GodTube

Most of us know what YouTube is, right? Whether we use it to watch funny videos, political debates or to promote our social media projects, the majority of our generation is familiar with this website that is used to share videos.

I found an article (http://tinyurl.com/352yhd) on CNN.com that details GodTube, a video-sharing website with Christian content. Created by Clay Wyatt, a seminary student from Texas, GodTube drew more than 4 million unique visitors during October of this year. The videos on this new website include everything from comedy videos to theological debates. I even found this little gem:

As social media tools like YouTube become more and more mainstream, will we continue to see more sites like GodTube that target certain demographics? I believe that we will. It's only natural for smaller, more specific programs to emerge as the originals gain popularity. These new tools would cater towards a smaller population sector and ease the difficulty of finding certain types of videos. I would imagine that pretty soon we'll see video-sharing site that are specific to different regions, sports, television shows and so forth.

Gah, I love this stuff.

After our discussion on crisis communication Thursday, I went and checked out the Web site of Levick strategic communications in Washington D.C. They also have a blog, and I decided to read what was on it.

The most recent post talked about customer service during crisis situations. I left a comment asking if they think Twitter is a good way to communicate during crises.

Richard Levick, President and CEO, replied to my post, and this is what he said:

Good point, Katherine. We’ve found that most ‘big’ companies are still trying to get a grasp on things like dealing with RSS feeds and interacting with the blogosphere, so we feel like it will be a while before companies and large organizations finally jump on the Twitter bandwagon. That said, Twitter is certainly effective for getting the word out to a select group of folks–but just like the blogosphere, there’s no gatekeeper–so the info may or may not be completely accurate. I think we may see some of the more cutting edge Web 2.0/Web 3.0 tech companies adopting this as another customer touchpoint, but they’ll have to create strong value-add reasons to get folks to sign up for their Twitter updates.

Now we have another friend out there who knows about our class! Yay for fun social media.

Reference to: Die! Press Release! Die! Die! Die!

Today when Todd Defren from SHIFT Communications was talking about the social media press release he referenced a blog post called Die! Press Release! Die! Die! Die! by Tom Foremski, saying it was written at a tipping point for public relations and helped spark the creation of the social media press release.

The title made me laugh and Mr. Defren's comments about the post inspired me to go find the post, just to see what it said. You can find it here, at the Silicon Valley Watcher site. The post touches on what many people are and were annoyed with about traditional press releases - it seems like a lot of fluff and 'spin' that we as public relations professionals try to avoid. It also offers some of the ideas that were incorporated into the social media press release.

Anyway - it was a funny title with interesting content and I wanted to share. Enjoy!

social media spotlite #4: recap

Today Todd Defren from SHIFT Communications skype'd in for a telephone call with us in class. Lucky for us, he was more than willing to talk about his company's revolutionary proposal to overhaul the 100-year-old press release. Todd told us about the history of the SMPR, the benefits of using it & even responded to some of barriers practitioners might bring up in opposition of the SMPR.

A few great take-aways from the conversation was that the SMPR isn't just for pitching -- it is a great way to tap into SEO & share your content with folks doing general searches for things you've covered in your releases & that that you don't have use it in it's entirety. It is a template - you decide what works. There's lots more to hear though.

The audio is available for download here.

Billboard and iLike Collabo

Billboard and iLike collaborate to produce social media based music charts! How cool is that!

Click here to hear details!

social media spotlite #4: Todd Defren

Today in class SHIFT Communication's Todd Defren will talk to us about the social media press release as we put him in the daily "social media spotlite."

Todd, principal at SHIFT, leads client services and business development efforts for the $10M firm:

Working in high-tech public relations for approximately 15 years, Defren currently specializes in Social Media strategies and is widely noted for creating the first template for Social Media News Releases in 2006; he followed up with a template for Social Media-optimized online newsrooms in early 2007.

Prior to SHIFT, Defren was at Sterling Hager, joining in 1994 as an account manager and reaching the level of managing director of the San Francisco office in August 2000. His earlier experience included managing the strategic and tactical corporate communications at ENTEX Information Services, a $2 billion New York-based systems integrator, now part of Siemens AG.

Defren has served as a visiting professor at Emerson College in Boston, lecturing on marketing and public relations on the Internet. In 2006, Defren was named a Research Fellow and member of the Advisory Board of the Society for New Communications Research.

Education: bachelor's degree in literature from Bard College (Annandale, NY).

Todd blogs at http://www.pr-squared.com/.

Update: Listen to our discussion with Todd.

Tips for Success in the Music Industry

In the previous post, I was headed to the Atlantis Music Conference and Festival in Atlanta. It was absolutely phenomenal. I met so many people and gained so much knowledge. In my YouTube video I combined everything I learned from the conference, other panels I attended and notes from my music business class to create an instructional video. I wanted to share the valuable information I received with other artists so that they can become more successful in the music industry. I also included clips from an interview I conducted with JaWar, author of the Music Industry Connection Book Series and chief visionary officer of Music Therapy 101. I hope you all enjoy! Maybe you can use some of these tips yourself!

Here is my first video on networking:



The next video is on tips to use when you make your record:



Tips on how to market and promote your music:






Tips on marketing and promoting via internet:





Updated 11/1 - Changed video links to YouTube rather than hosting video in Blogger :)

YouTube Video Project

Well, this is it. Below you'll find that I've embedded the video I created for my project. It's basically a celebration of Georgia's fantastic victory over Florida that happened just last Saturday. I got permission to use the photographs in the video from a friend at UGASports.com, the Rivals Web site for Georgia. The picture quality may appear to be a bit distorted. I did intend for this to happen. I placed an effect on the video to make it appear like the slide show is running on an aged film reel. I'll leave it for you to judge, but hopefully you'll enjoy it. I was also happy with the backing track. It's a classical work by J.S. Bach. Now you might be saying, "Classical? What does that music have to do with football?" Normally, not much. But for me, once I heard it behind this photo set, it meant everything to have it there. As many of you know, the game against the Gators was chock-full of emotion. The Bach piece is also very emotional, and I think it highlights the state of the game.

But enough about the video itself. Let me mention briefly the marketing strategy. I'm happy to say that the Web site which provided the photos to me will also be placing a link to my video on their "Dawgs' Eye View" page sometime soon. So be sure to check it out. In addition, I plan to share it with a variety of other SEC related message boards. Finally, I also write a college football blog called Down & Distance and I'll be posting the video on there in a day or so. I hope to attract a lot of attention. Please tell your friends! =)

mySocialMediaProject

As promised here, I have created a tribute to the class of 2008. Watch my video for a peek into my college experience. Get ready to feel nostalgic, I promise it will trigger your memory! Feel free to share your thoughts and your memories!

I am having problems directly posting my video so this is the link to YouTube! Enjoy!

Dorinda

Here is my project. Well pictures of my project. I met some people from the NMI island and they filmed me setting up my "studio" and it will be available friday.

Here is the link to my first post.

Here it is....

Social Media projects have been "works in progress" for several weeks now. Well, the creation portion of my project is complete. If you'll remember, I had decided to create a video using iMovie about study abroad programs and other opportunities to go abroad as a student at UGA. In the next month, I'll be using several tools to market my video on the internet.

With that in mind, I've uploaded the video to YouTube. Check it out:

social media spotlite #3: recap

Today Jeremy Pepper skype'd in to the class to talk to us about social media & he focused on the community aspect of it. The audio got hard to hear at times, but it is well worth listening to ... check out the video below.

Jeremy tells us a little about himself & the importance of community


The Point & their campaigns for change


How do you find online communities & engage them?


How important is it to operate by the "rules" in online communities?


Targeting specific age groups in social media


Thanks again to Jeremy Pepper for taking the time to talk to us!

Uga Got Bark

We all love our adorable mascot and the school he represents!

For my social media project, which I proposed to the class here, I posted a video on YouTube. This remix to Sir-Mix-Alot's classic rap "Baby's Got Back" highlights some of my favorite places and things about UGA. Watch it below or go to YouTube and see it there.

Uga Got Bark!

social media spotlite #2: recap

Last week Erin Caldwell from Edelman skype'd in as our social media spotlite for a phone call to talk about how students can prepare themselves for the work force by working on their social media skills.

The audio from this call is now available here.