Readings for Jan. 28: Crowdsourcing/ Social Media Task 3

Here are the readings we will discuss in class on Jan. 28. Be prepared to talk about them in class. Please blog about your key takeaways from the readings. Remember — your assignment is not to summarize these articles in your blog post. The assignment is for you to compare and contrast them, analyse them, and share your opinion on the future of our profession. You can use the questions below to help you write it. Your post should be at least 400 words, broken into 3 to 4 paragraphs. It’s due on Jan. 28. Please tweet about it before class.

Briggs, Chapter 3, Crowd-Powered Collaboration,  pp. 87-90, 92-95, 97-109, 112-117.

How to Turn Your Social Media Crisis into PR Success

CISION

Real-Time Social Media Creative Marketing and PR

The Huffington Post

Questions to consider:  Being a good communicator means forming good relationships.  Social media allows PR practitioners and journalists to collaborate in new and meaningful ways, both with each other and with the public. What is the value of collaboration? What are the benefits to collaboration? What are the dangers? How should professionals interact with the public online, especially when comments are negative? What is meant by real-time marketing?

Social Media Task 3: Crowdsourcing

Part of this Social Media Task is an in-class assignment for Jan. 28. The final assignment is due on Feb. 4.

Description:

You will use social media to find ideas for news stories or feature stories, or for PR campaigns by reading Facebook conversations and tweets, and by looking at Instagram and Snapchat. Choose one of the following two ways to do the assignment.

1. To do this assignment from a journalist’s perspective, look for four different story ideas about what’s happening at SHU for Winter-Spring 2020. You should read various SHU organizational Facebook conversations and tweets, as well as student conversations and tweets, and look on Instagram and Snapchat. You should not choose an idea that happened in the past. It must be something you will be able to tweet about later.

2. To do this assignment from a public relations rep’s perspective, look for four different ideas you could highlight in a PR/marketing campaign about SHU as it relates to Winter-Spring 2020. SHU is your client. You should read various SHU organizational Facebook conversations and tweets, as well as student conversations and tweets, and look on Instagram and Snapchat. You should not choose an idea that happened in the past. It must be something you will still be able to tweet about later.

This part of the task, which includes your four ideas, is due at the end of class on Jan. 28.  You should pitch your four story ideas or your four PR/marketing campaign ideas to me as soon as you decide on them.

Social Media Task 3:

Set up an Instagram account for your blog and follow at least 20 Seton Hall organizations, clubs, teams, or people. Also follow at least 4 media organizations that cover Seton Hall news. Please follow the class Instagram — Profbollinger — and also follow all of your classmates. You should follow the same number of orgs., clubs, teams or people on your Twitter account, as well as the class Twitter account — @Bollshu — and all of your classmates. (That’s a minimum of 39-40 people and organizations for each social media platform.)  Be sure to provide a link to your blog on your Twitter profile page. Also, please attach your Twitter feed to your blog homepage, if you haven’t already. Whenever you tweet, or post anything on Instagram for this class, please use the class hashtag — #Boll3422 — so you get credit for the work.

Get Started:

For this crowdsourcing assignment you will use the ideas for stories or PR campaigns you found in class. Use your class Twitter and Instagram accounts to ask your readers for any information they may have about your story ideas or your PR campaigns. Be sure to use the class hashtag — #Boll3422. You can use other hashtags too, just be sure to include that one. You should tweet once during class about each idea, and tweet about each ideas at least three more times during the week. Sometimes it helps with getting responses to post a survey or quiz. You should also post at least once for each idea on Instagram, but you can do more.

Due Feb. 4:  You will present your crowdsourcing results in class:

You must write a story for your blog using any information you may have gotten from readers over the week for one of your story ideas, or one of your PR campaign ideas. You can also use any information you get yourself by calling sources, DM’ing or emailing sources who sent you info, or going to an event. Post the story to your blog and be sure to thank your readers for their help.

Tweet and post on Instagram about your new blog post. Be sure to use the class hashtag — #Boll3422.

Think like a reporter. Have an eagle eye for the interesting, the important, the relevant, the unique, and the immediate. Double check your facts. When you interview someone, you must get their full names (first and last) and spell them correctly.

Think like a public relations spokesperson.  Show the world what is great about Seton Hall.  Promote the college brand.

Take photos and post them to your blog. Some advice: when taking photos, try to fill the frame. Don’t be afraid to get in close. Avoid taking all vertical photos, unless the scene lends itself to a vertical photo. Avoid taking shots of inanimate objects. Actions shots are best — always try to have people doing something in your shots.

Grading:

The total Crowdsourcing Social Media Task is worth 20 points and includes finding your story ideas, crowdsourcing for information for your ideas, and writing your story. It’s due on Feb. 4.

I will take into account how well you used the information you got from your readers in your story and how much information you got on your own. Your post should be between 300-400 words, but can be longer.

I will also take into account your crowdsourcing efforts. (Even if you didn’t get any responses, I want to see an effort to get some reader input. If you didn’t get responses, then you have to make some calls to get enough information to write your post for this task.)

Readings for Jan. 21: Future of News and PR/ Social Media Task 2 — Scavenger Hunt

Here are the readings you will need to complete your blog post for Social Media Task 1. Your post should not summarize these articles on your blog. The assignment is for you to compare and contrast them, analyze them, and share your opinion on the future of journalism and public relations. You may use the discussion questions below to help you write your post. The blog post is due on Jan. 21. It should be a minimum of 250-300 words, but please break it into several paragraphs. It shouldn’t be all one paragraph. It can be longer than 300 words if you have more to say. Please tweet about your post at least once.

The Future of Public Relations — Three Forks in the Road

Robert  Wynne/ Forbes

Last Call: The End of the Printed Newspaper

Clay Shirky/ Medium

The People Formerly Known as the Audience

The Economist

Discussion Questions:  What is social media? How has social media evolved over time?  How has it changed both the journalism and public relations fields? How has it changed our daily lives and the way we consume information? What does the future hold for journalists and PR professionals as social media continues to evolve?

Social Media Task 2:  Twitter Scavenger Hunt

This is a fun exercise to start the semester and is great practice for your Live Tweeting assignment later on. You should begin this task during class time on Jan. 21. Before you start, set up a Twitter account for the class and follow the class Twitter account — @BollShu. Always use the class hashtag when posting anything on your class Twitter — #Boll3422.

Winning Team(s): The one or two teams with the best tweets — who took initiative and went out of their way to be creative  —  will be the winners. There can be up to two first-place winners.

Grading: Total possible points for assignment = 20; total possible points for two winning teams = 25.

Get Started:

Part 1: The Hunt — In-class assignment beginning Jan. 21

• Work in teams of two.
• Before you start, make sure you are following the class Twitter — @BollShu — and all of your classmates on Twitter (you’ll find them under my followers.)
• Send out an introductory tweet or two explaining what you are doing and introducing yourself and your partner (each of you must post an introductory tweet.)  Ex. — I’m a Seton Hall student participating in a Scavenger Hunt for my Social Media class.
• Post tweets for 8 of the 10 items listed below (See “Topics for the tweets”). Work with your teammate to get the 8 items. You will most likely have to talk to more than 8 people to get 8 winning tweets. When posting your tweets, divide them equally between your Twitter accounts (you will post 4 of them to your Twitter account, and your partner will post 4). But you should work on all 8 of them together — see who gets the best responses for each topic and chose the best one to post. Don’t number the tweets when you post them. It should be clear from the content of the tweet which of 8 items it is.
• Respond to at least two of your classmates participating in the scavenger hunt.
• All tweets MUST contain two hashtags — #Boll3422, and another hashtag that is relevant to the content. Any tweets that do not contain the hashtags won’t count. Yes, this limits the number of characters available for your tweets, but that’s part of the challenge. You may use more than one tweet for an item.

Topics for the Tweets:

1. School spirit! Photo and quote from someone (not you or your partner or anyone else in the class) revealing school spirit. (What that means is up to you. Be creative.) Be sure you include the person’s full name, age, profession (if SHU student, say the major) in all the tweets.
2. Eating spot or watering hole. Photo and quote (not you or your partner or anyone else in the class) from someone’s favorite eating spot or watering hole on or near campus.
3. Professor on campus. Photo and quote from a professor on campus. Ask the professor what role he/she thinks social media plays in our society today. Be sure you include the professor’s name and department.
4. Student on the street. Photo and quote from a student (not you or your partner or anyone else in class). Ask where the student gets his or her news and if he/she uses social media to keep up with news. Be sure you include the student’s full name, age, and major. (You may have to do this one in two tweets.)
5. Academic excellence. Photo and quote that reveals (you are going to have to be creative) how Seton Hall contributes to cutting-edge research and/or learning.
6. Scenic spot. Photo and quote (not you or your partner) of someone’s favorite scenic spot on or near campus.
7. Little-known fact. Photo and quote of something many people might not know about our school or campus or city.
8. Fanatic fans. Photo/quote from somebody being asked about the men’s or women’s basketball season, or other sport of your choice.
9. Extracurricular extravaganza. Photo and quote that exemplifies some of the huge variety of clubs, organizations, etc. available to students at Seton Hall.
10. Freestyle. Your very own final unique tidbit of information/photo about our campus or city. Be creative.

Part 2:  Blog post for Scavenger Hunt:

Create one blog post: It should be written like a story about your adventure, and not just contain lists. The story should be posted to both of your blogs. You can copy and paste, but you should write it together. It should also include photos, either from the tweets themselves and/or of your team during the Scavenger Hunt. Your blog post should include the following:

•  1) All 8 of your tweets in the order of the items listed above. Make sure your Twitter account is embedded on your blog (see directions on WordPress.com) and make sure you select that 8 tweets can show.
• 2) What were the top five tweets in the class (in your opinion).
• 3) At least one response you sent to another team, but you can include both.
• 4) Introductory and explanatory text within the blog post to make it clear what it’s about.
• 5. A brief reflection on the scavenger hunt. What were the highlights or challenges of this assignment?
• Be sure to post a link to your blog post in your tweets.
• This assignment is due on Jan. 28.

Tips:

• Think like a reporter. Search for the interesting, the important, the relevant, the unique, and the immediate. Double check your facts. You must get people’s real FULL names (first and last) and spell them correctly.
• Think like a public relations spokesperson. Show the world what is great about Seton Hall. Promote the college brand.
• Don’t limit yourself to Fahy Hall and College of Communication and the Arts students. The goal of this assignment is to publicize the university, not just COAR. Show some initiative and creativity.
• You may use more than one tweet for an item if necessary, but don’t overdo it. Sometimes less is more.
• You may use common abbreviations to stay under 280 characters (e.g., “dept” for “department” or “prof” for “professor” or using “&” in place of “and”). But no “text speak” (no LOLs, OMGs, etc.) And avoid exclamation points. Use proper grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.
• Photo advice:  When taking photos, try to “fill the frame.” Don’t be afraid to get in close. And no sideways photos. Don’t make readers have to turn their heads to see your photos.

Have fun while you’re doing this! 

Jan. 14: Introduction to Class/ Social Media Task 1 — Create a Blog

Social Media Task 1 is an in-class assignment for Jan. 14. It involves creating a blog using WordPress. The final version of your blog and your first blog post are due on Jan. 21. Please tweet about your blog post at least once. Don’t forget to provide a link to it in your Twitter profile.

Description:

The first Social Media Task for the semester requires you to create a WordPress blog, which you will maintain throughout the course, and to create your first blog post, which will be a response to the assigned readings for Jan. 21.

Explanation: Setting up and customizing the blog

Please complete the following:

•  Site title:  Give your blog a name. The blog will be used solely for class assignments and activities, including your observations about social media, journalism, and public relations. Please do not post anything personal on your blog.
• Photo or artwork:  Your homepage should include a photo or some kind of artwork that represents you in this class. (Don’t use the same photo I used on the class blog.)
• Tagline:  A very brief sentence stating what the blog is. Use this tagline to explain that it is a blog for COJR 3422 at SHU.
• Theme:  Select from the free options available.
•  About Page:  Your About Page should include six to eight sentences describing yourself and the nature of the blog (sort of like a longer version of the tagline.)
• Menu: Links to the About Page and Home Page need to appear in your blog’s menu. The menu is typically found near the top of the blog.
• Widgets: Select and edit widgets. Place widgets you want to add into the page’s sidebar if possible. Your blog needs to have the following four widgets:  Blogs I Follow; Follow this Blog; Archives; and Social Media — Twitter and Instagram. Please embed your Twitter feed on the side or bottom of your blog.
• Follow the course blog: Make sure that you are following the course blog. Click the “Follow” button in the right sidebar of the main page.

Requirements for all Blog Posts:

• Title:  Give your post an interesting, descriptive title that reflects the content of the post. Please DO NOT call it “Blog post,” “Task 1,” or “Assignment,” etc.
• The Post: Reflect upon the assigned readings. Please offer your opinions and analysis on the articles. Do not just quote or summarize the readings. Use them to form your own opinion about how social media will impact journalism and/or public relations in the future. What impact will social media have on you as you begin your career?  You may use the discussion questions on the syllabus to help you write the post, but you are not required to answer them. The post should be 250-300 words. Be sure to break it into several paragraphs. It should not be all one paragraph.
• Artwork: Please post some kind of artwork — photo, video, graph, illustration — with every blog post.
• Writing for SEO: Once we learn how to do this, all your posts must be optimized for search.
• Tags:  Give your blog post at least two tags. When using the WordPress editor to compose your post, the “Tags” area is located in the sidebar to the right of the text editor. A tag is a topic of the blog post. A tag is usually a single word or two words. If someone were searching for your blog post, what search terms would he or she be likely to use?  Make those your tags.
• Allow comments:  Make sure your post is set up to allow others to comment.
• Before you publish:  Preview your post before you publish it. Proofread it, make sure that it is formatted correctly and make sure that all of the links work properly.
• Need help?  If you are having trouble navigating WordPress, there are many sites available to help you. Just Google them. WordPress itself offers helpful explanations and has 24-hour tech assistance. Feel free to also ask me for help.

Links:

The blog post must contain at least three embedded links, which means you must put the links WITHIN the post, not at the end of the post. You may link to the readings themselves, but at least one of the links must be to an outside source. The page you use to post to your blog enables you to post links. Please use that.

• Do not put the URL within the body of the blog post.
• Test your links to make sure they work.

Submitting the assignment before class

After you have set up your blog and have published your first post, send me a link to your blog (e.g., John’sblog.wordpress.com) at bollinger.shu@gmail.com. This email must be sent before class on Jan. 21.

Grading

Social Media Task 1, creating your blog, is worth 20 points.

• Technical part (20 points):  Does the blog contain all of the necessary elements, including an appropriate title, menu with About Page and Home buttons, widgets, at least three links, and at least two tags? 

All blog posts are worth 10 points.

• Blog post content and length (10 points): Is the blog post a thorough and thoughtful discussion of the issues raised in the assigned readings? Does the post go beyond simply summarizing the readings to offer analysis and insight? Is the post free of misspellings and grammatical mistakes. Is the blog post at least 400-500 words, broken into paragraphs? Does it include artwork?

Social Media in JO and PR

“Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter,” — Izaak Walton.

Welcome to “Social Media in Journalism & Public Relations.  I am looking forward to getting to know each of you and working to help you better understand the impact that social media can have on your future careers.  Whether you intend to work in journalism, public relations, or another field, this course will teach you some great tools to help you on your journey.

— Professor Bollinger