Now THAT is an effective use of PR Online....

Before showing an example of effective Public Relations online, i thought we should go over what effective PR is. Today, almost everything and everyone is online. Its difficult to imagine a world without the Internet. As the Internet has evolved over the years so hasn't the field public relations. It has had to grow and evolve and find its place within the world wide web. Here are some strategies to approaching public relations online:

1) Identify your desired audience. Who are you trying to reach ? - create a customer "profile".

2) Define the goals you would like to achieve. What are you trying to say ?

3) You must be aware of the large masses of people you could potentially reach. The information that you 
    post is out there for most of the world to access.

4) Make sure you have a distinguished public website. Your company needs a home, a place where people
    know where to find information about you and your products.

5) Take advantage of social media. Use facebook, twitter, youtube, blogger and all other media sites you
    have access too.

Perez Hilton! Oh how i love Perez Hilton. Perez owns and operates his site perezhilton.com and he calls himself the Queen of All Media. He covers all the social & celebrity gossip out there. His site started out very small where he would write his blog daily from the coffee bean cafe in Los Angeles. You wont find him there anymore as Perez has built his brand over the years and is now a world wide phenomenon. His site receives thousands of visits per day equaling millions per year. I know I myself visit the site maybe 4-5 times a day.       (shhhhh, i shouldn't admit that)
Perez has expanded his blog to include other sub-blogs including CocoPerez (Fashion), FitPerez (Fitness), TeddyHilton (for animal lovers) and Perezitos (focuses on celebrity family and children).
Perez heavily uses social media, including his facebook and his twitter page.He posts videos, pictures and even creates full photo albums. He also has Perez TV which shows interviews he has conducted with celebrities , TV shows he has been in or skits he has created.
Perez is a great source of marketing as he will change the background of his site to promote an upcoming television show, event or upcoming movie. He also has a few advertisements that run down the side column of the site.Every once in a while he will have a pop up add, which most certainly can be annoying but they also do grab your attention.
Perez is the ultimate promoter. He gave Lady Gaga a kick start of her career by diligently following her and posting information about her career as she was trying to break into the music business. By posting photos, announcing shows, posting links to her new songs and constantly mentioning her people started to take notice.
He not only reports on celebrity news but he is a HUGE fan of Glee so he is constantly promoting that show. He has helped Oprah, Ellen and many day time and nigh time shows by posting clips of their shows and giving out "spoiler alerts" to get people to tune in.
Perez is a smart business man - yes he may spend his time reporting about other peoples lives but i would hire him as my PR agent in a jiffy if i could.

Did you just say 107 TRILLION E-mails ?

This week Prof Boone assigned us an article titled Communicative Informatics: An Active and Creative Audience Framework of Social Media written by Professor Boone herself and Professor Gallant from Emerson. The topic of this weeks class discussion was the role of social media in PR. We compared the new rules of PR to the old rules of PR.
It is most important to note that Social Media gives PR professionals the ability to directly communicate with their audience. So long are the days where PR agents must rely on the media to get the attention of their potential clients and current stakeholders. It is vital to practice a two way form of communication, where  not only do you give out information, but you also take some in. You listen to your customer and pay attention to any feedback they are offering.
While Social Media is paving a new path for those practicing Public Relations it is also opening the door for us to access more information than we could ever conceive. One line in the article listed above, Professor Boone specifically pointed out to us states; " Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003... pictures, instant messages, and tweets all add to this."
Do you have any idea how much information that is ??? Lets have a look at some of the numbers posted by pindom blog

in 2010:
107 Trillion - emails were sent on the Internet
255 Million - number of websites as of December 2010
1.97 Billion - internet users worldwide ( this is a 14% growth since last year)
152 Million - number of blogs on the Internet
25 Billion - number of tweets sent in 2010
600 Million - number of people on facebook at the end of 2010
30 Billion - pieces of content ( links,  notes, photos etc) shared just on Facebook along per month in 2010
2 Billion - the number of videos watched per day on YouTube
35 - hours of video uploaded to YouTube every hour.
5 Billion - photos hosted by Flickr

Those are amazing, astonishing and scary numbers !
Now what is important is to find a way to differentiate your information and your story from the trillions of other posts added to the web each day. How will you make sure your company does not get lost in the shuffle ? You must get creative. One proposition listed in the Communicative Informatics article is that the Audience is Creative.
Each day new photos, videos, releases and articles are being published on line. We live in a creative world with the most imaginative, inventive and inspirational people.

The Internet has truly revolutionized our way of life and social media is right there as well. Social media has provided us with ways to reconnect, ways to  tell our story and share our ideas. It has introduced us to a new form of communication and with this ability to freely communicate you have endless opportunities at your finger tips.... now we just have figure out how to best apply these opportunities.

Websites that are indefinitely Under Construction

There are millions and millions of websites on the Internet, many we will never cross and some we visit everyday. However they are not all designed as well as they could be. Some websites are just plain awful. Poor design, difficult to read, unusable links, etc.
For a list of the worst top 15 websites from 2010, check out this link and just browse around a bit, Worst Web Sites of 2010, it will make you shake your head. Of check out the front runners for 2011. it, Worse Web Sites of 2010, it will make you shake your head. Or check out the front runners for 2011
I have chosen two websites in particular to showcase in this blog.

The first is the website of the band Manu Chao who is a French Singer. The link to his site is http://www.manuchao.net/

Manu Chao came to the House of Blues which was the reason why i originally went to his website. I had people asking me who he was, what sort of music he sang, what demographic of fans would he bring to the venue. When i first approached the page I was quite flustered. There is ALOT happening on the page.
* There are many colors on the page
* Small print
* Moving automated photos that are not fluent with one another
* Navigation system is very difficult to follow
* It is in a different language but the "busyness" of the site takes away from any information he is trying to get   across
* It is impossible to read the tour schedule that is posted on the home page.

All in all, the website is too busy. A bit too colorful ( in my opinion) and is quite ineffective of conveying information to his fans.

The Second Website that could use alot of work is the official site for recording artist MIA, which is located at http://www.miauk.com/

When you go to an artists site you are most likely looking for a blog, tour dates, merchandise, or photos. When you click on MIA's site you are brought to her 8 minute and 49 second video for Born Free. Born Free is a very graphic, disturbing music video she has recently released. 

There is no option to opt out of the video. The only information on the site is the actual video and the counter at the bottom of the page. Once the video is done, it just replays itself. You are not redirected to any other site. 

This is MIA's official site but you do not learn anything from the page. You do not take away any information other than siting through this awfully long violent music video. If she would like to promote this video she should at least give an option to opt out, a way to redirect yourself to a site that actually contain information on the artist. 

Having a website in this day and age is necessary to be successful, to connect with your fans, clients or consumers. If you are going to have a website, you must make sure you maintain it. Its a real turn off when you waste your time researching something to find a website that is carelessly put together.

So please excuse us, while some of these websites are still under construction!

I have chosen two websites in particular to showcase in this blog.

The first website belongs to the band Manu Chao who is a French Singer. The link to his site is

http://www.manuchao.net/

Manu Chao came to the House of Blues which was the reason why I originally went to his website. I had people asking me who he was, what sort of music he sand, what demographic of fans would he bring to the venue. When I first approached the page I was quite flustered. There is ALOT happening on the page.
* There are many colors on the page.
* Small print.
* Moving automated photos that are not fluent with one another.
* Navigation system is very difficult to follow.
* It is in a different language but the "busyness" on the site takes away from any information he is trying to get
   across.
* It is impossible to read the tour schedule that is posted on the home page.

All in all, the website is too busy. A bit too colorful ( in my opinion) and is quite ineffective of conveying information to his fans.

The second website that could use alot of work is the official site for recording artists MIA, which is located at http://miauk.com/.

When you go to an artist site you are most likely looking for a blog, tour dates, merchandise or photos. When you click on MIA's site you are brought to her 8 minute and 49 second video for Born Free. Born Free is a very graphic, disturbing music video she has recently released. There is no option to opt out of the video. The only information on the site is the actual video and the guest counter at the bottom of the page. Once the video is done, it just replays itself. You are not redirected to any other site or even given the option. This is MIA's official site but you do not learn anything from the page. You do not take away any information other than sitting through this awfully long violent music video. If she would like to promote this video she should at least give an option to opt out, a way to redirect yourself to a site that actually contains information about the artists.
Having a website in this day and age is necessary to be successful, to connect with your fans, clients of consumers. If you are going to have a website, you must make sure you maintain it. Its a real turn off when you waste your time researching something to find a website that is carelessly put together.
So please excuse us, while some of these websites are still under construction!

When Music Met The Internet

Many technologies have been modernized by being diffused with the Internet. We can now listen to the radio online, watch a movie, upload pictures, have a live conversation using Skype, go shopping, book a trip and the list goes on and on and on.

Remember growing up when you had piles and piles of cassette tapes lying around, or your huge collection of records? How about your walk-man or the newest cd ?
Music has officially gone digital. No more bulky collection to lug around. We now have i-pods and mp3's.

In 1987 the first MP3 was produced by Karlheinz Brandenburg who chose the song “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega. The first portable mp3 devise would not come along until 11 years later, but with the combination of the two- music has never been the same.

First people were "burning" cd and sharing songs by copying their cd's on line. I cant tell you the amount of home made cds i have from high school when we would compile our favorite songs onto a blank cd. From there, Napster appeared onto the scene and caused quite a stir. Today we have Apple and the mammoth iTunes program.

Unfortunately this revolution of music has destroyed many record stores including Tower Records, Virgin Megstore, Sam Goody's and HMV. It has caused issues for record companies from Capital Records to Jive Records. Having access to digital music not only makes it easier to get ahold of new music, it makes it easier for musicians to produce their music much cheaper.

iTunes was introduced to the world by Apple in 2001. It is an online site used to purchase and play digital songs. You can now purchase "single songs" rather than a whole album. The iTunes system helps you organize and easily manage your catalog of songs. In February of 2010 iTunes sold their 10 billionth digital song ! That is an enormous number for something being sold online.

No longer are the days we carry crates of vinyl records around. Music has diffused with the Internet and has changed the whole course of the music industry.

Spam !!! Its taking over the Internet....

The Internet has grown immensely over the years and as with anything else, with growth comes certain challenges. Along with security, identity theft and annoying pop up ads, SPAM has taken over our e-mail accounts. On a daily basis I open my yahoo e-mail account and have countless spam e-mails. They are annoying, they take up space and waste my time. How can we get rid of or prevent these pesky e-mails from reaching us ?

About.Com  has provided tips and tricks to avoiding this useless junk mail.

1.  When it is necessary to send out group e-mails or comment on a blog or a forum, make your e-mail address anonymous.

2. It may be helpful when creating a new e-mail address to make it more complex.

3. A good Anti-Spam Program is a must. There are many different options out there from POPFile, BullGuard Spam Filter or Spam Bully. This is just a very small list of the hundreds of different sites available.

4. When you receive these e-mails, you can always unsubscribe as there should be an option at the bottom to take your e-mail off of their distribution list.

5. Be careful when signing up for raffles, contests or anything where you leave your e-mail address. They will e-mail you!

6. Never click on an unknown or suspicious link in an e-mail. It may be from a friend but if the topic is odd you are better to be safe than sorry.

7. Set up your anti spam folders or spam filter in your e-mail accounts.

8. Dont be afraid to report Spam. You can always forward your spam e-mails to spam@uce.gov . This is the Spam box for the FTC.

Whether you like it or not spam is all around us, its just not as bad if you don't see it. There are certain steps you can take to ensure your e-mail account wont be overtaken by these worthless e-mails.
Be aware, be cautious and guard your e-mail address for all its worth....

The Internet has been around for how long ??

The Internet was invented in the late 1960's and of course many important events have happened along the Internet timeline. But if you had to choose one, one important date on that timeline which would you be most interested in?

July 2001: A federal judge rules Napster must remain offline until it can prevent copyrighted material from being shared by its users

We have all heard of Napster. Napster was created by Shawn Fanning and his uncle John Fanning in 1999 while Shawn attended Northeastern University. Its was originally set up as a peer- to - peer file sharing service where people could share music.....for free. After running into massive legal battles regarding copyright violations the site was forced to shut down.
The site made it easy to exchange MP3 files which musicians viewed as "stealing". The band Metallica ignited the legal battles when they discovered their song "I Disappear" was being downloaded on the site before it was even released. After being sued by musician such as Metallica, Dr. Dre and organizations as the RIAA the site officially shut down in July of 2001.
In 2002, Roxio acquired the company and in September of 2008 the site was purchased by Best Buy for $121 million who is the current parent company of the site. The site currently exists as an online music store which requires a paid online subscription.
Napster.com
Napster may have run into major difficulties over the past few years, but it opened the doors for music share and music purchase sites.

February 2007: Apple Surpasses one billion iTunes downloads

Today if you want to purchase music online, most people automatically think of the site iTunes. iTunes was established in  January of 2001. Of course with this site you pay for the files that you download but without the presence of Napster, do you think 1 billion songs would have been downloaded in 6 years !

One Billion Songs - now that is alot of music.......

New Semester, New Class, Same Internet

Today marks the beginning of the Fall 2011 Semester at Suffolk University. Its hard to believe that summer vacation is over. One of the courses i am taking this semester is New Media and New Markets which of course focuses on the Internet, marketing, web design and new media. Millions and Millions of people use the Internet. An estimate of 2,095,006,005 people are estimated to use the Internet as of March 2011. But how do you use the Internet ?

If i had to guess why people use the Internet i would have to guess... 1) Social Networking 2) Communication 3) Research 4) Entertainment 5) Marketing.

I know i personally use the Internet for social networking and for communication purposes at work.
I of course am a member of facebook and as sad as it is, i cant remember life before facebook ( i know i know - don't judge) I use facebook to keep in touch with friends, make plans, see what everyone is up to, etc.
My job 100% relys on the Internet. You learn the hard way when Internet goes down for a day and i cant get anything done - only left to play major catch up when the system is back up and running. I am constantly e-mailing, sending out reminders, logging ticket requests, setting reservation, making travel plans. Every aspect of my job relies om the world wide web. To be honest, i don't think my job could exist ( or at least function properly) without the web.
My friends and family do not rely on the Internet when it comes to work as much as i do. My mom uses it to play bejeweled, forward us those silly e-mails or check up on us on facebook ( there should be a rule that a mother cannot be friends with her daughters on any social networking sites) My father uses it to watch comedy videos before going to bed or catch an early new segment when he wakes up. My sister is always logged onto facebook catching up with friends.
There are quite a lot of people using the Internet right now -but each for a different purpose.
Why are you logging on ?