7,184 … What does that number represent?

Thursday is the fourth anniversary of our posting in sites like The Corner News, The Loveliest Village and Auburn Family. Yep, we started this version of our decade long digital publishing exercises in March of 2008. Auburn Family (thank you Deedie, Mike & Brock) and The Corner News (thank you, Carla & Greg) and The Loveliest Village (and LoveliestVillage.com before that … it is now down).  Thank you also to Margaret Fitch-Hauser and Mary Helen Brown for putting up with all of this, too.  ;o)

Thank you, also, to all the many PR practitioners and educators that have supported us over the years, too!

In those four years, really only posting during 20 weeks per year, we have now created and shared 3,744 blog/feature stories and 3,440 videos. That’s 7,184 separate posts. Think of the writing … the video editing … the time putting together the interviews …. and more. Wow!

That’s an average of 46+ blogs/features and 43 videos per week of class exercises.

Many thanks and much appreciation goes out to the many students that have humored me over the years and done these exercises. Think about it. You published a digital hyper-local newspaper every week with more unique stories and videos than any other weekly paper in the state, I’m betting. Truly. In fact, you may have out published a lot of dailies. ;o)

Update: I’ve been asked, “Robert, the numbers are great, but what else does all this activity mean?”  So, I’ll expand a bit.  The number 7,184 represents likely 3 times that number of hours (if not more) spent interviewing, writing and editing.  Students continue to hone their writing skills through experiential activities that didn’t exist before.  These are real world assignments judged online by all our readers.   The exercises represent learning many different CMS platforms that each student will most likely encounter in their professional lives.  The end product represents their digital resumes and portfolios that inevitably capture the attention of job and interview providers.  Time and time again, students recount how the digital portfolios were that extra plus that caught the eye of their potential employer.  So, I hope that at least provides an overview of the many benefits the 7,184 experiences produced.  (I haven’t even begun to speak about how they learn to use social media in a business sense and not just as their own personal communication channel.  That would be many more posts.)

And, there is more…

In 2007, we started posting our digital resumes in PRProspects.me. Of course, many classes before that were putting up their personalized digital resumes/portfolios on their own domains, too.

Auburn PR students have created, edited, produced and published 276 digital resumes and portfolios (see PRProspects.me for examples, but many are down now) … with another 40+ coming this semester. Now that is something cool!

Congratulations on your anniversary, you wonderful content PR practitioners! You Rock! Again, thanks to all the students that put in all the long hours and hard work to accomplish all of this! War Eagle!

~ Robert

P.S. Long ago, in 2002, we began online publishing with class exercises on auburnmedia.com via blogs and other CMS. We posted on Auburn University servers via various CMS before that, since 2000. And I’m not even counting the many other sites (Marcomblog, PROpenMic and more) that we’ve launched over the years. April 1st, for example, is PROpenMic’s fourth anniversary, too. In short, we’ve been digital since before digital was cool.

Heck, we’ve been digital since before most people even knew what digital was!

Although the term dead might be harsh, I was speaking in the context of MySpace as a broad multi-faceted social network like Facebook. The numbers illustrate MySpace continuing to lose ground, even after Justin Timberlake’s entrance. MySpace will face competition in the niche music video social network space, too.

The following infographic shows compete.com scores for some of the social networks pertinent to this ongoing discussion. Click the image to see the full-sized infographic.

Many of these students just graduated. As always, I’m sure they want me to share the mantra by which all of these sites were created … Hire Them!

Good students all, I heartily recommend them to you all.

Find more photos like this on The Loveliest Village

Julie Moos offered up here views on the “Was the hurricane coverage hyped?” debate that seems to be unstoppable.  See The 6 criteria for hype & why Hurricane Irene coverage does not meet them.

So, I’m offering up my take on the coverage. I feel Ms. Moos failed to address some painfully glaring realities in the “what passes for news” determinations by media outlets today.

Ms. Moos fails to adequately address the key element of proximity.  That is what made the national cable news coverage so unrealistic.  Yes, a large portion of the nation’s population were at risk.

But, what may have made the national media outlets pay so much attention may well have been — the proximity was their own backyard, the northeast.  Specifically, we’re talking about the US media mecca – New York City.

I can almost hear the newsroom conversations now (can’t you) … “Oh, my gosh … the hurricane is coming up here … and we just had a freak earthquake.  Is this Armegeddon?”  And then, can you hear the upper management conversations (the suits).  ”If not, let’s make it look like it.  I smell a ratings bonanza!”

Further, Ms. Moos neglects to adequately address the consequence of the story.  Yes, the damages caused by the hurricane were large.  However, the string of tornadoes earlier this year caused an almost equal amount of monetary damage.  They also killed hundreds more people.

Were the tornadoes over covered … or hyped by cable news?  No … and why?  In part, it was because they were hyping the Royal Wedding when the most devastating string of storms occurred.  Yes, a foriegn wedding was more important than death and destruction in the US.  Why?  The cable channels had already committed their resources.  In days long gone, they would have bitten the bullet and covered the national tragedy despite their prior commitments.  You know, that little thing called journalistic integrity.  Today, money rules!

Face it.  The hurricane coverage on cable channels was over the top.  It was all about trying to hold eyeballs, increase ratings and NOT reporting news.

The hurricane and subsequent flooding was a major story. That’s true. Did it deserve wall-to-wall coverage? No. Hey, I’ve been through plenty of hurricanes. This one, to me, was more akin to another nor’easter than a hurricane. Do nor’easters usually warrant national wall-to-wall coverage? No. Do they get it? No. Please, people. We have picnics in category one hurricanes. Sheesh!

Finally, as far as context is concerned, there were (and are) other ongoing stories that impact more people, cause more damage, cost more money and concern the deaths of more people.  What are they?  The wars the US is currently still fighting.  Famine in Africa.  Drought in the US south and southwest. There are over 30 insurgencies, civil wars and outright wars between nations underway around the world today.  (See globalsecurity.org)

Even if we quibble over the number of wars, the consequences of any one of them likely exceeds the impact of that one hurricane.  That is particularly true for those news outlets that pretend to be covering the world.

Oh, but those stories are too complex to cover and maintain the attention of viewers.  Hey, we’ll commit the money for a Royal Wedding, but in-depth coverage on more important issues — what, are you kidding?  They don’t drive ratings.  So, we are stuck with the continued tabloidization of news.  Revenues and profits play too large a role in what gets defined as news today.  Revenues and hoped for profits played too large a role in going with wall-to-wall coverage of the hurricane.

After all that … at least sometimes you can find humor in weather coverage.

Cost? $7.00 template … $20 for domain & hosting … and less than one hour of editing.

Yes, it still needs more work, but shows how you can put up a simple (and I think, attractive) site with ease.

Your thoughts & suggestions welcome!

So, this time I created two presentations to illustrate what my students & alums shared today in response to a request on Facebook & on Twitter. What are they doing in their jobs & internships with regard to social media?

Almost 30 have replied so far. I imagine I’ll get more before schools starts in two weeks. Check ‘em out on Storify & Prezi. Many thanks for the help!

Storify collection and Prezi collection … or, see them embedded below.

If anyone else wants to critique this … or share their experiences, I’ll appreciate the input.

It is an interesting use of a common PR ploy … grab the coattails of a breaking story and tag along to get interest. But, in this instance, it is the association that claims to be the keeper of the ethical flame. Um, this isn’t likely hacking. It is likely just using someone else’s code (probably given to them) to listen to the teleconference. Yes, it may be in violation of PRSA Terms of Use ….. but, hacking? I doubt it. PRSA … do you have some ‘splainin’ to do , too? It may well be that PRSA does … their use of a hook to the News Corp. story is a bit unseemly. Let’s be clear. If someone accessed the call from O’Dwyer … they may have been a PRSA member. No one will say.

Actually, it is AdAge that has some explaining to do … as I re-read the story at AdAge, they are the ones that used the term hacking. Bad practice, AdAge. Again, the term “hacking” is so charged right now, is it really appropriate for this story? I’m not sure it is.  PRSA should re-think their implications of hacking.  They are the ones that said they made the statement against O’Dwyer public because of the News Corp. story.  It just seems like a poor hook/coattails tactic to get traction on their swipe at O’Dwyer PR.

Here is an example of what people were saying about Auburn’s Spring Graduation 2011. The video at the bottom is an excellent example of stakeholder generated content.  (Photo & video via Melanie Foster)

http://storify.com/rdfrench/auburn-university

Always love my students and very proud of them. This group was particularly fun and put in a lot of work on these projects. So, give them a look and offer them a job or internship.

OK, I finally got all the screen shots of each site into the slideshow. ;o)

Always interested in any cause related effort, particularly with regard to people with disabilities, I feel this release does a great job of addressing a very PC issue.

They are tracking the use of the words “retard” and “retarded” on Twitter.  It is an outing, of sorts.

What do you think? Look at this Twitter search feed for the word “retard” and see just how often it is used.

Watch the video:

CHICAGO, March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — “Retard.”  You’ve certainly heard it.  Chances are you’ve even used it yourself.  You’re not alone.  The word “retard” is used more than 24,000 times daily on Twitter.  For the 200,000 people in Illinois living with developmental disabilities and their families, this is a matter that goes far beyond words.

That’s why LifeMyWay has launched www.TheSocialChallenge.org, a public awareness and social media campaign that spurs Illinoisans to focus on creating a community of equality and inclusion for all.

The Social Challenge encourages people to take action by enabling them to engage Twitter users whose tweets contain the “R-word.”  The site is also a forum for people to share their personal stories and connect with one another via Facebook.  Advocates for the The Social Challenge will get out into the community, asking Illinoisans to take the Challenge by vowing to help foster a society rooted in equality.

“The real disadvantage stems from the stereotypes and prejudices that society forces upon people with developmental disabilities,” said Holly Roos, Canton mother of two children with Fragile X syndrome.  ”Every human being has strengths and weaknesses, and everyone has the right to be seen for who they are as a person rather than what they cannot do.”

Jessica Martin is one young adult who shares her story.  As a young woman balancing school, work, and an active social life, Jessica dares to ask people to give her the same respect she gives to them.

“I want to be seen as a human being, not as just another girl in a wheelchair,” said Martin, who has Cerebral Palsy.  ”Get to know me – see what I have to offer.  Know that my wheelchair helps me to do what I have to do in my daily life, but it doesn’t define who I am as an individual.”

TAKE THE CHALLENGE: “I will challenge myself and challenge others, joining LifeMyWay in creating a community rooted in equality.”

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/message-to-retard-users—you-will-be-found-118510074.html