Back in the Game, Back to Business

… back to the business of Giving Something New.

Few know it, but one of many reasons I use the phrase “Giving Something New” is to imply that I will be constantly trying new things to be on the “Bleeding Edge,” but also that I will be doing something that many people consider both new and old: not stopping or giving up. You see, instead of “giving up” I “give something new.”

Case in point: I have not blogged in many months, due to finishing my PR degree, finding out that I need a technical major to get into the Air Force now, and having to go back and get my CS degree. The rules changed for me, an in order to pursue my dreams and accomplish my goals, I have to change with them.

As such, I have been busy with very practical things in the following months since I nearly graduated… like studying, and working at two jobs – jobs where I have learned patience in service, and mastery of hardware technology. However, this has limited my time with the PR community. And now, after much nudging and prodding by the PR community I was previously so engaged in… I am back. I am giving you something new: a blog post. In fact, a blog post about trying new things, and new approaches, as this has been what my life has been about for these last few months. Don’t think I’m being serious? Check the new hair color.

So, below is a list of the new things I am trying, and my reasoning for why I am suggesting them to you.

NameChk.Com

Ever wanted to make sure that, as the professional you are, no one takes your unique username? Go here. See which sites have your name, and which don’t… and seize the opportunity to keep them for yourself.

Whrrl.Com

Applicable as both a social media community, and an app for most smart phones, you can now coordinate your combination of Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. into one easy-to-use interface.

Loopt.Com

Many of the things I am suggesting are not entirely new, including this. But it is new in that I have been hitherto unable and wary of trying this for the sole reason that I can be tracked anywhere. I could hide behind the idea with other social mediums that I wasn’t giving away my exacty location. This takes that final step. Its useful, but also creepy. So use with caution… but get your toes wet.

Growing a Backbone and Telling People “No”

Wanna work as the social media consultant for a company, but they don’t want to pay you reasonably? Tell them no. I got offered $500 to run the entire SM campaign for a company. For a college student, it was attractive. If I didn’t realize they would pay others more… and if I hadn’t done simple math (something I’m getting better at, by the way) and realized that for the time spent, I would be earning less than minimum wage. And when I countered, they bailed out. Lesson learned: don’t let companies push you over just because this is “new age marketing.” What you do is not snake oil sales. Its business and building 21st century relationships.

Growing a Backbone and Telling People “Yes”

However, when a company is willing to approach you and pay you for plugging their company… and you already do it… I would take the money. Case in point: recently a financial site that I frequent regularly and brag about already has offered me money for each time I plug them. Which I do often. And now I’m earning money on the side for being honest about a company I like. In case you haven’t noticed my rants… you might want to check out yourpersonalfinance101.com .

Until next post,

–JMS–

TwitterSheep

Ok, so I will have a longer post soon, I promise. Just been busy getting PR(evolution) going. This is a workshop where a fellow senior and I will teach PR staff and students here at UA about the Social Media.

But I digress…

My good friend (only know him online, but I have SO much respect for the man), Danny Brown, wrote a blog about TwitterSheep. So I plugged in my username. Tell me if you think it’s me.

–JMS–

Twitter Your Hearts Out… The Senate Is!

The Senate Floor. The House Floor. The U.S. Supreme Court.

Do any of these seem familiar to you?

If so, thank you for having a brain.

If not, no worries, Twitter has made them accesible and welcome to U.S. Policy, Law and Government structure.

“How do I access such quality information,” one might ask. Good question. Tweet these usernames:

@senatefloor @housefloor @ussupremecourt

“What’s a Tweet” one might also ask. At this point, I would normally tell you to take a hike in true “gritty Jacob’s proving himself” mode – because I write for professionals with some understanding of Social Media. But, in light of our government reaching out, I will reach out, too.

1. Direct your browser to www.twitter.com and sign up.

2. Upload a nice face shot.

3. Post your personal site (please no MySpace).

4. Change the them to one of the premade layouts.

5. Write a small 140 character bio.

6. Then Tweet. All tweeting is, is updating your status. Simple? For now. Later, you learn to quality Tweet.

7. Then find the names I just mentioned: @housefloor @senatefloor @ussupremecourt.

8. Click on “follow” underneath their picture.

That is all. There is nothing complicated about this, but if you have questions, comment on this blog and I will try to help you. Why are these usernames important? Because now, thanks to our wonderful new President, his campaign manager and his new staff, we ae being given access to floor updates, new policies, proposal, etc. that were not nearly as accesible before.

For the first time ever, I have to say… Go Obama!

–JMS–

A Cause to Believe In

Want hope? Want change? Want to improve yourself? Want to get in shape and tired of looking at that sagging tire swing around your waist?

PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS.

Join…

… Crimson for a Cure (www.crimsonforacure.com)

Crimson for a Cure is a project for University of Alabama students to honor the past and give hope for the future by raising money for breast cancer research and awareness. Students volunteer to train for and run or walk Nashville’s Country Music Half Marathon on April 25, 2009. Each participant will recruit a minimum of three sponsors who will donate a minimum of five cents for every mile run during ten weeks of official training and the race. All proceeds from this project will go to Colleges Against Cancer’s American Cancer Society Relay For Life event and will be directed toward breast cancer research and awareness.

So basically, you can either join and run/walk 13.1 miles, or pledge so much money.

PERSONALLY: I would like to have you join me and run. But I know that some of you don’t want to commit. And I get that. I’m not requiring it. But if you don’t, can you atleast help by pledging for me?

I mean… 5 cents per mile run during training and the actual event… at the high end of things thats 200 miles, making it like 10 dollars or so. I will run 13.1 miles to save you the time of running and you can help me by pledging $10 or more… or you can run with me and we can have an experience to talk about later.

And really, as far as the running goes, I’m new to it. After 2-3 weeks of training, I am up to 5.5 miles at a time, and climbing. You can do this too.

Contact me at 205.310.6702 or jacob.summers@gmail.com or givingsomethingnew.wordpress.com or twitter.com/jacobsummers if you would like to help.

–JMS–

The Project: Ideas, People, Ideas!

Ok, so I usually like to GIVE. SOMETHING. NEW. But, alas, I need to resort to the other part of my catch phrase, and “take what is mine.”

Essentially, I need professional suggestions.

The Goal: I need an online forum host.

• It needs to allow people to answer others’ questions in real time.
• It needs to be able to be moderated.

Why?

Here at the Ferguson Center, we are working on hosting our SGA Presidential Debates this spring online. Well, we will still have an in-person addition, as well as an online edition.

We need to allow anyone who wants to log on, and then ask questions of the moderators. We then need the moderators to ask the candidates the questions we have approved. And all of this needs to be seen and delivered in real time.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

–JMS–

It’s Not You… It’s Me. Actually, it IS you. I can’t lie.

So I realized something. Our nation is full of morons. Wait. I knew that. Let me explain the latest examples…

So I’m running 4.0 miles (yes, insert applause here), and I’m really getting into it. I’ve been working up to 3, and then this run, I decided to jump a full mile forward instead of one. Well, I run about 11 laps, walk 10, then run the last 14. Well, at the end, I’m preparing for my final lap. My final lap is the one where I just bust my tail to get to the end. I run like The Flash. Well, the lap comes and I plant my heels momentarily, before dashing forward. In my head, I’m running like the Blonski from The Incredible Hulk with men slowing down around me… when all of a sudden… this girl screams “It’s not a race!”

[Insert mental what-the-hey here.]

I wasn’t racing.

But if I were, she lost. No hard feelings, but you don’t drag someone down when they’re working out. Was I booing her as I glossed past her? No. Most people understand that when someone is dashing, its part of their workout.

Well, the next time, I ran 4.5 miles and as I passed the next fastest guy, I started a conversation with him:

“How are you sir?”

“Good. You?”

“Good. Hey, I’m not trying to race you… just dashing my last lap.”

“No, hey, I admire the drive.”

“Good, because someone last week got onto me for it and I was astounded.”

“Who cares about her?”

“Exactly.”

All of this without panting as I finished the last lap and heard the guy mutter “who can run that fast?”

All ego aside… the point is… people have always pulled each other down, but lately, in light of desperate economic times and uncertainty, it seems to happen more prevalently – no one wants to see others do better. Because that means you’re subpar. Wake up. That means work harder. Then, we have a nation of hard workers willing to do what it takes, and no whiners sitting on the track getting trampled.

In addition, my mom got a phone call from a solicitor about getting in on the bailout by calling to have any debt removed.

So,yeah. Thanks, America, for falling into the same flawed way of thinking.

–JMS–

Social Media is Not for Everyone

Yes, I said it. Social media is not for:

• The incompetents.
• The slow.
• Those who don’t understand basic subtlety.

Therefore, many previous MySpace users might just be disqualified.

Robert Scoble, in a recent blog post, made the point to focus on what you do well, so I am focusing on talking on my favorite subject: using Social Media well.

Therefore, I stick true to my statement for many reasons. Some may say it’s elitist. I would have to agree with him. I don’t want anyone on SM platforms with me who can’t spell or understand the world around them. Call me selfish, but I like to be productive, and if I was expected to turn myself around and reach my true potential before broadcasting myself, I think others should, too.

Here is my basic reasoning.

Social Media is revolutionary. Drastic adjective? Sure. But look at it – interactive communication is at a high. People can talk across continents, pay grades and age levels. The previously handicapped are now much more productive. Some people have even come out of their shell and don’t mind letting the world know who they are.

Do you realize how many people there are in the world?

Now think about the max number of people you can visualize on this planet then having a blog, several social networks, instant messaging clients and the ability to comment on anything.

Are you not scared? That’s a lot of people from the general population who don’t have training it what it means to speak candidly or tactfully. Go read the comments on any YouTube video if you don’t believe me.

And then imagine that in addition to all the people you have to worry about on an individual basis now numbering in the millions online, you now have to deal with CEOs and VPs who apparently didn’t learn this lesson either.

Yes, I am talking about the recent Ketchum bit.

Without calling out names or being rude, its scary that we have the masses to worry about and then our leaders not being tactful.

So, what I say, is that if you’re going to start using Social Media:

• Think first. Do you need it? Don’t pollute the web with endless applications you have signed up for and never gone back to.
• Observe. When you first sign up and start using said client, application or site, please sit back and observe how the best users in that network operate. Don’t mimic all users, just the best ones. And pay attention to the classless users, in order to understand where my frustrations and the frustrations of others come from.
• Post with tact. Don’t start a flame war just because you disagree with someone. There are millions online and they come from everywhere. Its a gift. Don’t start a crusade over differences. Talk to the person. You might just find out why you act the way you do and come to peace with a facet of discontent you had not previously considered.
• Post with me in mind. Think about, before you post something, how someone like myself would see it. Are you really going to post 30+ items that may or may not carry any significance… or are you going to post several key links and ideas that really hit home?

In closing, please be smart. This is a new medium. Don’t pollute it.

UPDATE: Some are actually defending this Ketchum VP for “telling the truth.” Its not that he had an opinion. Its that it was not tactful, respectful or responsible.

–JMS–

The Project: Part II

So, I met with the boss today. As bosses go, Mr. B is pretty cool. So is his daughter, whom I have known for years now. She use to work with parents during freshmen orientation and I used to work with the incoming college students. Both are  really g0od people with good ideas and the motivation to be bleeding edge.

About ten minutes into my one-on-one meeting with Mr. B to talk about Social Media and how I can implement it in the Ferg, he stops me and says “It’s like we need an entire person just doing this alone.” This is why this man makes me happy. He just created a job that I would love to have… in theory. Its still on the table, but based on how I do with this, I might work for him for a while doing this very thing. In fact, he likes my ideas for implementing very specific Social Media tools so much that he has booked a meeting with the Marketing Director and I to talk about the logistics.

In recap, in case you didn’t read my last post explaining this:

–The Ferguson Center Student Union at the University of Alabama wants me to look into the use of Social Media for the establishment.

–I chose Facebook, a Blog and Twitter.

–In addition, it will be my responsibility to train and teach students and staff how to use this for both their personal and professional lives (not that this is entirely seperated).

–To that end, all going well, I will recruit the assistance of my friend and colleague, Jessica Ayers – social media fiend and PR pro.

–In addition to all this, we will of course need consistent brand identity and some promotional items.

And in case you’re wondering… when he suggested we need one person covering the use of social media, I most certainly said “well, I nominate me!”

Cheers, blogosphere and keep plugging.

–JMS–

The Project: Social Media for the Ferguson Center

Over the Christmas Break, during a shift at the Tech Support center in the Ferguson Student Union, my boss contacted me to ask me what I knew about Twitter.

Little did he know, I knew quite a bit. I’m no expert, but I do use it often to talk with PR contacts and acquaintances with a wealth of information.

So I told him I knew a bit about Twitter and then led on to tell him I could, in fact, work on Social Media, because I hope to get a job with the university doing so when I graduate or at least get a good recommendation towards another job that allows me to work with social media.

He then proceeded to tell me that if I could form a series of workshops explaining how to utilize social media, he could pay me and an assistant of mine for our efforts.

Pending approval of the project overall, said assistant/partner will be none other than Jessica Ayers, friend and colleague.

What has transpired is my attempts to put a communications plan together. I shortly realized that this wasn’t entirely necessary, as the University and Ferguson Center itself has paperwork explaining this. Rather, I needed to put this in the shortest format possible and still have it meet the criteria my boss set before me.  In the process, I have formed some useful ideas.

First, as Mack Collier points out:

“I think it greatly depends on what the company’s larger comm plan is. A Fortune 500 co has different needs than a startup.”

Then, to start, I simply need to lay out what my client is/does. The Ferguson Center is the Student Union for the University of Alabama. Students and staff congregate here for food, paperwork, banking, printing, SGA questions and more. Students and staff are employable here. Students and staff come here to get help from other students and staff. The “Ferg” is the hub of campus, whether all students like to admit it or not.

So, my first question should then be…

What are college students into the most, social media wise?

Here on the University of Alabama campus, we have:

Facebook (Heavy Use)
Twitter (Light Use)
Juicy Campus (I would not touch this with a ten foot pole.)

These are mainly the only platforms. However, my boss insists on being bleeding edge, but still useful. So, while Twitter and others aside from Facebook might not be in full use now, it might be necessary to begin to implement them now in order to be more established when a revolution here at UA of Twitter followers might take over.

So we are essentially left with Facebook and Twitter.

The problems with Facebook are that students already feel inundated with the layout, inundated with student organizations spamming them and with companies spamming them.

The way to fix this problem of Facebook is to make it more personal. However, no one is going to treat a friend called “Ferguson Center” like their real friend. They won’t want to chat with them, invite them to groups or post on their wall. Part of this is due to the image of the union as being the cheesy or boring place to be, and part of this is due to the nature of a company having a profile on Facebook.

This could be fixed easily, I came to the conclusion, by dividing duties. Any good brander knows that overloading any one portal will leave consumers stuffed and unable to move on. Therefore a Facebook page/site/fan page/profile might serve as the information source for students and the Twitter, being more personal and social, might serve as the face of the organization.

But, then, how does this affect the staff who serve at the Ferg who would be the minds operating the Social Media and with whom it might interact as well?

To this end, Twitter is definitely the first choice. Many of the staff who are 40+ years of age at the Ferg often complain about how complicated Facebook can be -  and looking at it now, I would have to agree. I enjoy being able to do just about anything on there… but you can do just about anything on there. It’s loaded. Almost too loaded.

To prove this, we signed up one worker there, and showed her how to use her account. In no time, she was using it and understood it far easier than Facebook.

So, Twitter is the winner. Facebook still serves in an auxiliary capacity and Twitter serves as the face. It is both accessible to students and staff and easy to use.

In addition, it has already been determined by my boss and backed up by myself that a blog is appropriate. After all, if we want to provide useful information in a timely and friendly manner without spamming, its easy to put it out there without forcing people to look – on a blog. This, does, however leave Facebook hanging, and maybe properly so. With a Twitter account and a blog run by either a relatable student or staff member, we can be both personal and have all information readily available.

Our next, then, is to decide what all information we need to fill these sites with: what’s appropriate, what’s not, what’s helpful, etc.

In the meantime, recap:

The media needs to be helpful to students and staff.
It needs to be easy for students and staff.
It needs to be easily accessible and preferably already in use by students and staff.

Sites we didn’t use: Juicy Campus, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flickr, Blogger

Sites we did use: Facebook, Twitter, WordPress

New Features on My Site… and more.

If you haven’t visited my site yet (www.givingsomethingnew.com), go now. There might be some background errors depending on browsers, but everything is there…

…including a new site in the design section – a site you must check out. Point your browsers to www.collegiatepoliticians.webs.com . This is a group of up and coming college students dedicated to both free AND focused speech. You know that power and responsiblity shtick I stole from Peter Parker? These guys and gals follow that.  Also, there is now a link to this blog, so if you’ve been following, bookmark that page, and you can still get here for the QA information.