Social media and politics – a match made in heaven?

As I lay home in bed today due to a stomach virus (I never thought I’d say it but I just wish I could be at work! I love my job!) I have read several article about the president’s Twitter Town Hall yesterday (like this one from Mashable). It seems reviews are mixed – some think it’s a good idea, while others don’t think it was effective.

This brought one question to my mind: Do social media and politics go together?

There are several ways to use social media in this sector, some of which are effective, some of which are not. In the Town Hall yesterday, those with questions were encouraged to submit questions. Over 70,000 questions were submitted. How likely was it that your question would be asked? Not very likely. However, it was slightly different than the type of Town Hall meetings Americans are used to – but in a good way? Does social media really have a place in every sector? I don’t think the use of Twitter was really a way to make these meetings seem more accessible to the American people.

If you look at social media use in other areas of politics, i.e. by members of Congress, it has a more useful purpose. People can feel that they can connect with their representative on a more personal level than calling their offices. It also provides a new channel of two-way communication.

In my opinion, the Twitter Town Hall was not the most effective use of social media. While there ARE effective uses of social media in politics, this was not one of them.

Curbside Cupcake + Bipartisan Congressional Women’s Softball Game

This week was absolutely an amazing one on the Hill!

Yesterday, two of my office-mates introduced me to Curbside Cupcake (I’m beginning to realize how much this city likes its’ cupcakes!). If you follow @curbsidecupcake on Twitter, they will send updates as to the location of their different cupcake trucks around the city.

Curbside Cupcake's Twitter page!

Yesterday, the were on the Hill,so we ventured out! I got a DELICIOUS carrot cake cupcake:

My delicious carrot cake cupcake!

Then, last night was the charity softball game of Congresswomen v. Female Press Corps in D.C.. Myself and the other staffers attended to cheer on our boss (who kicked booty might I add; the Congresswomen won 5-4!)

The other staffers and myself with Congresswoman Capito aka Queen Coal!

 

The staffers at the game.

Us with Shelley's signs!

This morning I went to an intern session with Dana Bash, the senior white house correspondent for the White House of CNN. I was with approximately 20 other interns and got to ask her questions about her job, etc. She gave some amazing perspective about journalistic ethics.

This weekend should be great, I’m visiting my Uncle John in MD, going to the Holocaust Museum and Ford’s Theater, oh and TURNING 21!!!

Next week I get to hear from John Ashcroft, Colin Powell and Joe Manchin!

First Week on The Hill

I have officially been in D.C. for a full week! It’s been an insanely busy yet amazing week, and I’m loving every second of it!

I started work Monday, with Congress in session, so I immediately jumped into doing tasks. My co-intern and I (who I found out has multiple mutual friends from Charleston, and became instant friends with) got tours of the Capitol complex. One of our tasks as interns is giving tours of the Capitol so we have to know how to get around.

The staff in my office has been wonderful, and I have been able to get some invaluable experiences so far. I’ve been able to do press clips, press released and some great writing. It’s also awesome that I get to walk around the Capitol complex a lot, so I’m not sitting at a computer all day.

I didn’t do too much after work this week, except some minor shopping at Forever21 and Payless. 9-5 work is more exhausting than I ever thought it could be!

Today, we went to the Eastern Market in D.C., and it was absolutely awesome. They have everything from fresh food to cocktail rings.

Me inside Capitol Hill Books by the Eastern Market.

There were books everywhere, it was all I could do to not buy 100!

Hand painted fans!

Fabulous derby hats, I wish I had somewhere to wear it!

 

Cocktail rings aka my heaven!

One week from today, I turn 21, and we found a great Mediterranean restaurant that we plan on going to. I’m really excited!

 

 

Scripps JSchool – Strategic Social Media at Its Best

Today in my PR capstone class, we heard from Carolyn Maul, a social media strategist for Nationwide. One of the many helpful tips she gave us was (if we already have a blog) to blog about projects we have worked on.

So, I decided to share the social media plan I, along with a team of my peers, developed for the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. The school’s director approached our ImPRessions team to come up with a social media plan to increase the number of applicants to the school.

To do this, we wrote and pitched a plan to the faculty of the school, and went from there:

After conducting research of the school’s current social media use, we found that they were utilizing social media, but not to its full potential. The sites are well organized, updated frequently and provide useful information to current and future students. However, most of the information available on these sites is generated by faculty and administration and is presented in a formal, non-personable way that lacks the ability to create dialogue. Our targeted audiences were current students, prospective students, alumni and faculty. The objectives were as follows:

1. Create social media tools for the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism to better connect with alumni, current students and prospective students.
2. Revamp the E.W. Scripps School of Journalisms’ Twitter feed.
3. Create multimedia for use on social media sites.
4. To encourage current students to promote their accomplishments using social media.
5. To inform prospective students of opportunities available at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
6. To engage alumni in our social media efforts.
7. To encourage faculty participation in our online efforts.
8. To inform current students about events and happenings at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.

We recruited six freshmen to blog on behalf of the school about their freshman year experiences. These blogs were promoted through the use of social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook. The blog has received 5,043 total views. On the most trafficked day, the blog received 245 views.

Facebook became the primary focus of our campaign after our research found that 98 percent of students actively engage on Facebook. As of Wednesday May 4, 2011, the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism has 684 Facebook “likes.”

The school already had an active Twitter account before this initiative was created, however the feed was strictly computer-generated and non-responsive. We also  aimed to create a more conversational Twitter that responded in-time to tweets, live-tweeted from events and added personable content to offset the computer-generated announcements. Before the account took over Twitter the school had 1, 227 followers and was only following 13 accounts. Since, the school’s followership has increased to 1, 627 followers and are now following 117 accounts and continue to grow our following.

We continue to work on the school’s social media. Working on this plan has taught me the skills I need to become a strategic social media expert.

How long do we wait to pitch?

As a public relations student, the recent developments in world news have had a bit of a different effect on me. I must admit, it’s somewhat selfish, but I like public relations practitioners everywhere, have to wonder what effects Osama’s death will have on our advocacy for our clients.

In my public relations capstone class, our professor raised the question – As a PR professional, how long do you wait to pitch the media after a major event like Osama Bin Laden’s death?

The answer’s in class varied from, “At least a week,” to “You don’t need to,”. The most interesting responses came from those who believe it really does depends on what kind of media you’re pitching to.

Are you pitching to CNN or a local paper’s style section writer? Who you’re pitching to can make all the difference.

One of my favorite bloggers, Heather Whaling of prTini, blogged and hosted a Twitter chat based around this question last week. PRDaily posted that PR pros should wait at least a week before doing ANY pitching. But is this really necessary?

In the Twitter chat,  some said don’t pitch, but there were other good points as well:

1. You have to understand who you’re pitching to. If that person is involved in breaking news, you shouldn’t bother.
2. Not all news is front page news.
3. Do you have a deadline?
4. The news cycle is faster than ever.
5. Why would it be inappropriate to pitch a smaller paper reporter the next day?

I agree with these points. I think pitching to the media soon after a major event isn’t necessarily a lost cause. What do you think?

What does Osama’s death really mean for America and journalism?

Sunday, across the country, American’s took to the streets to wave flags, set off fireworks and sing songs like “Party in the USA” and “The Star Spangled Banner”. But as the dust settles, we must ask ourselves if a great triumph has really been accomplished. Is terrorism less of a threat to us now?

I would say no:

1. In the years following 9/11, Osama Bin Laden went into hiding as one of the largest manhunts in history took place. Al Qaeda began decentralizing their power after this and Bin Laden seemed to have become more a figurehead than a mastermind or leader. In conjunction with this – can you actually kill a figure as powerful as Osama? My best guess is that his legacy will live on, and that he will make others like him want to create more terror.

2. Will we withdraw our troops now? In the past few days, I’ve seen several dare I saw ignorant Facebook statuses happily stating that we can bring our troops home now. I wouldn’t be so sure. While talk has been optimistic in the days leading up to Sunday, pulling mass amount of troops out immediately would send the wrong message. However, this development does give Obama an opportunity in the near future to make a decision about our troops.

3. Pakistan and the Unites States seem to be unlikely allies – will it last? Obama’s speech hinted at the idea that there could be a forming Pakistan-U.S. alliance but in reality, the U.S. didn’t alert the Pakistani government of their attack in advance – maybe not the best way to start an alliance?

In my online journalism class on Monday, we discussed what the news of Osama’s death means for us as journalists. Whether we realize it or not (and hopefully as a journalist you’re on Twitter and saw it) the news of Osama’s death was broken on Twitter before it was released on television or any other outlet. This is huge. In class, we discussed where we were when 9/11 happened – every single person remembered where they were. Next, our professor asked us to try to wrap our minds around what 9/11 would have been like had Twitter and Facebook been around – assuredly it would have been completely different.

As journalists, we must ask the questions that the general public don’t know or forget to ask.  Journalism will never be the same as it was at the time of 9/11 – today is a day of instant news and to me, this makes journalism even more important. “The morning after” as I have affectionately termed May 2, 2011, journalists had to remind the American people to ask questions like I asked above. This is why I belive print news and ‘traditional’ journalism will never die.

Senior Saturday – Building Your Brand

Two weeks ago, I attended the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Senior Saturday event. This is an event designed for journalism majors, in which alums talk to us about our futures. What we can expect, how we should go about our job search, etc.

One particular presentation that stuck out to me was Scripps grad Ryan Lytle‘s (@rlytle)  presentation about Personal Branding. He spoke to us about different strategies for our presences on each social media site.

Here’s what I learned:

Facebook:

• Know your audience
• Set privacy settings
• Complete your profile
• Start a group page
• Join group pages – interaction is important
• Link to your Facebook
• Feed your network
• Don’t be careless (No drunk pictures! Nothing you wouldn’t want an employer to see.)

Twitter:

• Don’t make your Twitter page private – in this industry you shouldn’t have a private page
• Be mindful of content (Hello, no drunk tweets!)
• Follow people! People and brands that interest you.
• Listen and lurk
• Participate (Don’t get caught simply RT-ing)
• Foster relationships – journalism is a small world, you REALLY can make relationships happen on Twitter
• Don’t be careless
• 85% of what you do on Twitter should be engaging with others

LinkedIn

• Brand your profile
• Build your network
• Take part in groups
• Promote your brand

Other Tips:

• Be yourself, be authentic
• In this business, you can sniff out a phony
• Be active! Your personal brand doesn’t have an off day
• Make your brand unavoidable
• If you read/follow a lot of blogs – COMMENT!
• Stay active in your network
• Endorsements are crucial, this is important for your brand

You can check out Ryan’s complete presentation on his website!