Image via Gigaom

The plan.
According to a recent post by Gigaom, Facebook says the plans for the page are to become an ongoing resource for journalists who want to use the network, and the page will highlight “best practices” engaged in by a number of media outlets and reporters who use it well.

Will it work?
Because journalist have been so successful on Twitter – an information based social outlet – it will be interesting to see Facebook step it up. They do have a leg up on Twitter simply because of the their reach. With 500 million active users, 250 using Facebook from mobile devices. If users are checking their smart phones throughout the day to see what their friends are up to, why couldn’t it become a news source for them as well? With this amount of people logging in constantly and the right use from those who deliver us our daily news, I don’t see why Facebook couldn’t become just as useful as a resource for the latest breaking news stories.

Nick Kristof Facebook

Success Story.

While we are talking social media savvy journalists, one of my favorite examples of journalists using social media is New York Times writer Nicolas Kristof, who has been posting to his Facebook page and updating Twitter from the Middle East and beyond.

To me, Facebook will probably always be primarily a place to play and connect with friends/family. But if you want to show me breaking news while I am there, bring it on Facebook.

NAHB Application

For the second year, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) provided IBS attendees with a mobile application to enhance their experience at the show. This year’s app allowed attendees and exhibitors to view a schedule of the show, navigate the show floor, receive show alerts, download exhibitor information and even search Orlando attractions while they browsed the show floor.

CertainTeed’s QR Codes

CertainTeed Corporation featured a branded Quick Response (QR) scanner and codes at the show, allowing booth visitors to walk away with videos and information about CertainTeed’s newest products right on their phone. CertainTeed calls its QR codes the next wave of technology for the building industry. Utilizing this new technology is also a perfect example of how exhibitors did their best to be green by decreasing on paper materials at the show.

Facebook Check-In Challenge

The NAHB kicked its social media engagement up another notch this year with a Facebook Places Check-In Challenge during the show that offered participants a chance to win a $100 iTunes gift card or an iPad for visiting certain sponsored booths! While this challenge may have been slow to catch on this year, kudos to the NAHB for finding new ways to increase engagement and interaction during the show. One can only imagine what they will bring to the table in 2012!

Official Tweet Up

NAHB and Masco informed show attendees that it was “time to put a Face with an @” with an official IBS Tweet Up during the show. The Tweet Up encouraged attendees to meet the faces behind the IBS2011 and Masco Twitter feeds, have some drinks, and mingle with fellow Tweeters in the home-building Twitterverse.

During the show, NAHB kept its own social media updates flowing via all of our favorite outlets, including Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. By using the hashtag #IBS2011, attendees were able to follow the constant flow of activity during the show, including education courses, special events and giveaway opportunities. The NAHB even shared builder interviews, updates and more on its YouTube channel to engage folks who couldn’t make it.

As I walked the show floor, I enjoyed learning things through the constant stream of social-media updates, from what new products were on the media’s “hot lists” to where exhibitors were lunching in the food court. By the end of the show, I realized that when it comes to Facebook Places and QR codes, building professionals have a bit more adapting to do – and in some cases were most interested in freshly baked cookies being offered at the Sears booth. However, kudos to NAHB and several tech-savvy exhibitors for being on top of social media trends! I look forward to seeing what will be featured in 2012!

(As seen on the Miller Brooks blog!)

Last week I had the unique opportunity with the Hoosier PRSA Chapter to be a passenger on an in-flight refueling missing on a KC-135 at Grissom Air Reserve Base as part of the 434th Air Refueling Wing (the largest Refueling Wing in the Air Force Reserve Command) in Peru Indiana.

The experience was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.  At the end of the day, I walked away having learned much more than I expected. In addition to the flight, the day also consisted of a Crisis Communications panel in the morning (more posts on that coming soon), and a lot of social media use as we shared our real-time experience via our favorite social media outlets. I gained new perspectives on the way that social media can work for us, and a new appreciation for the U.S. Air Force.

Much like social media acts as a force multiplier to get our messages, stories and news across to the public, I learned that the 434 Air Refueling Wing (ARW) acts as a huge force multiplier for our Air Force. On this particular day, I was able to witness both.

Social Media can be used to allow others to work for us, spreading our key messages, good news and best pictures (we love our twitpic apps) to the masses. Through our friends and followers on Twitter and Facebook, and through our loyal blog readers, we are able to advertise ourselves (or our companies) and broadcast our messages to a much wider audience at a much faster rate than ever before. Throughout the day the 13 of us in the group tweeted, twitpic’ed, recorded and updated our status’. We were able to use our favorite apps to share with our friends and followers a little piece of what Grissom does on a daily basis.

Similarly, in-flight refueling missions allow the Air Force to conduct several operations much more efficiently. It allows pilots to fly longer missions and cover greater distances — bringing troops and supplies to different US military stations around the world. The 434ARW runs more of these missions per day than any other Air Force Reserve Command, acting as a huge force multiplier for the U.S. Air Force.

At 31,000 miles above the Appalachian Mountains, traveling at a ground speed of 405 mph, sitting on approx 120 thousand pounds of fuel pouring out at a rate of 6,500 pounds per minute into the C-17 flying next to us (also traveling at 406 mph)… I realized just how vital (and cool) these missions actually are, and how important the 434ARW is to the Air Force and the defense of our nation.

Here are the facts: I have attended many webinars, seminars, boot camps, and teleconferences teaching the ways of PR and the new rules of social media, marketing, pitching etc.

I am a PR professional, early on in my career and I am hungry for knowledge and advancement. I have a passion for networking, learning from others and educating myself in and outside of work. This is all in addition, of course, to my love of Public Relations strategies and emerging social media trends. I don’t think I am a minority here, I think there are plenty of young-er minds out there that want to learn to adapt new practices and learn how to blog better, engage better, pitch better (whatever it may be) and ultimately grow in their industry and in their career.

Specifically I want to learn more about SEO, HTML and blogging (but not for beginners).  And the sad truth is, I don’t really have all day. I’m in the office from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm most days at an agency I love and give 100 percent to. So here’s my plea, if you’re out there and you know about boot camps, webinars, classes, or people who would be willing to sit down with me. I’m sick of going to seminars and webinars that repeat the same A, B, C rules of Twitter and Facebook, I’m looking for more.

So as I continue to dig for opportunity, and find time and vehicles to further my education in the industry I’m asking you, readers and friends…. to share your knowledge, and challenge me!

Foursquare??

What’s the deal with Foursquare? Why you no longer need a bouncy ball and a court to play…..

When our slew of Miller Brooks employees head out to lunch on any given day of the week, I’m usually on my phone within the first few minutes after we sit down at the table. My co-workers, who know me well, don’t need to ask what I’m doing. They roll their eyes because they know I’m “checking in” to our to our favorite lunch spots on Foursquare.

The growing location-based social media application trend is led by Foursquare, a service that provides real-time user location updates specific to a venue. Location-based services (LBS) like Foursquare are expected to really take flight in 2010 — providing they aren’t beat out by location-based features being added to Twitter and Facebook.

Much like the case with Twitter before it mainstreamed, many have heard of Foursquare, but very few actually use it or understand how it works. So if you’re among those who still think Foursquare is a playground ballgame played on a court divided into quadrants, I’ll help you out.

Let’s start with a quick breakdown of the application, and then I’ll give you my two cents.

What is Foursquare?

Foursquare is a location-based social networking application for mobile devices.

How does it work?
Users go to a venue (whether it be a restaurant, bar, park, retail store, office, etc.) and check in using their mobile application. When you’ve checked in, you are awarded points. Foursquare adds up the number of times you’ve been to that location. You receive more points at certain places, and when you are the person who has checked in to that venue the most, you become the mayor.

What is a badge?
When you become a regular user, and start checking in at multiple venues, you will receive badges for your check-in. From the start, there are a slew of beginner badges you receive for becoming an active Foursquare user. First, you’ll receive the newbie badge, then the adventurer badge, then the local badge, and so on. Badges and points aren’t really connected; badges are more of a reward system for interesting check-ins.

My two cents

Now that you know how it works, let me tell you what I think about Foursquare: it’s awesome!

I see two main arguments for the use of Foursquare, whether it’s for fun, for work… or simply because you’re starting to feel left out!

• Competitive gaming quality: I’m convinced that the competitive nature of the application makes it quickly addicting.  (It was for me!) I’ve only been on Foursquare for 5 months, but as a person who’s new to Indianapolis, I’m always sure to check into my new favorite hangouts.  I don’t want to miss out on the points or badges I might receive that will document the discovery of my new city. To help keep the application competitive, most mobile Foursquare applications feature a “LeaderBoard,” which shows you the amount of points you’ve earned on Foursquare each week – resetting every Sunday evening.
• Networking: The “check-in” aspect of Foursquare creates a stream of content that contains all your daily travels. Other users can then follow your stream and engage you in conversation about your favorite places. It’s another way for you to connect with someone and get to know him or her better. You can also follow other people’s check-ins to see where they have been. If your friends are using Foursquare, you can locate them in the city without ever making a single phone call. Also, as you watch your friends check in, you may discover some great restaurants and shops that you never knew existed!

Foursquare’s Challenge

The application clearly has the “cool factor.” As of early 2010, it claimed about 725,000 members — and it has only been around since early 2009. But the question is, can it be proved useful? Besides being fun, Foursquare was launched for business — and participating businesses say yes. Here’s why:

• Foursquare allows venues to provide deals and discounts to the Foursquare users who check in. Some even offer special deals to mayors. It’s another way for businesses to engage their patrons.
• As a business owner, you can learn a lot of valuable insights about your customers by monitoring their activities on Foursquare. You can find out where else your customers go, as well, to learn who your competitors are.
• Businesses can monitor their brand presence across social media mediums. You can identify both your biggest supporters and people who might be unhappy with your company. You can then engage these people and make sure they continue to be supporters of your brand, or right the wrong and gain back a customer.

As Foursquare becomes more mainstream, the application is rapidly gaining users (adding almost 100,000 in a 10-day period during SXSW in Austin, TX). But as the fan base builds, questions arise as well. One in particular: with people checking into (and out of) their homes via Foursquare updates (which can push out to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), is personal privacy at risk? This, no doubt, will be a hot social media topic throughout 2010.

Can you really weigh what you think about Foursquare if you don’t give it a try? Sign up at Foursquare.com and tell me what you think!

I think the transparency of social media can significantly hurt the many young job hunters out there. Fresh out of college want-to-be professionals in the marketing and PR industry probably assume the several social web outlets are to their advantage. (Which they can be.) However, in my opinion blogs, tweets, Facebook “likes” and Tumblr accounts serve as just another means to help companies and recruiters separate the talented from the talent-less and inexperienced. As these companies search for progressive minds — they are linking to more than just resumes and LinkedIn accounts — they are seeing tweets to best friends lamenting about a job search and Facebook posts complaining about current positions.

Unintentionally these pre-workforce enthusiasts can be reflecting work ethic and giving TMI about their personal life. Is social media an amazing tool that can put your career on the fast track when you know how to use it? Absolutely. Did my current employer print my LinkedIn account and see my tweets before my interview? Absolutely. But several newbie job seekers out there who haven’t quite mastered how to position themselves as a young-but-professional mind — have no idea how they are hurting themselves. Kudos to you for being active via the social web during a job search, but think before you tweet. Transparency isn’t always good…

1. Manage Disruptions:  Have daily priorities. Figure out what your task list is for being online.  Assuming you’re actually using your social media tools to accomplish things for work or personal success…Do you want to have a blog post done by a certain time today? Do you want to have commented on all you favorite industry blogs by the time you get up and need to be out the door for dinner? Do you want to blast out a few links to the company blog and photo reel from your latest press event..? Do these things first. Then you can go see what photos your buddy uploaded from Monday Night Football last week….

2.  Don’t overload on information: Pick a few sites that work best for you, NOT all of them. Stick with what you know… and when new strategies and applications are added learn them. Pick a few and know them well, rather than dabling with many. Better to be an expert in a few social media sites than hardly understand them all, am I right? Google Reader offers an easy way to monitor many blogs, but unles you can read them all, don’t subscribe. The truth is, you do’nt have time for it all – and you will make your head spin trying to monitor it all so pick what’s important and do away with the rest.

3. Learn task management:  There are plenty of wasy to do this and many different programs that can help. I am an amatuer and I use my outlook task list, and my gmail task list.  Don’t use your e-mail as a task list. Delete e-mails that you wont reply to, and move on. If something needs to get done.. put it on a to-do list!

4 .Get a Routines: If there are things you need to take care of once a day, or once a week. Make sure you set reminders and create a rountine for those items. (Whether it be blogging, e-mail, reporting results & updates to clients, and checking in on social networks)

5.  Disconnect: Remember to unplug occasionally. Some things just won’t get done if you don’t get off facebook and twitter for a little bit, even if they do have to do w/ social media.  Spend some time each day, or each week un-connected. Stay away from the computer (iphone, blackberry etc) while you prioritize your to-do list and get organized for the week.

What things do you do to stay organized and manage your to do list???  What don’t you do – that you could be doing?

I have found myself in the position numerous times to want to argue with corporate professionals about why social media is worth the time and effort it takes to learn to utilize these new mediums. I’ve even given a presentation to introduce how each site/application could possibly used for different types of clients. This post made me realize that the first step is looking more closely at what is is holding our bosses back.   Then we can more strategically plan our rebuttals! Here’s why the boss is scared of that little blue bird….

Here is a summary of Ochman’s post along with some thoughts of my own.

1- Companies think that employees will waste time with social media.

Many large corporations block their employees from accessing the Internet altogether. Others try to block employees from accessing personal email or social networks like Facebook during work hours.  In May, 2009, according to emarketer, there were 29 million smartphones in the United States. That’s a lot of Internet access available to workers everywhere – and employers can’t stop us from accessing the Internet – on breaks, at lunch, in the bathroom, you name it.  The value to workers of having Internet access – in terms of research, communication, and speed – is far greater than the threat of lost productivity. Companies have a right to make policies and rules about personal use of the Internet, but blocking it during work is just stupid.

This is great one. Your employees are already tweeting in the bathroom.. so you may as well them allow them to at their desk, then maybe they’ll learn enough about twitter/foursquare/facebook or whatever it may be to help you implement it into your overall marketing strategy!

2- Haters will damage our brand.

“What about the haters?” is the first question that comes up at my corporate and conference social media workshops. “What if people say bad, mean, nasty things about our brand?”  Well, there may be things you need to change about your brand, and in that case, you should thank them for letting you know what they are. Then you should make changes.  If you have built an online community that includes people who don’t hate you, that community will rise to your defense and they will handle the problem for you.

I completely agree with this one.  Criticism can make your brand stronger if you counteract it, you will learn where your brand needs to improve. You’re getting free and easy feedback through interactive sites!

3- We’ll lose control of the brand.

Listen up: every person with a computer and even a tiny skill level has the tools to make their opinion about your brand heard by other people. They’re already talking about you. Message control is an illusion. Give it up.= Your workers are talking about you in closed Facebook groups designed to keep you out so they can talk about you in peace. Your customers are emailing, Tweeting, Facebooking, and that old standby – calling – their friends about their experience with your brand. You don’t have control. You might as well join the conversation. At least that way you can influence what is being said.

Simply put… since they are already talking about you… joining in gives your brand the change to first listen, then TALK BACK and be pro-active and re-active instead of just observing.

4- Social media requires a real budget! It’s not really cheap, or free.

While many social media tools are free, knowing how to use them takes experience and perspective.  The boss’ friend’s high school or college kid can’t integrate social media into the company’s overall marketing. That requires experience and perspective. Having a large social network and a stellar online reputation helps too.

5- They’re scared they’ll be sued.

Oh puh-lese. Next!

Again, agreed.. you could be sued a number of other ways too. Crawl out from underneath that rock you’re living under… and welcome to the 21st century.

6- They’re scared of giving away corporate secrets or that information on social networks will affect the stock price.

If you don’t already have a social media policy, you need to create one.

1. Enhance yourself and think productively- If you are constantly considering post ideas while your working away at work, or considering new ideas for a project outside of work, you might stretch your productive thoughts of the day into something that can actually have take away value.  Posting in a way that seeks to encourage and/or teach other people will also stretch your thought process. Always tryign to learn for yourself and teach others sharpens your mind and keeps your intelligence active.  As much as I learn every time I dive into a new idea for a post, or a step by step process I’m wanting to learn more about… I walk away in small but real ways a more experienced and diverse person. There is huge value in that.

2. Teach yourself and learn something – My pretty knowledgeable older brother once told me that the best way to learn something is to create something yourself. Put together an article or a step by step list of how to accomplish something. Once you’ve done some research and put something together you will realize you’ve taught yourself. Blogging is extremely effective for this, and in the process others can learn from your discoveries.

Example? Why is it good to TWEET and MEET? Well.. put together a slide show on the value of connecting w/ your twitter friends, throw in some statistics you find, talk to some people who’ve had  a good experience, and by the end of the slide show, you just might have a compelling argument, and understand the value a little better yourself.

3. Become a better writer – Expand your skill set. Are you a good writer? Would you like to be? The only way to get better, and continue to expand on the comfort level of your writing is to do it more often. Sitting down w/ a blog to lay out your productive thoughts of the day or week is an extremely beneficial exercise and doing this may help you become a better writer for things you need to do at work.

4. Develop your thoughts - Did you ever have a great idea or experience a spark of interest in something, and then forget all about it? A professional blog is a place to expand on that spark rather than forgetting it.

5. Create some credibility- If you’re someone who seeks to be involved in the social media realm, someone who claims to think creatively, or someone who says they have a strong work ethic.. prove those things here (on your blog) and create some credibility for yourself. This is an area where you can push the envelope, reveal your willingness to consider, learn and explore different ideas and discuss current trends in your profession. Whether that means a political discussion, a break down how-to of a real estate agents in today’s economy, discussing the current market conditions and how different businesses are effected, sharing your struggles and frustrations with what the radio advertising industry has become, or exploring ways that new media can effect the PR industry and therefore various clients — write about it, think about it, explore it, and prove that you’re the employee that’s actively thinking about what’s next.  Become credible.