Take a bow

Today marks the second last Monday that I will be attending the Humber College public relations certificate program. I have learned about twitter, Youtube, social networking, PR2.o. I have championed clean trains, advocated for an alcohol free summer and the list goes on and on and on.

It is sad.

Since I was a little girl I have not relished the idea of change. I find it to be rather cumbersome and uncertain. This time around however I find myself looking forward to what comes next in my life. In some ways I have one of my most loved professors, Scott Langdon, to thank for this change in my heart.

Change is something that people look on as very negative, and indeed it can be. The loss of a loved one, a change in address even a new job are all changes that cause pain. What I have come to appreciate this term is change itself. It is still uncertain, and it is still cumbersome but it is also exciting.

Moving forward into my internship and then into the working world I will take the lessons about change with me.

I will also take my CP style book, dictionary and caps and spelling.

I have learned a great deal in the past ten months, met some great new friends and have started to move beyond a fear of change into, at least an acceptance of its inevitability.

Farewell Humber PR. Its been a blast!

Value add at Humber PR at #futurecamp

Humber PR got together this past week to discuss some issues on our minds.

Future Camp on Prezi

How do we add value? How do we stay connected? What advice to you have to future Humber PR students? And perhaps most importantly, what DID we learn this year?

There are so many platforms available to the public these days. You can tweet, blog, facebook, comment, post videos anything you little heart desires!

But how do you add value? Caitlin has compiled a collection of videos that address how some people add value!

Keeping connected in the future is also vastly important. The connections that you make, particularly in school, have the potential to benefit you in the most. Personally I think it is important to be connected and Kiel has a great suggestion for his section! This could be implemented well with 1C as well I think.

What are some of the things that you can do to ensure your contribution is not just noise?!

Well you can contribute authentically for one thing. Make sure that the things that you are saying matter.

Don't talk just for the sake of talking.
That's just silly!

This is one of the biggest things that I learned this semester, it is important to value add, not noise add. Sometimes is it hard to do, you have to be sure to remain authentic to your brand. It seems like I'm not the only one who learned these things, Andrew has some really good things to say about what he learned this year.

We learned so much this past term from our profs and from our classmates, we talked about it and made #futurecamp a trending topic. For some really great people to talk to, follow, tweet check out @shelleyburgoyne, @h_farb, @ZoyaMcGroarty @greenjenschultz or any of my fab #humberpr colleagues.

Clean Trains are what the Red Smarties would do!

Its me again!!

Twice in the same day?!

HOLY CANOLI!!

I wanted to share this slideshare presentation a friend of mine put together. Its really well done and provides allot of information in a short span of time.

Check out Jen's Blog to get some more of her take on things!

So here is her slide share. Enjoy!

The Clean Train Student Coalition

View more presentations from Jennifer Schultz.

Diesel Dumbos

"No one should be asked to trade public health for public transit" David Mckeown

Unfortunately we are. The government wants more loud, polluting and antiquated trains ripping through our city.

Why?

The simple answer is public transit. But there are always more issues at heart. There are the Pan Am Games, a direct link to Pearson of Airport, and some politics. Lets not forget the politics.

At the end of the day Diesel is not a nice thing. The emissions are harmful effecting air quality as a start. Ripping through neighborhoods where young families take the dog for a walk. Brampton is home to a large community of elderly people. It makes you wonder what will happen to these lungs. Things the CTC recognizes as a HUGE problem.

Why spend the money on an electrification study when its already there? Why not take that money and do something about it, instead of just thinking about it.

I had the opportunity to attend the public meeting at City Hall some weeks back and many issues were brought up. Emotions were palpable in the room as each camp stood firmly on their desires. No one was really willing to give, or to talk. It was an "us vs. them" evening that left me feeling slightly unsatisfied.


What struck me was that the majority of those people sitting in that room would not have the opportunity to take a trip on this $20-$30 a ride train. I sure know I won't. The people who Metrolinx wants to bull dose are not the people who serve to benefit from this service.

There is so much information and so much about this issue that needs to be discussed. The point is that these trains are not environmentally friendly, they are not universally accessible and they will do nothing to elevate the city of Toronto. Progress report is important if you want to know.


Getting people on board with eliminating the Diesel from these trains should check out and sign the petition here!!. Check out the web, there is information everywhere about this plan and discussions available from both sides. Educate yourself!!

I don't think eliminating this addition to transit infrastructure is the way to go. I think electrification is. Something that is cleaner, quieter and overall better for the environment and public would do everything these trains do, and more. CTC and the CTSC have Facebook pages and twitter accounts, CTC has a blog Railroaded by Metrolinx that is a good resource, and places to join the conversation, this is not an issue that is going to go away.

This is the only planet we have, shouldn't we take care of it?

New meaning to Talk and Txt

Reading the experiences of other people saves us the headache of finding out for ourselves. Ford caught on to this phenomenon and released their 2010 Ford Fiesta.



Have you seen a billboard?
How about any TV adds?
You haven’t???

Good cuz there aren’t any.

Ford's European social media campaign for the Fiesta

View more presentations from We Are Social .

Ford gave away 100 brand new Ford Fiestas t, with the instructions to blog, tweet, Facebook, Vimeo and all together use their social networks to get the word out about them. The program is called 1 Movement.

Ingenious!

Or is it? What about dissemination of the message? Target audience? Fords image? It could just become a giant game of broken telephone, where everyone takes from it what they want and passes it along.

Ford has handed over the promotional reigns to 100 people who have the social capitol to endorse the product. Using their customers to their best advantage. Not only is the advertising cheaper it also has the potential be more effective. Capitalizing on the recent Toyota fiasco Ford knows that no matter what happens now they are on the right track with this innovative and fun endorsement.

At the end of the day its all about what people talk about! Jen, Shelley, Hayley, Sabrina and Owen each have their own take on this media campaign. So check them out.

Its PR2.0 at its finest!!

You've got Spam

Twitter by nature is friendly.
It has that friendly bird mascot and even when the server is 'down' the whale being hoisted over the ocean is happy you dropped in for a visit.



Unfortunately his name is the Twitter Fail Whale so he's a bit of a Debbie downer.

Twitter is a great tool! It connects you with people and businesses and interests and all the rest in a tidy 140 characters. Send and receive messages, share links, participate in PR2.0.

But OH NO!! Youve got . . . . SPAM!!!!!

In recent weeks tweeters everywhere have been accosted with naughty messages. Suddenly everyone was a horny 23 year old, or on some video somewhere and the variations go on. Generally it was just irritating.

And if you were absent minded enough to open the message then it was all over for you. Your followers got the message and if they opened it their followers got the message and on and on and on.

Thankfully there were people out there nice enough to send instruction on how to rid yourself of this terrible little thing.



Overall it was simple. Delete the offending messages and then change your password.

That's all I had to do? Really?!?!

Its no wonder people and corporations remain resistant to Twitter. If you were one of the unfortunate ones who opened the message and you propositioned all your twitter friends how does that make you look? Not so great!

How can you tell your business they can protect themselves and still access this fantastic tool? Well first of all, don't be a dunce and open fishy messages (oops!), change your password once in a while and other do's and dont's. That's all it takes my friends.

Happy Tweeting!!

What's my Swoosh: Discovering my Personal Brand

The field of Public Relations is exciting and expanding. It is important to be able to sell yourself to a potential employer.

Knowing and understanding what your Personal Brand is will enable you to present yourself thoughtfully and professionally to an employer. It will also help to refine your existing online reputation.

Once you know the answer to "Whats my shoosh" you will be better able to participate in the Public Relations world.

I am a young woman currently studying the field of Public Relations. I have many years of Sales behind me and am always comfortable in front of an audience. Some of the things that I have to offer to a potential employer are highlighted here in my Personal Brand Plan.

Lauren Ramsay Personal Brand. Whats my swoosh.

View more presentations from Humber College.

Broadband connects us all

Public Relations is evolving.
Right now.
This very minute.
And the super cool thing is that right now, this very minute you are a part of it!
Yes you are!
Good for you!!!

Long long ago, in the days of fax machines and snail mail there was Mr. PR. He was a vehicle for discussion and communication he represented the company. He was the a communicator and image maker.

Well not anymore my friends. With the arrival of broadband not only have we lost that funny dial up noise, we have developed into highly connected human beings. So long six degrees of separation hello Six Pixels! The evolution of the Internet has forced us to evolve. And so MR. PR2.0, master of social media, was born.

Broadband burst onto the scene promoting tools such as Blogger and Twitter and Picnik. Everything was accessible, and much easier to use. The people didn't need Mr. PR to communicate the message. They could get the message, or comment on the message, or write the message, sitting on the couch at home. And social involvement keeps growing.

Rise up citizen journalist!! We are listening!

PR2.0 is here and is a discussion the likes of which we have never seen. Deirdre Breakenridge puts into words the importance and relevance of broadband connectivity. It isn't enough to be online, you have to communicate online!!



Or your could ignore it. Your choice.

In order to not drown in social media tools, you need Mr. PR2.0. He can plug you in and turn you on and all together save you because he understands. GenY doesn't want to listen to advertising noise. Just give us the message, or we will write it for you.

And there it is. Broadband has enabled the masses to claim information production and transfer as their own. Mr PR2.0 is there to promote this exchange. Unlike his predecessor , Mr. PR2.0 wants to talk to everyone, all the time, he has social capital. His network is vast and far reaching your probably connected to him right now.

Are you on FarmVille?

Do you have something that distracts you? Something that you can justify wasting time on because it “helps you relax?” For my mom it was Tetris. She plunked down in front of the computer on a trip to Florida and played for the better part of a morning.

She is not alone. I have battled addictions to solitaire and checkers. Facebook was responsible for at least one paper being handed in late in college. Now, it’s FarmVille and I’m not the only one.

FarmVille is an application on Facebook where you plant, grow and harvest your farm. It involves little more than a point and click level of participation and it is HIGHLY addictive. So addictive in fact that Dr. Phil berated a woman his show about her addiction.

Everyone is talking about FarmVille. Facebook has a fan page and hosts the application, Twitter has a thread and there are countless videos on YouTube. Bloggers everywhere are posting hints, cheats and opinions. Gamespot.com posted on the subject. With almost 78 million users FarmVille is the fastest growing application on Facebook. Billions of man hours have been lost to this game.

Most reviews , and there are many, describe FarmVille as a simple game. By requiring very little brain power, FarmVille provides the user with a distraction from life. Just point and click your way to a more attractive and crop filled existence.

What I want to know is this. What is it about FarmVille, The Sims, celebrities and movies that is more attractive than our actual lives? Are we really so boring ourselves?

I don't know about you, but I would like an answer.

Just not right now, my crops need harvesting.

Vimeo a community for artists by artists

Vimeo is a community created for artists by artists. Enabling like minded people to share their creative juices in a cool and interactive way.

New users can chose from two account types, one that costs and one that is free. You can easily link up your Vimeo account to your Facebook account. Making the site user friendly and exciting all at the same time!

It's bright, friendly and the opening page lays it all out with Quality, Community and Plus tabs front and centre. Right away the creators invite you to take a look into their world. With tabs titled "Videos we like", "Explore" and "Right now" even your average Internet surfer will find something on here to peak their interest.

The Usability of this site, as outlined above is simple and direct. There are features that you would want to use right away that you cant find or learn about through a simple click from the homepage.

Particularly useful is the "Explore" tab. Click on it and you will see all the different communities that exist. Making reaching your target audience easier to reach. Generally they are all in the same place!! Alma won a bunch of awards and I didn't know about it before I clicked on the art link.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

As a sharing site Vimeo increases the visibility of many different groups. There are 'communities' for artists, not for profits and on and on. Its application for business and entertainment. Use it to launch a new artist or search for new talent!!

This is a global community dedicated to sharing, though not necessarily a game changer Vimeo does provide a forum, similar to youtube in its sharing capacity but dissimilar in the content and overall goal of the people involved.

Now that you have a better understanding of Vimeo's Usability and Utility to go Jordana's Blog to see her critique of the Community itself. After all, sites like this are built on their community and can only survive if they are able to maintain a viable user base.

SlideShare How To

Social Media has earned itself an image that is not entirely fair. It is not just for the drunk and stupid, the procrastinators and the social butterflies. Social Media serves a much larger market , all you have to do it take a look.

Programs like SlideShare exist for the 'unseen' market. They are a tool for corporations to reach their audiences as well as their employees. No longer is being ‘sick’ a valid excuse for missing a meeting.

By uploading a PowerPoint presentation onto any host sites, you can share publically and reach millions or share privately on intranets with colleagues and clients. Even download the presentation right onto your computer. It is even applicable as a promotional tool for events. With 23mn monthly visits and 60mn monthly page views the founders of this San Francisco and Deli based operation are make an impact on Social Media.

Check out Jens Blog for the environmental application for an example of how it enables you to grow your personal network and reach a target audience and Aasana's Blog for some more info on SlideShare.

SlideShare is an easy and effective tool to reach the masses, from their own computers.

Check out this SlideShare about Social Media and Economic Developers!

Eight Things Economic Developers Should be Doing with Social Media

View more presentations from Atlas Advertising .

As you can see, SlideShare has use in many different fields. And in case you weren't sure just how to it. Here is a great How To video. Enjoy!!