing online database of information” (Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization).

Of course there are more than these tools social media offers, but these three stood out to me to discuss because I didn’t think a site such as Upcoming even existed. I didn’t understand what a wiki was or how to use it, which is why I chose to discuss “wikis” (plus my mom lived in Hawaii & my granpdarents have a house in Hawaii due to my grandfather being a U.S. Air Force Pilot during Vietnam, so it was interesting to me to know that wiki means fast in Hawaiian). Until now, I didn’t fully understand how to use social pages like Squidoo, how they operate, and what their puropose is until now.

Social Media Newsrooms (ch.10)

Lauren Hopkins — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:23:05 +0000

A social media news room is a place where you can tell the media, clients, and others exactly what they want and need to know. Social Media Newsroom (SMNR) is similar to the traditional online newsroom; it consists of having media coverage, news releases, events, and media contact information. Social media news rooms are a plaee where these people can:

view all your media coverage
see all of your past and present news releases
look up your past and future events
read and link to all of your book reviews
see and link to all the social web places you are a part of (including widgets and badges you have available)
download multimedia material such as photos, podcasts, and vidcasts
view bios on each person within the company
Subscribe RSS feeds

Businesses that want or get alot of media coverage should have a social media newsroom. Having a social media newsroom portrays to the media and to the prospective clients that you are making an attempt to make their jobs easier. Also social media newsrooms have the opportunity to be optimized for search engines, RSS feeds, and social bookmarking services. Businesses who have or are thinking about having a social media newsroom have an advantage over the businesses who don’t tap into the social media because SMNR’s allow people to come across your information when using search engines.

Set Up Your Newsroom Sections

1. Media Coverage:

offer direct links to online sources & to PDFs of the media coverage your company has received

2. News Releases:

traditional Social Media News Releases links

3. Events:

a section or a list of events your company hosts

4. Social Media:

links to all the other places you are on throughout the Social Web

5. MultiMedia:

hold images, audio/video clips
flyers/brochures

Media Communities (ch.8)

Lauren Hopkins — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:55:59 +0000

”Media communities are social sites where you can save, share and comment on multimedia items,” Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization. Image and video sharing are tools that companies are utilizing to increase their social media visibility. However there are strategies into uploading images and videos.

Image Sharing Strategy

1. Gather images that you can upload right away including logos, book covers, and event photos.

2. Prepare a key term list to use for tags for each image:

– company name

- author name

– home city

3. Prepare these when you want to upload an image:

– a short title that uses at least two key terms

- a description that uses several key terms

Uploading/Optimizing Videos Strategy

1. Prepare a list of key terms and use them as tags and in the body of a video’s title and description

2. Add a date and a Google map to the video location

3. Determine the organization of your account:

– Create titles, descriptions, and key terms to use as tags for each playlist

- Browse YouTube videos to add to your playlist

- Decide which playlists to create in your account by person’s name, company, authors, book titles, and products

- Create galleries on your Website or blog using the embed code from your playlists.

People are connecting with one another not only just through participating in the social media web 2.0, but also through image and video sharing. It’s important to know how to connect to your target audience or other people that share the same interest as you in unique styles rather than just being on social media sites. In other words, bring something to the table that will help you stand out.

To Big To Fail: Tiger Woods Guest Blog: Brittany Cook

Lauren Hopkins — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 01:41:51 +0000

Advertisements are only successful and profitable if people and the target audience react to the advertisements whether it’s a Super Bowl Ad, billboard ad, or on You Tube. Brittany Maree’s blog discusses how Nike uses public relations to promote Tiger’s image before the controversy we all are aware of. Nike took a risk in creating an advertisement that causes controversy and reaction among the American public and from people globally. Because Tiger Woods is well-known around the world among sports and non sports fans for his natural golf talent and skill, Nike knew they had to capture the public’s eye using a public relations technique so that anti-Tiger Woods fans would not boycott the brand.

Isn’t advertisements goal is to catch your eye creating a reaction from you as a consumer? This is what Nike did successfully. Nike promoted their product with their sponsor Tiger Woods in a creative profound way. How does this advertisement influence other products Tiger Woods sponsors?

Passing Employer’s “Background Check”

Lauren Hopkins — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:30:41 +0000

My mom e-mailed me this article: Employers monitor your social networking profile. More and more companies are spying on their employees as how much time they spend in the social web whether it’s on Facebook or Twitter. Companies are also watching carefully the content on their employees’ profile. This is reality, especially for students and job seekers.

Just like a portfolio or an interview, a person’s character says it all. Even though an employee might be outstanding in their career, they have to be careful on how they conduct themselves outside the professional world. For example, I am aware of what I say on Facebook , what I post, and what images are on my profile. It doesn’t make much sense for me to prepare a professional portfolio, resume, and go to various conferences to further my public relations career if my social profile content isn’t professional or appropriate to share with potential employers.

Outside of work, student organizations, and class, you still represent those organizations. What you say and post on your Facebook Profile or Twitter represents those groups as well. Companies today are realizing that. As a result, companies are taking matters into their own hands by spying on their employees using a new software called Social Sentry. Social Sentry is a software that can track a person’s social web use only on Facebook and Twitter, but will also track use on LinkedIn, YouTube, and MySpace in the future.

How does this pertain to me is what you’re asking right? Well it pertains to you in so many ways. One way is the time a person spends on Facebook by updating their status throughout the day making it seem like they do not have anything else to do besides “play” on Facebook. As a result, it doesn’t look good on the employer’s side. Here are a few questions to ask yourself to make your profile more appropriate:

if you have to question a photo, don’t upload it or tag yourself
What groups are you associated with on Facebook? Will your mom be proud of these groups?
What type of language is on your profile?
if you were asked in an interview to log into your Facebook, would you be ashamed?

You never know who’s checking your profile or using Google to search for you. Companies aren’t just using the traditional background checks. They are using the social web to their advantage to conduct their background checks as well: Will you pass the background check? If not, companies may dismiss or fire employees due to their social web profile content and behavior.

Social Bookmarking and Networking Strategies (ch.6 & 7)

Lauren Hopkins — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:23:50 +0000

Social networking is a way to “build a strong foundation in the Social Web, not about how many thousands of friends or followers you can gather. Rather, it is about improving your reach to the people you are actually in your target market,” (A Survival Guide to Social Media & Web 2.0 Optimization).

LinkedIn is a “great tool for people wanting to connect with other professionals, or for those seeking professional positions. It is also ideal for consultants and service firms seeking clients,” (A Survival Guide to Social Media & Web 2.0 Optimization).

Twitter is a micro blogging platform that answers “what are you doing?” in 160 characters or less. Also, businesses using Twitter also can link their site on Twitter since other social sites have similar features that Twitter offers.

Once a business has chosen social sites they wish to be a part of, it is also important to be able to know how to social bookmark, what it is, what sites are social bookmarking sites, and how it works.

“Social bookmarking is a way for you to save your favorite blogs into one web space and tagged them with specific terms so you could easily search and find them later,” (A Survival Guide to Social Media & Web 2.0 Optimization).

One of the top social bookmarking site is Delicious. You can bookmark a site by clicking on “post to Delicious” and enter tags along with notes to the site you want to bookmark,”(A Survival Guide to Social Media & Web 2.0 Optimization). With every social web tool, there is a strategy in utilizing social bookmarking.

Keep in mind what social web is all about: interacting, sharing, and collaboration. It’s not about self-promotion. In other words, choose a couple of social bookmarking sites first such as Technorati and StumbleUpon. When you use these sites, you can bookmark your blogs, your company’s or business site, as long as you bookmark with others who share the same interest as you.

After doing all of this and social networking and bookmarking, how do you know if your company or company’s site is successful and not getting left in the Social Web world? Well, there are sites such as Digg that use crowd-sourcing. Crowd-sourcing is a site that allows users to determine what news stories, blogs, or websites are popular (A Survival Guide to Social Media & Web 2.0 Optimization).

Digg encourages its users to “digg” stories they like, and as a result, determines if that story is popular or not through a voting or a rating system. Once users “digg” stories that appealed to them, then the site will “dugg” up stories or blog posts closer to the front page of the site. In other words, the more users “digg” social web content (blogs, news stories), the closer the content will move up to the front page of Digg, (A Survival Guide to Social Media & Web 2.0 Optimization).

So there my friends is why and how business can decide how popular their online social web presence is along with their social web content.

Building a WordPress Powered Website (Ch.4)

Lauren Hopkins — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:37:50 +0000

CMS is “an application that’s used to create, edit, manage, and publish content in an organized way” ( A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization). Some CMS applications that WordPress offers are sidebars, sidebar widgets, and plug-ins.

Before installing applications, a person should plan their site. In other words, it is helpful if a blogger makes a list of what they want to have on their site. Bloggers can search WordPress for available plugins giving them ideas of what to add to their blog site. Here’s a list of what most entrepreneurs, small businesses, authors, and publishers are looking for:

image galleries
Amazon widgets
streaming video
podcasts/videocasts
RSS feeds
social media newsrooms

Plugins “are what give WordPress tremendous power and flexibility” (A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization). For example, if you’re looking for a plugin for a photo gallery, search WordPress for available photo gallery and decide what plugin meets your standards for your blog site. It is easy as that! Some plugins a blogger should start with are:

Askimet: (I use this) the purpose of this plug-in is to delete spam and works as a spam filter for blog comments
WordPress Stats: Tracks your blog statistics, your top posts and pages
All in one SEO pack: this optimizes your site for a search engine.

To see examples of WordPress powered websites, see websites such as:

Optimizing your blog (ch.3)

Lauren Hopkins — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:06:52 +0000

It wasn’t until I subscribed and have an RSS feed to Paull Young’s blog did I understand what an RSS feed is and how it works. RSS (Real Simple Syndication) “is a way of sharing information across the Internet, according to A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization text. An RSS Feed is similar to a newspaper delivered at your doorstep. The content that a visitor subscribes to allows visitors to have the feeds in one place on the Internet than going to each site. Here are some ways that an RSS Feed works:

the “feed” is available for subscription to visitors
the subscriber can read each story without having to go to the original site

One RSS feed is a blog. For example, I subscribed to Paull Young’s blog and the feed is on my yahoo page and I am able to read his blog on my yahoo page. It is very easy to use and can’t believe an RSS feed is this simple to use. With RSS Feeds becoming a popular social media tool, it is important for bloggers especially but for any social media user to have effective, creative, and simple titles, descriptions, categories, and links.

“Your item descriptions may be the only thing a potential reader sees before they make a decision to read the full story,” (A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization). Categories, links, titles, and descriptions have to have a “hook” your reader in a proper way while still describing the story.

Blogs however, “is a tool for posting information chronologically and allowing others to comment” (A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization). Before a blogger begins blogging, it is vital for bloggers to know their audience. Once a blogger knows his or her audience, then he or she can decide what their purpose of the blog is. For example, my blog site discusses social media and how public relations is transforming an adapting to social media web 2.0. therefore, my blog site’s purpose is to share my knowledge based on what I’ve learned throughout my public relations college career with other colleagues, professors, and professionals.

Blogs consist of interactivity, sharing, and collaboration, which are three general areas of A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization. Throughout the social web, users are sharing information freely which pertains to sharing. Even though users share information freely, the information is only effective if other users interact by giving feedback and post blog comments. Futhermore, this is when collaboration takes place. Twitter for example, gives Twitter users an opportunity to collaborate in sharing information creating and generating other ideas for blog posts.

There are tools provided by WordPress that can help your site become more visible. One tool is called excerpts. When I was reading about excerpts, I could only think of an excerpt of a paper or a novel. I just began using excerpts this past week. “Excerpts are used to summarize your post, and to use as a good “hook” to get readers interested in your entire post when they stumble upon it in a blog directory,” (A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization).

Other blog tools are :

Tags: used to help organize and group blog posts and are used by RSS feed and blog directories as key terms, so you want to use tags wisely
Categories: is a way to organize blog posts by topic. Readers are able to click on a category and see all the posts related to that one category
Trackbacks: method of notification between websites. “They are a way for you to comment on someone else’s blog from your own site, and have your entry show up on their site as a comment or as a notification on their WordPress dashboard. In order to use this, cite the blog you are commenting on and send a “trackback” to the blog you are citing. Then, your post will show up as a comment on the “trackboard” blog post,” (A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization).