Best Practices

Have camera, will report (esp if biggest story falls in your lap)

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

It was just last summer, that the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU was picked as one of the four top J-schools for ABC News’ multi-media bureaus on campuses.

Barely a year later, they got an opportunity to report on a story that anyone in the media business would give their right arm for.

Watch This: Check out this report by a student. Using slick editing (clever use of the Valley’s new Light Rail with roof-top solar panels in backdrop!) and wide perspectives, this story captures the sense of expectation before the president paid a visit to ASU.

Tweet This: If you know of a student interested in the changing media landscape –I know at least two– here’s a challenge by ABC Campus News, looking for roving multi-media savvy reporters

Twinterview with ASU’s Nina Miller Kulhawy

/ Angelo Fernando / 2 Comments

Yesterday i took part in a large social media exercise that allowed us to cover the visit of president Barack Obama to ASU, where he spoke at the commencement.

To follow up, I am doing a series of podcasts and Twinterviews. Continuing where I left off.

This afternoon, I will be live posting responses from Nina Miller Kulhawy, principal  graphic designer at the Office of The President. Watch this space!

AF: You’re a Graphic Designer heavy into web design. What got you into social media here at ASU in such a big way? #twitview09 #asugrad

NMK: I went to web 2.0 conf 2 yrs ago, it clicked with me. Human connections have always fascinated me. #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: I think universities need to engage with people as individuals, and I see this as a way to do that. #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Few people know u are an improv actor. Does relating 2 a real audience have lessons 4 communicating w/ virtual peeps? #twitview09  #asugrad

NMK: Yes! Improvising and dealing with a live audience in person doesn’t differ from what is needed online #twitview09 #asugrad

NMK: Listening skills apply in both, not just always producing content, but hearing what others are saying #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Let’s get to Obama’s visit May13. What part did social media play in your job? Was it even in your job description? #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK:  It fits under “other duties as assigned.” I was tweeting as @asugraduation for the day w/@JulieEspinosa #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: I was part of the planning committee, worked with Melissa Werner & @tiffapiffa to build the event site #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: You were tracking many Twitter feeds answring questions in realtime. Without this tool what would u have had 2 do? #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: I can’t imagine what I would have done. One woman in dublin was shocked when I answered her question #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: This is the only tool that I can see fitting the needs of that kind of communication #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Any neat example or success story in the social media newsroom y’day at the Sun Devil Stadium? #twitview09  #asugrad09

NMK: I think the running out of water rumor being addressed was one basic needs win. Photos really helped that #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: The biggest win was everyone bringing their expertise to the table, doing their thing. The collaboration #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: For an audience not familiar with the water issue, can u explain? #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: There was a report that we had run out of water at the water stations on the field, it was incorrect. #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: How long did it take for the rumor to disappear? I saw one reporter rushing 2 the exits to check this #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: It seemed to be diffused pretty quickly in person because there was water #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: but it was important to report that online so people that weren’t there didn’t think we were careless #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Got a link to that picture of the water station?#twitview09 #asugrad09

Water_ASUGrad09_8608210NMK:  RT @asugraduation: RT @emersunn: Contrary to reports, there is plenty of water. #asugrad09 http://twitpic.com/54i4y #twitview09

(this is the message she re-tweeted at that moment. Click image left to enlarge)

AF: I noticed several mainstream media folks following our tweets. Any collaborations or exchanges with them worth noting –online or off? #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: I can’t really think of mainstream media collaboration from yesterday #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: No problem. I was sharing images with a photo journalist -he was basically shooting 4us. talk about Fair Use! #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: Our collaboration with ustream.tv managed by @dotguy was especially helpful. Featured on their home page. #twitview09 #asugrad09

AndersonCooper_TweetAF: on the media, I wrote 2 Anderson Cooper who continues 2 paint a wrong pic- he let it slide #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Going forward how might ASU use the groundswell of social media users across our 4 campuses? Any big ideas? #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: I think if we continue to use it as a listening tool, it will be a great way to connect with individuals #twitview09 #asugrad09

NMK: The conversation and interaction is the most important part to me. #twitview09 #asugrad09

AF: Thanks, Nina. Great lessons for all of us. #twitview09 #asugrad09

Take risks, change attitude, rethink your career

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Obama4If people though that Obama would trot out the message of Hope, and yes-we-can for an grad audience, they were wrong.

It’s about change, not hope.

“Question conventional wisdom and challenge old dogmas.”

Hard task ahead, not just for people like these 11,000 people entering the work force. I try to put some of this across in my resume-meets-social media seminar, but taking risks is hard, scary at this time. But guess what? I know of two people who are doing just that.

One guy is starting what most people would call crazy –a media company. He happens to be an ex-journalist. The other guy has a great model for mobile marketing, using the phone as a scanning device. I asked the journo, if he has a business plan. He says yes, but it’s not exactly a plan because  he intends to tweak it as he moves ahead. Conventional wisdom tells me this is risky. But that’s exactly what we need in a recession: Unconventional wisdom. He was not forced into a career change. He shifted gears before he was forced to.

As Obama sums up his speech –it’s 8.25 pm Mountain Standard Time– I know that Obama is lighting a fire under an audience beyond this stadium with than formula.

Obama arrives at ASU, light bulbs go off

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

PresidentCrow_1The light bulbs go off like strobes.

But as President Crow addresses the 70,000 plus audience here, I can imagine the other light bulbs go off. He gave a huge shout out to K-12 teachers, and I can see how this resonates with Obama as he reaches out to get a ground-up movement going to fix education.

Watch the Blueprint for Education video on this site! It is the speech where he says “if you want to make your mark, with a legacy that will endure, then join the teaching profession.”


Obama’s visit today begets massive social media coverage

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

PressBox_0512Happy to note that I am part of the social media ‘swat’ team at today’s commencement at Arizona State University, where president Barack Obama will speak. (Sun Devil Stadium, 7 PM Mountain Time, 63,000 people).

Now unofficially called the ‘Tweam‘ (in the tradition of making horrible words to describe anyone also using Twitter as a communication tool) about 20 of us will provide a different type of coverage from what the major networks will bring: multiple angles, twitpics and more uploaded to Flickr, perspectives and commentary on several blogs, podcasts etc. Befitting, of course Obama’s and the White House’s use of social media.

A few things to get you started:

Watch how ABC15 profiled this social media blitz last night –click on the TV story, top right of page

Live streaming meets interactive

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Today’s economic summit, for the Greater Phoenix Economic Summit, GPEC hosted here at Decision Theater proved to be truly interactive, in more ways than one.

GPEC_1On the expected level, there was interactivity between business leaders and the media.

But while all this was happening, the camera that you see here was live streaming video made available to a web audience. We used BitGravity for this. The BitgGavity feed was embedded in a dedicated web page. At one time we tracked more than 600 people on that site. This extended audience got to interact with the speakers through an embedded chat program, and via a polling tool.

In an adjacent  conference room –call it the social media hub— I was part of the team watching the live web stream. Someone from the GPEC comms team would forward the questions to the Drum via Blackberry. All this, as we tweeted and blogged the event.

Photos taken during the event were immediately uploaded to Flickr -you can see them on the right of this page- and TwitPic.

Quotes for the week ending 9 May, 2009

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Gaze tracking is well-established … In the future, the whole image could also be panned left or right as the gaze approaches the edge of the screen.”

Gadgets and how we may use them, in BBC story on Science Beyond Fiction conference in Prague.

“The effects of the swine flu epidemic have been felt in Hollywood.”

Access Hollywood on an e-mail spam message that claimed Madonna had caught the virus.

“Moving from the digital world to print as everything else moves in the other direction may seem contrarian. But people want physicality, especially as more and more of our lives are lived virtually.”

Eileen Gittins, CEO of Blurb, a profitable print-on-demand company that has sold $30 million worth of books in 2008.

“Integration has long been talked about as the holy grail of brand communications. Socialization of media warrants finding it, and fast.”

Chris Perry, executive VP at Weber Shandwick. In Advertisng Age.

“…the greatest facilitators of human conversations, its building itself as a brand based on emotional bonds and trust in a shell of social , web 2.0 services.”

johnhorniblow, talking of Facebook, responding to the above article

“Forever is a word people aren’t used to hearing from marketers. But forever is good. If you could keep every customer you get forever, you’ll be in business for just as long.”

Rohit Bhargava, about the United States Postal Service’s use of a ‘forever stamp’ at the current postage rate, and it would be valid many years later, irrespective of price increases.

“Be warned. It’s me uncensored.”

Megan McCain, on her blog about her use of Twitter. Megan, daughter of John McCain is seen as the new voice of the Republican party. She will publish a book on this subject soon.

“They should be the ones writing the tweets – no ‘ghosttweeting’.”

Linda Vandevrede at ValleyPRblog.com, about CEOs use if Twitter. The full report is on Ryan Zuk’s presentation about Twitter.

Blogging workshop wrap up

/ Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

blog_centralThe blogging 101 workshop, at Jobing.com on Monday was quite an experience. As always,  I ended up having a great learning experience myself. More on that later.

The topic, Using Blogging and Social Networking to Support Your Job Search, comes with a bunch of disclaimers. At the risk of seeming repetitive, I have to say that a blog will not and should not replace a resume. It may enhance your resume, but better still it gives you a way to rethink how you work on your resume. Or your reputation out there.

A resume, after all is a way to capture your reputation system on a sheet of paper, which is an odd thing to have to do in this day and age. That sheet of paper needs to become a living document, and not something that lives in a folder.

I happen to think that a blog is easier to maintain than a resume. Certainly much easier than a web site. (A few people in the audience had personal web sites. I do, too, and it’s a royal pain to update.) Indeed, a blog requires more care and feeding at the initial stage, but once you set up some good blogging habits, use a few simple tools and tricks, it’s not a huge chore.

Once you compare how limited you are with some of the existing tactics you use to define who you are, and what your potential is, a blog becomes a no-brainer.

Comparison between different reputation 'tools'
Comparison between different reputation ‘tools’

Big thank you to Pat Elliott for getting me involved with the Scottsdale Job Network.

Too many swine flu experts hyping it up?

/ Angelo Fernando / 2 Comments

I have seen a flurry of responses to the outbreak of swine flu over the past few days, and have to wonder if our ability to monitor and repeat information often overstates the situation /crisis. Or exploit it.

I can say this with some confidence since:

(a) I work at a the Decision Theater, where we have conducted three pandemic flu exercises –the last of which was in February this year.

(b) We have to caution many people who ask, because everyone’s in reactive mode, not realizing that this is still an outbreak, not an epidemic, and still far from being declared a pandemic.

I suppose we could hype up the situation, and claim to be ‘experts’ in the field, just to get media attention. But we won’t go there. It is not in the public interest to add to the uncertainty.

Down-playing. Sort of. If at all, I have had to tell media who call that guess what, Arizona was recently ranked the most prepared state as far as pandemic plans. I also sat in a meeting where one researcher in this field noted that Mexico has some of the most advanced epidemiologists, and that their health care monitoring system was not to be doubted.

I have seen communicators jump into this space. Some in a good way. But as Evgeny Morozov of the Open Society Institute noted, “too many Twitter conversations about swine flu seem to be motivated by desires to fit in, do what one’s friends do (i.e. tweet about it) or simply gain more popularity.”

Here’s a short list of how some in the industry reacted:

  • On Sunday, while I was monitoring the information on the outbreak (at 10 pm Mountain Time), Gerard Baud pinged me about how his outfit is looking at the crisis, with a short podcast. Unfortunately it was an ad for a tele-seminar that you would have to pay for. I would have preferred if the response, in the public interest, was a free ‘seat’ at the teleconference for at least one person in the organization.
  • Melcrum today published a short but intelligent piece in the Melcrum Hub about an effective crisis communications plan. One of the points they raised seemed so pertinent to the present situation: Stick to the known facts. It’s so easy to go on anecdotal evidence –as in stuff you saw online, repeated by someone who thought she had heard it from a ‘source.’
  • Ragan Communications also published a good piece on it but unfortunately they too have connencted it to a webinar that will cost you $99.
  • Happy to note that IABC is making a teleseminar available free. Details here.

Bottom Line. I know times are tough. But people are also getting sick. There are lots of cities, school districts and healthcare systems who have plans but will like to see what else they could do. I don’t think at this time they should pay for learning about better communications to help their local community and their country.

Hey, that’s just me.

Can social media help you land a job?

/ Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

The short answer to that question is: we’ll never know unless we try.

In February year, we were told we’d have to take unpaid Furlough. Unemployment was at 6.9% and climbing (today it is at 8.5%) Some 115,000 workers in Arizona had lost jobs in the past 45 days or so. In this context a pay cut didn’t seem so bad. I had an idea that many of us communicators here in the Phoenix area, who were employed, might be able to give a bit of our time to help those who were desperately seeking work.  My working title for a proposal I began circulating was JobCamp. Interestingly, of the half-dozen people who stepped forward, two senior communicators who said they would help, were also out of jobs.

The basis of my idea was that resumes are not enough. They are not exactly obsolete but need to be reworked in the context of how resumes are searched, how someone’s online reputation can be nurtured, and how best position oneself with current, forward-looking skills. And so it gave rise to:

  • WORKSHOPS NEXT MONTH. We plan to hold a few workshops based on a lot of feedback, requests and ideas I have been getting. Details and registration will be announced shortly
  • WORKSHOP NEXT WEEK: Somewhat related to this is a 2-hour workshop I am conducting for the Scottsdale Job Network. It’s a hands-on session on blogging, and how you might use a social media tool like this to enhance your job search.  Monday 27 April from 6 – 8 PM. I recommend you register here.

On the same page: I just stumbled upon LaidOffCamp, started by someone called Chris Hutchins. It’s a terrific idea, organized (just like Podcamp in an open source format) via a Wiki. The purpose is to help unemployed people network, share ideas and help them get back to work.