I’m sharing this news with the Marcomblog contributors and our community as it relates to many issues we will be dealing with in the coming weeks, and it directly relates to the focus of what we’re doing at Marcomblog.
It has been my experience that many of our readers - aside from students - are those that have yet to explore blogs and other social media. Perhaps this will encourage them to join us.
Given that I personally invest $100+ per month, and a good deal of time, in all of these sites, it would be nice to see more practitioners, faculty and students joining in with our efforts. Please spread the word. All of our efforts are nonprofit and ad free. The goal here is learning and that works best when interacting with your peers in the industry.
And, the revelation of my investment in time and money isn’t intended to seek contributions - or even praise. I do these sites because I enjoy it and the students benefit from them. I also thank all of the contributors for their investiment of time and resources, too.
A complete revamp of the PRblogs.org software platform is essentially done. Many thanks to James Farmer of edublogs.org for his tireless work over the past few weeks.
The site offers many new opportunities to explore blogging, embedding your own audio podcasts your own Flickr photos and YouTube videos into your posts. This post highlights How To Podcast at PRblogs.org.
In fact, you can host your videos at any of these sites: your own files from some server (like DivShare - audio, too), Google Video, YouTube, MetaCafe, iFilm, Revver, MySpace and GoEar. You may also post video from DailyMotion and iMixes from iTunes. For information about iTunes iMixes, check out this story at the Washington Post. (Subscription may be required, but I got in without one.)
Marcom Meme is a part of this site. It is a user driven social content Web site, powered by Pligg. Anyone may signup and submit an article they find online about PR and/or Marcom. Then, the community votes on the value, worthiness of the content within the article. I know, it seems kind of like the other *igg site. Well, our point here is to explore how this type of site and software may be used for a client campaign in the future. Have a tight knit community of stakeholders? Want a way for them to share news about their favorite issue? This site could accomplish that. And, you can check out how it works without going in and irking the people at any of the other *igg sites.
I’ve often thought these types of sites would be an excellent way for a teacher to slowly involve students in online activities. Have them seek out articles about the topics you’re discussing in classes and get a conversation going. Other options? Well, political and crisis events could spawn use of such a site - from both sides of an issue. There are more. What do you think a site like this could be used for as a PR/Marcom tactic?
Marcomblog.com Upgrade
Finally, and the issue most important to the users of Marcomblog, we will be going through an upgrade - likely this weekend. It seems that the latest version of WordPress has finally achieved some level of stability - at 2.1.2. The most recent version was found to be dangerous and WordPress developers screamed “upgrade now.” No worries here, though. I rarely upgrade right away because I’ve seen these new versions show these kinds of bugs. So, we’re sitting pretty at a previous stable version. The new version does, however, offer some new tools. Podcasting - video and audio - will be much easier to do at Marcomblog. So, we’re going to move ahead with the upgrade. I’ll apologize now if there is an interruption to service this weekend. If so, it won’t last long.
I note this new upgrade because some members of Marcomblog like to post videos and audio. Dee Rambeau posted one yesterday. It has over 2.1 million views, so far. Talk about viral. Michael Darragh likes to post videos to his blog, The Navigator. Neville Hobson and Lee Hopkins certainly love podcasting and audio files. And, other members of Marcomblog’s legion of contributors might like to post interesting audio and video they find out on the Web, too. So, now it will be much easier to do.
An aside, you know we’ve been doing this site for three years now. We’ve been blogging and/or using CMS platforms in class projects for well over 6 years. I was thinking. Enough time has passed that we might find a former student could join the Marcomblog site as a contributor. I see that as very likely, don’t you? Now, wouldn’t that be interesting. The students would likely respond well to their input, too. OK, just a thought. We’ll wait and see if one surfaces and volunteers.
That’s it, that’s all. Thanks for joining us here at Marcomblog.com.
7 comments
3/5/2007 at 4:42 pm
Guillaume du Gardier
Hi Robert, congrats for this new step in Marcomblog, what a great adventure since the last 3 years ! You’ve done something huge here, all the best from Paris.
3/7/2007 at 9:08 am
Jonathan "Biscuet"
Hey Robert. Yes, i’m still reading marcomblog along with the never-ending list of blogs in my news reader. Thanks for showing me the value in blogs. Some view it as “nerdy” or whatever, but i think they are blinded by their insecurity. I’ve learned more than i can handle about marketing, public relations and business in general because of the time i take to read blogs and listen to podcasts. As a place to share my thoughts on the business world and my personal life, i’ve started a blog at biscuet.com. Of course you will find the usual posts about what’s happening in my life, but along with that I really want the blog to be a place where I can rant about poor business practices that I see and also where I can champion excellent marketing and public relations. Learning didn’t stop when they hand me my diploma. I will always be learning and advancing.
3/9/2007 at 5:02 pm
Kristina Wilburn
Like Robert said, we learn so much from the professionals who contribute posts to Marcom. Having recent graduates contributing would be a wonderful resource tool as well.
The transition from college to professional life is huge- it would be great if Marcom could get posts from alumni just starting their careers. I would appreciate any advice you guys have to offer!
3/11/2007 at 11:13 pm
Hollon
I would also like to agree with what Kristina said in the post above me. I too, find it helpful to read what other pr practitioners are doing and the advice and guidance they give.
As a beginner, I absorb all information I receive. Believe me, Mr. French has us visiting this site often so please continue to post. I like how we can now incorporate videos and podcasts. This makes it fun, enjoyable and still educational.
Don’t get me wrong, I have loved going through the archives and exploring past topics and posts, but if more people would help out and contribute it would not be such a strain for the ones who are devoted.
Thank you Mr. French for all your hard work and dedication to the program and your constant efforts to ensure we are learning and seeing the latest in social media. We all do appreciate it so much!
3/12/2007 at 1:05 pm
Virginia
Thank you Robert!!!!!! I had no idea you spent some much time and money on these Web sites. As you’ve read above, both students and contributors alike agree with the importance of this blog, and others like it.
We really do appreciate all your hard work, even if we give you a hard time/heart attack from time to time. Keep it up!!!!
3/21/2007 at 4:20 am
Hayley
Not only have our writing skills strengthened through Marcom, Loveliest Village and PR Blogs, but we have also gained priceless knowledge on pr and social media that can only benefit us in the working world. (if we utilize this knowledge correctly.) Your countless hours of hard work has done so much for us already Robert. Thanks to you, we are able to learn and exhibit these social media skills which provide us with a dynamic pr background. Until this week in class, I never fully realized the cost of hosting and “keeping up” a website - it takes a lot of money and a LOT of time. If not for the sites that you make available to us and the tedious programs that you teach us to use, I would not feel well enough prepared to embrace the pr career world.
Even though we complain and gripe almost constantly about the course work and final project that is asked of us, I know that we will be very thankful for our knowledge of these precious abilities. It’s actually strange that I’m saying this (didn’t think I would be saying it before I graduated), but thank you SO very much for the work you teach us to do and for pushing us to do our best. Thanks to these programs and your assistance we will be more than well prepared for pr working world. Thanks for it all.
3/21/2007 at 12:29 pm
Dana
I guess I never realized how much time you put into making these sites either. Thanks for preparing us for the real world! I have talked to many of your previous students and they have all said that what they learned in your class is what made them stand out among other graduates. Although I complain about blogging, I really do think that it helps my writing skills and it will benefit me in the future. Thanks for working on the these sites and for introducing us to the world of social media.