Blogging Honestly and Ethically – Part II

Last time we talked about blogging honestly. This time I’d like to address the issue of blogging ethically. As a new blogger this year, I figured that as long as I my posts were honest, I’d be okay. That’s true to a point, but there’s much more to blogging ethically than just being honest. Below are a few things I learned about blogging ethically.

Ethics

Although not all bloggers are professional journalists, we do publish our content online and have the potential to reach millions of readers each day. I know that there is so much content online that we might think that no one is listening to what we’re saying, but that’s not true. We’re talking to the world through a virtual megaphone and need to be mindful of what we say. So I suggest that we look at the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)’s Code of Ethics and apply these guidelines to our blogs in order to be more ethical bloggers.

According to the code, journalists must:

1) seek truth and report it;
2) minimize harm;
3) act independently; and
4) be accountable.

When journalists seek truth and report it, they “should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.” As bloggers, we should do the same. We should be as honest as possible when presenting information to our readers. This includes crediting sources and using content created by others responsibly as mentioned in my previous post (Blogging Honestly and Ethically – Part I). Not everyone possesses a journalistic nature and goes beyond our posts to examine further a subject. Often times our blogs may be the only source the reader uses for information. As such, we should be as thorough as possible when posting information online.

When journalists minimize harm, they “treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.” As bloggers, we should be careful about the claims we make and the words we use. I’m not saying that we should censor our posts, but we should be aware of the impact that our posts can have on others. Whether you’re reviewing a product or a service or commenting on an article or a fellow blogger’s post, you should be as respectful as possible but still remain honest in the process. Remember, our blogs can be seen by anyone with access to the internet, so try to write as if the whole world is watching you.

When journalists act independently, they “should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.” As bloggers, we have the same responsibility, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) thinks so, too. In fact, the FTC amended the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising earlier this year to include full disclosure from bloggers who review products and services. The amendment states, “the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.” In short, let your readers know your relationship between you and the subject of your post. If you hide information from your readers, and they discover your dishonesty, then you’ll lose your credibility and eventually your readers. And what’s a blog without readers? Words on a page.

When journalists are accountable, they “are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.” Again, as bloggers, we must also be accountable for our posts and use our virtual soapbox to improve and inspire the lives of others. Writing recklessly is a disservice to you and your readers. You chose to enter the digital world, so make the most out of it by creating ethical content. Your fellow bloggers and your readers will appreciate the extra time and effort you put into writing your posts. An ethical blog is a credible blog and one that will benefit everyone in the end.

Until next time,

dp

Stayed tuned for more reports on my student adventures in public relations and new media.

Blogging Honestly and Ethically – Part I

As a new blogger this year, I admit that I was hesitant to start adding content to the digital world for many reasons. But the most pressing reason was that I didn’t know what I was doing. It’s not like riding a bike or driving a car. There’s no license to obtain or a certificate to earn, but there are rules and guidelines to follow. And I’d like to share some of these guidelines with you that helped me avoid a few hazards along the digital highway.

Honesty

When you’re writing about something, be honest and give credit where credit is due. There are so many great topics out there to discuss and some great images, video and text to accompany them, but be careful when including these elements in your blogs. If you want to use these elements, first get permission and second credit the sources.

When it comes to text, consider linking to the source as well as crediting the source in your post. Since I can’t cite the source as I would in a research paper, I try to do the next best thing and provide my readers access to the source when at all possible. Otherwise, I’ll provide as much information as I can, so the reader can find the source easily.

For images and videos, I try to create my own content wherever possible. If I cannot create my own content, then I obtain permission from the creator to use his/her content or I use copyright-free content. Since I’m a poor college student, I use free sources like Wikimedia Commons to obtain copyright-free images. I also use well-known sites like Google Images to obtain copyright-free images, but I apply one of the usage rights filters provided in the advanced search options on these sites when searching. Depending on your use of the material, there’s a filter for every need.

Google Images, for example, offers five different usage rights filters. The first filter, not filtered by license, will search for all images both restricted and unrestricted. The second filter, labeled for reuse, will search for images labeled with a license that allows you to copy and/or modify the image in ways specified in the license. The third filter, labeled for commercial reuse, will search for images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes, in ways specified in the license. The fourth filter, labeled for reuse with modification, will search for images labeled with a license that allows you to copy and modify the image in ways specified in the license. And the fifth filter, labeled for commercial reuse with modification, will search for images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes and modify it in ways specified in the license. For more information regarding usage rights for Google Images, visit the related Google Help section.

Do you have a favorite site you like to use for copyright-free content? Let me know. I’m always looking for great sites that will improve my work.

Until next time,

dp

Stayed tuned for more reports on my student adventures in public relations and new media.

A New Way to Wow’em in the Boardroom

For those of you looking for a new alternative to PowerPoint, you might want to check out Prezi.com.

Prezi is a free application that allows you to create presentations with flash technology that are both Mac and Windows compatible. Because I’m familiar with Adobe’s Creative Suites, I was able to create a presentation in less than an hour. However, this program isn’t for the technology-challenged. I also wouldn’t recommend Prezi if you prefer a more linear approach to creating presentations.

The finished product is very visually appealing; however, I found the creation process a bit frustrating. For example, the first few steps in creating my Prezi were easy, but the rest of the process was difficult, limited and confusing. First, I clicked Create New Prezi, entered a title and description, selected my design and clicked Create. Next, I clicked Open Me. Then I clicked Open. So far so good, but that’s where it all changed.

Unlike PowerPoint, Prezi does not allow the user to use multiple slides. Instead, the user is given one screen in which to design his/her Prezi. Also, the user must use a control module in the upper left corner to create the Prezi.

To add text to the Prezi, the user must click Place; Text; body, strong or head and then click anywhere on the screen to place the text box. Once you’ve created the text box, you can add text in the text box. However, you cannot change characteristics of the text, such as style or color. You can however, change the position, rotation and size of the text by using a Prezi tool called the transformation zebra.

To use this tool, click Place and then click on the text box. The transformation zebra will appear over the text box. If you click and drag on the inside circle of this tool, you can move the text. If you click and drag on the middle ring of this tool, you can resize the text. And if you click and drag on the outside ring of this tool, you can rotate the text.

To add image, video or PDF files, click Place, Media, and File. Then select a media file and click Open. The file will appear on your Prezi. To edit the file, use the transformation zebra in the same way that you used it to edit text.

Once you’ve finished adding elements to your Prezi, you’ll need to create a path for the presentation. Because Prezi does not place elements on separate slides like PowerPoint, the path will show the elements in the order you desire based on the path you’ve created. To create a path for your Prezi, click Place, Path and path. Then click on the objects in the order you’d like them to appear. Once you’ve click the last object, click on the first object again to close the path. If your objects are too close together, they will appear in the same window. You can use the transformation zebra to move them farther away from each other, so they don’t appear in the same screen together. When you’ve finished creating your Prezi, make sure you save it by clicking File, save & close and close.

Want to see my first Prezi? The click here.

Have you tried Prezi? What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this free application. Post a comment below and let me know.

Until next time,

dp

Stayed tuned for more reports on my student adventures in public relations and new media.

MailChimp or MailChump? You Decide.

This week in my public relations and new media class at Loyola University Chicago, we learned how to create targeted emails using the free services provided by MailChimp. Within a few hours, I quickly learned that free isn’t always better.

MailChimp claims that it can easily help you “build and manage your list, design html email campaigns, send emails with confidence and track and analyze email marketing.” If only the claims were true.

My first campaign started out great. I created a list for my first campaign in less than fifteen minutes. The template was easy to understand and populate and allowed me to copy and paste contacts from an Excel spreadsheet into the list instead of entering each contact separately. However, designing my html email campaign was not as pleasant.

I soon discovered that MailChimp was just as mischievous as a real chimp and reformatted my content repeatedly. In what should have taken me less than an hour to do, I spent at least four hours creating, reformatting, deleting and recreating the same campaign. Not cool. I eventually wound up creating the email in Word and copying and pasting it into MailChimp’s template. I still had to reformat the email but not as drastically as before when I created the entire email in MailChimp’s template. Thank goodness the third step was a little easier.

Even though designing my html email campaign left me a little uneasy about sending my campaign, the test message feature reassured me that the final product was up to my standards. I was able to send a test message to an email address of my choice and revise my campaign as necessary. Thank goodness for this feature. Without it, I may not have continued using MailChimp’s services to create my campaign.

The fourth and final step of this campaign allowed me to include tracking, authentication and social share dynamics in my campaign. Not only was my email sent to my list as intended, but it included additional features that allowed the email recipients to share the message with others and the email sender to track the success of the campaign.

Even though three of the four steps involved in creating a targeted email with MailChimp were easy, I cannot recommend MailChimp to other users. The time wasted and the frustration experienced while using this service was enough to dissuade me from trying MailChimp’s services again and recommending it to other users.

Until next time,

dp

Stayed tuned for more reports on my student adventures in public relations and new media.

Discovering a New Tool to Gather and Organize Data Online

This week in my public relations and new media class at Loyola University Chicago, we learned about Yahoo Pipes (Pipes), which, according to its website, is “a powerful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web”.

This free tool can be used to “combine many feeds into one, then sort, filter and translate it, geocode your favorite feeds and browse the items on an interactive map, power widgets [and/or] badges on your web site or grab the output of any Pipes as RSS, JSON, KML, and other formats”.

As a student, I can use Pipes to research, organize and analyze information for papers and projects. Instead of spending countless hours searching online for information I need, Pipes finds the information for me and organizes it as well. Depending on the parameters I establish when creating my pipe, Pipes can gather content, filter out the items I do not want and sort the items by date. Pretty impressive and efficient. Right? I thought so.

For pr practitioners, Pipes is a great way to keep an eye on your competition and as well as your own efforts. You can track the effectiveness of a new campaign or monitor the success of an existing one. You can see your presence on a local, regional, national or international level or prepare for a new initiative.

If you’re not ready to “get your hands dirty” creating a pipe, as my professor Dr. David Kamerer would say, or are having difficulty creating a pipe, you can always search or browse pipes that other people have created and use and/or edit these pipes depending on your needs. You can also participate in discussion boards or view documents online that offer helpful suggestions in getting the most out of this great tool.

For more information about Yahoo Pipes, I suggest watching the tutorial below or visiting Yahoo Pipes online.

Until next time,

dp

Stayed tuned for more reports on my student adventures in public relations and new media.

Learn How to Build a Pipe in Just a Few Minutes @ Yahoo! Video

Search and Ye Shall Find or Will Ye?

Less than fifteen years ago, someone looking for a plumber might have turned to the yellow pages, the local newspaper or even a next-door neighbor for a telephone number or recommendation. Today, that someone is more likely to go online and use a search engine, like Google or Yahoo, to find that same plumber. In a world full of endless choices, how do you standout? Three words…search engine visibility.

According to Steve Rubel, senior vice president and director of insights for Edelman Digital and co-author of Search Engine Visibility: An Edelman Digital Position Paper, businesses today employ four tactics to maximize their search engine visibility. These tactics are paid search, optimized search, reputational search and social search.

Paid search, or search engine marketing (SEM), according to Rubel, is an advertising paradigm in which marketers purchase small text ads that are triggered when certain keywords are searched. For example, links for Toyota appear in the sponsored links sections at the top and right of the search engine results page (SERP) when searching for the keywords "hybrid cars" at Google.com. Because Toyota purchased keywords, such as hybrid cards, its links will appear in the sponsored links sections of the SERPs as illustrated in the image below.

The second tactic is optimized search (SEO), which, according to Rubel, is a technical process in which webmasters adjust their sites in an effort to rank well organically on high-value keywords. This tactic, if done successfully, incorporates elements both on and off the page, including fresh quality content (text), networked relationships (links), keywords and descriptions.

For example, look at the image above, but more specifically, at the first organic result listed in the SERP below the sponsored links for http://www.hybridcars.com/. Notice the description for this site? It wasn’t chosen by accident. In fact, this description was cleverly placed off the page by the webmaster. If you visit this site and view the source code, you’ll see code for the description. Notice that it’s the same as the one listed in the SERP? Search engines like Google look for these descriptions and use them to rank the results.

Another tool that improves a site’s rank is keywords. If you visit hybridcars.com, you’ll notice several keywords, like “hybrid cars”, both on and off the page. Search engines love text and what better way to feed a hungry search engine than with keywords on your site.

Speaking of text, did you notice that hybridcars.com is mostly text, and more specifically, constantly updated text? Quality content that changes frequently and includes keywords draws attention from search engines and greatly improves the rank of your site in SERPs.

Last, but not least, search engines love links. No man is an island, offline or online, and search engines like Google recognize that. As such, these search engines will improve a site’s rank with each new reciprocal link it acquires. The more traffic these links provide, the higher the site’s rank will be as evident by hybridcars.com’s rank in the image above.

So having learned about SEM and SEO, it’s now time to touch briefly on reputational search and social search. As mentioned previously, reputational search is the third tactic for search engine visibility. According to Rubel, reputational search is the blending of basic SEO tactics with classic PR approaches. The objective is not only to generate media and/or social media coverage, but also to do so in a way that can influence search results. By incorporating fresh quality content (text), networked relationships (links), keywords and descriptions into traditional PR tactics, such as press releases, corporate newsrooms, media relations and blogger engagement, PR practitioners can join in the fun and increase a company’s search engine visibility.

The fourth and final search engine visibility tactic is social search. According to Rubel, those who establish meaningful presence in social networks will not only generate conversation and build relationships but also establish "link equity" that makes them more visible on search engines. As a PR practitioner, you can establish that meaningful presence and increase your company’s search engine visibility.

For more information about search engine visibility, check out Search Engine Visibility: An Edelman Digital Position Paper or subscribe to one or more of Steve Rubel’s blogs, like Micro Persuasion, The Steve Rubel Lifestream or Steve Rubel's Friend Feed.

Until next time,

dp

Stayed tuned for more reports on my student adventures in public relations and new media.

What’s your social technographic profile?

This week in my public relations and new media class, we addressed the topic of social technographics. “What’s that?” you ask. Well, I’ll tell you. According to Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, authors of Groundswell, social technographics “classifies people according to how they use social technologies.”

Still confused? Let me see if I can make it simpler. From what I gathered, social technographics is a means of categorizing people into one or more of six groups based on their usage, or non-usage, of social technologies, such as blogs and social networking sites. These groups, according to Li and Bernoff, are creator, critic, collector, joiner, spectator and inactive, and the combination of one’s participation in each of these groups is one’s social technographic profile. Seems like a lot of scientific, number crunching, mumbo jumbo, doesn’t it? I know it does, but it’s actually quite fascinating.

For example, did you know that young men are more likely to be creators, collectors, joiners and spectators than young women are? Did you know that older boomers (people aged 52 to 62) are more likely to be creators, critics, collectors, and joiners than seniors (people aged 63 and over)? Did you know that democrats are more likely to be creators, critics, collectors, and joiners than republicans or independents? I sure didn’t.

According to Li and Bernoff, creators do exactly that. They create social content, such as writings blogs or uploading video, music or text. Critics are, well, critics. They respond to content that others created. They may post reviews, comment on blogs, participate in forums or edit wiki articles. Collectors are a little less self-explanatory. They organize content for themselves or others by using RSS feeds, tags or voting sites like Digg.com. Joiners join. They connect in social networks like MySpace and Facebook. Spectators are all eyes and ears. They read, watch and listen to a variety of social content but never actually create any themselves. Finally, inactives are just that…inactive. They do not create or consume any social content whatsoever.

So what’s your social technographic profile? Based on Li and Bernoff’s six group definitions, I’d say that I’m definitely a joiner, possibly a low-level creator, critic and spectator but not quite a collector or an inactive. How embarrassing. You’d think someone who grew up in the technological age would have a greater presence online. Wouldn’t you? Well, by the end of this class, I’m going to increase my presence and improve my social technographic profile.

Want to know more? Then check out Bernoff’s presentation on social technographics and rate yourself. I’m sure you’ll be surprised at where you land.

Until next time,

dp

Stayed tuned for more reports on my student adventures in public relations and new media.

Do you know where Americans are going online?

I certainly thought I did until I recently visited http://www.alexa.com/ and checked out the top sites visited by country.

I assumed with fantasy football season approaching and Americans’ incessant curiosity of all things celebrity that yahoo.com and tmz.com would be first and second on the list respectively, but to my amazement, they were not. Out of the top 100 sites visited by Americans, Yahoo ranked second, but TMZ wasn’t even listed. So back to the drawing board I go.

I then put on my public relations (pr) hat and took another stab at some of America’s most visited sites. Since all good pr practitioners need to know what’s going on in the world and in their industry, I figured that Americans might be visiting CNN and The Wall Street Journal. They had to be in the top 100…not so much. Again, one ranked seventeenth and one didn’t even rank at all. Can you guess which one made the top 100? That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. It was CNN at seventeen. Who knew? Obviously not me.

For my last trick, I thought I might try taking off my pr hat and putting on my new media hat. I have a good feeling about this one [wink, wink]. I just have to get it right this time. So knowing how much Americans love their online social networking, I’ll pick Facebook and Twitter.

Can she do it, ladies and gentlemen? Can she pick two sites of the top 100 sites visited by Americans according to alexa.com? The answer is… [dramatic pause]…wait for it… [another dramatic pause even longer than the last one]…wait for it… [one last dramatic pause just for effect]…yes, she can!

Facebook is number three and Twitter is number fourteen. I knew I had it in me. Thanks for avoiding any interpersonal, face-to-face communication, America. I couldn’t have done it without you.

All the best,

dp

Stayed tuned for more reports on my student adventures in public relations and new media.