CPRS Session with Bessy Nikolaou

I recently attended a CPRS PD session on Social Media. It was really informative and it was presented in an elegant and easily understandable way.

Bessy did a great job of starting with the basics and organized the presentation into easily digestible points that her audience could understand.

It started off with some wicked stats and videos! Basically computers are getting VERY powerful and China will have more English speakers than the U.S. soon.

There was also a video explaining social media in the simplest terms possible. I also posted it on my consulting page, because it is so amazing!

Here are a key few points or observations I took away from the presentation:

1. Social media is a communication tool, just like TV, newspapers or any other media. To be successful, you need the same research, strategy, and tactics used for any other PR campaign.
2. Old media involved pushing your message where you think your audience is. New media is about pulling your audience to the message.
3. Social media is an authentic and transparent medium. You must be prepared to monitor the discussion about your organization and be totally accountable for your actions.
4. Social media releases are just guest blog posts!
5. Social media is an amazing way to connect with people. A prodigal son or daughter coming back to their city needs only Twitter, Facebook, and some time to feel right at home again.

The session gave me some great fundamental knowledge of social media that will help me use it more effectively and efficiently. I feel a hundred times more ready to tackle any project!

The Twitterization of Facebook

I guess Facebook’s motto is “If you can’t beat them or buy them… Copy them!”

I hope the reason why they changed the home page format wasn’t just to steal Twitter fans. It won’t work. People use Twitter for different reasons.

These are some reasons why I will still use Twitter.

Easy to Access Opinion Leaders:
Twitter is less personal than Facebook. If I tried to add some of the famous Twitter users to Facebook, it wouldn’t work as well. I don’t need to know too much about these guys. I’m interested in what information and advice they have to keep me up to date.

No Lame Applications:
I don’t need to use Texas Hold-Em, Mob Wars, or any other time wasting application.

Less Trivial Info:
I also don’t need to see your relationship status. Even though it may be really important that everyone knows you are in a complicated relationship. More trivial things are explained here.

Better Personal Website Promotion:
The simplicity of Twitter also allows people to see my blog’s link, without going through the Info section of my Profile page. Very important, since I want to make it as easy as possible for people to get to my blog. (RSS Readers work great to, guys! lol)

News… Twitter Style! :
I am a news junkie so I love having the news Twittered to me! I even have a Twitter acount with just News feeds. Started with CBC and waterfalled from there.

Facebook and Twitter have different strengths and weaknesses. As a budding social media user, I’m just trying to find the best ways to use each of them to accomplish my goals.