Category: social networking

Friday Five: things I love (about the Internet) edition

I conclude my three-part series on things I love with a short list of things I love about the Internet:

  1. It’s a wellspring of information that you aren’t likely to find elsewhere (except when the mainstream media pick up on something that becomes huge, like those JibJab videos. Where else can one learn that Sept. 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, or that yesterday was International Talk Like Bob Dylan Day? (Hat tip to Courtney for the Dylan thing. If you click on that link, I highly recommend you watch the mockumentary “No Direction, Period.”)
  2. Mashups. The Internet is the perfect vehicle for DIY video and audio bricalers to deliver their video and audio mashups (definition (YouTube video)) to a global audience. Whether it’s a video of a Tony Blair tribute to the Clash or the musical mixology of the Kleptones (samples), you can find all manner of creative mashup artistry on the web, if you know where to look.
  3. Memes. Those little virtual parlor games that propagate like kudzu all over the ‘net. They range from the five bloggers who make me think-style pass-alongs to the ubiquitous “which ______ are you” quizzes (about which more later).
  4. Online quizzes. I love me some online quizzes. Through these quizzes, I know that if I were in Star Wars, I would be Boba Fett (“Because of your dark past you don’t say much, and you don’t have many close friends, but man do you look cool!”), and that of the ensemble of The Office characters, I am most like receptionist Pam Beezly. If I were a theologian, I’d be Calvin, and if I were a Calvin and Hobbes character, I’d be Hobbes. The path to self-enlightenment is as close as AllTheTests.com.
  5. Blogging. I love blogging. Isn’t it obvious?

Keeping ahead of the learning curve

What resources do you use, what methods do you follow, and what techniques do you employ to keep pace with all the changes in technology, communications and the business of marketing, PR and higher ed? In the latest issue of CASE Currents magazine, Patricia Quigley, Rowan University‘s assistant director of university media and public relations, pulls together some good thoughts about keeping pace with all the changes (CASE login required to access the full article). Quigley, like the rest of us, struggles to find the time to learn the latest about technology’s impact on media relations, the latest consumer marketing studies and how they relate to education, or what legislation coming down the pike is liable to affect her work. She talks to some other PR pros in higher ed to find out how they carve time out of their schedules to catch up on the latest tips and trends.

Quigley also offers some daily learning opportunities, segmented into a monthly calendar. Suggestions include reading the major dailies on Sundays; surfing some must-read higher ed blogs (like Karine Joly’s collegewebeditor.com, insidehighered.com, SimpsonScarborough, etc.); checking up on how major corporations are using technology; visiting Poynter and other journalism think-tank sites (such as AJR); reading Steve Rubel’s Micro Persuasion on a regular basis; and, at least once a month, taking a break from it all and walking around your campus — “the place any successful media relations effort really begins.”

All brilliant ideas! And most are at your fingertips. In the spirit of sharing information, I offer a few resources that Quigley overlooked. Some of these pertain more to marketing than to media relations, which could be why Quigley excluded them.

  • Join the American Marketing Association and read AMA’s Marketing News. Or save yourself a few dollars and read the Marketing News blog for free. (I think it’s worth the price of admission to get the publication, however.)
  • Subscribe to PR Week and scan it weekly. The op-ed section is the best part.
  • In addition to Poynter, AJR and Romenesko, news junkies should bookmark Journalism.org, the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s website, for more news about the state of the media.
  • For buzz marketers (and aren’t we all?), two words: Seth Godin.
  • Another blog I check on every other week or so, for ideas on innovations in business: Fast Company Now.

Those are a few of my favorite resources. What are some of yours?