Gee Ekachai, of Marquette University, linked to the author of the slideshow – Corinne Weisgerber, of St. Edwards University.

Both are involved with PROpenMic, by the way. Visit their profiles in PROpenMic: Corinne Weisgerber and Gee Ekachai.

Truly a great, simple slideshow that all educators should use, IMO. It drives home the point of personal brand management. Some of the better quotes, “Google is the new resume” and “Find the Skeletons in your cyber closet”. You’ll enjoy this one.

One other point of interest, Corinne shares her class syllabus (PDF), too. Can’t tell you how great it is to find all these adopters of social media curricula, like Corinne and Gee.

Luke Walker shared a video he created for submission to the Edelman Studios project.

Edelman Studios launched in April of 2008. It is an opportunity for students and others to create content for their portfolio. So, as you can imagine, it appeals to me as one more way to involve students in CGM – consumer generated media.

Their initial clients? “Burger King Corp., Butterball, Expedia®, and PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese (Kraft Foods) had signed on to participate in the search for fresh content through Edelman Studios.”

Now, how cool would it be for a student to wind up winning the attention of such a client through their project? Yeah, very cool. Still, the prize isn’t really the big opportunity here. For most students, this is one more chance to create content that may well grab the attention of a future internship provider or employer.

Check it out …

Edelman Studios

Edelman Studios connects you to clients and industry professionals in five easy steps:

1. Join the Studio

Join now and get access to creative projects from major brands. We’re looking to you for new ideas that will keep audiences engaged and entertained. Unregistered visitors cannot view available creative studio assignments, nor can they submit their ideas. So sign up and take full advantage of our connections. It could be just the opportunity you need to expand your creative horizons and advance your career.

2. Check out our open projects

Once you’re registered, hit the Studio Assignment Room and check out the open assignments from our clients for your inspiration. They’ll be updated regularly, so check back often. You can work on as many projects as you choose and submit as many ideas as you want. Just remember – your best may be the only one that will stand a chance.

3. Submit to the Studio

You’ve read the assignment, done your concepting and really massaged that big idea. Now it’s time to upload your concepts and submit your pitch to experienced Edelman Studios Executive Producers. At Edelman Studios the idea is everything, so make sure yours answers the unique challenges found in the assignment.

4. Check your progress

If your idea is selected as one of the top 3 on a particular assignment, you may get the opportunity to present it to the client in a face-to-face meeting. If your idea is chosen to move forward, you’ll receive a fee and be considered for inclusion on the production team as we bring your idea to life!

5. Keep it up!

If you have more ideas, submit again anytime! As our client roster continues to grow, so will your opportunities. Look to Edelman Studios as your chance to build your portfolio with innovative work that shows the full breadth and depth of your creative imagination.

Here’s Luke’s video. Read his associated post in PROpenMic.

First, the video.

The video below was posted to YouTube on December 12, 2006 by Invisible Children.

We have been called idealists, but our ideals are becoming realities. The images you are about to see do not lie.

On April 29th, 2006, in more than 130 cities, roughly 80,000 people joined thousands of Northern Ugandan night commuters and slept outside. Young, old, all races, all religions — demanded that the world take notice to a war that remained unseen for over 20 years.

Who are these people organizing this movement? Young people, mostly. From their site, they are “Motivated by the unseen war in Northern Uganda, Invisible Children was created by three young filmmakers with a singular mission: To use the power of stories to change lives around the world.”

This is their video. Pretty good effort, IMO.

Heather Mansfield shared this video. She’s a new member of PROpenMic. Her background is broad, but one particular area involves the use of social networks by nonprofits.

Heather’s PROpenMic profile reveals a best practice way to join a social network, too. Why?

Here’s what Heather did. She signed up, provided the network organizer (me) with unsolicited feedback on the site, started two discussions in the forums, shared a video, shared her blog / Twitter account, and shared an event. Now, why do I think this is a best practice example?

Heather is, of course, promoting her new agency, their services and events, and there is nothing wrong with that. So many of the practitioners that join PROpenMic have a multitude of reasons for participating. But, some go about it all wrong. They sign up and throw a job or event posting into the various groups and don’t come back. Heather, on the other hand, is seeking to engage people in discussions. Time will tell if she actually becomes involved with the students, but her initial entry seems like a good one to me.

I wish more people would enter PROpenMic this way. Yes, we have many good participants, but most are silent. We’ll see what Fall semester brings us. Classes start for us in 14 days.

First, we find an article about social media perhaps producing social change and helping someone with a terminal illness. Then, we learn that the SEC has recognized the spread of online / web communications (particularly social media) and they’ve now updated guidelines for publicly traded companies with regard to their Web sites and (if you read it into the speech) social media. Finally, we find the most wonderful video. You’ll want to watch it. Look to your right and you’ll find it is our featured video today.

Jeremy Pepper reaches out and calls out …

You don’t hear/read about campaigns that are helping change the world. You don’t hear/read about campaigns that are being done with the large agencies or consultants that are trying to help make the world a better place.

You read social media people talking about social media … and that seems to be it. It’s the self-fulfilling prophecy of Valleywag’s 250. And, I have written about this before, and nothing much changes.

We’ll see if any of those Jeremy reaches out to actually pay it forward and help someone in need. Can social media successfully spread the word and motivate people to help someone just meet the needs of daily life – while dealing with a terminal illness? Read Taking Stock – Can Social Media Do What It Claims?

Neville Hobson shares the news of an SEC staff speech disclosing some aspects of a new set of guidelines that may impact corporation’s use of social media. Read Social media gains SEC approval.

This could be another step forward in the adoption and adaptation to online communication by publicly traded companies.  Neville shares his thoughts about where this might take us.  He also links to Dominic Jones’ article in the IR Web Report: SEC OKs websites and blogs for Reg. FD (or Fair Disclosure). FD has been seen as one stumbling block for corporations with regard to their open blogging practices.

Last, but certainly not least, Clemson’s Dr. Mihaela Vorvoreanu shares a wonderful “video of a presentation Kansas State anthropology professor Dr. Michael Wesch gave at the Library of Congress.”

Wesch is the same man that brought us the Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us video. It has been viewed more than six million times.

As Mihaela points out, yes – the video is 55:34 in length. Still, this is truly worth the hour you’ll spend watching it. I’m going to require it this Fall in classes. A terrific job by Dr. Wesch. Thank you, Mihaela, for sharing it. I loved it.

Read YouTube culture and watch the video there, or below as it is our featured video of the day.

An anthropological introduction to YouTube

Allison was recently interviewed by Fred Hunter, Fox6 News in Birmingham, for their Absolutely Alabama series.

Allison shares how camp helped her over the years, trying anything new that she had her heart set upon doing. Since being a camper, Allison has gone on to earn a masters degree in counseling and served for almost 13 years in practice, before returning to Camp ASCCA.

I have to admit, I got a little tear thinking about Allison as a camper and now – the ASCCA PR director. It is a sweet story. She is the spokesperson for camp, and does a terrific job.

Watch the video now. (Click image below for a popup.) I have to say, Fred and the videographer/editor do terrific work. A great video. Thank you Fox6!

Now do you understand why I can’t help but talk about Camp ASCCA?

My goal in starting PROpenMic, the social network for students & faculty, was to provide a resource that would help all of us.

I’m happy to report one particular success story from that site. I’m looking for others, too. So, if you have such a story, please share it in the comments or write to me. See the post and video below.

PROpenMic is not even three months old. Its third month anniversary is Tuesday. The social network will become what the members make of it. So far, we have a large group – over 1,300 faculty, students and practitioners. They are adding content on a daily basis, from blog posts to videos – and more. The success of the site is very heart warming, to me. I thank all of you that have joined and I look forward to Fall semester when I believe the site’s student population will really increase.

Now, the post: Allie Osmar :: PROpenMic Success Story

I had the pleasure of meeting Allie Osmar in person at the Edelman Academic Summit in Chicago. She stopped me between sessions and said, in effect, she owed a bit of praise to PROpenMic. Well, that certainly got my attention, so I asked her for an interview to find out why. Here ya’ go!

Find more videos like this on PROpenMic

Allie is a truly smart, lovely and kind lady. PROpenMic offered Allie a network that helped her find the job that makes her happy. Whether it be a job, internship or contact with that special person that enlightens you on a PR topic of interest, that’s what we hope PROpenMic does for all of you.

Are there any other success stories out there? If so, please visit my page in PROpenMic and send me a message. I’d love to hear from you!

As you can tell by the video’s opening graphics, I’m trying out ideas to create a PROpenMic theme for all the videos I’ll be posting.

More Videos Are Coming Almost Every Day

I have another 10 or so videos I’ll share from the Edelman Academic Summit. Also, our great members have been sharing videos, too. I’ve embedded two of the most recent on the PROpenMic front page. And you may go to the main video page and check out all the videos!

As you likely know, I’ve been involved with Camp ASCCA, Alabama’s Special Camp for Children and Adults, for many years. Yes, I was a counselor there 27 years ago. I was also their first PR director. In fact, I’m the one that bought their domain name and give it to the camp years ago, even building their first site.

Yes, to me Camp ASCCA is the center of the universe. They are open year-round and serve thousands annually. I love the camp. So, now I’m helping them with their Web site (again), developing a social network and trying to raise funds online, too.

In case you hadn’t noticed yet, the economy stinks right now. Yep, and Camp ASCCA – like so many other nonprofits – needs to find new ways to raise money.

We’ve launched widgets on the Camp ASCCA site and their social network, ASCCA Friends. These tools come from ChipIn and Sprout Builder. They are free and pretty easy to implement on Web pages.

Sharing is important. The widgets have the potential for a viral campaign. Supporters can email the link to friends and even embed the widget in their own site.

ChipIn even allows you to create your own page on their site.  Think of it as a blog, as you can add new entries.  Here is the Camp ASCCA ChipIn page.

Sprout Builder allows you to embed almost anything in the presentation. You can have video, photo slideshows, information, and even embed the ChipIn widget to facilitate giving. Scroll down to see both the widgets in action.

The giving function is tied to a PayPal account. You can offer a pretty easy way for supporters to give online. The cost per gift (a fee to PayPal) is rather small. I tested it with a $10 donation and the take from PayPal was 57 cents. That’s not too bad for something that really doesn’t have a high cost for the nonprofit organization.

Now, this just launched on Friday evening. Please read the following and make suggestions and comments below. I’d love to hear from you. This is essentially what I shared on the ASCCA sites. You can always go there, too. Visit the Camp ASCCA site and ASCCA Friends. Their blog, filled with videos, photos and more, is located at the Camp ASCCA Journal. Interns are always filling the blog with news from ongoing sessions.

Something You May Not Know :: ASCCA’s Funding

Yes, Camp ASCCA is an Easter Seal affiliate. But, did you know that ASCCA does not receive any funding from Easter Seals? Sounds strange, I know, but it really isn’t. ASCCA is owned by Alabama’s Easter Seal Society. As the flagship facility, ASCCA is expected to raise their own funds. ASCCA receives no money from either the state or national Easter Seal societies. So, please consider the following.

As an Alabama Easter Seal facility, the Camp ASCCA staff and board are responsible for generating, locating and developing all needed funding for all expenses related to Camp ASCCA programs and facilities. Currently Camp ASCCA operates on $1.5 million dollars annually.

Camp ASCCA affiliates with Easter Seals. In return for our Easter Seal affiliation, Camp ASCCA is able utilize group discounts for facility and employee insurance and employee retirement plans offered through Easter Seals Alabama parent organization. However, we cover the costs for all of our programs and activities. About 90% of the people attending Camp ASCCA require some help from us … well – actually, you … in covering their camp fees.

Camp ASCCA serves thousands annually. This campaign is just designed to help us cover the fees for 100 campers. Have you priced a camp, lately? Camps for non-disabled children cost two to three times what we charge. So, as you can imagine, we’re just talking about the fees we charge – not the costs we actually face daily.

So, now that you know what Camp ASCCA’s responsibilities are, please consider supporting the kids and adults that want to go to camp – but are held up by a lack of funds. Make a donation and help send a camper to ASCCA!

For more information about Camp ASCCA,

Camp ASCCA Mission

The Easter Seals Camp ASCCA mission is to help eligible individuals with disabilities and/or health impairments achieve equality, dignity, and maximum independence.

Camp ASCCA Goal

To accomplish our mission, our goal is provide a safe and quality program of camping, therapeutic recreation, and education in a year-round barrier-free environment. We strive to serve those who can derive maximum benefit from the resident camp experience and provide a healthier, happier, longer, and more productive life for children and adults of all abilities.

Camp ASCCA Programs

The philosophy of Camp ASCCA is to offer an exciting camp program geared to the age, interest, and ability of our campers. This involves learning new skills; making new friends; and participating in programs such as swimming, water skiing, tubing, canoeing, boating, fishing, arts and crafts, golf, nature appreciation, geocaching, horseback, bocce, riflery, and even high adventure activities such as climbing and rappelling. In addition to all of this, there are evening programs that include campfires, dances, and talent shows.

I’ll admit, all of the people signing up are my favorites. I’m still kinda stunned by the turnout we’ve experienced. We surpassed the 500 members mark in just 3 weeks.

Today, however, a new truly favorite member signed up. Look at her work and her involvement online. She’s remarkable, and I haven’t even met her, yet.

Meet Danielle Warby at PROpenMic (free signup required). But, you don’t really have to go there. Trust me, there is much more out there online.

templatedata – The web at www.usyd.edu.au

“This blog is based at the University of Sydney. It is written by members of the Digital and Print Media team. Other university staff members with ideas for articles are most welcome to contact us about writing for Templatedata. Readers and comments from the general public are most welcome. The views expressed on this blog are those of the respective authors and not those of their employer.”

Oh, to be sure … there’s more: Danielle’s DesignDyke’s bookmarks on del.icio.us, her Flickr: Photos & Video from danyell.com.au, even a MySpace.com account – Design Dyke, not to be outdone … she’s into video, too. YouTube – LesbianIntent’s Channel.

Staff – The University of Sydney

“Danielle is the Web Support Officer for the Faculty of Economics and Business. Danielle’s responsibilities include website content management and production of marketing materials for print and web. Her main interest is in the area of Social Networking and other Web 2.0 technologies such as blogging. Danielle is also a qualified graphic designer.”

From there, we find Danielle engaging in all manner of social media sites, like Twitter / designdyke … Danielle Warby – FriendFeed … and her personal blog at Vox.

Design Dyke at Vox. Danielle is a student, too.

“I’m an independent, creative woman and I know what I want from life but I’m usually too busy enjoying myself to get my shit together. I have my own graphic design/digital marketing business, I work at Sydney University on their online marketing communicatiions [sic] (specifically social media) update a few of their websites and design the occasional logo. I’m studying Post-Grad Marketing at Sydney Uni… all which leaves me with little to no social life but plenty of time in front of the computer. In my spare time I sleep.”

She’s also a business woman. LinkedIn: Danielle Warby. And that brings us to her business. Design.

Yes, I saved, perhaps the best for last. warbyweb: graphic design web design

Visit and look at Danielle’s work. The level of broad interests at work here is quite simply amazing. She’s even “in the process of setting up an online lesbian magazine that focuses on art and design. I am here to check out what the dykes are doing.” (Source: YouTube)

Now, I ask you. When would I have ever been able to meet someone like Danielle without the advent of social networks? Never. I’m very happy we started PROpenMic. Danielle, you’re pretty damn cool. We must ask her to chat with our class next semester. Hope she’ll agree.

Admit it. You love her. I know you do. Yeah, and a bit of jealousy, too, I think. Yep, I hear ya’.

That’s a good question. We talk about it in class from time to time.  Jeremy Pepper just wrote an interesting post on this very topic – Reputation – Both Corporate and Personal -  at Pop PR!

That’s also a tough question. Only three? I’m going for three of each. I’ve seen some of the other answers, so I’ll try to hit some areas maybe not covered there, yet key beginner first steps to online reputation management. You may post your comments here, but really … the best thing (I believe) would be to post in your blog and ping Christi of my PRception.

Do’s

1. Do be true to yourself, your friends, your colleagues, your stakeholders, your organization/business and to whatever dogma (the good ones, of course) that you may follow. Track the reputation you’ve already developed, and will enhance with future deeds, online in every search engine known to humankind to be certain you remain true to those people and institutions you cherish, as well as your own beliefs.
2. Do be confident in your opinions and stick to your principles. Still, be willing to concede when you are wrong. Humbly confess your wrongs and be willing to accept the consequences of those wrongs. People forgive. They really do. And, be willing to tell your boss, “No, I won’t post that” and be willing to walk away. (That’s a tough one, I’ll admit.) Finally, all problems can likely be avoided if you’ll just follow number three…
3. Do pay heed to the ultimate online rule: Think before you hit Publish – always. Walk away for a day, if you need to. There is no need to rush when it could come back to haunt you. Remember, patience is a virtue.

Don’ts

1. Don’t write anything online that you wouldn’t be proud to show to your parents. Exception? If your last name is Manson and your parents’ first names are either Marilyn or Charles.
2. Don’t post any compromising photos or videos of yourself online. Check that, don’t even make those things, or allow anyone else to, either. Once they are out there, they spread like a virus and can be found everywhere, by anyone – even in supposedly private and safe sites. If you doubt this, and go ahead anyway, you likely deserve to be caught.
3. Don’t, for a client, post anonymously, create flogs, create aggregator blogs or use any other black hat tactic to make your main site look better (or busy). In fact, don’t even attempt any transgression that creates a false appearance or impression. It is likely inevitable that it will be found out, and then you got some ‘splainin to do (before you pack up your desk with security hovering nearby).

As an addendum to all of those, I would remind you that any transgressions (especially those outed by others, not you) – once online – make the half life of plutonium (roughly 24,000 years) look like a coffee break. It will be out there, and following you, where ever you may go.

So, I’m going to ping the same people Christi did in her post – then ping a few more. As Christi asks, what do you good people think about a “Best Rules of Online Repuation Management?” Some of them have written on the topic for this very meme, and others have addressed it before. But, have their ideas changed?

Richard Bailey, Philip Young, Karen Russell, Bill Sledzik, Kaye Sweetser, Heather Yaxley, Les Potter, David Phillips, Christine Smith, Kelli Matthews, Ross Monaghan, Greg Smith, Tom Watson, Gary Schlee, Derek Hodge, Tim Penning, Walter Carl, Bob Batchelor, and the folks at Cac.ophony and anyone else reading (you don’t have to be an educator) discuss. Go.

Next, I’ll ping two of our newest student PR bloggers … from the U.K., of all places. They study with the very kind and smart Richard Bailey, a good guy if ever there was one.

The first new “Officially a blogger” student is Rebecca Armstrong, and she is “studying Public Relations at Leeds Metropolitan University” as well as blogging at PRblogs.org – PR here, to all the way over there…. Next up, meet Paddy Doyle, also a student at Leeds Metropolitan. His blog has a great title, too. Check out Spoof or Truth. It is over at blogger.com.

So, my question to Rebecca and Paddy is, what are your “top 3 DOs and DON’Ts for personal online reputation management?” Please share and meet all of these other PR bloggers, too. I want to bring you into the conversations.

I’ll even ping all of my students, with the same question, to see if they find the post, too. If so, they can throw in their top three ideas.

• Stephanie’s blog
• Allie’s Blog
• acb’s thoughts
• Ashley’s Blog
• Drew’s blog
• Ashley’s Word of Mouth
• Amelia’s blog
• Megan’s blog
• Sarah’s blog
• Blair’s blog
• Jackie’s blog
• Angela’s Blog
• Kelly’s Korner
• Laura’s Blog
• Sherry’s blog
• Kylee’s blog
• Emily’s blog
• QB’s Blog
• Caroline’s Blog
• Alex’s Blog
• Katie Thoughts
• Mandy’s blog
• Alana’s Thoughts on Public Relations
• Brett’s Blog
• Lauren’s blog
• Kristie’s Blog
• Kathryn’s blog
• Jordan’s blog
• Tyra’s Thoughts
• Sara’s blog
• Liz’s Blog
• Sarah’s blog
• Sarah’s blog
• Rachel’s blog
• Stephanie’s blog
• Josh’s blog
• Morgan’s blog

It did remind me of something that I’ve thought about for a long time. The relatively unsung true driving force, in my opinion, of social media’s growth. Surely, the overall contributors are the users. But the initial force was (and continues to be) a relatively small group of young people that had an idea, a lot of curiosity, and the ability to write code.

The developers of the various open-source platforms would be excellent candidates for honors as The Real Driving Force Behind Social Media. Most were college students when they spawned their ideas.

I’m talking about the people that launched WordPress, LiveJournal and CivicSpace, for instance. Aside from Tim Berners-Lee, who did start it all, these people have been the agents of change: Matthew Mullenweg of WordPress, Brad Fitzpatrick of LiveJournal and Zack Rosen of CivicSpace Labs (blog) are the best examples.

Another is Drupal. and the remarkable story of then-student, Dries Buytaert.

In 2000, permanent Internet connections were at a premium for University of Antwerp students, so Dries Buytaert and Hans Snijder set up a wireless bridge between their student dorms to share Hans’s ADSL modem connection among eight students. While this was an extremely luxurious situation at that time, something was missing: There was no means to discuss or share simple things

and…

It was only later, in January 2001, that Dries decided to release the software behind drop.org as “Drupal.” The purpose was to enable others to use and extend the experimentation platform so that more people could explore new paths for development. The name Drupal, pronounced “droo-puhl,” derives from the English pronunciation of the Dutch word “druppel,” which means “drop.” (Source: Drupal Handbook)

I hope you’ll note that these people were in their early 20′s, for the most part, when their creations began to take shape. Dries’ story mirrors those of Matt, Brad and Zach in many ways. They are all very remarkable people.

I’m not suggesting that only young people have spurred the social media movement, but these particular young people have had an impact on so many lives, so many corporate choices of online communication, and even a driving force in the revolution of political and grassroots organizing and fund raising.

It is these people, or overall, the entire opensource movement, that have really driven social media’s growth. Hey, without the tools … it would not be happening. Most interesting of all, each of their creations actually grew out of a desire to communicate with their own small group of personal friends while at college. Any wonder why the term “friend” is now so pervasive in social media software applications?

Later, as the applications grew and matured – like their inventors – these individuals had the vision to go opensource and share with the world. Just look at all that has happened since.

I don’t know, but to me – these people are relatively unsung heros. I think they deserve their time in the limelight.

If I were looking for any latest greatest thing, I’d watch for another bit of software from people like this group. We don’t know where they are, nor what they’re doing to connect with their friends at college, but I’ll bet we’ll see more of these types of developing platforms out of similar young people.

There are others out there, too. Who are your choices for The Real Driving Force Behind Social Media group? I’d like to see. Leave links to the latest greatest you’ve found.