(Student) In The City

Google+: Hype and The Basics

2011-07-15T09:17:00.000-04:00

Google+ will revolutionize social media. Google+ is a Facebook-killer. How can anyone use Facebook after using Google+? Google+ will change how brands interact on social media.

Do any of those comments sound familiar? Google+ discussion dominates my Twitter and Facebook streams. I can't go a day without seeing a story about it popping up on TechCrunch, Engadget or Gizmodo. People are convinced Google+ is the proverbial social media promised land.

People, Google+ is not even a month old. It's still invite only. How can we make these grand statements about it? Do you not remember the Google Wave hype? Or Color? Did you use Google Wave or Color the day after their release?

We all need to take a deep breath and let Google+ organically find its niche in the social media world (I mean, Google+ is currently almost 90% male, it's not really an accurate picture of social media).

So let's cut the hype and actually talk about Google+ for the average Joe and Jane, whom will ultimately determine if Google+ receives widespread adoption.

The Basics

Google+ is Google's answer to social networking. It incorporates Google's product lines under one umbrella.Your Google profile is now the hub of everything. Google Chat (or G-chat), the chat function of Gmail, is part of Google+. Hangouts, a new feature, allows you to video chat with several friends. You can post, comment and +1 on content. Does this sound like Facebook to you? Well, it's incredibly similar.

The biggest difference between Google+ and Facebook though, lies in who you share content with. When you add a contact to Google+, you put them in a 'circle.' These circles determine who gets to see your content. Circles are completely customizable (aside from the Public circle, which is what everyone can see), so you can categorize people how you like. When you decide to share content on Google+, you choose which circles can see it. This can be a little hard to grasp for people who haven't used Google+, so let's use an example:

John is one of my friends. Jack is a work colleague. Jane is a friend who also works in my industry. I would put John and Jane in my 'Friends' circle, while I would put Jack and Jane in my 'Professional' circle. Let's say I want to share some vacation pictures. Obviously, my professional contacts really don't need to see that content, so I would choose to share it just with friends. John and Jane would see my content, but Jack would not.

But let's say I was at an industry convention and took a picture of a really innovative booth (Company XYZ is using Fire Dancers at their booth!). I'd probably want to share that with both my 'Friends' and 'Professional' circles. John, Jack and Jane will see my picture. But Jane is in my 'Friends' and 'Professional' circles! Won't she get my content twice? Nope! If someone is in two circles you share content with, it only shows up once.

Hey, can't you do the same thing with Facebook privacy settings?

Not really. Facebook is very limited with privacy settings compared to Google+. On Facebook, you can only edit set levels (Everyone, Friends, Friends of Friends, Custom) and just determine what someone can or cannot view. On Google+, you just drag and drop people into circles. Controlling your content and making sure you 'talk' to the right audiences is very easy.

Will the average user abandon Facebook for Google+?

As much as I love the ease of content sharing on Google+, I really can't think of a MySpace-level exodus from Facebook anytime soon. Facebook has had some controversial privacy issues, but it hasn't alienated users to their breaking points yet.

Already, early adopters are having some gripes with Google+, such as issues of online identity, privacy questions and lack of a way to import contacts from existing social networks (Facebook, for example). Are these insurmountable hurdles? No. But they raise some significant questions about the network.

Plus, it's just a huge pain to migrate content over from Facebook to Google+.

Businesses

Businesses will soon get their own way of using Google+ (testing will begin soon for selected businesses), so I will try not to speculate on what means for them. However, if circles act the same way for people as they do for businesses, segmenting your audience into circles and being able to have different messages for each will be fantastic.

I understand the excitement behind Google+, it has many possibilities. But we should not pull the cart before the horse. We have to let Google+: 1) Open up to the public, and 2) Organically flesh itself out. Otherwise Google+ is going to crash harder if it doesn't meet lofty expectations.

What do you think of Google+? Do you think we should be hyping it up?

Klout and Social Media Measurement

2011-07-05T09:00:00.002-04:00

A little over six months ago, I talked about the so-called 'social media bubble' and my lack of faith in Klout. My argument came out of hearing people proclaim Klout as the only authority on social media engagement and influence. Upon further reflection, I was too heavy-handed with my thoughts on Klout.

Don't get me wrong, I still believe Klout is not the be-all, end-all of social media influence. Instead, Klout is just another tool (in addition to others) for social media measurement.

Why did I change my mind? Some of the recent additions and major adopters of Klout have started making it more than a passing fad.

~~Klout now has crowdsourcing elements instead of just hidden algorithms determining score and influence.~~ The +K tool now allows users to identify those who are influential on certain topics and assign points. So if I think someone is influential on social media measurement, I can +K him/her. ~~The +K I gave is now calculated into his/her Klout score.~~ Update: Upon further research, +K does NOT calculate into your Klout score, but it allows users who view your profile to determine what other people think you are influential in. This is just another reason to look at Klout as a part, but not the whole picture in terms of social media measurement. I still feel +K does have value.

Klout now allows your LinkedIn account to be another variable to generate your score. In the B2B world, LinkedIn dominates. This lets Klout expand beyond the B2C sphere ruled by Twitter and Facebook.

The list of influential topics does need tweaking. For example, Klout says I'm influential on dogs. This is all because I tweeted a picture of a dog my family found and I reached out to media outlets to help me find the owner. Does this mean I'm influential about dogs? Of course not.

Twitter chats are another issue. Klout says I'm influential about #u30pro just because I participate in the chats every week. If you don't actively managing your Klout profile (Klout allows to delete items you feel you aren't influential about), your influential topics list could be completely out of sync.

I mentioned major Klout adoption, but what do I mean by that? Well, certain companies are taking Klout very seriously and are inviting influential users to receive perks:

Audi targeted influencers in design, technology and luxury to come to San Francisco and test drive the 2011 Audi A8.

Plum District gave influential moms a $50 credit for the daily deals. The moms also were able to give out this credit to friends and followers.

DreamWorks gave influential moms and dads early access to see King Fu Panda 2 with their kids.

Klout's widespread adoption is making it a major social media measurement tool. But it is not the only tool. Here are some others:

Google Analytics now allows social interaction measurement.

Speaking of Google Analytics, you can add tracking codes to links posted on social media and measure how well they perform.

Google is rolling out +1 (which will integrate well with Google+, no doubt).

Radian6 offers various social media analysis.

Heck, you can still measure mentions, likes or comments on a post (NOT FOLLOWERS OR PAGE LIKES!) by hand!

Social media measurement is still very new and not all of these tools are going to be appropriate for what you want to measure. If you want to measure influence, Klout is a good tool. If you want to track social media conversions, you'll use Google Analytics. If you want to measure your company's thought leadership on social media, a mixture of Klout to track influence and Google Analytics to see how well your links perform are your tools.

Each tool has its own use, it's up to you decide what you really want to track and measure (and, ultimately, what defines social media success).

Read the blog before you pitch

2011-06-21T19:43:00.001-04:00

Reading seems to be a lost art for so many people. I'll admit, I tend to do more skimming than reading these days. We all have plenty of work with tight deadlines and don't have a lot of time to get it done. Pitching your topic to the right blogs can be long, tedious process. There are so many blogs to look at and only one of you!

But if you're going to pitch a blog, you better make sure you've read some of their posts before you fire off that email.

Last week the blogger behind Food Network Humor posted two examples of PR people pitching her blog. The title of the post? "Laugh of the Day: Clueless Guy Fieri PR People Asking FNH to Promote His Products."

Yeah, you know where this is going.

Not one, but two people associated with companies that do business with Guy Fieri, a famous Food Network personality, pitched the blogger to promote his products on the blog.

One cursory glance of the Food Network Humor site's header shows Paula Dean with a mustache, Sandra Lee next to two bottles of vodka and Rachel Ray with devil horns. In fact, several posts prior (and before one of the PR people pitched her) there is a post making fun of Guy Fieri. This is clearly not a blog where anyone would pitch this man's products.

This is why you read the blog before you pitch it. Nothing is worse for your company or client than becoming a big joke on a blog where you want positive coverage.

Luckily for the PR people, the blogger chose not to name them. Some blogs are more than happy to call out PR professionals for bad pitches (TechCrunch immediately comes to mind), so these people got off fairly easy. Their companies, however, did get named. I imagine these PR people are getting a stern talking to (hopefully it's not an intern at their first internship!).

Blogs are a whole different animal than traditional media. A misplaced pitch might just give you the coverage you don't want.

Food Adventure: Progressive Field

2011-05-31T19:26:00.029-04:00

It's been about two months since my last post (yikes!), so I thought I'd change things up a bit:

The Cleveland Indians made some major changes to their food offerings this season at Progressive Field. Sure, the hot dogs, nachos and light beer are still available, but there is now a much wider array of options for fans heading to ballpark.

Three weeks ago, I received an e-mail from the local Yelp community manager (who rocks, by the way) about an opportunity to visit Progressive Field to see all the new food options. The invite also said I could stay for the Indians-Rays game afterward. There were 15 spaces available for Yelp elites (I am one) and I managed to claim a spot..

Full disclosure: I did not pay for parking, my ticket to the event or for any food and beverage.

Driving to Progressive Field was a breeze since it was a 12:05 p.m. game on a Thursday. The sun was shining and temperatures hit in the mid to high 70s. Wearing jeans was a bad idea.

Rob, the Indians PR guy (@tribetalk on Twitter), met and escorted us through the Terrace Club into the Champions Suite, the biggest suite in the entire stadium.

View from the Champions Suite

Entering the suite, there was a large spread of all the new beer offerings in the stadium. There were several local craft beers and other selections from the "Your Dad's Beer" stand. All of it was free for us to taste.

Some of the local beer offerings at Progressive Field this year. Obviously, I started tasting early.

I picked up my press kit and the tour began shortly after. We would be traveling to all the new and updated offerings in the stadium. It was a walking tour, so my jeans were a poor choice on this sunny, humid day. Luckily, I made friends with several other people from Yelp, so I was not going through this experience alone.

Our tour guide explained there would be more food variety in the upper deck seats (500 level). He emphasized the Indians wanted all fans to have the same, great experience. Personally, I loved this. All too often sports teams make upper deck fans trek to the lower level to get a decent variety of food and refreshments. This was a very nice change.

There weren't any food samples in the upper deck, so we made our way down to the lower level. Our first taste sample was a delicious sausage with peppers close to Section 114. The peppers weren't cooked to hell and back, so I actually got to taste their flavor. It was so good, I forgot to snap a picture. However, they did feature a huge, delicious hot dog (that's what she said).

Mmmmm

Also included nearby were the Your Dad's Beer and the Burgers Loaded stands. Your Dad's Beer is described as, "a new beer stand with the nostalgia of your Dad's den or basement." My dad did not have a den or basement, so that sentiment is lost on me. It's basically a fancy way of saying the stand sells PBR and other 'older' beer. The stand also features a 'snack of the month.' For April/May, it was stadium jerky. For June, pickled eggs (yuck).

The next stop was Major League Pizza and Spirits of Ohio near Section 152. Pizza and booze, what could be better? The pizza is made fresh inside the park, no shipped in frozen stuff here. Of course they have the standard cheese and pepperoni toppings, but each month a new specialty pizza will be featured. For April/May, the "Pizza of the Month" is the 'Ballpark Classic.' This pizza features stadium mustard, mozzarella cheese, sauerkraut and spicy smoked sausage. We got to taste pepperoni, cheese and the Ballpark Classic.

Let me just say, I hated the Ballpark Classic. I'm not a big fan of sauerkraut, but this unholy combination was just too much for me. However, there were other people on the tour who absolutely loved it and said it was a classic Cleveland flavor combination. I'll pass. The upcoming pizza for June is the Smucker's Peanut Butter and Jelly. I'll pass on that as well.

Booze!

Spirits of Ohio was close by. This is where you'll find the local craft beers and wine. I missed the samples they gave out here, so I can't really comment too much. Featured craft beers include Great Lakes, Thirsty Dog and Mt. Carmel.

The APPetizer Store was a short walk from Spirits of Ohio. Get it, App Store? I wouldn't call this place an appetizer stand as much as it is a fried food stand. Everything is fried. EVERYTHING. The 'App of the Month' for April/May was a fried oreo. A fried twinkee, or what tasted like one, was also an option. But what took the cake was chicken and waffles.

Not the first thing I think of when I want food at a baseball game.

Chicken and waffles is a classic Southern combination, but it was a little lost on me. The only meat I like my waffles with is sausage. Everyone I was with seemed to love it, but we all agreed trying one item here was more than enough. This fried food was very heavy.

Then we tried the Food Network stand. Before the tour started, everyone was talking about the Food Network stand. This was anticipated as being the big crescendo in the food tour.

The Food Network disappointed.

They had a signature steak sandwich (didn't get the chance to catch what was in it) and a 'Cleveland' steak sandwich. The Cleveland steak sandwich contained sauerkraut and stadium mustard (ugh).

Of course, I accidentally tried the Cleveland steak sandwich. Now, ignoring the stadium mustard and sauerkraut, the actual steak seemed to be cooked too long. It was fairly tough and a disappointment. Everyone in my immediate vicinity agreed this stand did not live up to the hype. At almost $11 per sandwich, I could not justify spending money at this stand.

But hey, I could have got the 'black sheep' of steak sandwiches that day.

The last new item we tasted was gluten free potato chips. I know many people who have gluten allergies, so this was an awesome addition. The chips weren't separated before we got to try them, so they were all sticking together like a giant chip ball. The taste was pretty good, but not your typical crunchy chip. These might not be a huge crowd pleaser, but those with gluten allergies will very much appreciate them.

Gluten-free, woohoo!

After the tour, we ended up back at the suite where we were treated to a full lunch of everything we got to try on our tour. Did I mention the free craft beer? Talk about a good time in the Champions Suite.

All in all, this was a great experience. Not because everything was free, but because of all the new ideas happening at Progressive Field. People often associate Cleveland with heartbreak and old curmudgeons stuck in their ways. This food tour showed the Indians are thinking outside of the box and want to make heading to the ballpark an experience. With the new Indians Social Suite, I'm really liking where this organization is going. It doesn't hurt that our team is doing pretty good as well (though we lost that Indians-Rays game pretty bad).

The next post will be on the press kit we received, since I'm a PR and marketing nerd.

Social Media: The Megaphone for Unhappy Employees

2011-03-28T20:47:00.000-04:00

Twitter crises seem to be a dime a dozen these days.

Some involve getting 'slizzered' and have a happy ending. Others involve road rage and end up causing serious damage. There are also tweets making a light of revolution and interns burning bridges.

Then there are the stories you never heard.

Ryder, a well-known truck rental company, recently had an unhappy employee blast the company on Twitter. This employee had a workplace issue he/she felt was not adequately addressed by HR. The employee started an account called 'ryderemployees' and followed trucking companies, industry leaders and media outlets. The employee called Ryder out on its response and made it known he/she was not happy.

What was the issue? Well, I'll have you look at these screenshots of the now-shuttered account. Remember, the oldest tweets are at the bottom of the last image (the yellow highlights are from Google Cache).

Obviously, this was a crisis and had potential for more damage. The employee engaged with local and national media trying to get attention. The account was gone shortly after the employee posted the last tweet, before anyone could pick up the story.

Before the rise of social media, an employee in this situation would have sat quietly and said nothing. He/she would just be angry and mutter under his/her breath. No big issue except for one unhappy employee.

But social media is a gigantic megaphone. If someone isn't happy, it will take no time for him/her to be heard. If a company treats employees unfairly (or is perceived as doing so), there is nothing to stop this from happening. The only way a company can stop this from happening is by treating employees fairly and ethically.

Ryder recognized the issue and addressed, since the account is gone. Did Ryder solve the problem? Did they threaten the employee with a lawsuit? How did they really solve the issue?

I have no idea. I reached out to their PR department via Twitter but received no response. If you're the person behind the account or if Ryder wants to reach out and explain the situation to me, I'd love to hear it.

How would you handle this situation? Would you find and engage the employee directly? Would you ignore the issue?

Entry-level Workplace Tips

2011-03-22T09:00:00.001-04:00

In about two months it will be the anniversary of my college graduation. I can't believe it's been almost a year since I went from student to entry-level professional. Time really flies.

Like I've said before, I'm not working in my ideal industry (agency PR), but I try to gain meaningful experience and make a positive impact at current position every day.

Recently, I've been getting asked the same question over and over again by my friends who haven't graduated yet: "What's some advice about working in the real world school didn't teach me?"

Well, let me share with you some things I learned from experience and through co-workers I wish I knew before I started working.

NOTE: All of these experience are at a private company in a corporate marketing role. Your experience at a start-up or agency might negate some of these tips.

Always say yes

Now, I always knew this tip, but it's definitely worth repeating.

The word 'no' should never cross your lips unless you're being asked to do something ridiculously over your head (like if a developer asked me to start coding .NET). No matter how menial the task, always show you're willing to do whatever it takes for the company. Since I started my job, I've been asked to do quite a bit of clerical and administrative work completely unrelated to my position. I faxed, scanned, copied and spent hours renaming contract files. Was any of this making use of my strong writing skills? Nope. But it showed the company I have no problem taking on any task given to me.

You never know when a random skill you have will come in handy

Remember that skill you listed on your resume you thought your job would never use? Well, you might actually use it. For example: I know how to code HTML, but I've never had to use the skill with the content management systems I use. Yesterday, I ended up coding an HTML table for HR because their online HTML editor didn't have an automated table creator. I never thought I'd actually have to code any HTML, but having that skill came in handy and made a positive impact with HR (and whenever you can make HR happy, that's always a good thing).

Corporate bureaucracy is brutal

This is probably the hardest issue for recent grads transitioning to a full-time job. When I worked on group projects in college, there was discussion and then action. In a corporate setting, you have discussion, more discussion, consulting with upper-level management, some more discussion, contacting departments, more discussion and then maybe some actual action. Not all projects are like this, but the layers of bureaucracy can make you lose all motivation.

Many times, your initial vision and the final product don't match up. You have to be very careful balancing relationships and not stepping on anyone's toes. My advice is to never lose sight of the big picture when you start facing the bureaucratic process. As Dory from Finding Nemo said, "Just keep swimming."

Calling and/or physically talking to a co-worker is better than emailing

While I'm sure some co-workers don't mean to ignore my emails, it happens. If someone doesn't respond or starts to give the run-around, I physically talk to them or call them if they're in another office. The ignoring, excuses and run-around magically disappear when I call or talk to someone in person.

Manage up

I sort of knew what this meant, but I didn't know how to actually do it. Managing up is essentially holding your boss accountable to you. If you need some information or a resource from your boss and he/she hasn't given it to you yet, ask for it. Bosses have a ton of things going on and the information you needed could have simply dropped off his/her radar. This information could be holding you back from progress on your project, so managing up will show you take initiative.

Now, obviously, don't go overboard and start demanding things left and right, because this will make you look annoying. Manage up with a delicate touch.

That's all for my tips. I'm sure I'll have more for another post soon.

Do you have any entry-level tips you wish you knew before starting your job?

B2B Social Media Value: Twitter and Monitoring Conversation

2011-03-08T21:00:00.004-05:00

Well, well... it's been a while. My life is pretty hectic and I'm juggling quite a bit both professionally and personally, so my blogging keeps taking a backseat. I'll try to remedy this in the coming weeks.

As you may or may not know, I work in marketing communications for a B2B transportation software company. It's not a fast-paced agency or B2C company with a product I use, but it's very interesting. I've learned a lot about my company's products and modules by jumping head-first into sales literature and product documentation. It's very challenging, but I'm proud of my new-found knowledge about the products.

Part of my job involves managing our company's social media presence. Do you know of any transportation software companies using social media? Yeah, I don't either. My company is huge in our industry, but we don't have the presence of other giant B2B software companies (Oracle, for example). Our closest competitor uses Facebook to repost press releases, but that's an awful use of social media. So I've really been experimenting with our social media presence. Here's a recent example demonstrating the value of Twitter for my B2B company.

Monitoring the social media conversation isn't just about mentions

I monitor our Twitter feed using HootSuite every day. I set up HootSuite to let me know when our company or products are mentioned on Twitter. Many people think this is enough to qualify as monitoring social media. It's not. You need to actually read these tweets and pay attention. Why? Well, let me tell you:

(Note: Company name has been redacted. We'll call it 'XYZ.')

Last week, one of our customers (who we follow) tweeted something similar to this: "If you were an XYZ driver, call us! Let's get them back to work!"

XYZ must have went out of business or had something major happen, but I didn't know if XYZ was our customer. So I checked our customer database and it turns out XYZ was a customer. Further digging online showed XYZ went out of business the day before in the late afternoon. I saw no mention of this in any industry news source. I contacted our general manager (GM) for the product line XYZ is on, to let him know about XYZ's sudden closure. Guess what? The GM had no idea XYZ closed and I was the first to tell him.

This is why you must actively monitor your social media sources. A keyword search for trucking or my company wouldn't have told me this information. Actively reading what customers were talking about was the only way I would have found this information in a timely fashion. By doing this, I've shown a GM at my company the value of social media.

I plan on sharing more B2B social media experience as more happens.

Do you have any stories demonstrating B2B social media value? I'd love to hear them!

The Non-Story: A Win for All... or Maybe Not

2011-01-31T20:13:00.002-05:00

It never ceases to amaze me just how fast the news cycle really is.

Last Thursday, Allstate Insurance issued a news release on the best and worst drivers based on their zodiac sign. Virgos held the dubious distinction as the worst, while Scorpios were the best. Allstate based the results on an internal study of their own customers.

This was a complete non-story. There is absolutely no news value and the study is only on Allstate customers. But the content is interesting and bound to generate traffic. Allstate gets free attention and the news site gets traffic. A win for everyone, right?

The journalist in me scoffs at the blatant publicity for Allstate, but the PR professional in me thinks this is great way to raise more visibility for the company. I even spoke with a colleague and commented on the pointless article, but what a great idea it was to get a news mention (and potentially get picked up by Yahoo, MSNBC, Gawker and other big outlets). I considered looking at ways my company could do something similar.

What could possibly go wrong with this seemingly harmless story?

Well, hell hath no fury like a Virgo scorned.

Today, Allstate issued an apology for the study and removed the study from their online newsroom. People were vocal, threatened to not consider Allstate and thought Allstate used this information seriously when deciding whether to raise premiums or issue new policies.

I never thought this non-story would get such a hostile reaction. Allstate's PR team probably thought the same thing. I'm not really sure Allstate could have done anything different to change people's reactions either. Did people have such a negative reaction because the study came from Allstate rather than a journal or university? There are multiple studies says men are better at "x" than women. Or women are more likely to "x" than men. None of those stories elicit an apology.

I guess the lesson is no matter what you may think is harmless, people can still get upset. Yeah, that's not really much of a lesson. Anyone else have a better take away or are people's reactions too unpredictable?

The social media bubble: Does it exist and will it burst?

2010-12-17T09:00:00.007-05:00

I never thought I'd be interested in hearing about social media from General Motors.

GM's Christopher Barger sat down with ZDNet's Jennifer Leggio and talked about how he handles social media and his thoughts on the future. The interview is a great read, but Barger's comment about a social media bubble really piqued my interest.

Barger says the social media bubble is going to burst just like the dot com bubble a decade ago.

But do we even have a bubble? Is it going to burst?

I completely agree with Barger when he talks about social media "gurus." Most of their advice is absolutely worthless. They define engagement as constant linking and retweeting without any engagement of their followers. These people also believe having thousands of Twitter followers or Facebook fans is the path to success.

These egomaniacs have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. They take advantage of businesses and people to make themselves look good. Those awful books about how to increase your presence on Twitter? These people write them. The 'RT me and get 500 followers' scams? Yep, these gurus are the culprits.

Barger argues the "gurus" will cause the social media bubble to burst.

I don't buy it.

The number of followers, likes and the ridiculous Klout score mean absolutely nothing. Having one million followers means absolutely nothing if there is no interaction and engagement (unless you're already a celebrity in person). But five hundred followers who regularly interact and engage are of great value.

The "gurus" will fall apart when people see through their charade. Sure, some people will fall into their trap and end up not utilizing social media properly. But this happens in business and real life regularly. There are people who think they will get rich fast by selling knives for Vector. I don't think these people are so much creating a bubble as they are taking advantage of unknowledgable social media newbies.

And how awful is the Klout score? If you think the Klout score matters, I'm here to tell you to stop drinking the Kool-Aid. Boiling down social media relationships and engagement into a score makes no sense. You can't put a number on relationships. It's like giving a girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband a score based on dates, intimacy and overall relationship.

"Susan, honey, the relationship score-o-meter says we are only at a 42. We need to boost our sex life, have one more kid and travel to Australia in order to increase our score."

Klout is just ridicuous.

There is no bubble. Even if there was, Barger's only argument for the burst is the proliferation of "gurus." This is hardly enough to make the bubble burst.

However...

There are social media specialists who are actually the real deal, though. These are people who encourage discussion and engagement within the community. They realize social media ROI can't be assigned a simple numeric value, but rather is an analyzation of relationships and discussion monitoring. These specialists provide compelling content and spark discussion with thoughtful ideas.

We shouldn't discount all social media specialists because they are outnumbered by "gurus." There are many specialists who can help people and companies do great things with social media. Just stay clear of those who say you will be a social media opion leader in a week. And the ones peddling a book.

Social Media is 24/7, Coffee Fight and More: News Roundup

2010-12-15T23:35:00.002-05:00

Did you hear about that crazy storm shutting down the Midwest this weekend? Guess who was caught in its crosshairs?

Me!

Fortunately, I wasn't one of those stuck on the road in Indiana for over 12 hours. United Airlines canceled my flight from Chicago to Cleveland Sunday afternoon. The only rebooking option was flying the next morning and connecting through Washington D.C.. I hate connecting, but I only had a carry-on so it ended up working out alright (My 3:30AM wake-up call? Not so much fun).

Which brings me to my first subject:

Social Media Doesn't End After Business Hours

United Airlines left their Twitter account completely abandoned when all hell broke loose in the Midwest last weekend. I mean, when your largest hub has over 1000 flights canceled over the course of two days, leaving your social media account unattended isn't the best idea.

It took me an hour and a half on the phone to rebook with United when it canceled my flight on Sunday. I ended up checking my new itinerary online several hours later and my rebooked flight was not showing up on my account. I tweeted United asking if I should be concerned. No response.

I had to call reservations and wait on hold for almost two hours. The man who finally answered said my reservation was there even though I was not able to check in for it online. To be honest, I had my doubts about what he told me since United outsources their call centers and I've known people who had problems with them. Luckily, my reservation actually existed and I was able to get home (after dealing with a surly flight attendant on my 6 AM flight to DC, but that's another story...).

Social media is a 24/7 animal. If an incident happens after regular business hours, it needs to have attention. American Airlines, for example, responded on Twitter about a flight skidding off the runway in Montreal on a Wednesday night immediately. They even beat out the @BreakingNews Twitter account.

United knew a major weather disruption was happening, yet didn't have anyone assigned to their social media accounts. Social media is not a 9-5 job; it's 24/7.

PS: United did end up responding on Monday, after I landed in DC. Their advice was about adding my Mileage Plus number to the reservation, which didn't make much sense.

PPS: My nonexistent economy plus for my return trip has not been refunded yet. Boo.

Coffee Fight!

Starbucks and Kraft are bringing an end to their relationship.

Well, Starbucks is actually kicking Kraft to the curb but Kraft is not leaving without a fight. Starbucks wants to go at it alone on the grocery store front since their VIA product is a huge success. Starbucks wanted to buy Kraft out of their agreement, but Kraft thought the offer was way too low.

The result? A legal battle between Starbucks and Kraft plastered throughout business headlines. Starbucks says Kraft intentionally stymied growth of their coffee in grocery stores. Kraft says Starbucks is making unreasonable demands and wants Kraft to shift focus away from its own Maxwell House coffee.

It's going to be an ugly battle.

Yahoo Rearranges Deck Chairs on the Titanic

Yahoo gave the pink slip to 600 staffers yesterday. This should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone.

Yahoo has no real identity and is not on top like it used to be ten years ago. The company acquires the most random entities (Flickr, Rivals.com, Associated Content, MusicMatch, etc...) and just sits on them. I briefly mentioned this in my post about MySpace.

All Yahoo does is respond to what others do. It hasn't come out with an original, successful idea in a long time. Google won the search engine war. Pandora is better than Yahoo Music. Examiner is more known than Associated Content. Though Flickr and Delicious are probably the most successful Yahoo entities right now. This goes to show a company can't buy its way to success.

If I worked for Yahoo right now, I'd be looking for another job as fast as I could. This isn't the first and it won't be the last round of layoffs. Unless Yahoo can be innovative, it's going to die.

My B2B and social media approach

2010-12-09T08:30:00.007-05:00

We all know B2B and B2C marketing and public relations require very different strategies. Most B2B companies can't simply sign up for Facebook and Twitter and automatically attract a legion of loyal followers. If a B2C company has a good product, they'll easily attract fans. If a B2B company has a good product, that can mean nothing in the social media sphere.

Why? Well, if Susie has loves muffins from Muffin Company X, she's very likely to follow them on Twitter and like the company on Facebook. If Susie works for a clothing store and uses a program to help her do inventory in five seconds, while she's happy inventory takes her no time, she won't run off and find the company on social media. Hence the B2B challenge with social media.

I work at a B2B software company right now and I had a big social media dilemma. The consensus I've read is B2B companies aren't sure how to make social media work for them. B2B companies can't give discounts at checkout because pricing is very situational. B2B products often don't get much mainstream attention.

How am I, an entry-level employee right of college, going to use social media to help my company? Besides monitoring industry news and discussion on LinkedIn, how else do I use social media?

It took me a while, but here is how I am approaching social media (LinkedIn is exempt from this strategy since it's already being utilizing):

1) Use social media channels as two-way communication.
This is all about relationship management. I want my company to use social media and engage prospects, current customers and industry players. We need to interact with them and be a good social media neighbor (retweeting, sharing information from others, etc...). Obviously we're not going to promote our direct competitors, but we'll pay attention to the industry magazines, government agencies and other players.

2) Provide compelling content.
There's only so much talking you can do without providing the goods. I want my company to post relevant articles related to our industry. I also provided links to new classes and resources our company provides to customers. New customer case studies will also be content to share.

3) Position company as an opinion leader
My company is pretty well-known in our industry, but we have no social media presence. One of the ways we're going to change this through blogging. I've stated my feeling about blogging before, so I am going to make sure my company doesn't fall into the trap of updating the blog once in a blue moon. My company has people with a ton of industry experience and have fantastic insight to share.

A company can't half-ass their social media effort and expect it to grow overnight. My focus is on cultivating relationships, sharing content and giving our take on the industry. I want the return of investment (ROI) of our social media approach to be better customer, prospect and industry relationships.

This is just the start of my approach. I'm sure it will evolve as time goes on. Does anyone have any advice for a B2B approach to social media? Am I heading in the right direction or am I off my rocker? How do you measure social media ROI as a B2B company?

Even journalists should be media trained

2010-12-07T17:32:00.003-05:00

(For my own personal opinion, scroll down to the next bold part.)

Ever since NBC hired Luke Russert as a correspondent in 2008 as a youth vote correspondent, he rarely, if ever, responded to the criticism about getting his position because of the family name. Until now.

Howard Kurtz of The Daily Beast recently interviewed Russert about his life and experience on television. According to Kurtz, NBC is extremely protective of Russert and his ascent into a position at the network. In my opinion, Russert needs to media train himself much better and consent to more interviews if he wants to get rid of the nepotism stigma.

In the article, Russert addressed his critics with:

"The news media is a results-oriented business. I don't think a company like NBC would pay me if I wasn't qualified and wasn't able to produce on this level…

There will always be people who will say, 'Oh, he's only gotten where he is because of his father,' and that certainly helped. But I've been able to stay here because of me."

His answer brushes off criticism and makes him look like a snob: "Yeah, I got this position because of my name. So?"

He can't ignore criticism if it clouds his credentials.

Sarah Palin had questionable foreign policy experience and glossed over it with very media-unfriendly answers ("I can see Russia from my backyard"). Had she addressed the issue more tactfully, the firestorm against her wouldn't have burned so brightly. Russert is just fanning the flames glossing over his credentials.

There are amazing journalists in places like Iowa City, Iowa, Alexandria, La. and Pocatello, Idaho dying for a chance to work for a network. A lot of young reporters barely make enough money to make ends meet. There are journalism grads who held multiple internships and are unemployed. For Russert to not acknowledge the opportunity he has comes across as arrogant; like it's not a big deal.

It's not as if Russert has no prior media experience. He interned at ESPN and hosted a sports show on XM with James Carville, a family friend. Whether these are sufficient credentials to skyrocket straight to a national network is up for debate.

What Russert should have said:

"People who say that have a point, but I'm incredibly grateful for getting this position. I know there are many great journalists who would do anything to be where I'm at. I'm going to make the most of this opportunity."

An answer like this makes him seem humble and gracious. This is how he needs to come across for the albatross of nepotism to go away. He must address criticism head on and discuss the issue. Hiding from it, or only doing softball interviews, just adds fuel to the fire.

Russert, be hardworking, open, honest and gracious and people will stop criticizing you. Humility and a proven track record will turn you into the next Chris Wallace (son of Mike Wallace).

(The rest is my personal opinion. I might get burned for writing this, but I feel like I owe it to the people I know who aren't getting the chances in journalism they deserve.)

When I read The Daily Beast article, I got upset. Very upset.

Journalists are supposed to cut their teeth in smaller markets before they start to move up the chain. Very few ever get the chance to work for a national network. Some never even make it to New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. Luke Russert's position as a NBC correspondent is an insult to those journalists working their butts off, making next to nothing in a small market.

Sure, Russert interned and had a position on an XM radio show about sports. But how this automatically makes him qualified to be a correspondent for a national network makes absolutely no sense. He does not have the experience to be at the national level.

"It's a growth process," he says.

No, the growth process is working in a small town and making sure your writing, reporting and editing skills are excellent. You cover the fires, police beats and fluff stories about adopting puppies. You don't go from no real reporting experience to being a national correspondent. It's unfair and insulting to those who aspire to work on the national level.

In all honesty he's very average. His packages aren't amazing and he told college students in Virginia if they didn't go to UVA, they weren't the smartest. The network is for those who are great, not those who are average.

In my opinion, if Russert covered sports, the backlash against him would be subdued. All of his professional experience is in sports. Just because his dad was a great political reporter and commentator doesn't mean he's qualified as a Washington correspondent.

I mean, just because my dad sells machine parts and my mom is a former teacher doesn't mean I'm qualified to suddenly jump high-up in machine part sales and teaching.

I'm not actively pursuing journalism, so this isn't a selfish rant of why I'm not a national correspondent (actually, I always wanted to be a producer). This is a lament for all my friends who will never get an opportunity like this because their last name isn't famous.

And it's a damn shame.

(A lot of my opinion could be directed at AG Sulzberger, son of New York Times owner Arthur Sulzberger, as well)

News Corp considers MySpace sale, but does it matter?

2010-11-30T20:53:00.009-05:00

If a tree falls in the woods with nobody around, does it make a sound? If MySpace disappears, will anyone notice?

MySpace's five users should be very worried with News Corp's plan to sell the web site. That is, if News Corp. can even sell it.

I'll be shocked if News Corp. finds a buyer for MySpace. The web site is completely irrelevant in today's social media world. Consider this the death knell for MySpace.

I won't completely dismiss MySpace, though. It definitely had its place in the history of social media. It was a great way for singers and bands to get noticed. Everyone had a MySpace when I was a junior in high school (2004). It was the cool thing to have. I still even have a MySpace account, despite not accessing it for years (good luck finding it).

People filled their MySpace with lots of crazy .GIFs and loud, unmutable music greeted you on their page. Embedded flash and YouTube videos would usually freeze and crash browsers. You could be yourself or adopt a fake persona.

Facebook was always the holy grail, though. My friends and I couldn't wait until we could get a Facebook account, back when it was college only. People had to verify who they were on Facebook (via a .edu e-mail address). I'll admit I contacted my college to get my school e-mail address before freshman orientation, just so I could join my college's Facebook network. Everyone's Facebook page looked the same, creating a sense of calm against MySpace's insanity.

MySpace represented teennage angst while Facebook was maturity.

In 2005, News Corp. bought MySpace for $580 million. Seemed like a good investment based on the lack of other significant social media competition (Friendster was dying). Eventually, Facebook opens itself up for high school students, businesses and finally the world. This practically eviscerated MySpace and began its decline.

Despite rebranding, a focus on music and layout changes, MySpace is now essentially dead.

News Corp. made a good amount of money based on a Google advertising deal, so they recouped their investment. But now MySpace makes absolutely no sense for News Corp.

But who will even buy MySpace? Yahoo might since it has an identity crisis and can't figure out what direction to take. Besides Yahoo, I just can't picture any company buying MySpace. It's not exactly a good investment.

The new owner could try and reinvent MySpace, but it won't work. The MySpace brand brings back memories of bathroom mirror pictures, listening to Hawthorne Heights ("Ohio is for Lovers," to be specific), drama over who made your top 8 and some guy named Tom who always wanted to be a friend.

I'm not sure anyone wants to revisit that chapter of their life. I know I don't.

Press release structure and other pet peeves

2010-11-24T09:00:00.004-05:00

I was browsing LinkedIn today and came across a very interesting link about press releases. Thanks to the Journalistics blog post that inspired this entry.

The author says press releases will be better if PR professionals write them utilizing the inverted pyramid article style.

YES!!!!!! (I wish the internet had a megaphone option for text, but the exclamations, bold and caps lock abuse is all I can do)

PR people, can this be universally adopted? There is nothing worse than a poorly structured release. If your lead and fact graf (nut graf) aren't compelling, your release will go unread.
While I may be in marketing and PR right now, my background is in journalism. I interned at WBBM Newsradio 780 in Chicago and my news producer threw away press releases like it was his sole job. The station got so many release it's not even funny.

When I write press releases, I make sure the lead and fact graf are compelling and succinct. I also make sure it's short and to the point. A press release looking like a wall of text, even with a compelling lead and fact graf, has a high chance of getting tossed.

I've got other complaints about press releases as well. Here is my list of press release pet peeves:

1) Wall of Text

You've seen these before. The press release is one page but only has four grafs. The four grafs contain about eight lines of text. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to read a wall of text. Journalists are short on time. If they can't skim it, they just ignore it. Structuring a release like an article, with shorter grafs, will help immensely.

2) Lack of a Lead

The release's first sentence should be the lead. Period. This is the most important part because the first sentence determines whether or not journalists read the second. If journalists can't understand what your release is about after the lead, they won't read the rest. If a lead can't be written, the PR person should question if the release has any merit.

3) Stacked Lead

Don't stack the lead.

Example: "Widget Company X, the leading maker of all digital widget technology in the hospitality and service industry, introduced today the next-generation, ground-breaking widget for handling all hotel bookings which will change the way hotel bookins occur."

See how bad that reads? If a PR person has to say how their company is so awesome, journalists automatically doubt your claim. If the company is so awesome, why can't the product speak for itself?

4) Lack of a Fact Graf (Nut Graf)

A fact graf tells a reader why the release is important and why he/she should care. This needs to be in EVERY release. If the PR person can't tell journalists why they should care, the journalists won't care. It's that simple.

5) More than One Page

Yes, PR people send releases with multiple pages. I really wish I was joking but I've seen it with my own eyes. If a company has a major breakthrough (like the cure to cancer), a multiple page release with valuable information is great. But the people who send multiple page releases are usually talking about some insigifcant product. Your new chocolate bar might be delicious, but you can tell journalists that in under ten sentences.

Also, make sure the '###' is at the end of your release. Journalists don't want to wonder if they received your entire release or if more pages are coming.

6) The About Section is Longer than the Release

If the company's description is longer than the actual release, why is it even being written?

7) Bad/Stupid Quotes

Quotes add more depth and make a release stand out. Make sure the quote is relevant and appropriate. Let's continue with the candy bar example:

"This new candy bar is fantastic, it really adds depth to our product offerings" - Bad
"It took a lot of testing to make sure the new candy bar added something different to the table, we really wanted to go outside the box and make something different" - Good

See the difference? The second quote is more compelling. You might have to prod people for better quotes, but it will make a huge difference. I'm seeing more news organizations simply copy and pasting press releases onto their web site with changes. If your release reads like an article with good quotes, it will be much easier to put on a web site.

8) It's Pointless

If the release isn't newsworthy, why is there a release? No one cares if a company just installed a new air conditioner at corporate headquarters. If a journalist constantly sees pointless releases, he/she won't read the others sent by the same company.

The release also has to be truthful. At my internship, I went with a reporter to cover a story we got via a press release. Basically, an organization against junk mail went to picket outside a store that sent a lot of mailers out. The release stated people would be dressed up as junk mail and have oversized pieces of mail. The story seemed interesting and had great visuals. I was there to record video.

The people who organized the event were late, the costumes were pieces of newspaper and the oversized junk mail was much smaller than we were led to believe. Seriously, it looked like a high school craft project. The station still covered the story, since a reporter was sent out, but the it got little play. I'm pretty sure the station hasn't covered anything from that organization since then.

Agree or disagree? I'd love to hear what others think!

Social media monitoring is necessary in a crisis

2010-11-17T22:10:00.005-05:00

As you know, I've been following the Qantas/A380/Rolls-Royce engine debacle since it began. I noted Qantas had a pretty bad crisis communications response. It didn't utilize its social media channels (ignoring customers who tried to contact them through it) and allowed the media to guide the conversation.

Rolls-Royce, in my opinion, got off easy in the mainstream media outlets. Besides frequent flyers and airline industry people, the average consumer doesn't understand engines come from different suppliers. Say Rolls-Royce engine to your best friend and he(she)'ll think you're talking about a car. Now, on the business side with airline executives and airplane manufacturers, Rolls-Royce needs to cover its bases.

Well, it appears Rolls-Royce is monitoring the social media conversation during this crisis. Windfall Media, of London, seems to be compiling mentions of Rolls-Royce. How do I deduce this? One of the referring links to my blog came from a sub-domain of Windfall Media, aptly named 'Rolls-Royce.' According to Windfall's web site they, "help companies manage opportunities, risks and threats to their brands online."

Now I can't say with 100 percent certainty this is exactly what Windfall Media is doing for Rolls-Royce, but it seems very, very likely.

Rolls-Royce, you get a thumbs up from me for monitoring the social media conversation. It's clear you're serious about your reputation want to be on the ball. A lot of companies doubt the power of social media and end up destroyed (Cooks Source anyone?). Rolls-Royce has a lot on its plate now, since Qantas says 40 engines need replacement. Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa will probably need replacements too, since they use the same engine on their A380s. That's several million dollars down the toilet.

I want to see how Rolls-Royce and Windfall Media use their social media monitoring in this crisis. Let's see what happens next.

Engines need to stop picking on Qantas

As if things weren't going bad for Qantas already, birds took out an engine on one of its planes today. Talk about unlucky.

Commit or quit: Blog frequently or don't blog at all

2010-11-15T21:06:00.006-05:00

I know, I know.

This post is already hypocritical just by reading the title. How can I tell others to blog frequently when I haven't followed the same advice? Well, I'm an entry-level individual and am bound to make mistakes.

What a lame excuse, right? This time is different. I'm actually writing down ideas for future blog posts. When I get inspiration, I make sure I text or e-mail it to myself. My alma mater is the inspiration behind this topic.

If you can't commit, just say no

Loyola University Chicago's School of Communication (SOC) is fantastic. No, this isn't an advertisement for the school. Almost every professor has professional experience. There are very few pure academics. Professors come from large newspapers, television stations, ad agencies and PR firms. Clearly they know their fields and have a ton of knowledge to share. These professors would make great bloggers.

The SOC started a blog last year. It got off to a strong start, but now it's essentially dead. The only post made this semester advertises an event. It looks like the SOC succumbed to bloggeritis.

Yes, bloggeritis. I'm coining this new term. Bloggeritis is when a person or organization starts blogging and then inexplicably stops. Perhaps blogging is too much of a chore. Maybe it got too boring. Whatever the reason, bloggeritis is bad.

When a person or organization stops blogging it looks unprofessional. If they can't keep up a blog, do they have an issue with commitment? Do they run out of ideas? Will they give up on me? How can the SOC be viewed as a group of communication experts if they don't communicate?

If a blog stops receiving regular updates, just remove it.

The bottom line

Everyone seems to believe starting a blog is a great idea. It is, if done correctly. My company is considering creating a blog with our own industry experts. If we can't get our experts to commit to constant updates, the blog would only serve to embarrass not only our organization, but the experts too. Why would anyone listen to an expert who rarely dispenses advice or insight?

I really hope the SOC either starts updating their blog or gets rid of it. It looks bad when communication experts can't consistently update a blog. Blogging has the potential to be a very powerful platform, but it's a dud for the SOC.

Additionally, the SOC recently established the Center for Digital Ethics and Policy. If they can't keep their blog or their site updated, why should anyone take them seriously?

Qantas update

Wow, November is just an unlucky month for the Australian airline, Qantas. ABC News reports that not only did the engine on their A380 fail, but so did several other systems on the aircraft. Today, smoke filled the cockpit of a Boeing 747. The PR team at Qantas definitely has their work cut out for them. If I was scheduled to fly internationally on Qantas, I'd be pretty shaken up.

As for Rolls Royce (the engine maker)? Well, besides two press releases, the company doesn't seem to be doing much. Reports say Rolls Royce will fix all affected engines.

It'll be interesting to see if other problems develop, but right now Qantas is getting all the flack. Why? Well, the average person thinks engines on each plane are all the same. Only those who understand the aviation industry know there are different engine suppliers. Qantas loses while Rolls Royce stays in the background (though don't think for a moment top management at the airlines aren't concerned with Rolls Royce).

Twitter is not your RSS feed (or) Why I don't follow Mashable

2010-11-10T20:58:00.007-05:00

I have a message to those who treat their Twitter accounts as a RSS feed:

STOP!

I'm glad I got that out of my system. It's been brewing for quite a while.

I could name a dozen offenders off the top of my head, but one of the worst is Mashable. As a site dedicated to social media, Mashable's Twitter account is pretty bad.

And it's not just because of Pete Cashmore's picture staring daggers at me.

I followed Mashable for about two months until I had enough. Every tweet linked to an article on its site. No retweets. No user interaction. Article links only. The Twitter account basically serves as a way to generate traffic to the web site. Since I already visit the site regularly, the account just clogged my feed.

Now, linking to their site isn't bad at all. In fact, I do it whenever I make a blog post. Moderation is key, though.

How can Mashable call itself a social media news source when it doesn't follow social media best practices? Sure, the account has over two million followers. But I highly doubt any of them are engaged. Web 2.0 and social media are all about interaction and engagement. Tweeting links to your web site over and over again is not engagement. It's simplistic and, quite frankly, annoying.

Why do people follow Mashable? I have no clue. I don't find much value from their Twitter account. While the actual site is great, the Twitter account leaves much to be desired.

Mashable, please stop being a bad social media example.

Crisis Communications: Why is it so hard?

2010-11-10T00:05:00.002-05:00

Whenever I read an article where crisis communications is poor, I sigh. Is it really that hard? Are honesty, transparency and timeliness impossible during a crisis?

There are companies that actually do crisis communications right (hello Tylenol circa 1982). I'm just shocked at the recent string of poor communication from companies during major problems. First Toyota, then BP and now Qantas.

For those who don't know, Qantas is the national, and largest, airline of Australia. Last week, one of their new Airbus A380 planes had an uncontained engine failure and made an emergency landing in Singapore. An uncontained engine failure basically means the problem with the engine is not, well, contained within that engine. So parts of the engine were falling onto the ground and damaged the plane's wing. This had the potential for catastrophe.

Luckily, the plane landed safely with no passenger injuries. Qantas felt this problem with the engine might be prevalent on the other A380 aircraft and proceeded to ground the entire A380 fleet out of caution. Better to be safe than sorry.

So how did they have poor crisis communications?

Well, grounding the entire A380 fleet means customers can't get to where they are going. Surely the airline has spares planes, right?

However, the A380 is the largest passenger plane in the world. It has room for over 400 passengers, much more capacity than any other aircraft out there. A fully booked A380 means you need two large aircraft as a replacement. Qantas doesn't exactly have a ton of spare jumbo jets waiting in the hangar. This stranded people across the world.

Qantas didn't use their social media channels to communicate with passengers. Tweets requesting information went unanswered. The Qantas web site just said there would be major disruptions to service. The Facebook page left a link to their web site. No constant updates, no special number for passengers to call; just the barebones information. Reports on the web also seem to say stranded passengers received conflicting information on when they could reach their destination.

It also didn't help when another jumbo jet experienced an engine problem shortly after the A380 issue. When it rains, it pours.

Compare this to the runway overrun of an American Airlines plane in Jamaica almost a year ago. I witnessed the reaction unfold in real-time. Despite the accident happening after business hours, American provided Twitter and Facebook updates and constantly updated their web site with new information. The airline established a special number for passengers or family members to call for information.

If Qantas has a crisis communications plan, clearly social media is not part of it. In the world of web 2.0, a company needs to be on the top of its game during a crisis. Lapses in communication only serve to disconnect and frustrate customers. Even if Qantas had little information, updating would show they are paying attention to the issue.

Oh, and the airline just got fined for, "fixing air-freight tariffs." A whopping 8.8 million euros. Talk about a rough week.

Luckily for Qantas, the problem seems to be with the engine manufacturer (Rolls Royce). The airline's poor communication response will be put on the back burner. Hopefully Rolls Royce has their crisis communication plan in motion, especially since Singapore Airlines just grounded some A380s which use the same engine.

(I'll definitely update this blog more. Stay tuned!)

The Working World

2010-08-17T22:24:00.006-04:00

So I'm officially in the working world.

My second full month at my job is fast-approaching and it's been a whirlwind of a time. I learned more about the trucking industry than I ever wanted to know. Acronyms like LTL and 3PL don't make me head straight to Google anymore. Deadlines are more fluid and projects are massive. It's intimidating, but I think I'm handling my workload well. This job is definitely a challenge.

Short entry for now, but I wanted to update at least a little.

Perseverance does pay off

2010-07-06T23:04:00.006-04:00

Everyone told me to keep my head up during my job search. Everyone told me to persevere and something would eventually come my way. While I wondered why no company responded to my resume, people told me to keep going.

"Don't worry, you're going to get a job," they all said. "The economy is bad and everyone is in the same boat."

This is true, everyone is in the same situation. But when one friend got a job offer, it seemed like everyone else did too. It looked like I was in for a very long job hunt.

Less than two months after graduation, I have a full-time job.

Three weeks ago a company contacted me because it liked my resume. I recently revamped my resume stylistically. One thing led to another and the human resource person scheduled a phone interview with the marketing director. That phone interview led to an in-person interview.

All this happened in the span of three days. You heard me, three days.

I met with the marketing director and two other marketing staff at the in-person interview. The interview went well, but I had no idea if they felt the same way. My interview for an internship at Edelman went well, but I did not get that position.

Less than two weeks later while watching TV and eating Ramen, the human resource person called me back. As I answered the phone my stomach dropped. Why did the human resource person call? Was this the, "sorry, another candidate matched us better" call?

It was not.

I got the job. I was hired. What I thought would never happen, happened. I was so excited I couldn't eat the rest of my food. I accepted the offer and will start on July 12. My future, which I thought was in the unemployment line, is now directly in front of me.

Tips that help

Make sure your resume is top-notch. Everyone knows your resume should have plenty of white space and everything should be spelled correctly. Have someone good at design take a look at your resume. If you're applying for a job in a creative sector (journalism, marketing, public relations and others), make sure your design is great. The marketing director told me my resume layout was one of the reasons she called me back.
Have some passion. If you don't want the job, it shows. Make the interviewer know how invested you are in the specific subject. For a marketing job, talk about current industry campaigns you love and ones you do not find effective. This shows the interviewer you really know what you are talking about.
Ask for the job. Credit goes to my father and uncle with this one. Directly asking, "Can I have the job?" might not be the best away. Instead, phrase the question in a way that allows you to explain why you're great for the position. Ask, "What is preventing me from getting this job?" Many people do not ask this kind of question. This is just another way for you to stand out and show how much you want the position.

I'm not really sure how to end this post. Telling you to keep your head up will not help. I hated hearing that. It's too easy to tell someone to keep their head up when you have a job. Instead, remember that results will happen. For every employer that says no thanks, there are hundreds who now have the opportunity to have you.

I'm ready to show my employer how valuable I am. They are not going to know how they operated without me.

Millennials: We're not as selfish as you think

2010-06-24T20:52:00.004-04:00

(Preface: If you haven't read the short article at The Next Great Generation, you really should read that before this entry. It's a great read, trust me.)

You know what's great? Being called a jerk on national television.

Ok, so I was not called a jerk directly. But that was a low blow by Kathie Lee Gifford. According to her, and a University of New Hampshire study, we are selfish jerks.

Don't know what a Millennial is? Well, we're born between 1982 and 1996. We crave technology and are social media pioneers. We're glued to our phones and if we don't check our e-mail we feel disconnected. Studies show we only care about ourselves. We lack employer loyalty and will leave no stone unturned to get higher in our careers. This is just a smattering of what describes the Millennial Generation.

I admit, there are many Millennials who do feel unwarranted entitlement. I know people who think a college degree guarantees a high-paying job. They are living in a dream world. Hard work, drive and real experience allow advancement.

Being a journalist for the past four years made me work hard. I would argue I did more than many of my peers in business and science fields. I worked hard at internships, traveled all around the Chicago area to cover stories and exposed myself to different people and cultures. I learned new writing styles and equipment. I hated settling for less than perfection.

Going into the "real world," I expect to work incredibly hard. I know I will start out with a lower paying job. That does not worry me. With hard work and dedication, I will eventually advance. Personally, most of my friends feel the same way. We know we will not be handed anything. We know how hard we have to work. This seems to go against everything Millenial-haters say.

This economy changed Millennials. Three or four years ago, selfishness and narcissism might have been prevalent. Today, that will not fly. We want to work and want to do the best. We saw our older friends and family lose jobs and life savings. We know companies are doing less with more.

Millennials are passionate about causes, diversity and technology. Sure, we might want more time off than our predecessors, but it keeps us refreshed and happy in our job. A happy worker is more productive than an unhappy one.

Give Millennials a chance. We'll prove you wrong.

Research is key

2010-06-15T00:23:00.002-04:00

In a public relations class last fall, my professor said something I will never forget:

"Research is the most important step."

Whether coming up with a PR plan or trying to get a story in the news, research is key. Personally, I find this to be a no-brainer. Who would not want to research as much as possible before designing a plan or pitching a story? Surprisingly, research is routinely ignored or not done correctly by many PR practitioners.

I can not count how many press releases met the recycle bin at my WBBM internship. Most were either not interesting or irrelevant. Some of the irrelevant releases actually had merit, but our station was not the place for them. Pitches are deleted so fast it would make your head spin.

Let's say you have a client who made a cutting-edge flash drive. You want maximum exposure for your client, so you want to get the biggest audience. Let's not forget you have three other clients to work on too. So you pitch the top 50 media markets, major news sites and some tech blogs. All done, time to move on to the next client.

This is good enough, right? Wrong.

More in depth research is necessary if you want actual exposure, rather than hypothetical. For example, you might pitch the story to CBS 2 in Chicago. You have the product available, plenty of b-roll and have the inventor ready to talk about it. A cutting-edge flash drive might seem revolutionary to you and the client, but for a news director it probably will not even register on their 'care-o-meter.' With a little more research, you would find out that Ed Curran (unfortunately no longer at CBS 2) does weather and is a huge technophile. Pitching him ups the chance of exposure even more. I could go on with examples.

More research does not guarantee a hit. For example, I pitched a story on Catholic Relief Service's 'Fair Trade Your Home' campaign to various media outlets. My team members did our research and found specific journalists and bloggers. We read their writing and thought it would be a great fit. We did get some good hits. There were some, who we thought would love the concept, that did not cover it.

If you want coverage, make sure you pitch to the right people. Journalists will get frustrated if they get pitches that do not match their areas of interest. Believe it or not, media outlets remember the irrelevant pitches. Bloggers are even worse, they will call you out if your pitch is completely irrelevant. I have heard a story firsthand about one such experience.

Without in depth research, at best, you might get some hits or just get your e-mail deleted. At worst, you will be remembered as the PR person who has no idea what he/she is doing.

It's effin' PR

2010-06-09T00:01:00.005-04:00

I have a secret.

I love former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

No, not for what he's accused of doing. I love him for his media circus. It provides plenty of entertainment.

When police arrested Blagojevich in December 2008, I was finishing up final exams as a junior at Loyola University Chicago. Blagojevich was on his morning jog, which is where the above mugshot comes from. Prosecutors soon released secret audio recordings, much to the joy, and chagrin, of the Illinois public.

We heard great hits such as, "it's bleepin' golden." We enjoyed plays like "Rod Blagojevich Superstar."

But most importantly, we got to see the Blagojevich media circus first hand.

His whirlwind tour across America touting his innocence. His wife competing on "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here." Who could forget the former governor's innocence speech while talking with random strangers on "Celebrity Apprentice." What about his talk show stint at WLS-AM? Oh Rod.

But now, it's go time. Today, the court swore in the jury. This epic is just getting started.

I'm innocent, I swear!

Why would Blagojevich run around proclaiming his innocence? I mean, doesn't that make him seem more guilty?

Well, it might. Many people think he's guilty. I mean, he's accused of holding funds hostage for a children's hospital. He's accused of selling a U.S. Senate seat. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

But despite all this, he seems like such a nice guy. How could such a good-looking and charming person do these heinous acts? Why would someone who put children and senior citizens first do this?

It can't possibly be true!

That's exactly what Blagojevich wants you to think. This entire time he's been playing the jury pool. I mean, look at his wife when she was on the reality show. She seemed so compassionate and likable. Why would such a good person be associated with a corrupt governor? The Blagojevich's seem to care a lot for their children. Why would they jeopardize their future?

These public appearances are pretty convincing. If I was on the jury and wasn't so self-aware of the news or my civic duty to be impartial, I would have a hard time finding this guy guilty.

I give Rod a lot of credit. He knows how to play to the public. Whether he's telling the truth or not remains to be seen. A corner stone of public relations is two-way, truthful communication.

Regardless, we'll see what happens at trial. It's a shame I'm not still living in Illinois.

Do you think Blagojevich's PR campaign will work?

There is no 'I' in team (but there is a 'me')

2010-06-05T20:23:00.003-04:00

I know, I know, what a groaner for a topic.

We've all heard the above adage sometime in our lives. To be honest, I always ignored it. I used to hate participating in team activities. I mean, I would get stuck with some slackers who always let others do the work. Why work in a team when I can work more better by myself? Right?

Wrong. I'll tell you why:

Team work is an essential part of life. Anything you do professionally comes from team work. Huge, insurmountable tasks cannot be accomplished with team work. TV newscasts, public relations plans, retail operations and dozens of other things could never be done.

Lack of team work leads to little or no progress. The Gulf oil spill? Suffering from a lack of coordination and team work. Can you imagine the progress BP, the government, environmental groups and others could make if they worked together? BP is going solo and, unfortunately, making the situation exponentially worse.

Team work leads to new ideas. I cannot count how many times I thought I had the best plan in the world, only to have it refined and made better by my team. For editing, a team will catch errors you just glossed over. A team will make tasks faster and on-point.

Why am I pontificating over team work?

Well, a visit to Ruder Finn changed my perspective. One of the senior account executives talked about the world of public relations. He emphasized the word 'team.' You need to be a good team player to get anywhere. If you don't work well on a team, why would anyone want you on their own?

I hated team work because I always focused on the negatives. Realistically, you will have people who don't try as hard. You will have people who don't pull their own weight. But you know what, that's life. The benefits of team work completely outweigh the negatives. You learn so much and grow as a person.

There is no 'I' in team. You need to be the 'me' in team. Turn that 'm' upside down and be the 'we.'

We is team.

Breaking news: Investment in workers actually pays off

2010-05-19T22:46:00.004-04:00

As per usual, I was reading one of my new favorite news sites, Chicago Breaking Business News, when a headline piqued my interest: Report: Companies profit by investing in workers.

Really? No way!

What seems like a simple and, well, essential concept is routinely ignored by many companies. Even if a company completely reverses its employee treatment course, the sentiment still lingers. Take for example EA Games and United Airlines. Little investment and poor employee treatment is a one-way ticket to disaster.

But if treating employees well and investing in them is such a no-brainer, why don't more companies do it?

Is it the cost? Or maybe the effort? Does upper management even care at all?

Bring on the PR

In my opinion, it all boils down to lack of internal communication. If employees are not happy, is there an outlet for them? Do their immediate managers know what to do with complaints? Can employees air grievances without fear of reprisal? These are just a few questions the company needs to ask itself. If no one knows why employees are unhappy, how can the problems be fixed?

If an employee feels cared for and listened to, they do perform better. Is it surprising that one of the top ten recognized brands in the world, along with being an incredible success, has some of the best-treated employees? Google does the job extremely well.

I don't invest in my employees, why won't they perform better?

If a company wants to improve it's employee relations, it needs to step up the internal communication. The company needs to go above and beyond what is expected. Sending out a mass e-mail or occasional newsletter will be perceived as a big joke. Time and investment is necessary.

Make the employee intranet more interesting rather than being a pain to use. Let different departments write articles about what it does. Have individual employees write about their lives. Try holding mixers between departments. Offer an employee shadowing program where departments can see what other departments do. This would be a great tool to foster camaraderie.

When an issue arises, the employee needs to feel comfortable expressing it. The immediate manager is usually the closest person an employee has a bond with. The employee should feel comfortable talking about situations with that manager.

You mean I actually have to ENGAGE employees?

An employee wants to think about work all the time, right? No way. A well-rounded employee is the best employee. When interviewing potential candidates, find out what their passion is and offer programs related to it. If your workplace has a lot of people interested in traveling, perhaps organize a company visit to an ethnic neighborhood on the weekend. Offer a group lunch at a local restaurant. The minimal cost of this will have big results.

If a company provides more internal communication and investment, employee morale and productivity will increase. It is sad that many companies do not 'get it,' but those that do are reaping numerous rewards from it.

Newsflash: It's hard to get a job post-graduation

2010-05-08T02:06:00.004-04:00

I would like to thank Greg Burns of the Chicago Tribune for the most obvious article in the world: Recent grads face a horrible job market.

I also find humor that the student's last name is MacPhail.

I applied to over 50 positions in both journalism and public relations. The best piece of advice I received came from the director of Loyola's Career Development Center, Darby Scism. She said I need to look in different industries and job titles I never thought to look before.

For those who don't know, I'm a major in both journalism and political science. I am cum laude in both. I first applied to journalism jobs all across the country. I received rejections from most of them, flat-out. Most were because I was not a local candidate. Despite telling employers I was willing to relocate on my own dime, it did not phase them.

I changed my focus to public relations as well. Since I loved my public relations classes, and I have strong writing skills, it seemed like a natural fit. I interviewed at one of the largest agencies and am waiting to see if I interview with one of the teams. I really think my experience in a news room, along with media knowledge a public relations graduate would not know, makes me a strong candidate.

Getting rejections and no callbacks has taken its toll on me, but I haven't given up. I keep changing my resume and cover letter for the positions I apply for. I know I will find the perfect fit job. There are some bad day where it feels like I will never get hired, but I persevere.

The one thing I wish most employers realized is dozens of us recent graduates WILL relocate to take a position we want. Trust me, so many of us want a new environment and live somewhere different. If you get a good vibe from a candidate, do not pass them over because he/she is not local!

I feel like my graduating year is full of the most passionate people I know. Everyone who is graduating brings something awesome to the table. Let us show you how great we are.

To those still job searching, fear not. You will find the perfect job. The companies that pass you over have no idea what they are missing. Stay strong with your resume, cover letter and interviewing. When you do get hired, and you will, you will blow your employer away.

Gizmodo editor's home raided

2010-04-27T02:01:00.004-04:00

That post about good public relations from the Gizmodo iPhone leak? Well, that seems to be out the window.

Aside from a breaking news tweet from KNX 1070 and a post from CNET, I have not seen much coverage from major outlets. Please note that CBS Radio, who owns KNX, formed a partnership with CNET in the summer of 2008. It is slightly strange more media outlets are not covering the story yet.

On the public relations side...

Apple is letting the legal department speak too much in this situation. In my Public Relations and Advanced Public Relations classes, we constantly talk about not letting lawyers have total control over a situation. Lawyers are more concerned with protecting the company rather than public relations.

An example is the Firestone tire recall debacle in 2000. Aside from different business cultures, lawyers did not want to admit fault, therefore harming any sort of crisis communication response. This cost Firestone a good relationship with Ford, along with incredibly bad publicity.

Apple already got great publicity with the iPhone leak. Letting the lawyers handle the situation and getting police involved is only going to harm the company's reputation. Gizmodo has a huge technophile following, most of which are probably huge Apple nuts. I just cannot grasp why the company wants to jeopardize good relationships it took years to establish.

On the journalist side...

I am slightly torn in this situation. Are bloggers really journalists? People debate this issue endlessly and the general consensus is bloggers actually are. I can see people turning to blogs like Gizmodo or Kotaku as legitimate news sources. Going with this, journalists should be able to protect their sources.

However, this is different than protecting identity. Jason Chen, the Gizmodo editor, bought the device. The device was knowingly taken without permission, as far as Chen knew. Chen paid money for a stolen device. Paying for knowingly stolen merchandise is a crime. It's like buying a stolen car stereo from a chop shop.

Jason Chen is no doubt a journalist. He is also liable for paying $5,000 for a stolen device. Even in the name of journalism, he must have knew the potential problems. I feel bad for the guy, but he needs to face the consequences of what he's done in the name of journalism.

While Chen was wrong, there is no doubt Apple is going to be the big loser. They are going to damage their reputation, especially since Chen gave the device back to them. Apple's public relations department needs to take control of this situation. Take the microphone from the lawyers! Use your public relations skills and turn this situation around!

iPhone Returned, Gizmodo out $5,000

2010-04-20T18:54:00.005-04:00

Today, Apple finally got back its forgotten/stolen new iPhone.

Gizmodo bought the phone for $5,000 from someone who found the phone in a bar. Gizmodo dissected the new iPhone and the Blogosphere and Twitterverse exploded with stories. Most of it praised the device and its advancements on previous iPhone versions.

There is one big question that comes to mind: why didn't Apple react faster to get the device back?

Did Apple intentionally 'forget' the device to raise hype about the new version? Did the engineer in-question not inform Apple about the loss? Did Apple think the news would (or wouldn't) spread like wildfire? No one will ever know.

I think the phone loss was legit, but Apple purposely let word spread before it took any action. Apple obviously knew technophiles would have a full freak out over the discovery. The Gizmodo post praised the device and its advancements. What better public relations is there than an outside observer praising the device before Apple even announced it? This was a great move.

It remains to be seen how Apple will deal with the engineer who lost the iPhone at the bar. This 'accident' was great press for Apple and had great word-of-mouth exposure thanks to social media (I actually heard about it first on Twitter from a friend).

Could this have been a complete flop? Apple traditionally releases improved iPhone versions during the summer. A leak this close to 'iPhone season' may make some hesitate on replacing or buying a new device, since there is little point in purchasing a product which will soon be obsolete. Apple released figures showing a profit increase of 90 percent on iPhone sales. Will the leak affect sales of current iPhone versions. That remains to be seen.

On a complete side note: Indians swept the White Sox and Cavs are 2-0 in the series with the Bulls. A surprisingly good week for Cleveland sports.

Giving it a go... again

2010-04-13T18:46:00.003-04:00

Whoops!

I have done it. I have committed a cardinal sin. I should be struck down.

What? I started a blog without following through on keeping up with it. This is a huge no-no in the public relations world. If you start a blog, follow through with it, or else it is just a wasted effort. I will keep up this time, I swear.

Eight down, 47 to go

For those who do not know, I love traveling. I have one simple goal in life; going to every U.S. state and territory. I do not have any burning desire to go abroad until I accomplish this goal. Why? There is so much to do and see in my own country, I feel it is my responsibility as a citizen to see it all first.

I told someone my travel goal once and while they thought the idea was great, they somewhat chastised me on my "narrow" mind.

Personally, I find nothing wrong with wanting to explore the country you are from. I mean, there is so much variety in landscape and environment. While there are cultural barriers, there's no language barrier. I have only been to eight states, I am eager to visit the rest, along with the territories!

Berry sad

So Berry Chill filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. I am not surprised.

While I love the place, the business model seemed a bit off. When I think of frozen yogurt, I think of summer in the city. I think of eating it after class or work, in my neighborhood. Having locations on LaSalle and Ogilvie, both of which are not open on weekends, always seemed strange.

Hopefully, the reorganization works and Berry Chill can close those locations and expand to more profitable areas, such as Lincoln Park, Old Town and perhaps Lakeview. Those areas, in my mind, definitely meet the 20 to 30-something demographic, which appears to be their target market.

-Chris

Dude, Where's My Summer? - Part 4

2009-06-09T21:38:00.002-04:00

Just where exactly has summer been hiding? Very few days in the 80s so far does not make me a happy camper.

So far this summer I have been working. That's pretty much it. I've booked trips to New Orleans and California this summer, in addition to doing some planning for Key West in December. Does that count for anything? Haha.

I need to get an internship for spring semester, so I've started looking at possible places. I also want to plan my spring semester schedule which only requires 13 credit hours. On top of this, I get to worry about looking for a job post-graduation, hurray. Still hoping the economy improves. I need to start working on more audio clips, perhaps a small documentary this summer that I could get broadcast? One can hope.

On a random side note, Loyola had its first orientation for freshmen this week. I walked through campus and felt really old. I can't believe 3 years ago I was there. Man, how time flies and things change. They're worried about getting adjusted and making college friends while I worry about getting a job.

Did I mention how weird it is seeing Loyola Chicago '13 on Facebook? Freaky.

Multiple Showings - Part 3

2009-03-10T22:52:00.002-04:00

Want to know the best advantage of working in the law library?

The law.

My landlord called me yesterday at 9pm and explained that my current apartment will be shown to prospective renters. That seems reasonable, right? She told me it's at 9am, the next day. I rushed home after finishing my paper and went into a whirlwind of cleanliness. I finished cleaning and reorganizing my room by 3am. Awesome.

Today rolls around. I go to my classes and get back to my apartment at 2:30pm. I get another call from my landlord. The people never arrived for the showing, but there's another showing. Guess what? It's for 6pm, that night. Another success. I accept because, well, I figure I have to.

Fast forward to just a few moments ago. I receive a call from my landlord at work. I check my voice mail after I leave the bathroom and find out that we have another showing for tomorrow at 2:30pm. Great, another time I won't be in the apartment I'm paying for still. The landlord also says the cleaner it is kept the faster they can rent it and stop scheduling showings. Alright.

I mention this to my boss and we look up the City of Chicago Municipal Code to find out if the landlord really needs to give me more notice. Turns out a minimum of two days notice is require by law except in emergencies or when repairs effect the entire building. Now to call my landlord tomorrow and nicely ask her if she will give us more notice.

Knowing the law rocks. But, it doesn't rock hard enough for me to choose pursuing anything related to it.

-Chris

Reading Does Not Equal Understanding - Part 2

2009-03-08T14:53:00.003-04:00

Let me start off with a quote from someone I know all too well.

According to M. Gillespie, nihilism as a personal ideology and as a metaphysical justification for "no-limits" can lead to totalitarian politics. Using examples from his book, explain how this happens. Rely on at least one literary contrast which he uses to illustrate the appeal of the demonic.

Yep, that's what I'm supposed to be writing about now. While I completely understand what the author means, I have no idea how to translate that from the reading. I created an outline for myself that makes perfect sense, but I am at a loss on where to start. I'd rather be writing a million different news lead for a story about snails than write this.

Spring break is over, which means it's time to interview for internships. There is one that I really want, so I'm hoping it comes through and works out. I can't believe that, not counting this week, there are only FIVE weeks left of classes! I don't know where the time went.

This week was spring break which means I worked for about 20-30 hours. Oh, and this happened. Also, the cost of oil went up. Awesome. Now you have no money and will pay more at the pump. This year keeps getting better. I used to hate that I wasn't going to graduate this year because I was so ready to work after my summer internship. Now I'm jumping for joy that I have a year to let this economy improve, hopefully.

Random side note, Cake Wrecks is awesome. Some of these are ridiculous, my personal favorites are the ones where the person writing what you want on the cake includes your directions, on the cake. For example:

A: Hi, I'd like a white cake that says, 'Happy Birthday' in big letters.

B: No problem.

A receives said cake with this on it: 'Happy Birthday In Big Letters'

-Chris

Age - Part 1

2009-02-26T23:56:00.005-05:00

While I sat in the Information Commons (IC) distracted from writing a research paper, my friend mentioned something that really struck me. She commented how the students in a junior high class she observes for her Education major don't really understand September 11, 2001.

You're normally 12 in 6th grade, the class she observed, and 9/11 happened eight years ago. Most of those kids were four. They weren't aware of what was happening when it happened. That really struck me hard. How could these kids not know the emotion that 9/11 had? How could they not actively live that moment?

This brought on the topic of other things that these kids, Generation Z as they are called, did not grow up with. They don't know grunge of the early and mid 90s or the boy band pop phenomenon of the late 90s. They don't know what life was like before computers were a household item. Everyone always had a cellphone and slow 56k internet connections were ancient history. They only know the World Trade Center from pictures and they don't know how crazy people became over Y2K.

They only know President Clinton as a historical figure. They don't know who Princess Diana was. They only know shows like Full House, Family Matters, NYPD Blue and Legends of the Hidden Temple from reruns. They have no idea who Joe Camel is. They don't know what it was like to go past airport security without a boarding pass. They don't know what Zaire is and only know the Rwandan genocide through a movie. They don't know that McDonald's ever had non-white meat chicken nuggets.

Both of us the realized when these kids are our age, we'll be around 30. We of course dropped the conversation and then went back to studying.

Side note: Kid Cudi is a pretty darn good

Day 'N' Night (Crookers Remix) has to be one of my favorite songs of the moment. Did I mention his hometown is about 10 minutes away from where I'm from?

-Chris

Weather - Part 0

2009-02-16T02:25:00.000-05:00

Ice. Snow. Cold.

These three things represent the bane of my existence.

Honestly, I really can't stand the winter anywhere in the Midwest. I grew up with bitter cold all my life, the negative temperatures should be second nature. Yet all the time I find myself cursing the weather once the holiday afterglow ends in January.

Or maybe I'm just taking this for granted.

As the temperature progressively warms (which included a very nice day or two of 60 degree temperatures several days ago), I can't wait for summer to start. Warm temperatures, street festivals and late night trips to Lake Michigan in the early morning hours with friends are just the start of what I love about summer in the city. This summer will be different though, I'll be living with one of my best friends, more people will be staying and I'll be a senior. Being a senior? What a scary thought...

Ideally I'll intern again, hopefully in television this time. Time to send off those resumes and hope for the best.

Of course another trip to California will have to happen. After how ridiculous it was last time, I don't know what I would do if I didn't go again. Hopefully I can plan another trip somewhere else too, since Spring Break will consist of work, work and more work.

But I'm probably jumping ahead of myself. I still have to get through midterms and finals. This includes a grand total of two research papers, six regular papers, seven one page responses, two interview transcripts and one debate. Something else is probably missing, but I can't bring myself to try to find out.

Let's see if I can actually keep updating this. Despite blogging since 2001 (Yep, that's 7th grade. LiveJournal anyone?), I've found it harder to keep up as I get older. Here's hoping this works.

-Chris