Get Educated About Facebook

With Facebook being the number one social networking site around at the moment, everybody seems to have an account. Even from young children to pensioners, from builders to doctors, everybody wants to be part of the Facebook crew, however for some professions such as school teaching this is against the norm (a bit like inviting your secondary school teacher to your birthday party!?)

Teachers across Britain have been warned not to ‘friend’ their pupils on sites such as Facebook, as this has been seen as a method of transforming a professional relationship into an ‘overly friendly’ one. It appears that it is mainly upper primary and lower secondary school pupils which are sending requests to their teachers online.

Teachers have also been warned not to post photos which illustrate them having a ‘social life’ such as ones on a night out or on a holiday wearing inappropriate clothing as this has been seen as being ‘unprofessional’. Some teachers were even giving a warning for attending a gay pride march and posting it online. Teachers are being made to ensure that their online profiles meet the General Teaching Council for England’s code of conduct and if not, then they face being disciplined.

The code of conduct introduced in October 2009 states that 'teachers should display a high standard of behaviour both inside and outside of school that are appropriate given their membership of an important and responsible profession’. 

Out with the old...in with the new?

Even though traditional methods such as press releases have been used for years, such methods have now been overtaken through the use of technology within today’s society. But what are the exact alternatives for companies to the loved press release...?

Blogs - companies are finding that blogging is helping them forward information to their client’s aswell as gaining feedback. Blogging ensures that the message gets out there and can be reached by a larger target audience worldwide be it existing clients or new ones

YouTube - many businesses are finding uploading videos as a useful and cost effective way to be recognised and for reputation to increase. The video could range from topics such as information about the company, a certain client pr project that the company has or a simple interview with consumers. This is a fast way to attract clients and to familiarize themselves with the company

Twitter - Not as big as Facebook but still just as effective, Twitter is a fast growing social network for all kinds of people worldwide. It allows companies to ‘tweet’ a couple of sentences about themselves or achievements etc. The post can be seen by fellow tweeters wether and is an easy way for information to get passed through ‘word of mouth’

Enewsletter - has been found to be slightly more effective than a press release as anybody who signs up to a company’s newsletter are able to gain an insight on the latest news

Social Media Release - is the same as a press release containing the vital information on the subject in question, however a social media release allows the writer to attach photos, videos and links. This social sharing allows people to view the topic in various methods which can be a huge advantage as it is not just plain and simple writing!

Baby Tweeting

While waiting for the train, I was reading an article in one of those ‘real life’ magazines titled ‘Born on Twitter’. Immediately it grabbed my attention as it was to do with social media. The story was sent in by a young mother of two detailing her journey through the birth of her second child, however this wasn’t just in the magazine but had been posted all over Twitter whilst she was actually GIVING BIRTH.

I always personally assumed that giving birth was the most painful situation a woman could go through in her whole life due to what I see on television and what I hear from many mums. The majority describe being in  labour a ‘difficult experience’ and I’ve heard that some even refuse to go through it more than once, so to be able to tweet about your contractions whilst having them is a bit shocking to me...

The tweeting began on December 3^rd when Rachel Ince, 29, first started feeling a little pain right through to December 6^th when mother and son were discharged and happily ready to go home. Through the whole 104 live tweeting updates of the birth, Rachel generated over 400 new followers who were interested in her and her baby’s journey! The young baby was a tweeting legend even before he was born and Rachel has become an inspiration to many mums - to- be out there...Well done!

So it is quiet true, online social media has become a huge part of everybody’s everyday life...it’s just one of those things u have to do (a bit like having to brush your teeth.)

A copy of some of the tweets posted on December 4^th:

9:15: Oooh that hurt. Over half an hour since the previous contraction but ouch.
10:26: Ok so the really big painful ones seem to come after a long gap.
10:58: Local paper showing an interest in me for tweeting the birth. Best watch what I say from now on. Nothing too gruesome.
11:09: All strapped up for a bit of monitoring. Hopefully will be off by time toddler arrives for his visit. Else no cuddles for me.
11:31: Well he's gotten very lively since we've been listening to his heartbeat! Tried to kick the monitor off several times.

Lets all bhangra to Facebook!

Right, so we all know that online social media has exploded onto the scene and is recognised worldwide - my family in Punjab are more clued on with using sites such as Facebook and Twitter more than i am (and im on Facebook as soon as I get out of bed in the mornings!) For social media to gain this much popularity is one thing but for a well established Punjabi singer like Kamal Heer to release a song about Facebook takes social media to a whole new level through another culture!

Kamal Heer was born in the village Halluwal in Punjab, India. He moved to Canada at a young age where he started to compose music in 1990. His music has always been very traditional and centred around Punjabi culture; with popular topics such as the beautiful land of Punjab itself and Punjabi pride, which has made it that little bit more shocking that he has produced a song based around such a western concept of online networking.

Facebook has over 400 million users of which only 8 million are based in India (bearing in mind the country has a very unreliable electricity source outside urban areas) these numbers are still rapidly increasing; from 1.8 million in 2008 to 3.5 million in 2009! Facebook being available in various languages such as Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali and Tamil opens its arms out to an even larger target audience within India alone.

Kamal Heer sings about how he viewed a girl’s photo on Facebook and became attracted to her. He mentions various points about the networking site such as relationship statuses and friend lists etc. The year 2010 witnessed a very large growth in mobile phone usuage in India of which the majority had downloaded the Facebook application making it easily accessible 24 hours a day and this is signified in the video for this song of how a famous figure also uses his iPhone for scrolling through Facebook. Through releasing this song Kamal Heer has created a online reputation for himself within India, the UK and abroad, he also paints the picture to the Indian audience of Facebook being the main place for networking and meeting new people aswell as building existing relationships.

A South Indian journalist quotes ‘Facebook allows Indians to do two things they love: tell everyone what they are doing and find out other peoples business’.

As the demand for smartphones and portable devices such as the iPad are increasing within India, the world of online social media has seen nothing from the Indians just yet…

PR Placement Promise...

As part of DMU’s public relations master’s degree, it is essential for us to carry out a four week placement within a public relations company. After working through the application process, I came across an outstanding company to which I was attracted to straight away. The Encore Organisation, which is based in Syston, Leicestershire specializes within many sectors such as public relations, advertising, marketing and event management. The company’s website stood out to me and illustrated all that I wanted to gain experience within. When I spoke to the company’s director of pr, an interview time was arranged in which I attended to talk about what I was expecting from this experience and what they expected from a masters student. I was shown around and immediately noticed that it was a very happy and friendly working atmosphere, situated within a very welcoming environment, which will effectively kick start me into my pr career. I have been working within this company for two weeks now and have found everyday more and more enjoyable that I don’t even mind waking up at 6.30am every morning! I am extremely lucky that I found such a brilliant company to work within and I look forward to each day ahead in the office, as I learn more and more. The workload so far has varied from press releases to company/media briefs and assisting on the re-branding of the company’s image. I look forward to the remaining two weeks, as I feel that after being a part of such a professional pr company for the whole month I will be completely sure as to what my future career should be…and it looks promising!

The Explosion of Online Social Media...

The rise of online social media is extreme, to the extent of millions and millions of users worldwide, it is changing the ways in which we exchange and accept information through a new way of distribution. Started off as social networking sites, but now transformed into a method of spying on people, keeping up to date with their every move and also a way of finding that perfect partner?! These online social media sites were first used for updating statuses about the most random things however it is now these social networking sites that everybody logs onto to find out about breaking news and current issues around the world.

After coming onto the scene in 2004, Facebook has generated over 500 million users worldwide and has been ranked as the most used social network site.  Through sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Bebo as well as many others, users are able to interact, share photos and videos and build relationships. Youtube, the world’s largest social media site which enables you to upload and view others videos reached 100 million monthly views alone in the US in March 2010! Whilst MySpace has a unique number of 54.1 million users, with Twitter falling just slightly behind.

So why is online social media positive for PR? Well to start off with it’s the new form of PR with many positive consequences. It is more strategic and global, reaching millions around the world in seconds with the click of one button. These sites are the socially responsible way of interacting through a two way symmetrical communication method where users are able to communicate, share views and gain feedback there and then, no matter the distance…

It’s plain and simple, online social media…we can’t live without. I can actually say that yes my life does revolve around facebook, twitter and blogging and without it I face complete boredom!

Britain's Ice Age??

Within this past week Britain witnessed the most significant snowfall since the 1990’s! We felt huge drops in temperatures nationwide. Parts of the country even came to a standstill due to the amount of snow that suddenly took over the roads and railways leaving the majority of the country unable to travel home, school or work. Over 500 schools were forced to close whilst thousands of people were left stranded on the motorway!

With a recorded temperature of -23 in one part of the country I almost thought that we were all going to see another ICE AGE! I say ‘another’ as though I have seen one before but I was actually referring to the children’s film Ice Age which makes it look rather fun to be in…

We have been told that the worst is over? Well, for now I believe so however more colder temperatures coming our way so stay prepared and wrap up warm (take a blanket with you everywhere you go, you never quite know when you might randomly need it)…Britain’s weather is as predictable as the Saturday night Lottery numbers!