Ben Parr at Mashable has, it seems, been sipping the Koolaid.

Google Buzz Has Completely Changed the Game: Here’s How

Parr writes, “The Social Analyst … a weekly column … where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.”

Mashable has become a sort of cause celebre of the new social media/network journalism. This stems from CNN’s adoption of Pete Cashmore as a columnist. “Pete Cashmore is founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular blog about social media. He is writing a weekly column about social networking and tech for CNN.com.” (Source)

I often wonder whether the sometimes cheerleader-esque nature of many Mashable (and TechCrunch, for example) posts really equal the journalistic integrity we expect from more established journalism sites. Could it be that they, unlike say … the New York Times or even Wired, for crying out loud … seek to write those screamin’ headlines that draw in readers (sans rational consideration of all sides of an issue).

The post from Ben Parr makes me question that ability to avoid the koolaid and put down the pom-pons.

Here’s my reaction to Ben Parr’s post … read it first, of course, then my critique.

Google Buzz Has Completely Changed the Game: Here’s How

Parr writes, “over 160,000 Google Buzz posts and comments per hour” are flowing through the new Google Buzz (in GMail). My question? How many of those are feeds from other sites that people are already using with dedication & devotion? We don’t know, but one guesses what you’re counting is actually RSS fed activity from other tools.

Is Google really going to get them to dig up roots and move to GMail? Seriously. Will everyone move from Twitter and Facebook into Google Buzz? I kinda doubt it (at least not without many more adaptations to the Buzz).

With regard to security / privacy issues, Parr writes, “Google is responding with lightning speed.” Um, no.

They are reacting with Facebook-like speed. Further, why would they make the tool opt-out by default. They certainly have watched all that has happened with Facebook. This was a foolish bad practice that they could have avoided altogether. Put down the Koolaid.

Yes, I and many others, have been able to fold all our email accounts into one GMail account. But, what are the numbers on that? I don’t know. Do you? Is the US adoption greater than the rest of the world per capita? I’m betting the answer is yes.

Yes, Google has an enormous user base that, if they can produce the right tool(s), Google can use to usurp and replace other sites/networks … or at least equal. However, Google Buzz seems to be more of a new version of an aggregator (much like Google Reader) than a replacement for Twitter and/or Facebook.

There is much, much work to do on interface, add-ons, and so many other areas … it is too soon to proclaim it as a world changer. Could it be? Sure (with work). Twitter took years to catch on. Google has an advantage in user base, but can they convert? Many of their labs projects seem to fizzle after only months.

I’m not a big fan of Google Buzz right now. I’m also not ready to pan it completely. I was also not a fan of Twitter at its inception. Now, I use Twitter probably more than any other site (except niche Ning communities). Let’s see what happens with new apps for Buzz. That is, in large part, what boosts the appeal and use of most (if not all) social network sites.

Sometimes, I’m not kidding, these sites (Mashable/TechCrunch, et.al.) are doing what they decry and hammer PR people for doing. You know, their skewed perception that all we do is promote … sans fair presentation of facts? Oh, they won’t like that characterization … will they?

How about all things in moderation, Mr. Parr and Mashable. Step away from the lil’ koolaid pitcher.

Kelly Adams

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Previously, I’ve shared two updates on PROpenMic’s activity. The first was after six months, PROpenMic celebrates six months online :: How are we doing compared to other sites? More recently, I posted a mini-update Update of PROpenMic’s Activity and Membership.

Today I’m sharing the latest news.

First, I want to offer up some caveats. If you don’t want the caveats, then go ahead to the numbers.

These stats come from the available online resources Alexa.com and Compete.com. Both sites are used by advertisers to determine site popularity and traffic with regard to ad buys. That said, the sites do not collect exact information. They even recognize this and provide good explanations of the positives and negatives related to their reports. Further, both sites tend to focus on their paid clients and those sites that are in the top 100,000 rankings for their best statistics.

So, the information offered below is food for thought. It does show some compelling evidence that, at the very least, our free community driven social network is engaging our audience as well as, if not better than, other sites are engaging their audiences.

There really isn’t any other site / social network like PROpenMic. The sites I’ve selected to compare us with are similar in that they are (for the most part) focused on communication and public relations. They are (with the exception of ODwyerPR.com & HolmesReport.com) social networks.

Some require a subscription to participate. Others use the site to promote their other fee-based offerings. All of the other sites have a business model that includes either a subscription price or promotions/ads and offers for their paid conferences, seminars and other resources.

PROpenMic, on the other hand, is all free and does not carry ads. Finally, all but HigherEdExperts.com, have paid staffs and paid promotional activities or resources (in varying degrees). PROpenMic essentially relies upon word of mouth.

HigherEdExperts.com, by the way, is focused on much more than just PR. They have a great deal of information on Web design and other aspects of university communication practice. Karine Joly does a great job with that site and she also participates here from time to time.

I offer all of that to both explain the difficulty of fairly comparing the sites, yet still making an argument that PROpenMic performs quite well for an unfunded community based social network.

With that, I offer the latest numbers.

The first set of traffic ranks and pageviews below are the three month averages for each site. This is the standard statistic reported for each site by Alexa.com.

Alexa Traffic Ranks and Pageview Per Visit

Note: For Traffic Rank, the lower the number, the better the performance.

Propenmic.org has a traffic rank of: 275,773 (Source)

Page Views per user for Propenmic.org: 11.8

Myragan.com has a traffic rank of: 491,984 (Source)

Page Views per user for Myragan.com: 2.5

Communitelligence.com has a traffic rank of: 704,022 (Source)

Page Views per user for Communitelligence.com: 2.2

Higheredexperts.com has a traffic rank of: 952,463 (Source)

Page Views per user for Higheredexperts.com: 2.5

Holmesreport.com has a traffic rank of: 1,007,734 (Source)

Page Views per user for Holmesreport.com: 2

Odwyerpr.com has a traffic rank of: 258,697 (Source) (A PR news site.)

Page Views per user for Odwyerpr.com: 2.3

Unique Visitors (stats from Compete.com):

Note: For Unique Visitors, the higher the number, the better the performance.

“The Unique Visitors metric only counts a person once no matter how many times they visit a site in a given month. Unique Visitors are typically used to determine how popular a site is. Recommendation: To best understand the popularity of a site, you should consider additional metrics beyond Unique Visitors.” (Source)

propenmic.org – 4,028

odwyerpr.com – 6,505 (A PR news site.)

Monthly Rank (stats from Compete.com): Compete ranks the top one million websites in the U.S. based on the number of People the domain attracts each month. Note: For Monthly Rank, the lower the number, the better the performance.

propenmic.org – 320,921

odwyerpr.com – 217,845 (A PR news site.)

Monthly Visits (stats from Compete.com): The number of visits made to a site. A person can only be counted as one person in a month, but can make multiple site visits. Note: For Monthly Visits, the higher the number, the better the performance.

propenmic.org – 21,434

odwyerpr.com – 9,503

Page Visits Monthly (stats from Compete.com): The number of pages an average person views on each visit to a domain. Note: For Page Visits Monthly, the higher the number, the better the performance.

propenmic.org – 9.7

odwyerpr.com 7.9

As you can see below, all sites fluctuate in their traffic over time. PROpenMic’s seems to follow academic terms, to some degree.

There are other statistics. PROpenMic’s average time on site for the 30 day period of Dec. 30 through Jan. 29: 5:05 Avg. Time on Site (Google Analytics) I reported the other stats from Google Analytics in the previous post.

What I take from these findings are that a social network targeted to the right audience, even without significant funding, can be a viable community organizing force. Further, despite all of the additional resources one might have to focus on their social network, some audiences may be engaged by the simplest of means.

Of the above sites I’ve compared PROpenMic to, some of them have remarkable resources and staffs devoted to their online endeavors. Some are million dollar businesses. Some survive quite well with advertising on their sites and subscriptions – enough so as to support those staff writers and IT professionals.

My point is that you, the PROpenMic community, have built something quite remarkable. You make it all happen, after all. I, and the volunteer administrators, just try to welcome you and make you feel comfortable in what is really your site. Sure, there is some management involved, but without your contributions … the site wouldn’t exist and thrive the way it has.

No, PROpenMic isn’t blowing the doors of site rankings and traffic compared to others …. but, that’s not the point, is it. The site is doing what it is supposed to for you the community. And, you’re the ones making it all happen.

I believe this is a good time for a case study. I’m particularly speaking to students here. You know, we’ve been told along the way that PR agencies have built such social networks / sites for clients and billed them out for significant fees. If PROpenMic can succeed for the right audience, imagine what you could do for a client in the future if you have the right audience targeted and the right offering. Could you start a social network like this? I think maybe you could. ;o)

Numbers aren’t really all that important, are they? We have 3,400+ members now and our traffic is equal to or exceeding those that are really reaching out to audiences of 100,000 or 200,000 people. I just find that interesting.

Thank you for all you do to make PROpenMic successful.

I’ve shared this information with numerous academics over the years. Just realized, I’ve never really posted all of this information in one place. Well, aside from our class syllabi.

So, in a very conversational tone, here we go. Critiques and suggests are, as always, appreciated. I’ve pretty much pasted the email I sent below.

“Danger, Will Robinson!” A lot of info follows. Sorry if it is too much. Just sharing bits I’ve given to others along the way on all we do. Note: I’ll first share the paid version. Then, I’ll share how you can do it in a similar fashion for free (or very little cost). Choice is yours. Pros and cons to each path you take.

Domains and Hosting

I have the students purchase a domain name. Best option is try and get their name (it is, after all, their brand), but they can get any name. Then, they purchase a very basic hosting package. I suggest Modwest.com, but any place will work.

Best way to go, however, is to buy the domain and hosting from the same provider – whichever you choose. The reason being, the process for pointing the domain to your hosting is easier that way. Most do it automatically for you. If the students get the domain from GoDaddy and hosting from Yahoo!, for instance, then you have to spend time showing them how to change DNS settings. Well, I’m not aiming to create Web developers / server admins, so I avoid that.

Where do we start?

First thing, they write their resume. Then, they turn each section into one simple page. Most sites wind up with 10 or more pages. Look at PRProspects.com to see the sites from the past few years. I have links there. By the way, I created that site to promote the students. You can do the same for yours with your own blog and/or a free blog somewhere. Hey, the more links out there promoting them, the better.

Blogging Activities

My students blog at PRblogs.org. It is part of the edublogs.org network with James Farmer in Australia. I set up that site years ago (thanks to James) providing free blogs to anyone that wishes to write about PR. The site is free and, for all those logged in, free of ads, too. Now, there are some ads that show up to visitors that are not logged in, but I’ve found that they are rare. I agreed to that recently to help James cover some of his server costs. I make *no* money off this, by the way. Don’t want to. James gives us access to his servers for free. A very kind man.

Do you have one site that feeds all this student content out to other sites?

Yes. The sites we use to create content for the student portfolios (and their various writing gigs) are many. We have agreements with local media, national media and elsewhere for the students to submit articles and videos. This gives them clips for their resumes/portfolios.

The “launching pad” – for lack of a better term – for all this content is The Loveliest Village.

That is a Ning.com community I pay for ($30/month) to give the students a place to upload videos and then have an embed code to place them all over the place. The Loveliest Village also serves as a local citizen journalism site, again – giving the students the experience of writing, creating video and posting.

Templates for the Digital Resumes / Portfolios

For our digital resumes, we use templates from site like Open Source Web Design. I also have the students use iStockPhoto.com to get the images they use in the projects.

These are free templates and allows the students to learn HTML by editing. Of course, if they want to create from scratch, that’s cool, too.

Video :: How to do that inexpensively?

Video is created using The Flip camera. But, you can use other cameras. My statement to the students is, if you can bring in a .avi or .mpg file for editing, I don’t care what camera you use. We edit the videos with the free Movie Maker software on all Windows based PCs. Students with Macs do it at home with iMovie and various other programs. We keep the videos pretty simple. Straight interviews, sometimes with cover footage / B-roll. Simple titles, too.

Where do you host all of this?

I also have dedicated servers I use for a myriad of other software: wikis, social networks, meme trackers, RSS trackers and more. I realize that most will not go so nuts as I have. ) A good dedicated server costs about $100/month. I have two, now. Dropped one. Hey, I’m a teacher … doing this for fun (and the students), really. I spend over $300/month on all this. Call me crazy. The department provides no support. So, ya’ do what you can. Don’t get me wrong, good people here. Money for this just hasn’t hit the radar, yet.

Classroom Activities / Lessons

OK, I could go on about this for a long time. I’ll post again later with those types of exercises.

As far as the classroom activities, there are many. Let’s just say the students are writing and creating videos/graphics, etc. at least three times a week for various sites. Truly, after the first few meeting days, we don’t talk about this a whole lot. I know that probably sounds strange, as much as I talk about it in public. But, they have their schedule of assignments and either do them, or not. I have an all or none policy regarding points. So, I rarely have students that don’t participate.

Free or Inexpensive Alternatives

So, if you’re looking for free alternatives, you can do these portfolios using free blogs. PRblogs.org is one, but honestly … I suggest going with WordPress.com. Why? They have domain mapping. We’ll likely have it at PRblogs.org soon, but – for now – check out WordPress.com. Same platform, really. Both sites are running versions of WPMU – WordPress Multi-user.

Students don’t have to pay for hosting and only pay about $10 or $15 a year for the service. So, that’s a domain ($10 to $15/year) & WordPress.com ($15/year?) for less than $40/year versus about $140/year for shared hosting and the domain. Details on mapping are found here.

It is easy to map a domain. They give you instructions. GoDaddy has the easiest redirect I’ve found, so you might suggest the students get their domains there for this WordPress.com solution. However, many other services do it, too. WordPress.com just requires you paste in the domain name you want mapped. Really, it is pretty easy.

The down side is, you have less control over design and styles. But, using the “Pages” function of a WordPress.com blog, you can create all the pages we do for our digital portfolios. You just can’t style them with a great deal of imagination. There are some other limitations, but the WordPress.com option is quite viable. Your student winds up with a URL like http://www.studentname.com and, that’s really what we’re looking for, right?

How do students take to all of this?

As for student response to this? Well, at first some/many hate it (and me). Then, at the end, they realize they have something worthwhile So, they learn by building the site in many ways. It is worth it.

OK, I realize I’ve given you a LOT of info here. Scary thing is, this isn’t all we’re doing. I’ll gladly talk with you on the phone or answer your email questions. Hope this helps.

Seriously, anything I can do to help other faculty do this is good. Yes, the more of you that do it – the less of a lead my students have. OK, but let’s look at it as heuristic … or giving back … or contributing to the discipline. Your students will benefit from creating these sites. They have helped so many of my students stand out and get that internship and job. Not blowing smoke on that one, either. ;o)

OK, I’ll admit. This is a little bit of a personal rant. I don’t do this much, but I’m kinda fed up – just a wee bit – so, I’m venting. )

Local news reported in a social network / emerging digital media kinda way.

When I first thought of this for classes, some time ago, I’ll admit to having that image of Al Franken’s SNL faux coverage of politics flashing through my mind. But, today it really is possible and provides students with realistic and valuable experience.

As we embark on our class activities at The Loveliest Village, students may wonder why we’ll be doing all this local reporting using lil’ cameras, laptops and social media / social network software platforms to publish.

Well, if it is good enough for CNN, it’s good enough for us, right?

Now, imagine using the skills my students develop in these exercises and then share those stories, videos, photos and more with news outlets online and print.  Hey, they are seeking content. Get the drift? This is how we all may be doing a good portion of media relations in the future.

Actually, forget the future.  I had students doing it today.  This summer they pitched and delivered stories, video and photos.  This semester they are collaborating with multiple news outlets to place stories they will create for class.  Yep, it is not just what they post in The Loveliest Village.  These news outlets have actually sought us out for content.  No kidding.

So, students will create content much the same as CNN is now doing.  Pretty cool, huh.  ;o)  And people said I was nuts.  Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Well, some people said I was crazy.  Didn’t know what I was talking about. Why show students how to do this?  Hmm?  If it is good enough for CNN, I guess it’s good enough for us. )

According to that PRWeek article, at CNN journalists “…will report for broadcast and digital mediums with lightweight kits, including wi-fi-enabled laptops, cameras, and editing tools.”

So now, our students will be able to understand how major media works – the new way.  They’ll be sharing the content that reporters are looking for in this new world.  Not only ‘are’ we way ahead.  We’ve ‘been’ way ahead, for some time.  Update: And, by the way, it isn’t just major media.  Local … local … media has sought us out to create content for their sites.  Hello?

What CNN is now doing is what we’ve been talking about and doing for a long time now.  )  Just sharin’ …. just sayin’.

/rant

I imagine he’s slowly adding to his alpha testing group. Who knows how many have looked at it so far, but with the PROpenMic membership and his own group at MediaPitch / PitchEngine, Jason now has almost 2,000 people to poke and prod the site in an effort to help tweak and and share suggestions.

Jason describes PitchEngine, in part, as follows:

PitchEngine is more than new tools for PR, it’s an entirely new approach to craft. It’s taking what we’ve learned from decades of traditional methods and stepping up our game to participate and succeed in a new media ‘sphere – where the conversation is as important as the message. From the PitchEngine Network to the feedback from our users, we’re listening and committed to connecting PR and media in new and innovative ways. It’s not about distribution or tricks and tactics either. For us, it’s about meeting the actual needs of PR and media worldwide.

Jason has plans for more. He promises the offer of a custom media newsroom option and more. The site already offers a blog and social network to complement his PitchEngine^TM SMR tool.

There are two other sites we may use for comparison with regard to SMR building tools. They are Shannon Whitley’s PRXBuilder and Edelman’s StoryCrafter. We’ve used both of these sites in class.

Those two examples approached the process from different perspectives. Edelman, first and foremost, was experimenting. Their focus would be to provide such a service for their clients, for instance. Shannon, also experimenting, came at it from the perspective of a service provider. His social media release builder already has a tie-in with PRNewswire. You can deliver your releases through their newswire after creating it on Shannon’s SMR building tool. He also offers a WordPress plugin for creating SMRs.

Perhaps Jason seeks to provide the same kinds of services. First up on Jason’s list of offerings, after this release building tool, seems to be the opportunity to create those social media newsrooms. I’m betting there is a market for them, especially if they can be mapped to a domain.

Certainly, within the various newswire company sites – PR Newswire, Marketwire, Business Wire, PRWeb and a bevy of other smaller offerings – you may include a variety of links, multimedia and sharing/RSS functions. They all seem to vary in their depth, breadth and GUI user experience.

I’ve created a screen capture video of the PitchEngine SMR building process. It is in two parts and runs about 10 minutes. The video takes you through the various functions of the site.

Related links: PRX Builder, Shannon Whitley’s excellent site, PRX Builder’s New WordPress Plugin, Micro Persuasion: Edelman StoryCrafter Video Demo, » Steve Rubel on StoryCrafter @ sixtysecondview, Edelman StoryCrafter slideshow, StoryCrafter by Edelman :: My Take | infOpinions?, Edelman release announcing StoryCrafter.

Burying the lead, here. The best part about all of this? One more way to get students to pay attention and, in the end, really have them practicing writing.

Rick Murray shares why Edelman Public Relations has taken a leadership role in helping academia better prepare students for the future of public relations.

This conference is an excellent model for others to follow. We need all the help we can get, folks. I appreciate Edelman’s leadership in this area. The Summit, along with their Bootcamps, shows that Edelman is clearly in the lead. I wish more of these types of opportunities were taking place now. We don’t want to have to catch up, do we?

Video from the Edelman/PRWeek New Media Academic Summit held on June 26-27, 2008.

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!

I brought my laptop with webcam, as well as my Flip camera and cell phone for Utterz. I’m going to try and use the Summit main page for more information.

OK, I admit this attempt at using CoverItLive was sad. ( Sorry. I found out, upon arrival at the event, that the Northwestern University Law School folks were not giving us access to their wifi. So, bummer.

I do have videos galore and will begin posting them tonight (Sunday, June 28).

It was a great conference and I thank Edelman and PRWeek for putting it on. Hope this has a long running life. We need more of these for edcuators. Edelman & PRWeek are, truly, leading the way in outreach to higher education.

Two great posts help you with links and resources.

Oregon’s Beth Evans offers us Arts and PR Job Search Tips From a PR Ninja. Actually, her links and resources will serve many areas of interest, not just those seeking work in the Arts.

Tiffany Derville, also from the University of Oregon, offers up the news that Idealist.org Launches Recruitment Campaign. “To attract non-profits and job seekers, Idealist.org has waived the $60 monthly posting fee for non-profits this month, and it launched (a video) to attract people seeking non-profit internships and jobs.”