Andi Narvaez: Re-learning PR

A post on Mashable today, reposting the news about  Birmingham City University’s new social media graduate program got me thinking about the implications of more universities offering courses in new media, social media and all of the above.

I have a great passion for education and, especially when it comes to communications, I believe there is nothing better than when scholars’ work goes hand-in-hand with that of those who pratice the profession in order to improve best practices.

Here is the thing… we’re too high maintenance.

But here is another thing… these days, we can afford to be. Or can we?

Clearly, I’m not about to write a post about the economy. If that was the case I would not have made either of the two statements – not even jokingly… No, I’m talking about the one luxury we can all afford because it is oh, so free – at least for now and for the most part – social media.

I started to think about writing this post as I was watching the Superbowl and was following (or doing my best to follow) the real-time conversation that was taking place on the [many] Twitter hashtags. Then I REALLY wanted to write this post after watching the Oscars and – more succesfully – following my Twitter friends’ updates and replying to a few of them while contributing to the hashtag with some of my own. 

The plan was to write about how great real-time conversation on Twitter was but I took too long.  

Skittles’ new Web site, which is not much of a Web site at all in the sense that we are used to thinking about Web sites, is awesome – for lack of a better word. Why? Because it’s different. Remarkable, Seth Godin would say.

The news of the site makeover were all the rage in a matter of seconds and it took me a while (clearly, as I am posting this a day after the fact) to find the time to check out what exactly was going on. When I did, I dugg it.

This post was in the works from the moment I created this blog.

I finally found a name for the blog that is something other than my name. I know, my name is still on there… I can explain.

My name was a good place to start off with for the blog in order to bring my Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook… you-name-it accounts back to the same place and have it all make some sense. But never, for a moment, did I think that it would be  the sole thing to let those who might read the blog  know what it was about. Assuming, of course, that anything I might have to say would ever interest anyone.

Remember The Jetsons? Yeah you do. I won’t prolong this then…

I wish I had taken bets back in the day to try to guess which of the futuristic gadgets featured on the show would make it in the real world first.

To be honest, my money would have been on the housekeeper robots.

However, yesterday I caught a tweet about 12seconds.tv, which is basically a video version of Twitter. Brilliant concept. Today I read a post on Mashable about  YouTube adding social networking capabilities. Right on. And minutes before I posted this I learned about Fliggo.

You’ve seen it, heard it, read it and are probably sick and tired of it.

I do want to commend all of those who united to get Facebook to revert to its original terms of service. Not because they made a case for their right to privacy online but because they harnessed the power of social media and its ability to harness the power of the masses.

Now for those who missed the latests happenings:

After reading articles in The New York Times, Wired and GQ it’s becoming clear that Facebook Connect will trascend and surely be a huge step in the direction of blurring the barriers to entry and access that currently stand in the way of users’ seamless experience with the web. The best by-product of this new development could be, in my opinion, simplicity and what can be achieved when things not only fall into place but when they so in harmony.

As of Tuesday, November 4, 2008 the country has been in an uproar. And with good reason.