Week Six

http://eightbar.co.uk/2007/07/19/virtual-art-is-real-too-watch-the-worlds/
"It's less about writing than it is about conversation and dialogue. You can misspell words. It's about self-expression. That's what really makes a good blog.
It's not Strunk and White," Kim said, referring to the authors of the popular grammar book, Elements of Style. "It's more about whether a person has passion."
But before tackling a blog, the writer should know his audience and conform to the unwritten rules of blogging, or face the backlash of the blogosphere.
The biggest demand is that the blog be honest and transparent.
David Berger, an executive involved with new media at IBM, said Big Blue has about 4,000 active blogs, but it doesn't assign them. That would be in direct conflict with the way blogs work outside of corporate America. Personal blogs are written by people who talk frankly about their world.
"If you overtly try to use blogs to advance some sort of corporate end, you've already lost the battle.
There's a smart way to capitalize on the medium.
It's in the authenticity of the bloggers themselves," Berger said.
Despite its short history, there have been some celebrated gaffes in the world of blogging.
Last year, Sony was exposed for a " flog ," or fake blog, about two "friends" who hyped the company's PlayStation Portable video game console at alliwantforxmassisapsp.com, which has been taken down. Sony fans were outraged when the site was traced to a marketing company in St. Louis.
A blog earlier this year titled "Walmarting across America" followed a happy-go-lucky couple, Jim and Laura, as they drove their RV across the United States, parking in Wal-Mart lots. Later, it was discovered that the flog had been staged by Wal-Mart's publicrelations firm, Edelman. "The biggest mistake is to try to shade your identity or your product," IBM's Berger said. If you're blogging to create awareness and lure potential clients for your small business, you're on the cutting edge when it comes to marketing your firm.
For many others, blogging is something they've only vaguely heard about. But that is about to change. "We're at the early stages of blogging, which I believe will be a powerful marketing tool," says Josh Linkner, founder of ePrize, the Pleasant Ridge-based marketing company that handles company sweepstakes and other things. "Today, most businesses have a fax machine but that wasn't the case 20 years ago. And today most have an Internet site or e-mail. Blogs are a way to reach people and I believe will be next thing you'll have to have," he adds.
Linkner is practicing what he preaches; he plans to launch a blog in the next 50 days that will be available from his company's Web site at www.eprize.com.
Blogs - or weblogs as they are sometimes called - have been around since the late 1990s, and today there are millions of them. "Blogs are different from an Internet site in that they help position you as an industry expert, as it is more of a conversation," Linkner says. "Most people think of blogging in terms of MySpace or think it is something only for their kids, but that is not the case," says Andy Leff, adding that MySpace has more than 170 million users. Leff, 25, of Philadelphia started IncPlace in January along with Seun Olubodun, 25, also of Philadelphia. It offers a place where businesses can go for free advice on blogging and other ways to market themselves over the Internet. The company is based in Philadelphia. Most people he has helped are over 40. "They know about the Internet and how to look for information there, but they don't know much about blogging," Leff says. "I want to change that."
Good flexibility
An effective blog can make it easy to add and update content, so there's always something new. And that can draw interested parties in, Leff explains. Despite the benefits, not everyone is jumping on the bandwagon just yet. "I sent a call out to our members last fall" asking for anyone who was blogging to be included in an upcoming survey on the topic, "and it drew a blank," says Michael Rogers, vice president of communications for the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM). "My sense is that a lot of small business owners barely have time to make Web sites, let alone create blogs," Rogers says.
John Truscott of the John Truscott Group, a Lansing-based publicrelations and consulting firm, says some of his political clients are blogging to generate awareness. And Truscott fully expects more businesses to add blogs in the future. "I participate in other people's blogs and will likely have a blog myself at some point," he adds. If you are considering starting a blog, there are some things to keep in mind.
Setting it up can take several hours to several days and you might want to hire an outside firm to help, Leff says.
And the cost can range - from setting it up yourself through free services such as www.blogger.com to spending a few hundred or even thousands of dollars.
Then there is the time involved once your blog is operating. Leff spends about an hour each day on his blog posting articles or comments. "As a small business owner, you are selling yourself every day. This is just another way to brag about your products and services," he says. (SIDEBAR) Andy Leff's tips for business owners
*Passion makes perfect. "Don't even think about pursuing a blog strategy if you have no real passion or excitement for the topic."
*Go at it regularly. "Write on your topics daily, weekly, monthly - whatever works best with your schedule."
*Write well. "If you hate writing, hire someone."
*Be transparent. "The blogosphere will tear you limb from limb if they discover you're a ' flog ,' or fake blog." access world news www.libraries.unt.edu
Blogs are web logs.
Splogs are spam blogs.
Flogs are stealth public relations blogs.
Social media marketing-wikipedia
Strategic public relations
Transparency
Disclosure
Blog controversy
Fake blogs in: hotels, restaurants, online shops, authors of books
Other examples of flogs have been found through hotel, restaurant and online shops where good reviews are posted under false identities.
Criminal prosecution

Week Five

I hope we have time to talk about the school shootings on Monday. I'm interested in hearing people's opinions and possible solutions. Something has to be done about things like this. I don't get it. I don't understand what's wrong with some people. It absolutely floors me and scares me to death to think that people justify horrifying acts like this in their minds. It had to stem from somewhere, right? Was it how they were raised? Was it a life-changing experience they lived through? Were they beaten or abused or sexually violated?

Why are people like this? Is it appropriate for PR professionals to act as counselors as part of their jobs? Because I want to be a person who prevents things like this from happening. The world we live in is terrifying.

I was reading an article about the shooting, and they had interviewed a Senior journalism student who had witnessed the shootings. That could be me. No... that crap gets to me. That makes me want to stay in my house every day, lock my doors and get in the fetal position. It's crazy that all of us are forced to invest some degree of trust in complete strangers every single day of our lives and trust them not to injure us or our loved ones. And the truth is, you can't trust people. So what are we supposed to do?

I just don't get it. I wish there was a way to live life without the fear of the worst possible scenario becoming a reality. Things can't keep on going on like this. The world isn't learning; the same mishaps and wrongdoings keep on occurring. It just blows my mind.

I think every one of these "terrorists" could've been helped at one point. This stuff doesn't manifest in a 24-hour time period. This is built up aggression and depression and anger and whatever else inside a person. I don't care if the guy hadn't been taking medication. People weren't always so dependent on medication, and stuff like this didn't always happen.

And I bet it wouldn't have taken much to prevent this man from killing five other people and injuring 16. It may have just taken someone taking them out to lunch every now and then, or asking "how are you?" and really meaning it and listening to what he had to say. People are instinctively selfish, and I think that has a lot to do with it.

I just want something to change, and I don't want stuff like this to be in the headlines anymore. I just want answers.

Week Four

I'm just thinking about the Cowboys article we got in class Wednesday, and there were a few thoughts I had...

1) The media is always going to attempt to produce a story that may bring in more publicity and therefore money

Locker room scuffle in NFL spring training locker room=Something different from business as normal=A story=The juicier the better=Media trying to squeeze or fabricate or maximize to the highest degree possible

We talked about how whether or not the Cowboys organization was ethical, but what about the journalists?

Journalists automatically go on the defensive, and like you said in the handout:
If it was accidental by-product of horseplay, why not tell details? If not, why not identify guilty parties as a part of punishment?

But how about this...
If it was accidental by-product of horseplay, why tell details? If not, why identify guilty parties as a part of punishment?

Why can't it work the latter way?

Who is to say that a come-clean strategy would have been better? It's something the world will never know for sure. What I do know is, each party (Cowboys and media) had something to gain by taking opposite approaches. I think what the Cowboys organization did was the "right" thing to do in order to minimize the after effects. I think what they did was the "wrong" thing to do in relation to treating everyone equally and bringing complete justice to McIver.

The weird thing is is that if this were to happen in a business building between co-workers, there would've been such a different outlook and strategy to the situation. The fact that Michael Irvin has the God-given talent to catch a football and run fast changed the whole strategy.

It may be pathetic or sad or unfair, but true.

Week Three

I have to say so far that this class is the most interesting journalism course I have taken in my college career. I think I feel like this because it has a lot to do with opinions and discussion and right and wrong rather than papers and deadlines and cut-and-dry rules. The class number helps all of us get to know one another pretty well, too. I really love hearing other people's opinions and broadening my own horizons. I look forward to coming to this class, because I know we're all going to learn something about one another and maybe even ourselves.

Another reason I am enjoying this class so much is because of Cosmopolitanism. I am all about trying to figure the world out, and I've never been required to read a philosophy book in college. It really does intrigue me.

I think this class is making me realize some of the things I want to incorporate in my everyday work life, and that gives me a little peace. Sometimes it's frustrating not having a vision of your future (whether that vision really becomes a reality or not), but it's always calming to find something in life that excites you, and I have this class to thank for that.