Week Five Assignments

Noise to Signal Cartoon

Welcome to Week Five!

It's been a fun week of discussions and Joanne and I are both very impressed with the comments this week. Great work, everyone. Now it's time to move to Week 5. This week, we will discuss the concept of authenticity in social media, along with touching on privacy a tiny bit, and continue thinking about how to approach social media strategically.

First, a reminder. Next week, Week Six, we will be asking for you to talk quite a lot about your final projects and how they are going. If you haven't worked on them in a while, spend some time on them. If you are having difficulties with them, contact one or both of us and we will work with you.

Second, some of you haven't messaged us with a grade contract yet. Please do so.

Now, onto this week's assignments:

1.) Read/Browse:
Why we think we can speak our minds on Social Media from ReadWriteWeb
The Battle for Social Media Authenticity from Forbes

2.) Check back with the blog over midweek and read two posts that Joanne and I will add for this week. Mine will be up by early Tuesday morning, (or for those who are insomniacs, realllllly late on Monday).

3.) Go to Moodle and answer the discussion questions there. Note there are four this week.

It's a short order on assignments this week as we want to give you time to work on your projects, and we want to continue to see energy spent on the discussions.

Welcome again to Week Five, and onwards!

Is it Public? Or is it Private? How to Create Both.

My first career, before starting my own publicity firm, was as a radio broadcasting talent working at several radio stations including K103 FM here in Portland. I have recently realized that what I had to develop early on in my radio career is something that everyone is now having to learn and develop in their own lives, and that is: How to develop a private/personal life online.

Social media is all about engagement, authenticity, and communication. So was radio broadcasting to a certain extent. We just had the phone, mail, and person-to-person events for engagement, while social media demands engagement and involvement from everyone and more often.

In radio, I had to develop ways of reaching my audience and building rapport with them so that they felt they knew me. From the station's perspective, this brought them more listeners and therefore more advertising dollars since rates were set by the results of the Arbitron ratings. From my perspective, I wanted to entertain my audience and make them feel like they had a friend in me.

In order to do that, I had to create a public/private life. Think about it. When do you feel like you're really getting to know someone? When they share things about themselves at a private level. The superficial level is OK, but it doesn't go very far. At the other end of the spectrum is TMI or "too much information." When someone shares too much, it can be very awkward and can damage a person or relationship. Sharing one's deepest, darkest secrets isn't a good idea either, so, how do we do this? How do we create a public/private life online?

There are lots of ways, but an example of this from radio was while doing the morning drive show, I'd tell a story to my co-host, the news guy. I remember one story was about how my husband and I had had an argument the night before and I wanted to know if he thought I was right, or if he thought Gary was right. I also wanted to hear from some listeners who would then call to give us their two cents. What this did was it created rapport. Notice I didn't share some awful story, some deep dark secret that would embarrass me or my family. No. I shared something that was private but that it was OK if others heard about it since I knew they would be able to relate to it. Anyone who has ever been in a relationship with someone else has had disagreements. I knew sharing about a personal disagreement would be a great way for my audience to connect with me.

So, how does this apply to Social Media? As you are strategically using it to build your business, ramp up your cause, promote an event or service, or simply to add to your social life, think about who your friends or followers are and what they would be interested in. Then post accordingly. Not everyone will like every post, and that isn't the point. It's simply important to discover for yourself what you are comfortable talking about regarding your personal life, and what is off limits.

You get to decide what to share, and share we must. Our connected world now demands this kind of interaction, and beyond that it can be a lot of fun

Do let me know your thoughts below regarding this post. Have you already developed a public/private life, or are you just considering how you'll begin doing that?

Warmly,
Joanne

Recent Blog/Mini Blog related article-Steven Salapich

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/nj-devils-fan-gets-suite-revenge-panthers-coo-125652793.html




I thought this article was interesting because it involved the mini-blog action of using twitter and sports. What was even more interesting, was the level of use the team owner gets out of twitter. I have not seen an outspoken owner like this since Mark Cuban. The story kind of leans in defense of the antagonizing fan instead of the evil wealthy owner, who is apparently held to a higher standard as he is somewhat of a public figure. The owners response was humorous and clever I thought, but the feuding fan did not appreciate it. I can't believe it took so little effort for the fan to get an interaction or response with the famous team owner. I don't think this type of banter between fans and organizations happened much by way of snail mail, prior to email and social media sites.

Week Four Reading: Old & New Media Collide in Video

This week we've been discussing video as a social media avenue, and I want to explore this a bit more.

Social video is a lot like traditional broadcast video in that it is:
• A static creation
• Disseminated over a broad aucience

Because of this, many news organizations, advertisers, and other traditional media users have found it comfortable to move into social video. For example, the Center for Investigative Reporting, an advocacy group that supports traditional media investigative reporting, recently announced that it is launching an investigative journalism video project that will be distributed on YouTube.

Another great example is how YouTube itself is now putting more effort into putting advertisements on its site, such as the now well-known AdSense ads from Google, which look like this:

Okay, well maybe they aren't always so... um... weird?

Another big player in Video is TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, & Design. TED has hosted conferences of intelligent speakers on a variety of topics since 1984, and began placing videos of these talks online for free in 2006. We have used some TED talks in this class, as you may have noticed. Recently, TED announced a new series of videos to teach children basics of science and other topics. Like CIR, TED is also using, on the surface, a broadcast model, as it is disseminating videos of talks that occurred prior to video posting, and do not incorporate any two-way aspects in the content.

However, remember how these videos are being distributed. TED puts it videos on its own web site, but still incorporates social features like allowing commenting on the videos. It also redistributes many videos on YouTube. CIR, meanwhile, is going straight onto YouTube without their own platform. Why?

First, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the planet. To have your video on YouTube is to be far more likely to be found. But on a more social level, YouTube is a community with registered users, rich commenting abilities, rating systems, and built-in sharing mechanisms to embed or share YouTube videos on still other social media platforms with still other users. This is the power behind how a video can go "viral": search and share, the second being the heart and soul of social media.

To get a good example of how this is being used, take a look at this post from Chris Brogan, where he talks about how a restaurant is making video ads for YouTube that are social. Watch the video there. Why are they social? Note that the advertisement is more than an advertisement. It doesn't state "here, come eat at our restaurant!" Instead it offers useful content that a YouTube user may actually want to watch, and then because that content also relates to a product that the restaurant sells, it makes that company's products seem better, higher quality, and made by people who care about the diner. This is an ad, but it's a useful ad and one that may be both enjoyed and shared. Thus we have a form of social media marketing known as content marketing.

Week Four Assignments

Hi everyone!

Here are the assignments for Week 4 of Intermediate Social Media, which runs April 23 - April 29. These all need to be completed by Sunday evening, April 29th.

Here are a couple of items to note. 

Be sure and check our group blog frequently this week as Alex and I will be adding additional posts containing interesting and important information (at least we hope you will find it to be helpful.). In addition, this is a good time to catch up on any assignments that may not be as far along as they should be.

Last week, in light of our discussions on Moodle, we posted some additional articles that are  enlightening. Because they were within other conversations, some of you may have missed them, so here they are again. Would love to hear your comments, which you could put in a blog post.

Read this: What's more important: Speed or Accuracy?

Read this: How to get Customer Service

Read this: Moms and Motrine

This week we're exploring:

• Video/YouTube
• Podcasts
• Skype
• Webinars
• Teleseminars

In addition to learning how these tools work, we will be discussing how to use them in a professional and strategic way. 

Let's begin with a special message from Alex!

Great job, Alex! We feel like we know you even better now!

LEARNING ACTIVITIES & ASSIGNMENTS

Watch this: Why videos go viral

After you read and watch what is posted above, then go to Moodle and begin to answer the discussion questions. Be sure and comment on other people's answers in addition to posting yours.

See you on the discussion forum and on this blog!

Alex & Joanne

Alone Together

Yesterday, I was walking down my block in SE Tabor neighborhood and I ran into my neighbor Dan. Dan  is a personal coach. He asked what I had been up to lately and I mentioned I was studying social media and it's implications on our society. He mentioned a book he was reading called "Alone Together" by Sherry Turkle, an MIT professor who in the 1990's celebrated technology and was optimistic that the internet was the answer to many of our global dilemmas.

"In Turkle’s latest book, “Alone Together,” this optimism is long gone. If the Internet of 1995 was a postmodern playhouse, allowing individuals to engage in unbridled expression, Turkle describes it today as a corporate trap, a ball and chain that keeps us tethered to the tiny screens of our cellphones, tapping out trite messages to stay in touch. She summarizes her new view of things with typical eloquence: “We expect more from technology and less from each other.” (NYtimes Book Review)




To watch a video where she discusses her evolution in her her thinking check tis out:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AeMSQdUUEM

I find myself both intrigued by the power of social media and curious what it will look like in five, ten years. How it will it impact the life of my four year old son? Will be better off as a global society or will be so virtual that personal contact will be a rare occurrence. So many questions about the future!


Will the good outweigh the potential dangers? 


Do we need to unplug for awhile and get back to reading a book under a tree. Or is social media a snowball rolling downhill and uncontrollable?


Mykel

How To: Post on Blogger

Here's a brief how-to video on how to post on Blogger.

Tumblr: The New Blog?

There's a lot of buzz recently about the future of blogs. One service, called Tumblr, is a kind of halfway between the simplicity and brevity of Twitter, and the full sized blog. Check out this story on Fast Company about the rise of Twitter.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1834801/tumblr-editorial-blog-storyboard

Twitter

Hi Everyone,
Below is a link to a Times article titled, "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." I chose this article because I used to be one of those people who was very skeptical about Twitter and the way people use it. It wasn't until I started using Twitter for professional networking that I discovered just how useful this tool is.

This article explains how Twitter has changed the face of digital "conversation." It discusses the basic elements of Twitter and how people can actively engage in it. The article goes on to further discuss how individual people use Twitter in their daily and professional lives. Overall, this article gives great insight into social media tool Twitter.

How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live

Bree

YouTube video

Here is the site:  How2BuildAWebsite.  
 The author talks about using WordPress as a springboard.
But like what was suggested, just go to WordPress and get walked through the process. 
  

My article

Am I posting my article in the right place on the Blog? I see Amy posted something here. As my project is to do a blog, yikes...will I be learning how to do that as the class progresses or do I need to set it up now and figure it out on my own? I know I go to blogspot.com to set it up but other than that I don't know anything.

Here is the link to my blog: http://blog.prnewswire.com/2011/08/04/the-controversy-around-the-changing-face-of-blogging/http://blog.prnewswire.com/2011/08/04/the-controversy-around-the-changing-face-of-blogging/

The article is short and gives a great visual for what blogging is used for. It can be professional or just a hobby that only family reads or it can be read by no one like a journal.

I am wondering how one makes money on the blog? Is it by getting lots of viewers and then attracting advertizes? Or just by mentioning products? I have heard that my friend who has 10,000 followers makes money. Is it by partnering videos that give information (how to's? like how to do a make over?)

Website set up

The YouTube video that I watched, was "Using Wordpress to Build a Website Yourself". In setting up a website, I was inclined to go to "Godaddy" or Google website s/u . It appears that Wordpress may get you a more professional appearance than most other sites. The producer of this video has his own website: How2BuildaWebsite.com. He indicated that Wordpress is not strictly a content management website. It started out as a webblog and can be useful for that still, but has the ability to work both as a CM site and a blog. 
His recommendation is to find a professional web hosting environment. He mentioned several and the three that I wrote down were "One to One hosting", "Hostgator" and "Blue Host". I am a bit unclear as to how this whole process works. (So my question at this point is why one would need a hosting environment. My thought is that you need a host for your site. It's sort of like throwing a party and you need a place to host all your guests.) 
You also need a domain name. This is also a bit of a mystery to me. However, if you already have one, use it. If not, don't buy one but go to the sites he mentioned, such as networksolutions.com  and find one using .com. Once this is done, Wordpress is ready to go. Now you can focus on how you want your site to look.
All very interesting. The author of the YouTube was easy to listen to and of course makes it all sound so simple! I'm know there is a lot more to it but I will find out when we go to set up our own site. 

Amy W.    

More About Blogging

This week we have been asking you, our students, to dive right into blogging. But what is a blog? Well, this site is one for example. But how do we define it?

Here on the site, you can see some of the key elements. First, it is primarily about delivering text content. Note that the first page, where you are reading now, is all full of content, like a series of articles or stories. These articles are called, in blog terms, "posts."

Note, too, they run far longer than, say, a Facebook status update. Note that they are primarily content created by the blog's authors, rather than content from some other place that is shared with little or no commentary.

Watch this video: Blogs in Plain English

Also, consider the introduction and the history history segment of this article on Wikipedia:  Blogs.

As for Microblogging? Think a blog, but smaller: a few sentences, or a short burst of words. In some ways, Facebook's status updates are almost microblogging, but the classic example is Twitter.

Welcome to Week Three! (With Assignments)

It's been a great week everyone, but now it's time for week three of our class! Congratulate yourselves, we put a lot on you. As you learn about social media, take a short break and enjoy the above comic from Calvin & Hobbes. While it's a bit snarky, it's also true about social media: you get what you put into it.

Our theme this week is blogging and micro blogging. Names that may be familiar to you are platforms like Wordpress, Blogger (which is what the course blog uses,) and Tumblr, as well as leading micro blogging service Twitter.

This week we will ask you all to roll up your sleeves and get a bit more into doing things. That starts here, on the blog, with assignment one:

1. Register to join the blog as an author.
Step one, use the Moodle course mail system to send your e-mail to myself and Joanne. Please do this ASAP, no later than Tuesday, April 17 at midnight Pacific Time.
Step two, you will receive an invitation to join the blog at that email address by no later than Wednesday morning.
Step three, follow the instructions that Blogger emails to you.
2. As with last week, find a story, blog post, video, podcast, or any other digital media that relates to this week's topic, in this case blogging and micro blogging. If it relates to a subject being discussed by your classmates on Moodle, or if it relates to your class project, all the better. The only real requirement though is that the subject is related to blogging or micro blogging and that you think it is worth sharing with the class.
3. Complete the course browsings for this week:
Read this: What is a blog?
Read this: Twitter, "Truthiness" and breaking news
Watch this: Twitter founder gives talk about what Twitter is, how it was originally intended, and how it has changed.
Read this: Some practical advice about using Twitter.
4. Go to Blogger and click on the little orange pencil button next to the course blog title. Put a headline in at the top, and then in the body section, write a short post about the link you found for item two in the assignment list here. Describe in 1-3 paragraphs what the story is, why you want to share it, and what your thoughts or reactions to the link are. Do this by the end of the week on Sunday night; we will talk about the experience next week.
5. Go to Moodle and complete your answers to the three discussion questions there. Because we are asking you to join the blog this week, we will keep the discussion questions a bit light this time, but don't forget to reply to at least two other students' posts on Moodle!
6. Look at the earlier post here on the blog that describes the assignment for the midterm/final project. Then contact your instructors via the Moodle Course Mail before the end of Friday, April 20th to tell us:
a.) Are you contracting for an A grade, a B grade, or a C grade. To repeat what the syllabus says, if you are contracting for an A, you must participate in the midterm/final project and write a 5-6 page reflection for the final. If you are contracting for a B, you must participate in the midterm/final, but no 5-6 page paper will be required at the end of class. Those contracting for a C are not required to participate in the midterm/final, but must still participate in the Moodle discussions for those assignments by interacting with their fellow students.
b.) If you are contracting for an A or B grade, tell us what your project will be. If this is not fully formed yet, contact us ASAP and we will work with you to finalize the form. Do not start the project until you have an approval from one of your instructors.


I will be back in Portland tonight, Monday the 16th if anyone has technical problems!


Happy week three!

Class Assignment for Midterm/Final

Hello Class!

This week, one of the course discussions is to share your ideas for your project for the class. As stated in the syllabus, the course's midterm and final are both related to a social media project of your choice. This week, we want you to consider your options and share some ideas with the class on Moodle. Then, next week, we will ask you to pick one of them and begin the project.

This is not as hard as it may at first sound. The assignment was based upon one from a smaller, simpler introductory class. The difference is that with this class you will have the opportunity to spend about 8 weeks on the project instead of 3, giving you more time to observe and learn.

Further, you have more freedom to adapt the project to something you want to accomplish. Consider this an opportunity to try out a social media project for your personal, professional, or educational interests. This is a participatory project track where you get to explore social media in a directly applied purpose relevant to you.

So for this week, ask yourself, what would you like to explore, and how far you want to participate. Then share your thoughts with us.

The full project assignment is in the course syllabus, however, I have included it below. Please note that we have modified the start date a bit to give you more time to consider your alternatives.

Questions? Ask in Moodle in the discussion question for this assignment in Week Two.

From the Syllabus:

Students will also engage in a social media research project. This project will require them to choose from one of the following two options:

Project Track A: Choose a pre-existing social media community to join and engage in. This should be a community you are not already involved in. This may include one of the following: 

• Follow and engage with a blog that has a robust comments section 
• Join and engage a Facebook page or group
• Join and engage a LinkedIn group 
• Join and engage others on Twitter 
• Propose to the instructors another social media site that you think is worth exploring.

Project Track B: Plan, create, and implement your own social media community, which may include one of the following: 

• Plan and create a blog for a specific purpose 
• Plan and create a Facebook page or group for a specific purpose
• Plan and create a LinkedIn page or group for a specific purpose 
• Plan and create a YouTube channel for a specific purpose 
• Plan and create a Twitter account for a specific purpose
• Combination of some or all of the above 
• Propose something else to the instructors that will best meet your needs for learning and using social media.

Please note: regardless of which track is chosen, students will be graded by their observations and learning from these experiences, as demonstrated in the discussion areas of the course’s Moodle site and/or in the final reflection paper, not on the content the student has created outside of Moodle. Further, we understand that some students will have privacy concerns regarding participation in social media; we encourage but do not require students to utilize their real names in their social media projects. If you have specific privacy concerns, please contact the course instructors and accommodations will be made.

The social media community chosen may be for personal, professional, and/or educational purposes. Students should expect to choose and begin to engage in their social media community in week two, and be prepared to discuss initial observations during week six. Interaction will continue throughout the class. Those contracting for an A grade also need to submit a 5-6 page reflection paper on their learning and observations by the last day of the class, Sunday, 6/5/11. Students will not be graded on the content or extent of their engagement in their chosen social media communities, but rather by demonstration in their reflection papers of their observations and learning during the engagement process.

Week Two Assignments

Here are the assignments for Week 2 of Intermediate Social Media, which runs April 9th - April 15th. These all need to be completed by Sunday evening, April 15th.

This week we're looking at:
Facebook
LinkedIn
Social Profiles: Personal vs. ProfessionalThere are 4 questions posed in this week’s discussion forum on our Moodle course site. Please read the questions and respond to them and other students’ responses throughout the week. For maximum learning, the discussion should occur throughout the course of the week.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES & ASSIGNMENTS:

1) Read this: How to pimp your LinkedIn profile
2) Read this: What is a FB "friend" and how do they relate to your "real" friends?
3) Watch this: The Social Network
4) Watch this: What is LinkedIn?
6) In your industry or area of interest, find a news story or blog post about Facebook or LinkedIn and how it is used in that field. Suggested sources include: Alltop, RWW, Mashable. Share it with the group on Moodle. 
7) Go to Facebook and look up two profiles: the first, that of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder, and the second being a profile of anyone well known whom you wish to choose. What can you tell about Mark and about your chosen well known person from looking at their profiles? Make some notes for your own reference about anything you learn from the profiles that is interesting, surprising, or shocking to you.
8) If you haven't already done so, go to Facebook and friend Alexander Craghead and Joanne McCall (McCall is my business name, Joanne Wright is my personal name and Marylhurst likes to use the latter. Sorry if it caused confusion). We will then bring you into our private FB group for Marlhurst Intermediate Social Media group. We can "unfriend" at the end of class if we choose to.
9) Go to Moodle, read, and answer the discussion questions found in the Week 2 Section.

See you on the discussion forum!

Joanne & Alex

Alex & Joanne at Marylhurst Social Media Event

Hi Everyone,

One Tuesday, April 3rd, Marylhurst's Career Services Program sponsored an event featuring Social Media expert Joshua Waldman.

The event, called 7 Top Mistakes Job Seekers Make Online is geared toward students who are actively getting into the job market and want to understand how social media is being used in hiring practices.

Joshua is the author of of "Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies" and after his presentation, Alex and I took the opportunity for a photo op.

Here are the 7 Mistakes Job Seekers Make Online according to Waldman:

1. Not having a well defined brand across platforms (Align your values)
2. Using your job title in your professional headlines (You are not your job.)
3. Rambling on and on in your profile summary (5 lines or less)
4. Not using LinkedIn's applications (Show what it important to you.)
5. Not having 100% LinkedIn profile (Dress it up and fill it out completely.)
6. Looking like an axe murderer (Your photo matters!)
7. Leaving your online relationships online. (Get the meeting or phone call as quickly as you can.)

Social Media is quickly becoming a part of all our lives--including the job search.

All the best,
Joanne

Week One, CCM367E

Here are the assignments for Week 1 of our course (April 2nd – April 8th) — these all need to be completed in Week 1 (so by Sunday April 8th). We have posted the assignments in this blog so that you can see how blog posts work, and become familiar with navigating a basic blog structure.

Click on the linked items below to complete. We recommend you complete them in the order listed below.

FIRST: Please introduce yourself in our Introduction Discussion Folder in the Week 1 Section on our Moodle course site.

NEXT: There are 3 questions posed in this week’s discussion forum on our Moodle course site. Please read the questions and respond to them and other students’ responses throughout the week. The assignments below will help inform our discussion, but you do not need to complete the assignments first. For maximum learning, the discussion should occur throughout the course of the week. Thanks!

LEARNING ACTIVITIES & ASSIGNMENTS:

1) Watch this Common Craft video about the definition of Social Media
2) Watch the latest in a series of videos by Eric Qualman on "socialnomics."
3) Watch this TED Talk from Clay Shirky.
4) Read this blog post from Brian Solis.
5) Join Facebook (if you haven’t already) and then “Friend” Alex and Joanne there. (After the course is over, we may all “un-friend” each other as desired.)

Optional: Become friends on Facebook with other people in our course (again, this is totally optional and up to each member of the course whom to accept Friend Requests from.)

Optional: Become a “Fan” of Marylhurst University’s Facebook page and the Shoen Library Facebook page.

6) Go to Moodle, read, and answer the discussion questions found in the Week 1 Section.