If there is something this whole Google Buzz episode has taught us, it is that the community of early adapters that is connected by social media REALLY wants to see things improve and move forward for everyone . Whether or not they will use this product themselves is irrelevant… someone else might find that it’s the perfect fit and that is reason enough.

Lots of respect.

Check out the Google Buzz update by Steve Rubel ( @steverubel ) and the extensive thread of comments  and this collection of the best suggestions for Google Buzz from Doriano Carta ( @paisano ). Please consider leaving comments on both of these posts so that their authors can relay your suggestions for how to improve Google Buzz over to Google.

Social media skeptics, this is what it’s is all about.

Google, you guys are lucky social media folks have a lot of love to give. Though you tend to be consistently top notch and you have the resources and the talent to create products to help advance communications and society, you must not take our love for granted… or it will be off with your heads (shameless plug, I really want to see that movie when it comes out March 5th).

Image source: CodePolice.net

I know that it takes times to “see the light” when it comes to new products and services. But since pretty much everything offered on the Web is in constant beta state, if we, the users, don’t do things “Nero-style” and give companies a brutally honest thumbs up or down verdict sooner rather than later, then we miss out on the opportunity to shape the products and services that will later come to shape our reality (Twitter, FTW). So here are my two cents. I am an inbox Nazi. I delete and respond to emails in the constant pursuit of the zero-inbox utopia. Seriously, I’m pretty sure the way to finally reach Enlightenment is through an empty inbox. I ADORE Gmail and email is my top priority. I couldn’t believe that in an effort to force themselves into the social network market, Google would put a “Buzz” link right under my sacred “inbox” link and then tell me that I have more than 100 things to look at when it has taken me all day to respond to 5 emails. Talk about a lack of research and understanding of your publics. So essentially, I have been forced to ignore Buzz. To me it seemed to fall under the “fruit flies buzz around” rather than the “word-of-mouth” definition of the word. I resent this. My friends online are bright people and I just called them fruit flies because Google put out a half-assed product. My affair with Google is intimate. I collaborate using Google Docs, I organize my life with Google Calendars, and I read and learn from the blogs I subscribe to on Google Reader.  My affair with Facebook and Twitter is a little more scandalous and public. For Google to just go balls to the wall with Google Buzz is unacceptable and a huge disservice to their brand and certainly to the rest of us. February 11, 2010 UPDATE: Thanks to Aaron Brazell (@technosailor) for a solid post on Why Google Buzz is the wrong product for Google to try to shove down our throats and for the key to turning it off:

I enabled Buzz on my Gmail account and then promptly disabled it (you too can disable it, if it’s already turned on for you, by clicking on the “turn off Buzz” link in the footer of your Gmail account).

Before going to sleep tonight I thought I’d look around Craigslist to see if there were any new postings for housing in Washington, DC… Had I known that I was going to run into this, I would’ve just gone to bed:

Talk about opportunistic …

While tons of people are stuck at home, tons of others are stranded due to the airports closing, and others are straight-up homeless; some cold-hearted schmuck is trying to make $400 A DAY off others’ misery??? Let me guess, you haven’t done a single thing to try to help the Haiti relief efforts either have you? Or maybe you’re selling “Help Haiti” T-shirt on some Web site I have yet to stumble upon?

This is NOT how you use free internet sites people.

To the person whose identity I protected, although enterprising readers might probably be able to figure it out if they wanted to — I’m glad your apartment building is safe, because if all this snow wasn’t in my way, I’d probably consider stopping by while you’re watching a movie in your home theater, snug like a bug under your 500 count sheet set… to tell you, in person, that this is not cool.

This weekend, I read a few articles on public relations research that got me thinking (I think that’s what my professors were going for ) The general consensus is that public relations research is often limited to the evaluation of the products of short-term communication programs when what it should be doing is evaluating the products, processes, and the outcomes of both short- and long-term programs (Grunig & Grunig, 2001; Michaelson & Macleod; 2007). Of course, this statement assumes that organizations are conducting research in the first place…

Social media ROI has been an ongoing debate ever since those who were dabbling in the space realized that they needed to come up with something measurable in order to convince reluctant executives that social media was a worthwhile investment of their organizations’ time and resources. Unfortunately, number of page views, clicks, conversions, tweets, mentions, fans, blog posts, etc. are all examples of products, not processes, not outcomes, and not necessarily long-term.

Processes refer to things like relationship-building and outcomes refers to the quality of those relationships (Grunig, & Grunig, 2001).

A few days ago, my friend @AlanWeinkrantz tweeted:

The types of data we are used to capturing are numbers; we need to capture conversations and more importantly, streams.

I couldn’t agree more. I also think that words like “measurement” and “metrics” are stifling. I agree with scholars and think “research” and “evaluation” are a better fit. The idea is that organizations are conducting investigation that is purposeful, systematic and rigorous in nature and that they will use the results of said investigation to evaluate strategies and tactics.

So I’m sorry for using “measurement” to title this post. Dang SEO keywords, rankings, and the very vicious circle I’m trying to argue against.

To clarify, I don’t think measuring products is a waste of time. I think we need to pay more attention to the processes and outcomes dimensions of social media research and evaluation. If we conceptualize social media as what lies at the heart of the Web 2.0 phenomenon – user collaboration, networking, sharing, and interaction; then it makes sense that in addition to counting the number of “X”, we research the quality of what is being said about our organizations’ efforts, programs and campaigns. Because quality is in the eye of the beholder, interpretative, and subjective in nature; the key is to know who you are, what you’re looking for and what you will do when you find it.

Super Bowl XLIV is in just a couple of hours… I’m SO VERY MUCH looking forward to Brand Bowl. The companies that spent gazillions of dollars on those commercials are going to get all sorts of ratings charts, bar graphs, and spreadsheets with numbers on them in the morning. The numbers will be huge and the companies may decide to buy ads in next year’s Super Bowl… But the kind of qualitative feedback they will get from listening to viewer’s *actual* conversations might make them reevaluate their approach (think Pepsi).

REFERENCES

Grunig, J. E., & Grunig, L. A. (2001). Guidelinesfor Formative and Evaluative Research in Public Affairs: A Report for the Department of Energy Office of Science. Department of Communication University of Maryland.

Michaelson, D., & Macleod, S. (2007). The Application of “Best Practices” in Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation Systems. Public Relations Journal. 1 (1).

Image credit: http://futureperfectpublishing.com/2009/02/

We discussed the difference between the terms “stakeholders” and “publics” and agreed that stakeholders are those who are affected by what the organization does and have stakes in the results of those actions. Publics are not only affected by organizations’ actions, they also have the potential to become involved in those actions and to influence organizations that way. This concept of publics comes from the Situational Theory of Publics, developed by University of Maryland Professor James E. Grunig (yay Maryland).

The idea behind this theory is that individual members of the public exercise problem recognition, constraint recognition and level of involvement with organizations to different degrees. The publics who exercise these three factors to the greatest extent are considered “active publics.” Active publics seek and process information to a greater extent and, should they ever decide to coalesce, these publics have the potential to affect an organization. According to the theory, it would be wise for organizations to dedicate their resources to those who will affect them the most.

That makes sense.

Then, Obama came up. He has been criticized for campaigning for the Democratic Senate candidate in Massachusetts, where a republican was about to (and did) take Kennedy’s senate seat, and not being in Haiti, where an earthquake had just shattered the nation and where help was still taking time to get on its way. My professor spoke about public opinion — a prime example of what happens when publics coalesce. She said the Obama administration was catching so much flack from its publics because it failed to recognize that they were very much active and — here is where I had to chime in — active publics can create problems for organizations, which is why organizations have to keep a close eye on them and make sure their needs are met.

Enter social media. I see publics as SOLUTIONS, instead.

When news about Haiti broke on Twitter I witnessed IMMEDIATE response. People like Danny Brown started to raise funds through 12for12k, people like Ed Shahzade were making sure that everyone trying to help and donate had their facts right. On Monday, I also found out all about CrisisCamp, which extended to 12 cities in only two weeks.

Publics can be a problem if they allow themselves to be that way. Regardless of what was happening in American politics and what Obama should or shouldn’t have been doing… what I saw coming from social media were SOLUTIONS.

If publics are the solution and organizations empower them to be so… more people win.

Flickr user Just Sarah

I happen to think that all things happen for a reason. Two weeks before moving to my new home in Maryland, my car — or Dave, as I named it — moved on to a better place. A most untimely, unfortunate event. I have lived in College Park, Md., in and around the D.C. area, for a little over three months now. I love the city and I think part of it is because I’m always on foot.

I’m half embarrassed to admit that I’m still in a bit of a daze when I walk around the streets of DC. I love riding the metro; having to physically climb the electric stairs, which get shut down unexpectedly at every other station; I love coming out of the dark, smelly tunnel to take in the sights of a new neighborhood; I love walking around the streets because while everyone might be avoiding eye contact with others who are passing by, I’m always looking; I love carrying my computer with me so that I can do a little @workshifting in new places; I love walking around squares and parks; I love staring at the monuments; and I could go on for a long time.

Many will roll their eyes and warn me that the things I like about this city are precisely what I will hate about it in a couple of months. Well, that’s all up to me isn’t it? Kind of like that song:

	BLUE LAGOON – Break My Stride .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Also, I’m postmodern. I like the chaos that you hate.

Here’s another one. SNOW.

I had warned people that I would go BANANA SANDWICH on the first day of snow because, although I saw snow for the first time last year in Minneapolis, I had never been anywhere for the first day of snow. Yesterday at around 9am, I got a call from a friend who knew this about me. Snow had apparently come early to DC. I nearly hurt myself as I raced to the nearest window. No snow in College Park yet, just slush. No problem. I hurried to get the day started. Once ready, I put on my coat and opened the door and I am not kidding when I say that I got… well, emotional. Too much? Maybe. But it was a pleasant surprise for me and isn’t that what we should live for?

On my way to the metro station I read tweets from people in DC and picked up on way too much snow sarcasm. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken those too personally. But maybe we shouldn’t take things for granted.

The holidays can get really cheesy. Embrace the cheese and embrace it 365 days a year. When we become embarrassed we run the risk of not putting the things we’re passionate about out there. So as a general rule of thumb, don’t jump on the “taking things for granted” or “it gets really old, really fast” bandwagons…

I’m watching “America’s Funniest Home Videos” as I type. People dressed as Santa falling off tricycles (and yes, hard objects to the crotch) still get laughs out of me and my dear friend @Dave_in_SA. So if those don’t get old, why should anything else?

PS: Hat tip to @unmarketing for the ” #offbeat ” trick he shared with me during #blogchat .

Christmas came early for those of us — in fact, most of us, according to a November 16, 2009 article on Read Write Web — who use TweetDeck as oru third-party Twitter client of choice. This week, TweetDeck released a series of several updates including Twitter lists, geolocation, more Facebook support, and brand new LinkedIn support. A great article on Read Write Web covers the most significant changes in the new version of Tweetdeck. Here, I will discuss some implications and considerations for those of us who plan on continuing to use TweetDeck now that it has been cranked up to 11.

Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace integration

Because Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are now integrated, those who know that most of their friends and followers are shared across networks should consider NOT updating Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn with the same thing. TweetDeck is now TRULY a deck, so use it as such. Instead of finding thinking of using the new TweetDeck as a shortcut to cross-posting the same thing all over the place, think of how to tailor your message accordingly to where people are going to care to read about it. If it’s work-related, Link it in, and so on and so forth.

Now that you can easily access your Twitter lists AND your TweetDeck groups, be smart about how you build them. TweetDeck groups aren’t public, so save your “cool people I tweet with all the time” list for a TweetDeck group and use Twitter lists, which are public, with a little more purpose in mind. Use them to add value and become a point of reference.

The new TweetDeck lets you write on the wall of the Facebook Pages with the same ease with which you tweet. This means that you can be more proactive and engaging with your fans on Facebook. Time to be more consistent about showing fans some love, as opposed to only updating the page every time you need something from them.

Should you choose to activate the Facebook news updates column on the new TweetDeck, be strategic about it. I don’t check Facebook as often as I do Twitter and when I do, I tend to see what a few number of my friends are up to  — I write a few witty wall posts, comment on pictures and then I’m off. Now, I’m using TweetDeck to try to catch what some of my new friends or old friends whom I have lost a bit of touch with are up to. In other words, I’m using it to maintain relationships that I may be giving less attention to simply because I’m not on Facebook as much and when I am, I default to commenting on the walls of friends with who I interact more often.

LinkedIn updates come in with less frequency than everything else, so why not activate that on the new TweetDeck? It’s information that I rarely, if ever, was paying attention to. Now, I can tell who is on the move and maybe some opportunities to connect people or connect with people will arise. I haven’t gotten there by using LinkedIn yet but maybe the new TweetDeck will make all the difference in that world.

More updates

TweetDeck’s new profile view includes geolocation; your bio; your link; and followers, following, tweets, and lists information. Don’t set your geolocation as “global” or “wherever the wind blows,” because that tells me nothing and it won’t help you make local connections — and the potential to scaling things back to local is where social media eventually wins and rules above everything else. Also, make sure your link actually goes somewhere, because it is now featured more prominently on your profile view and I might just click on it.

The infamous retweet function is opt-in on the new TweetDeck. All I have to say about that it… you guys are smarter and now your users better than Twitter. And, thank you.

Final Thoughts

TweetDeck, if you’re reading this, Flickr integration would be the cherry on top

February 8, 2010 Update: TweetDeck is now allows you to view Flickr, YouTube and Posterous media within the client.

Watch a video of the features in TweetDeck’s latest version below.

Your turn. How is the new TweetDeck fulfilling your every need? Or is it still coming up short?

More screen shots of the new TweetDeck here.

I was very concerned to learn about the social media usage habits of my classes of 48 (total) 18 – 20 year olds. Their use of social media is limited to sites like Facebook where they post on friends’ walls, update their status and, most recently, become virtual farmers of pink cows that I believe, when processed and canned, make spam. They have heard about Twitter but have no clue or interest in “knowing what people have for breakfast” (sigh). Of course, they know all about YouTube and how hilarious it is. A few of them have heard of Flickr. None of them had heard about LinkedIn… Honestly, none of this should have come as a surprise after I asked who had an email account outside of their university account and only 7 out of 48 students raised their hands.

Needless to say, all of them were simply AMAZED when I showed them the Conversation Prism.

My concern is that my students are caught in a sort of social media limbo. While they are worried about turning in papers, attendance policies, homework and exams the world outside of the university microcosm is rapidly changing. The problem is that those of us “out there” are also learning. This is where initiatives like the Social Media Club’s “ad-hoc” Education committee (#SMCEDU) are very commendable. They are getting educators together to talk about introducing social media curricula at higher education institutions so that students — not all necessarily majoring in communication, public relations, journalisms, etc. — can catch up. However, while we might be able to institutionalize and pass on our knowledge about social media to future students (those who are currently in their teenage years or just about to start college) … what happens to those in school now?

In his post, “Revealing the people defining social networks” Brian Solis indicated that the 18 – 24 year old demographic comprises the smallest percentage pretty much all across the board. Not good.

Firs-years, sophomores, juniors and seniors of the world. I urge you to get a clue. It doesn’t matter what your major is, social media WILL affect your life WAY beyond Facebook. Don’t be surprised that your parents are on Facebook either, be surprised (and very concerned) with the fact that they might be BETTER at Facebook than you. A few more suggestions:

• Get a Gmail account and start using Google. You can forward your university email there so that you can check everything from one place. Once you are on there learn to love: Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Reader and make sure you fill out your Google Profile
• Get smart about your Facebook privacy settings. You don’t want to be the kid who doesn’t get hired for an internship because your Facebook pictures gave a bad impression of who you really are
• Get an internship, or several! (I know, not social media-related but important nevertheless)
• Hop on Twitter and realize that it is not all babble
• Figure out what RSS means and use Google Reader to subscribe to blogs that interest you for fun, subscribe to at least a couple of others that post useful news information on a regular basis, and get comfortable with the idea that you will be a student for the rest of your life — the learning process never stops
• Create a profile on LinkedIn and start building your resume there. You may not use it as often as other networks but it will come in handy at some point
• After the “magic three” – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – you should take some time to see what else is out there and then make the most of all of this by synchronizing your life. For example, if you like photography, upload your pictures to Flickr and synchronize your account so that it will publish on your Facebook wall and send a tweet with a link to your Twitter account. Who doesn’t love more exposure?

I’m sorry if this sounds like homework and I’m sorry if it was an overwhelming post that I had to get off my chest. I promise that once you get to know the social media space for all the great things that it is you will actually think it’s fun.

Teachers, parents… encourage your students and kids to get our there. Heck, teach us the way… you are the fastest-growing demographic here after all.

Everyone else, sorry if I just beat a dead horse to the ground, however, it might help you to know that this is still a pervasive issue among the group of people you will very soon be hiring from.

Flickr user shutupyourface

My plan is to define social / digital media and to position the phenomenon in terms of the bigger picture — namely, how it has changed media, advertising, marketing, public relations, politics, news, education, interpersonal communication, business…

Then, I want to show them just how and where the change is taking place. Here is where I would love to get your help. Below is a list of social media categories I created using the Conversation Prism and my own brain. I could go online and fish out specific examples of each to show my students but instead, I wondered if you have or know someone who has a great Flickr profile, YouTube channel, DocStoc archive, etc., etc. that I could share with my students. If so, let me know in the comments or feel free to send me a tweet (@andinarvaez) with the category and a link.

Thank you in advance! And please, feel free to share!

• Picture-sharing
• Livecasting
• Wikis
• Audio / Music sharing
• Events
• Documents / Content
• Customer service
• Video-sharing
• Location
• Reviews / Ratings
• Social networks
• Forums
• SMS / VoIP
• Lifestreams
• Weblog
• Video blog
• Collaboration / Crowdsourced content
• Comments
• Social bookmarks
• Social blogs / Microblogs
• Social News
• Online communities
• Virtual Worlds
• Game-sharing
• Information aggregators
• Email
• Instant messaging

Flickr user Rufus Gefangenen

My first big project of my first semester as a public relations graduate student is here and I’m excited to dive right into it. The only problem is I need your help.

I will be conducting a single case study research on the topic of digital media and organization management. Specifically, I would like to study an organization that has seen its internal organizational structure change due to the addition of social and digital media-related functions to the organization’s communication department.

• Have organizational hierarchies shifted?
• Has the managerial role of the top communicator changed due to the new technical skills he or she is required to have for the job?
• Have technically adept professionals (web developers, Twitterers, social networking experts, etc.) been hired to take on the new digital media functions?
• Do internal communications take place using new media (Twitter, Yammer, Facebook, Mobile, Wikis, Forums, etc.)?

This is me brainstorming research questions to warm up before I get started, but if you know of (or you are!) an organization that is using social and digital media, particularly in the communications or public relations function, please email me at anarvaez [at] umd [dot] edu or send me a tweet @andinarvaez. I would love to find out more about your organization and the changes taking place within.

Thank you in advance!

Photo credit: Mark Rauterkus

3dphb5ri8m