A New Semester, Something to Yammer About

This spring I am using Yammer as a course management system and so far it seems like students like it. Of course, plenty can still go wrong — but I like the way it emulates Facebook and is far less complicated (at least for me) than Blackboard. I can take assigned readings in the form of PDFs and make notations the students can see and I am encouraging them to do the same. Unlike Facebook, I think Yammer has a chance to be embraced for internal communication at many companies and organizations.

Prof. Kyle F. Reinson is trying Yammer to manage his course at St. John Fisher College

Easy Listening

The Advantage of Many Histories

This film is an early example of an entertainment-education approach mixing a celebrity with a cause, in this case, “tolerance.” Yet, as you will see — in 1946 U.S. popular culture was still not willing to tolerate the Japanese. Listen to how a young Frank Sinatra suggested that the kids all get along. This was also an excellent publicity and brand-building effort for Sinatra. He used this song in his live performances for decades, but few people have ever heard the lyrics that were cut from the film.

BUILDER Magazine’s Twitter Directory

Here is a great resource put together by our friends at Hanley Wood. It shows how the use of Twitter is increasing in our industry. Of course, you can join the Twitter discussion and maybe you’ll make the list.

Twitter Does Something Sort of Cool…

Worth Reading. Please Recycle.

Here’s an excellent blog post making the case for cause related marketing at my expense, partly. I am honored to be criticized and what a great conversation for our historical moment. I think the argument Laura Ferry makes is also valid.

My original short post came to mind during a visit to a Kohl’s a few months ago while in the Phoenix area. Check this out…LORAX.

My question is: have the cause-related marketers who came up with this promotion ever read The Lorax? I do wonder. If not, they really should.

Higher Education Goes Online?

Where will students get their education online? They will certainly find more information online than in any college course — if they know where to look. So why do students keep attending classes and paying for tuition increases year-in and year-out?

Consider scarcity. As of June 2 of this year, this article only received 10 comments. If you click on it and read it you will be exposed to the views of eminent experts in a publication read by the same group — and NOT students. Students themselves should be reading such blog posts and getting many viewpoints about what will be one of the largest investments they will ever make in their future. But they don’t — and they won’t. Here is a visual and conceptual reason why:

Colleges are Going Online!

If you want the value of a car, you go to The Trusted Resource.

The visual aid you see here is the same animal as the Kelley Blue Book. I am sorry if anyone is offended by this, but just put these two iconic texts on the table next to each other and compare.

Now, unless the government began to ban access to information on the Web in some Orwellian way, a college education itself is in line waiting for a slap in the face from abundance. Why would I bring this up as a college professor myself? I believe in academe. I think intellectuals are needed, should be valued and celebrated. However, I am worried that these very intelligent people are reading the same Kelley Blue Book.

My hope is that students in the future, including those in my own family, will be able to learn from the best and brightest without the price tag. I do not pretend to know how that education will be delivered — but I do know that it will be much different and soon.

If you don’t believe me, read and compare the expert comments I linked to earlier in this post to the comments you find here.

Here’s wishing everyone the best trade-in value as we begin to feel the June heat.

Future of Higher Ed Marketing

The future of higher education is at hand. This trend in marketing will become dominant for colleges and universities as soon as old paradigms have faded away. Twenty minutes or so.
Click here.

Watch here:

Bill Gurley’s Great Blog Post

If business owners and organizations do not begin to pick up on the magnitude of open-source software in the marketplace soon, they may just find themselves picking up increasing costs and unnecessary fees when they could be making investments in intellectual capital and hiring more talented thinkers to re-think their future. Bill Gurley does a great job putting this into context with respect to Google.

Where in the world can you go to make a buck when people no longer wish to pay for something they can get free? Information is so difficult to monetize these days;  just ask newspapers. Opting out of the Web’s Freemium nature might mean opting out all together. And, perhaps this is OK. Maybe we don’t need as much marketing. Maybe we just need useful content?

Brands can fade away easily or only exist on the Web. Think of all the money that would be saved on Super Bowl Sunday. Donate that to the public good for a change.

Jacksonville Amenity Communities Marketing Summit!

Welcome attendees! Hope this site offers a place for us to continue the conversation. Feel free to post questions and I will do my best to answer them.

Enjoyed Jax and Palin said “hello” as I said “goodbye”

GOP candidate Sarah Palin was in Jax this morning as I left town. Her speech took place a few blocks from the hotel where I was staying. I hope the crowd enjoys the speech, I was lucky to avoid the traffic.

Thanks to St. John Fisher College Students!

Just had great sessions with students this week at Fisher as we discussed the history of PR in COMM 270, and the advanced students in COMM 376 who have some great projects in the works that

Golf Sponsorships

Good to see that golf sponsorship is strong in the real estate market. This is an interesting concept for multi-generational communities as well.

Real Estate Developers and Video PR Tactics

This You Tube video is about two years old and still gets hundreds of views (more than 8,000 have seen it as of Oct. 15, 2008). Consider what a news-style report like this about private or gated golf communities, showing amenities, interviews with golf pros or even chefs could do for generating leads and interest?

You Tube for Real Estate Developers

Here’s some insight into why real estate community developers might benefit from creating very good video content about their communities that is less promotional and more newsworthy.

Hurt Book Looks at Well-Heeled

Those who live in the lap of luxury might enjoy this new book by Harry Hurt III, published at a time when there is not much to laugh about in the economy.

Harry Hurt III

Hurt’s style has been a favorite of New York Times readers for years and this book should be a good read for those splitters traveling for business, family or recreation. For those who aspire to the finer things, Hurt offers a window on the affluent. Meeting Hurt in New York a few years ago was memorable and he could not have been nicer.

Communication and Economic Recovery

The outlook for the economy is not bright at the moment. With more open-source blogging tools available there is really some great potential for alerting Americans of good news too. I will be interested to see if “blogging cooperatives” might emerge from the grassroots to tell the stories of economic sectors that are improving or at least are not as dismal. The mainstream media is not always best equipped to tell the positive stories because it is forced to generalize. Perhaps the new presidential administration will incentivize economic growth for smaller communication efforts. Imagine a government grant to start a blog that helps organize people around ideas for economic recovery? It would allow so many of us to afford to pitch in and help the effort.

NAREE’s 2009 Real Estate Journalism Competition

Update from NAREE

NEW CATEGORY ADDED!
DEADLINE TO ENTER IS FEB. 20, 2009

NAREE Chairman of the Board, Ken Harney of the Washington Post Writers Group, introduced

What Will Washington Do About Higher Education?

Here’s an interesting article by Nan Mooney that should serve as a rallying cry for investment in the future of higher education. Is the dream and promise of a college degree still central to the American Dream? I can speak for many in saying I hope our new president’s first 100 days will address the crisis because this long-term investment is one that has paid off for millions despite their economic means.

Business Writing = Web Writing?

The Writing Center at UNC – Chapel Hill offers some good business writing advice, but should we be looking at teaching professionals and college students alike to write more appropriately for the Web? The printed page is quickly becoming less economical and future generations are pre-wired to communicate in a digital environment. Should we begin looking at documents and their interactivity as much as how clear and concise they are? Jakob Nielsen, PJ Schemenaur and Jonathan Fox offer an interesting take that perhaps should become what all business writing coaches and trainers should teach. Liberating yourself from the printed page opens up a world of possibilities and does not mean quality must be sacrificed.

Web 2.0 Real Estate Marketing

Just had a great conversation today with a developer based out west. Our chat hinged on social media, Web 2.0 and its usefulness to their business. The new way to look at marketing and public relations is not entirely detached from the old way, but the new way does offer the potential for you to get more bang for your buck. Good writing skills and the ability to put useful information into context seems to be valuable across platforms. Screaming at people to “buy,” is thankfully, not working all that well.

In fact, polite and conversational Web 2.0 might be just what the reinvention of our economy needs so that smaller businesses can level the playing field. Small business can deliver compelling news and authentic messages in ways the “big guys” cannot.  I think James J. Cramer has the housing question right for 2009. Smaller developers will need to look at their marketing budgets in more experimental and creative ways to truly benefit. Big media may suffer from this, but why run full-page ads with little result? Instead, invest that same amount in the exploration of Web 2.0. Instead of shunning social media, I think the real estate industry will only rebound when developers make investments in the new media and in new people who are fluent in the new language of social media.

2008 Study

Interesting report about newspapers. It says a lot about their uncertain future. Wish the PR profession could get a handle on this, although I think it is pretty clear where this is headed. Let’s hope newspapers find ways to keep playing the content game. We need them.

A Brand’s A Person

http://mashable.com/2008/12/12/twitter-brands/

This was an interesting link and viewpoint that makes me think that on Twitter, your own identity is your brand. I would only add that celebrities who go onto Twitter only to promote themselves with one-way communication are the same as Dunkin’ Donuts talking about its latest coffee flavor. Hopefully, they will be ignored. Hubspot’s Twitter Grader might be one way to regulate this shameless celebrity worship.

Twitter should be a conversation where you find others interesting, not just spout off about yourself. It might be time to create a list of people on Twitter who only brag and promote and do not listen. I have tried to dabble in promotion on Twitter, but it is a fragile medium. Would we call them the Twitter Twits? I would bet somebody has beat me to that one.

Homebuilders Find Web 2.0 in Las Vegas

Reports are that the buzz at the Las Vegas homebuilders show was all about Web 2.0, and it surely makes sense. Builders need to understand, however, that social media is just that: social. It is not a hard sales pitch. It’s a conversation. It’s also a lot less expensive than throwing good marketing money away on print ads and TV spots that simply cannot match the frequency and The Long Tail of the Web.

A modest investment in Web 2.0 research and development for how a builder markets its communities now should pay off later this year (or even 2010) if and when the market rebounds. I’ve thought for quite some time that this new technology will be the conduit bringing the market back.

Bad housing market news from the large media has been accurate, but nationalized. All markets are local. A great real estate buying opportunity in, say, Utah for a family getting their first home is a different situation than foreclosures in Miami.

Social media has the power to subvert the national reports with information that might lead to more optimism in certain pockets of the country where buyers have been distracted by bad news that does not apply to their situation. Builders should cast aside some of their traditional marketing budgets for more experimental methods this year. They also should be careful not to pay big retainers to agencies who might dismiss social media as unproven. Times like these result in big changes and call for new approaches.

My Del Webb Las Vegas Days: Golf Musings that “Hardly a Man is Now Alive Who Remembers”

Disclaimer: Prof. Kyle F. Reinson has not played holes 12 & 13...yet

From time to time it can be fun to reflect on whatever small difference I may have made on my surroundings or in the places I used to live.

Sometimes people get their names on buildings when they donate money, or in tribute after they pass away. This quick diversion to Las Vegas reminds me of when I submitted some names for the golf holes at The Revere Golf Club’s course called The Lexington.

As a then future PR Manager at Del Webb Corporation, I submitted two names I thought really fit the Revolutionary War theme and golf quite well for holes 12 and 13.

Recalling the many times my Mom has recited the start of the famous poem, I suggested: “ONE IF BY LAND,” and “TWO IF BY SEA.”Glad to see that Troon Golf still titles the holes as such and I wish golfers much success. The other odd part of this is that my elementary school in Mesa, Arizona was named for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and I was born in Middlesex Co., New Jersey.

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1807-1882 Written April 19, 1860; first published in 1863 as part of “Tales of a Wayside Inn”

(See the entire poem at The National Center)

---

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,–
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.”

SF Chronicle’s e-edition offers an interesting approach, but it may be too late

New e-edition

The San Francisco Chronicle recently sent me an e-mail about its new e-edition, and it claims to offer a digital format, keyword navigation and a 30-day archive.

These are all great ideas, but the newspaper wants to sell it for $99/year and will deliver it each day by 4 a.m. I was struck by just how much the news business has changed. I could start a free Google alert about a news topic of interest and get more than just what The Chronicle has to say about it. I wonder if people will pay for something they can get free?

Coffee Klatsch

The National Coffee Association of the U.S.A., Inc. recently released its 2009 Trends and revealed some interesting insights. At-home coffee consumption is up but the economy is only part of this trend. Serious coffee achievers are finding their way to sites like Whole Latte Love for the latest appliances to enhance the coffee experience. As people cut back on exotic vacations and going out to eat, the in-home culinary experience should continue and coffee is part of that. Drink up!

Coffee is important to Americans, and great blogs like The Coffee Sage put coffee statistics from the news media into perspective.

Worth Watching

Open Government in an Open-Source World?

Walter Lippmann

Here’s a quick link to Jeff Howe‘s blog, and you can subscribe to his feed here.

I wonder what journalism icon Walter Lippmann may have said to the idea that the crowd can arrive at solid conclusions? These days people (like Howe) keep talking about crowdsourcing, but is the process free of manipulation? Don’t bet on it.

Here’s a compelling bit of history not everyone views, unless perhaps they take my Intro to Public Relations course. Just how easy is it to create “great thinkers” in the Web 2.0 culture?

Get Out of Google While You Still Can!

Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village

Twitter, We Knew You When…

Are you thinking of Twitter as your second home yet? Who would have thought back in 2008 when a journalist friend of mine first told me about Twitter and my students at St. John Fisher College first heard about it from me, that it would become such a national trend?

The elections in Iran.

The death of Michael Jackson.

The non-death of actor Jeff Goldblum. (video)

Of course, without a business model it remains to be seen how Twitter will hold up. Perhaps Twitter should merge with the Associated Press and get grant or government money to pay reporters for “tweets” in the public interest? News gathering at 25 cents a post. Could this be where so-called backpack journalism finally makes financial sense? Maybe not, but democratizing journalism would be a just move and the best journalism will ultimately rise to the top. At what point is the line between news gathering and surveillance crossed?

As another semester starts, it’s quite interesting to see what changes in technology will emerge next.

edit30 is a good resource, just wish I could avoid their updates getting caught in the spam filter…here’s a very interesting post about Twitter I highlighted in a blog comment.

The link

edit30

The President Plays Basketball?

The Political Economy of Celebrity

Here are all the expensive commodities, to which the rich seem appendages. Here is the money talking in its husky, silky voice of cash, power, celebrity

The Power Elite

C. Wright Mills (1956)

Local Television News Report - 38 Million Views

Mashup Featuring Antoine Dodson - 93 Million Views