Social media is the newest fad: Guest Post by Collean Toupin

Social media is the newest fad, for everything, for everyone. New platforms are being developed to try new and interesting means of communication, but one important factor remains: you can no longer avoid social media. Social media is even crossing over into our work lives, with its use in the professional world becoming more and more apparent. With the SEC’s blessing on using social media for fair disclosure (you can read more here in a blog written by Dennis Walsh explaining the new rules, the VP and director of Social Media for Sharon Merrill - http://blog.investorrelations.com/2013/04/08/sec-gives-social-media-for-ir-its-blessing/), the business community has seen social media has move into the spotlight over the last few weeks. Companies are finding all sorts of different ways to use social media to help develop maintain and strengthen their brand.

One way some companies have been using social media, is to involve their CEO. While it has been found that only 16% of CEOs are currently using social media to connect with their constituents, IBM predicts a 256% increase in the use of social media by CEOs in the next five years (http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/en/c-suite/ceostudy2012/infographic-01.html). Some CEOs, like Peter Aceto (the CEO of ING Direct Canada - https://twitter.com/CEO_INGDIRECT), are ahead of the ball-game and have been using social media for quite some time, and have used social media very well to develop their brand. He uses his Twitter page to connect to users on the daily, frequently replying back to tweets, about all different sorts of topics. Much of the content developed by Aceto is business related, but he makes sure to disseminate pieces that are relatable to the everyday person, such as a tweet posted on April 15, about having the how-to-save-money talk with your teenager. In an article written by Forbes magazine, Aceto is quoted as saying “Being open, sharing more about ourselves, showing a relatable side, are all extremely valuable and can be real competitive advantages,” when commenting on the type of content he tries to deliver through his social media use” (http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2013/01/30/a-bank-executive-they-call-the-social-media-ceo/). Aceto understands that social media provides transparency for his constituents. His constituents, by reading his page, can see and read about him being a father, posting about guiding your children to save money, can see and read about him being a citizen, his comments on different social events that are occurring and can see and read about him being a professional by reading the business posts. Aceto also warns against some risks that come with social media as well, here.

The risks pointed out by Aceto are real, and with the SEC allowing social media to be used for fair disclosure, they will become even more apparent as the social media trend develops. Companies choosing not to partake in social media may find themselves facing criticism for not extending the lines of communication with their constituents. Aceto also states that if posts are not authentic and real, there is a reputational risk. We all know that lying doesn’t get us very far, ever.

But, with some social media training (and common sense- what is acceptable in public, is acceptable on social media, what is not acceptable in public, is not acceptable on social media), social media will drive business results. There are plenty of different resources that can be used to learn how to use social media effectively. One, a video blog by Tim Howard, the CEO of IRSmarttInc provides guidelines for a personal profiles online and how to use them effectively.

Another great resource is Peter Aceto’s Twitter page, it will show you different examples of topics to use
to interact with the public. Twitter searches will provide great results for social media guidance. Resources are readily available all over the web. It is important to have a full understanding of social media, its risks, benefits and how-to’s before you dive in and use social media. But it is important to learn quickly, smart social media use gives your business a very competitive edge.

SEC Guidelines on Social Media: Guest Post by Erin Mannix

On April 2, 2013 the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued new rules regarding the disclosure of key information. The SEC gave the OK allowing companies to use social media as a main source of communication among their investors. However, with this change to section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 comes several ethical rules that companies must abide by.

Before releasing company information, companies must inform all of their investors where the information will be posted. If companies do not follow this important rule, using social media as a form of communication will not be worth it; it will only be able to be seen by certain investors. Investors must be alerted of the release of new information, and they must be alerted at the same time, giving no one investor a leap ahead of the other. If information is only released to certain investors, it leaves others behind on the latest news and updates. One group of investors or shareholders should not be given an advantage just because a company is selectively withholding important information from others.

Due to this new change to section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, business communication will never be the same. With the constant changes and improvements with technology and social media sites, companies will have to continuously change and adapt to keep up. If companies are serious about using social media as a main source of communication, they must use it consistently and remember to continuously update, inform, and monitor what is being said about them. Using social media can jeopardize or improve a company’s reputation. If a company only posts a minimal amount of information, investors may begin to question how invested they are. With that being said, if companies take advantage of this new rule, posting information and constantly updating, social media sites can also gain something. Companies can help social media sites to grow and become bigger than they may be already. Companies can exchange information and feelings on how one site may work better to release certain information over others. If companies work well with the social media sites, both can advance and grow.

Social media is a quick and easy way for companies to spread important information as long as they are doing it correctly. Companies must be aware of what they are writing on social media sites and letting the public into. Whatever you place online is public information; it is how investors and the public perceive you and your company.

Hoping that all of the company’s investors are on the social media sites to obtain this information, companies should take advantage of this new change in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Using social media can be a great way to improve a company’s image. It can show what the company’s views are on certain topics, while releasing fast information for all of its investors to obtain.

No one can know what may come with the future and companies using social media. The future of company’s and the use of social media to release information is entirely up to the company and if they can quickly adapt and change with the technology. If they choose to take advantage of this new rule, they should not forget to interact with their audiences.

IR APPS: Is Investor Relation adequately using their technological resources? Guest Post by Kellie Duffy

If you need to check the correct conversion of money during your trip to Italy, there’s an app for that, want to block the number of your ex so you will stop calling them, yup there’s an app for that, too. From checking the weather and traffic, to checking your bank statements most things you need are all in the palm of your hand, but has Investor Relations (IR) reached their potential with using these applications?

Surprisingly, IR has yet to make any ground breaking effort to full integration of our app filled world. An industry reliant on getting information to a vast number of people at the same time, you may assume, would have apps being widely used and developed.

There is a website, theIRApp, focusing on quickly creating App’s for publicly traded companies in order to have information such as stock information, fact sheets, audio conferences calls, etc. available to whoever downloads their apps. The resources for companies to create and manage a smartphone app are available; it is up to the companies themselves and possibly the profession of investor relations as a whole to jump on board with creating the applications.

With most things involving Investor Relations, a big question and problem is with the regulations in place and making sure Investor Relations professionals and companies are abiding by them. If these IR apps were to become apart of the culture of publicly traded companies, I believe it would affect the way companies can disseminate their information while keeping in mind Regulation FD. These apps could potentially be the sole way to get information out to their shareholders and potential shareholders. Nowadays, most people have a Smartphone and the large majority is beginning to also acquire products like tablets that also rely on applications to draw in customers. App’s are what make these highly sought after products worthwhile, and companies as well as Investor Relations professionals should be aware that their current and potential shareholders have these products and use App’s for a lot of their day to day activities.  Keeping this in mind, they should push to make app’s for their companies a go to for information regarding potential investment and stocks.

As IRwebreport.com highlights, there are definitely some companies using apps to get information about their companies out there. One app is a Mexico based cement company, Cemex. I downloaded the free app for Cemex to see what it was all about, and it is a good example of what companies may look to focus on when designing and app with Investor Relations in mind. The home screen has all the fundamentals with tabs linking to “my needs, best practices, product documents, and contact us”. The Cemex app, which was created in 2010, is a positive framework for what an app can provide to potential and current shareholders.

Although there is some prevalence of these apps for IR, there still remains a lot of room to expand. With a focus on Relational Investing as well as importance of intangible assets, an app for a company with information on stocks, decisions companies are making and how it could affect shareholders, could no doubt, assist with creating relational investors in a company which in turn can create a more profitable and successful company as a whole.

The Rising Use of Twitter in Investor Relations: Guest Post by John Muzzy

The business world has come to embrace social media and investor relations seems to be the next big field to do so as well. In just the past few years the impact Twitter has had on IR has gone up dramatically. While investors still primarily rely on the companies themselves for information, Twitter has become increasingly important.

The Brunswick group recently conducted a survey of over 500 investors and sell side analysts in Europe, US, and Asia and the results showed 30% use Twitter, which is a 19% increase from the last time this study was conducted two years ago. One eighth of those surveyed say they made an investment decision based off something they saw on Twitter. Twitter has also proven to be a very important first step for investors. 28% of those surveyed said they searched for information on an issue they originally saw on Twitter. Stocktwits, the IR specific Twitter related social networking site created in 2008, now has a community of over 200,000 investors, marketing professionals, and private companies.

While the usage of digital media continues to rise traditional media sources are become less and less used. The number of investors who see the importance of traditional business media online was down 13% from where it was two years ago. However, even with these changes in the media landscape, getting information directly from the company is still the preferred information gathering method for investors. While that is currently the norm, the future of social media is not lost on those investors. Social networking sites like Twitter are constantly growing industries and 56% of the investors in this survey see the role of digital and social media increasing as time goes forward. Here is the infographic from Brunswick on the left.

Right now the more common practice is to use Twitter as an information gatherer rather than an information distributor, but both practices are on the rise. One plan some companies have developed is creating a specific Twitter account for IR. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has the most followed company specific IR Twitter account with over 11,000 followers. For them it was all about understanding their audience and the correct way to direct their message. WWE’s proactivity in this field is what has led to their success. They quickly and effectively advertised the creation of their IR account which helped garner followers. Their investors have enjoyed having one simple source to gather information and it’s made their lives easier, something that investors always appreciate.

The WWE has become the example for other companies on how to establish and execute an IR specific account. Those managing these IR Twitter accounts continue to find ways to utilize them including but not limited to sharing stories, providing links to previously disclosed materials, live tweeting meetings, directing followers to other social media outlets, and engaging with followers. As companies continue to understand the ways in which they can utilize social media the use of these resources will continue to rise, especially Twitter, which has the potential to become a highly used intermediary between companies and their investors. This is still a fairly new medium for companies to apply and all signs point to a continuous significant growth in the utilization of Twitter in the coming years.

CES Day Three: The changing nature of marketing and public relations

My Day 3 at CES was the most exciting. In the morning I wandered the exhibit halls a little bit more and even met a person who attended the conference virtually – she was on a screen and the screen was on a robot that could move around the exhibit hall, talk to other people, look closer at the items on the table and so on. It looked cool but seemed more like a temporary solution rather than the future of conference travel. 3D holograms from Displair seem like a better solution: you can have a hologram of a person wandering the exhibit hall that you can shake hands with. And, of course, in the future, it will be a virtual exhibit hall and we all will be present there virtually. What a tragedy for the airline business!

The highlight of the day was the keynote address I attended: Brand Matters. The keynote had senior level professionals in marketing/corporate communications from world leading corporations. Among the speakers were Michael Bowling, Chief Marketing Officer of AT&T; Josh Silverman, President, U.S. Consumer Services, American Express; Joseph Tripodi, EVP, Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer, The Coca Cola Co.; and Keith Weed, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Unilever. But the session was kicked off by Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of saleforce.com, whose vision for the future was the most eye-opening.

What all speakers agreed on was the fact that the main revolution comes not from any single new gadget but from new era of communications between the gadgets – they will talk to each other and, more importantly, talk to us and to their headquarters.

Today in many of our public relations/marketing/corporate communications programs we talk to students about how social media influence communications between a company and consumers. We look at case studies of customers going to Facebook to complain about malfunctioning appliance or going to Twitter to describe their problems live; we discuss in classes how companies must quickly and competently react to this flow of information. But it looks like this is not the future, but, in fact, the past.

If there is a Samsung refrigerator connected to the Internet, why cannot it send an email to Samsung notifying the headquarters that, for example, the temperature in the freezer is getting outside of normal range before a customer even notices anything. Then, the refrigerator can connect to the cell phone of the customer and check his or her schedule to arrange for a technician visit to check on the refrigerator. In other words, appliances will need to become self-aware and will be able to have themselves repaired before they can cause any issue to the final user or even before the user will notice anything. “The circle of love” as Marc Benioff called it– our appliances can really become our friends taking care of us.

And we can take it one more step further – refrigerator can talk to a dishwasher and notice you do not like one brand of food because there is plenty of it left on your plate – so, next time it can text you to say remember you bought Brand A vegetables last week and did not like them - buy Brand B this time. And, of course, they all will talk to the toilet to see how your body reacted to different products, how your health is affected and maybe connected to your medical provider to develop recommendations for you. So, yes, we will be talking to our appliances and becoming friends with them – in fact, they may become our best friends and can save our lives. And imagine what a great new potential for marketing it opens and how targeted that can get! This means moving from audiences or publics to marketing to individuals.

As always, it would raise issues of privacy or losing some more individual control, but it brings convenience and people, I believe, are willing to sacrifice privacy and control for convenience – see, for example, all the success of Apple products.

And this maybe not such a long way in the future – already today we have all these appliances with internet connectivity, already today we have cell phones containing user’s schedules, emails, credit cards and other information. If a refrigerator can order food delivery, it can send an email to headquarters. There is no doubt about the importance of mobile in all this – cell phone will become or already is the center piece of all our networks and our communications. So, significant focus in student’s education should be on mobile.

But let’s look more into the future. If we all are going to get 3D printers at home and shop online for whatever we desire, a malfunctioning refrigerator can email to headquarters about its problems and then self-terminate or self-disintegrate; while headquarters will send an order to print another refrigerator to the user’s 3D printer and, once printed, refrigerator will be installed in the very same place where the old one was. All without any people involvement at all.

Which brings up another point – massive data. Already today, there are more customer data available than companies can process. American Express and Coca Cola representatives both mentioned that they have plenty of data – the problem is converting data into insight and knowledge. For now it means importance of research skills for marketing and communication graduates. But the data volume will continue to increase exponentially. So, there is no doubt it will lead to more and more demands for artificial intelligence with data processing capabilities. Yes, companies will have to develop virtual presence through artificial intelligence living in the cloud processing terabytes of data perhaps having their personalities and communicating to us one-on-one via social media – not their representatives but actual companies – they will become our friends for real. Super computers in the cloud talking from the name of a corporation to us, collecting and processing data on us, and helping us improve our quality of life.

What artificial intelligence lacks, however, is creativity. So, to prepare our students for their future, we should focus on interpreting research results and conclusions that artificial intelligence will provide us with in the future and then coming up with creative solutions to the identified issues.

Of course, once technology, companies, products move to live in the cloud, people will move into cloud even more than today. But that is the whole other story…

Learning about the future of news at Consumer Electronics Show

This week I am attending CES (Consumer Electronics Show; http://www.cesweb.org) in Las Vegas as a guest of IRTS (International Radio and Television Society Foundation; http://irtsfoundation.org). For day one, IRTS organized a great event where academics who study and teach social media could meet with leaders of the profession. The topic of the conversation was “The art of reaching consumers in the digital age” but since many of the professors as well as speakers were from the journalism field, the conversation kept returning to the future of news organizations. And I have to admit that after today I do not see a happy future for today’s news organizations in any shape or form – not in print, not on TV, not even online – despite some professionals and academics cheerful comments. So, here is my quick one-sentence summary of each speaker’s presentations and then, at the end, my conclusion.

First, Jack Myers (https://twitter.com/JackMyerscom), Chairman of Media Advisory Group, talked about the convergence of brain, heart, and gut and the new generation that embraces this convergence – they do not want just to know they want to feel as well.

Then, David Poltrack, head of research at CBS, tried to persuade us how great networks are adapting to the changes in media consumption – DVRs, video on demand, streaming TV shows – he had plenty of data available, but it sounded more like explaining why the numbers in TV viewership are going down rather than explaining why the numbers of total viewership are going up.

Rob Barnett (https://twitter.com/DamnRob) of My Damn Channel focused on branded entertainment versus commercial-paid model of interruption marketing and proposed that advertisers do not need to rely on networks.

Michael Terpin (https://twitter.com/michaelterpin), founder and CEO of SocialRadius, talked about different types of social media and how brands can use them instead of doing any outreach to the traditional media.

Michael Zimbalist (https://twitter.com/zimbalist) who is in charge of research for the New York Times Company tried to defend the “old” media proposing that it can become interactive and occupy various surfaces: instead of paper New York Times can be on a mirror in your bathroom answering your questions about the day ahead.

Dave Morgan (https://twitter.com/davemorgannyc), founder and CEO of Simulmedia, concluded the day by saying that news organizations thrived in a scarce distribution environment – with 2-3 newspapers and 2-3 TV stations, there was hardly any competition and advertisers had to pay them no matter what. Today, however, distribution is not scarce but plentiful; instead, attention is scarce. He did not believe newspapers could adapt and survive, but broadcast networks would thrive in this entertainment. I was not sure why he made that claim.

So, what did I think at the end? Newspapers, TV stations, and journalism in general are all in trouble! None of the speakers could explain what the added value of a journalist is. New York Times stock dropped from almost $50 to under $10 in the last 10 years and I think it is still overvalued. When Michael Zimbalist talked about the successes New York Times had playing with convergence and online distribution – he talked about the things, such as Infographics, slide shows, and so on, that college students do for fun and for free and post them to Facebook. And New York Times had teams of 10-20 people (all getting salaries and maybe even benefits!) working on those.

Journalists are also in close and symbiotic relationships with their sources – they depend on each other. So, there is not much of “controlling the government” function left any more. Again, regular people can do a way better job than professional journalists.

Another answer suggested by David Poltrack was that content is king. People will have to watch CBS in some way to see the good shows. So, TV networks will survive. But how long before content creators go directly to YouTube? How long before they make a website where they would release a new episode of their show once a week instead of selling it to CBS? How long before they decide they want 100% control over the show and revenues? Why do you need networks if more and more people are watching the shows on their computers, tablets, and cell phones? Same can apply to journalism. If you have a great story about the corruption in the White House why sell it to CBS or New York Times, if you can put it on your web site and have control over everything?

Finally, news. Dave Morgan said that networks and local news stations are essential for that. In fact, the success of networks is attributed to the fact that they delivered news faster than newspapers. But are they still the fastest? Jack Myers in his speech said he had been able to call the election results before any of the networks did by just following Twitter. When something happens I see the information on Twitter and Tumblr and YouTube before I see it on networks. In fact, I often see networks showing the same footage I already saw on YouTube or Twitter earlier. I’d rather believe that in 10 years people will be able to zoom in on Benghazi from space to see what is happening there live(!) using Google maps and then switching to live feeds from cell phones of people located there than they would turn on CBS news to learn about the events in Benghazi at 6pm. And for local news Dave Morgan himself said that a passionate parent can do a better job posting about the little league baseball game than a local newspaper. How about local restaurants? Or road constructions? Or any other topics? In 10 years, when current University and high school students who do everything with a smartphone in their hands turn into adults, they are not going to drop their devices – they will continue taking pictures and videos of the world around them, posting them, tagging them, commenting on them and especially things they are passionate about.

And I think the coverage they would produce, would satisfy brain, gut, and heart as the first speaker, Jack Myers, demanded for the next generation.

So, then, what is the added value of journalism? What does it produce for the society that people should pay for?

A few notes: Huge thanks to all the speakers – your experience and knowledge of the industry was eye-opening. It is of course possible that I misunderstood and/or misinterpreted what the speakers were saying – if this was case, I am sorry about that. Huge thanks to IRTS for this unique opportunity. I know I can serve my students better now when my mind was expanded. Looking forward to Day Two tomorrow (or actually already today)...

Guest post: Crisis communications and public relations by Meghan Murphy

The viral YouTube video of Domino’s employees in 2009, the BP oil spill of 2010, and the more recent Costa Concordia cruise ship accident (shown above with a link to a great article on predicted ramifications from the accident) can each be easily remembered by many, especially by public relations professionals. With crises such as these (and more) occurring every year, it has never been more important for public relations professionals to keep up with innovative tools and trends in the field. Being knowledgeable of new practices and strategies contributes to a better understanding of the field and helps improve the quality of our public relations activities. There are a number of resources professionals can rely on in order to stay up to date with new tools and trends, including MarketingWeek (for example, the article “Brands can’t afford to #fail when it comes to social media crisis comms”).

The area of crisis communications is extremely intriguing to me. Crises can occur at any given time and we (public relations professionals) need to be fully prepared for that moment. In my personal research of the specialization, I have found that there are a plethora of opportunities for crisis communicators to teach companies and organizations about the best practices during a time of crisis. It is more astounding to me that, while some companies or organizations have mastered the art of public relations in times of calm, they fail miserably at communicating with the public during times of chaos.

Graduate students of public relations, such as me, have the unique opportunity to continually expand the knowledge base and skill set that we have already acquired. We also have the chance to apply these skills and knowledge to real life practice. Personally, I intend to learn as much as I possibly can about crisis communications, then move forward and begin applying it in my future career. Check out my blog to track my exploration of the world of crisis communications and public relations.

Guest post: Public relations and new media by Vivian Dennis

Everyone has weighed in on the Costa Concordia disaster since the cruise ship ran aground Jan. 13 off Giglio, Italy. The partially submerged ship is a constant reminder that the accident has claimed 17 lives, with 15 missing and presumed dead.

Earlier this week, National Geographic presented a documentary with passenger, crew, and emergency worker interviews and video taken aboard after the ship struck a reef. Lost in the stories and sound bites is the presence of the ship's operator Costa Cruises and its parent company Carnival Corp.

There has been much criticism of the cruise lines' PR efforts and the low-profile of Carnival CEO Micky Arison to, as some say, distance Carnival from the disaster. Arison has issued statements on Twitter.

“Twitter has granted the media and the public visibility into the personal and professional lives of many executives, athletes and celebrities,” Aaron Kwittken, chief executive of Kwittken & Co. Worldwide, wrote in Forbes. “However, the platform is no surrogate for devoting personal time and attention to address questions that the victims’ families deserve answers to.”

Kwittken is right. Even in the internet era, social media networks are among the tools – not the only tool – to be used in handling such a crisis. Not everyone is plugged in and the personal touch, even if symbolic, can go a long way. It is bad enough to have Costa Concordia mentioned in the same breath as the Titanic, which sank 100 years ago, or as a new standard of failure. But now Carnival's crisis communications brings to mind BP's public relations disaster in the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill.

For more on public relations and media, visit: viviandennis.blogspot.com

Guest post: Entertainment PR by Zoe Hunter

Prior to beginning the New Media course, I had no idea about Google alerts. Once creating my own alerts however, I grew a fond appreciation for yet another successful tool Google has allowed its users to utilize. For the purpose of the class, I set 3 different Google alerts for the 3 different sections one of my name, one of an industry of public relations, and another of a random company of choice. My favorite and the one that demonstrated the need for Google alerts the most were the results yielded by my “Apple, Co.” search. Many articles that seemed critical to the Apple brand were found that discussed the horrible working conditions of the production of Apple products. My favorite article of these results (although very short) was: Apple Products Come At A Cost, which discussed the working conditions of Apple as reported in a monologue by Mike Daisey. Many other results found were pertaining to boycotting Apple products because of these wrongful working condition, etc. These results alone displayed the necessity for public relations practitioners to set up Google alerts for whomever they serve to be able to catch these types of articles and find things that they may deem necessary to respond to - especially articles damaging the reputation of an organization.

With a degree in Public Relations, my personal career goal is to work in music entertainment, therefore maintaining images will be very important as celebrity speculation has, in recent years, been at at an all-time high with the increased usage of celebrity gossip blogs (such as Perez Hilton and Necole Bitchie). Setting Google Alerts for individual celebrities will be beneficial in keeping up with what the media is talking about, and how to combat some of the negative images that may be found.

For more on celebrity news and music entertainment visit zoeshunterPR.blogspot.com.

Guest post: Activism by Jorja Marcil

The Internet and social media have enabled millions to realize and build relationships. People can now easily connect around common interests and causes. Activism organizations have found great benefit from the broad audiences the Internet has made possible. Now, public relations professionals must realize the increasing power of activism organizations. Corporations should not ignore activism voices; instead, public relations professionals must help corporations build relationships with the activist organizations.

I have begun to research the conversations about activism and public relations by utilizing Google Alerts. The initial results have not provided me with many conversations regarding public relations and activism. However, the results have proven that activist voices are everywhere. Many of the results discussed the activist actions regarding Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Planned Parenthood. One article described the actions of activists following the funding announcement as a “virtual firestorm.” Examples of activist movement forces prove that public relations professionals should embrace communication with activist groups or their corporations could suffer. Historically, activists have been viewed as enemies of corporations and public relations professionals. Now, publics demand that corporations be socially responsible and act for the benefit of all, requiring public relations professionals to communicate the responsible actions of corporations with activists and other publics. There is no doubt that the relationship between activism and public relations has changed and will continue to change in the years to come. Corporations must embrace this change and the public relations activist.

For more conversations on activism and public relations please interact with me on my blog!

End of the semester: Students report results of their campaigns

In the Campaigns class, students have to conduct two campaigns: one for a client and one for themselves. The campaign for a client is a group project and is based on client's objectives. The personal campaign is an individual project that aims to create a professional online presence for students with the ultimate goal of securing a job offer upon graduation.

Here is one student reporting on the results of the group campaign project for a client:


Here is another student talking about what he learned in his personal campaign:

The Community Age: The end of Information Age and the future of journalism.

Does journalism have a future in the Community Age? I have no doubt about it. But this future will be very bleak. Journalists, real journalists, will be miserable, poor, useless and discarded.

It was great to be a journalist in the Information Age. But we are clearly living now in the Post-Information Age. Information, which used to be a hot product, is now a commodity. Everybody can have as much up-to-date information as any journalist.

A couple of months ago, there was a horrific terrorist attack in the Russian airport Domodedovo. I learned about it on Twitter. I saw YouTube videos of the attack itself and of the aftershock after the attack from people who were at the airport and videotaped it with their cellphones. I read information from victims, their relatives, and people who were actually at the airport at the time live using LiveJournal, VKontakte, Facebook, and Twitter as well as a few blogs.

But what made the end of the Information Age clear for me was the fact that when I got home in the evening and turned on the news, all the news channel showed the same YouTube videos I already saw and used all the quotes I already read. So, where is the journalism then?

That is why I think CNN is struggling. They try to be a news organization in a post-news world. People do not need journalists for news anymore. That is also why Fox News is bourgeoning – it is not news but propaganda – it does not tell the news it explains information from a certain standpoint. MSNBC went the same way. Propaganda may be a harsh word – call it news analytics (that may be too nice of a word), or cause marketing, or promotion, or persuasion. The point is: it is not what traditional journalism is about – delivering objective news.

Next time something horrible or great happens we will know about it from bystanders’ Twitter feeds and see it on YouTube courtesy of bystanders’ cell phones, long before we will learn about it from journalists. And even then, journalists will probably just repeat the same YouTube videos and use the same tweets as quotes. Yet, Fox News “journalists” will make one conclusions, while MSNBC “journalists” will come to polar conclusions based on this same event whatever it might be.

What is interesting, however, is to try to understand what will come next. After the Industrial Age, people spent a decade in the Post-Industrial Age before Information Age came around and propelled journalism to the new heights. Now I believe we are in the Post-Information Age. What will replace it? To me, it seems like it might be the Community Age (you can also call it Network Age or Relationship Age). Your personal community, professional community, geographical community and other communities will have as much of an effect on your quality of life and on your opportunities as possessions had in the Industrial Age or knowledge had in the Information Age.

You are not what you have or what you know, but who you know and who knows you... your community.