50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

I recently read Chris Brogan's 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business. This is an excellent list for those who are using Twitter for a corporation, self-owned business, or for personal purposes.

Until this Fall, I did not see a need to have a Twitter account for myself. I finally came to the realization that not only is it a great way to promote business, but it is also a great way to put yourself out there in the business world. Also, who could have predicted how amazing it would be to see what others in your field as well as competitors are up to and getting excited about.

The list put together by Brogan is a very comprehensive list, but to make it even better, there are some 200 comments by readers about other ways to use Twitter for your business.

This list should be enough to get anyone to, at least, consider hopping on the Twitter train with the other few million people out there. However, we all know people out there who are not quite so tech-savvy, and Twitter knows that too. So, they have included a Help page for those of you just starting out, along with a How-to video.

Women and Spirituality Conference

Minnesota State University Mankato will host the Women and Spirituality Conference with guest speaker Vandana Shiva.

Shiva is a physicist, author and international sustainability leader and will discuss "The Gendered Politics of Food" Oct. 31, opening day of the conference, at 11 a.m.

Along with Shiva's discussion, there will be more than 100 workshops and discussions on a variety of topics throughout the conference which is held on campus in the Centennial Student Union.

Goldman Sachs PR Crisis

I recently read an article on Yahoo News about the latest financial crisis issue. Goldman Sachs, after receiving billions in taxpayer's dollars to save the company, is set to pay their employees $700,000 in bonuses this year. The company has already paid back the $10 billion dollars issued to them by the government, but that doesn't lessen the blow that they are giving out so much in company bonuses.

It is almost as if the financial crisis never happened to Goldman Sachs. They are having one of their most prosperous times in the company's history. And they can't figure out why there is so much hostility and resentment towards the company. In short, they have put themselves into a real PR bind and are alienating the public.

In my opinion, it would have been much more responsible for the company if they had held off on such exorbitant bonuses until the issue of the bailout had been out of the limelight for more than just a few months.

What do you think they could have done differently in order to keep their reputation more in tact?

Evolution of PR

I just finished reading a blog post on davefleet.com about social media and how it should tie in to the world of public relations. This blog was suggested by Ellen Mrja on her Twitter account.

This blog post asks a very simple question: Does social media let everyone act as their own PR agency? The answer is simple. No, social media does not give everyone the skills to be a PR agency.

PR is not something you can just jump into a be great at. While people can be good at one or more aspects of PR, there is no way you can decide to do PR and be instantly good, or even great, at all the facets of the business.

It can be compared to journalism. You may be a good writer, but unless you know how to write in AP Style or a specific paper or magazine's style, you will not be a very good match for any publication and will not get published. This is the same with pretty much any profession.

PR is not an easy industry to make it in, even if you have training in it. As I said before, you need to know at least a little about everything from writing to pitching ideas to creating and designing a website. There is so much that can be done that clients expect to be represented in every way possible.

This means expanding to blogging, Facebook, Twitter and any other form of electronic media. Everyone uses them, so clients want to be represented on them all in order to get their name out there.

That being said, it would be very valuable for all PR agencies to expand to social media sites and to require that knowing how to use and navigate these sites.

Ethics in Public Relations

Today in my Strategic Communications Research class, we discussed ethics in the field of Public Relations.

To be honest, this all seems like a bit of a no brain-er to me. You are supposed to be working to help not only your company and your client, but, above all, the public.

We also discussed conducting ethical research. The main focus became the point of making sure you protect the participants of studies at any and all cost. It is the duty of those who are conducting that research to make sure participants remain safe during the study and anonymous after the study.

I know that if I were a participant in a study, I would want to remain "in the shadows" so to speak. It becomes especially important when you are dealing with a study regarding a place someone works, or frequents because of the ramifications it could have on that individual if anyone were to find out the results of the study.

Oddly enough, with everything that is listed in the PRSA Code of Ethics as well as the IABC Code of Ethics, research is not one of the topics covered.

Perhaps the code of ethics for both organizations should be redone to include research provisions. It seems like common sense, but then again, doesn't everything in the codes of ethics?

The Machine is Us/ing Us (YouTube)

As I watched this video it became very apparent to me that the world thrives on the Internet and many peoples entire lives are able to be found and tracked in one form or another via the Internet.

This means that the entire world of Public Relations is changing and definitely needs to do so. It is no longer a career that is spent on pencil and paper. It requires expanding onto social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as blogs such as this one. The "Web 2.0", as it is referred to, is the "now" of public relations as well as the near future.

Web 2.0 is an exciting new chapter in the industry. It has opened up new avenues that no one could have ever dreamed of so few years ago. It no longer takes a professional web designer to set up a web page. It has become so simplistic that with a little bit of training it can be done by anyone who is willing.

Simply put, the Internet is what we make it, and it is our canvas to create whatever we see fit. Why not take advantage of this incredible tool and use it to our advantage. Web 2.0 has launched the world of PR into the next stage and will carry through until the next revolutionary chapter begins unfolding.