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Technorati Tags: Blackberry's free apps, Dr. Pepper Ten, Dr. Pepper's new ad campaign, Lindsay Lohan might go to jail, sexist advertisements

PRobecast 126: T-Mobile/Radio Shack, Social Media and Education and Stalking on Facebook

Alison Raymond — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:42:22 +0000

In this episode of PRobecast, Renatta Siewert joins me in talking about how T-Mobile will no longer be under contract with Radio Shack, how social media is being used effectively in classrooms and a man how got 4 years in prison for stalking women on Facebook.

T-Mobile and Radio Shack Break-up – T-Mobile devices will no longer be available at Radio Shack locations after an apparent “breach in contract.” Radio Shack will now be teaming up with Verizon Wireless come September 15th. While most brands, people… entities, attempt to make their split amicable and PR-friendly, this duo seems to be doing the opposite.

Social Media & Education- While social media isn’t completely embraced in the classroom, certain schools across the nation are incorporating social media and mobile devices into their curriculum. The theory behind this is that these new ways of participating are encouraging kids to pay attention, making them aware of what they post and who their audience is. A principal from NJ said that kids are coming into the classroom bored and disconnected and social media is a way to get the students’ attentions.

Man gets 4 years for Stalking on Facebook – A man is currently getting 4 years in prison for stalking women on Facebook, figuring out their email passwords and sending explicit pictures of the women – which he found by trolling their email folders. This brings up the bigger issue of making sure your private information isn’t available to everyone on Facebook or other social networks. While social networks are often thought as places to connect with friends – odd people are lurking on them as well.

This week social media in the classroom won because like it or not, kids are online and using technology more and more. There is no way to stop it – so why not embrace it and integrate education into their use of it?

What do you think?

Click To Play:

Technorati Tags: education, facebook stalking, learning, Radio Shack, Social Media, T-Mobile, using social media to learn

PRobecast 123: Bruins win causes riots, websites becoming extinct & Gay Girl blog hoax

Alison Raymond — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:31:35 +0000

In this episode of PRobecast, Justin Martell and Liz O’Donnell join me in talking about the Bruins win/Canada rioting, if websites will become extinct and the “Gay Girl” blog hoax.

Sore losers – Canadians riot after the Bruins win: Wednesday night, the Bruins won Game 7 of the Stanley Cup and riots started shortly after. This seems to be a trend when it comes to big games and teams losing in cities. Passion or not. We don’t see our clients rioting if they don’t get included in a big article, or even ourselves rioting in anger and aggravation knowing we’ve pitched that same editor and we would get slack from the client side. What is it with sports and intensely violent behavior after a big event?

Will websites become extinct?: The curator of the Digital Archaeology exhibition in NY is predicting that websites as we currently know them will all disappear in a couple years as more and more focus will be on the individual – the social web – rather than the organization. Now, I know things certainly do change, but could it be possible that websites will go away?

Activists slam “Gay Girl” blog hoax: A blog that was originally thought to be a 25 year old lesbian documenting her life as she was held captive in Syria, has now been reported to actually be authored by a 40 year old American student in Scotland, Tom MacMaster. MacMaster is saying that while the entries were all fictional, the facts were true. This has Gay and political activists extremely angry, since many had been campaigning and investigating ways to free the blogger. Should the blogger been transparent from the beginning?

Call us biased, but this week the Bruins won. While it’s not a PR move, they worked so hard in this series, and have been striving to get the Stanley Cup since 1972. That’s perseverance!

Do you agree?

Technorati Tags: Bruins, Canucks, Damascus, Game 7, Gay Girl hoax blog, Stanley Cup, Syria, Tom MacMaster, Vancouver, websites

PRobecast 116: Apple Tracking Users, AT&T’s Cell Sites in Remote Areas and Vet vs. Net

Alison Raymond — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:46:13 +0000

I’m back from vacation and taking over PRobecast once again! In this episode Renatta Siewert, Justin Martell and Caitlyn Smith join me in talking about the accusations that Apple tracks all users, AT&T being the first carrier to supply cell sites for remote areas and why you should bring your pet to the vet instead of WebMDing little Fido.

Steve Jobs finally breaks silence on iOS tracking – Last week, Apple was enduring some allegations of tracking users via your coordinates on a map, and saving it on your device as well as on any computer you may have synced the device. Naturally, several other rumors sprung from this, including comparing Android and iOS. Steve Jobs says Android tracks, iOS doesn’t, while the Wall Street Journal says iOS does track. What do you think? Who’s telling the truth? Will this hurt iPhone or iPod sales in any way?

AT&T prepares for disasters through 30-minute cell sites – AT&T is claiming it is the first carrier to supply a customer-deployable model for mobility recovery to help with disaster recovery and business continuity efforts. Businesses, public safety agencies and governments located in remote areas can now easily set up cell sites with the help of AT&T’s Remote Mobility Zone. The model can also be packed up in a small suitcase for easy travel. What do you think – will this help AT&T’s image? Do you think it’ll work in light of the many natural disasters scientists are predicting?

Are you a Google diagnoser? It could be dangerous for your pet – There’s no doubt that forums – whether it’s a review or Q&A, are helpful for people. But the same may not be true for your pet. WebMD and other such sites are helpful when a person can describe symptoms, but since your pet can’t speak, the reliability of such sites goes way down. Many veterinarians get nervous when people diagnose their own pets, and the argument is called “vet vs. Net”. Are there any other instances where you’d avoid the all-knowledgeable Google?

Don't Google Me

This week – AT&T won! Since they have been in the media spotlight for negative issues such as the iPhone 4 mishap, shoddy service, etc., they have been working to improve their public image and these cell sites help to add a notch on their belts. Good work!

Who do you think should have won this week?

Technorati Tags: Android, AT&T, Google, iPhone, iPhone Tracking, Steve Jobs, WebMD

PRobecast #114: Southwest’s Woes, Amazon’s Music Service & YouTube

Alison Raymond — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:44:11 +0000

This week during PRobecast episode #114, Topazers Renatta Siewert, Sarah Thomas and Justin Martell join me in talking about Southwest’s cracks in the Boeing 737, Amazon’s launch of their new online music streaming service and YouTube being revamped to offer original news content.

Southwest Airlines’ Boeing 737 cracks – Southwest airlines has seen better days, especially after Friday’s flight where a Boeing 737-300 carrying just over 100 people had to do an emergency landing when a 5-foot long hole tore open in the passenger cabin roof. Hundreds of flights had been cancelled, and now Southwest is trying to work as fast as possible to inspect other like-planes to ensure this won’t happen again.

Could Amazon’s new music service hurt Apple? – Last week Amazon launched, Amazon Cloud Drive, an online music streaming storage service that allows consumers to upload their music onto Amazon servers and listen on any web browser or Android phone. Some are saying this could give Amazon and upper hand in the digital download market, while others are saying it could give competitors Google and Apple an upper hand to tweak their (said to be upcoming) products.

Google trying to entice news viewers to watch on YouTube – Google is looking to have YouTube compete with broadcast and cable television by offering around 20 channels featuring original content that will be professionally produced and edited. With more and more people watching video, they hope to bring in a loyal and niche audience, to increase their online time and get more advertisers wanting to get in front of these consumers.

This week, Google/YouTube won! With more and more people watching videos online – we thought it was just a logical move for Google to produce its own original content on YouTube. Not only will it draw a niche audience, but it’s also a way to get more advertising dollars as these companies will want to target this audience as well. Therefore, it’s good for consumers (more places to watch the news), it’s good for YouTube (a niche audience and advertisers’ interest) and it’s good for advertisers (this will provide a new channel to target.)

What do you think?

MP3 File

Technorati Tags: airlines, Amazon, Amazon Cloud, Boeing 737 cracks, Google, Southwest, YouTube

Google +1 Button to Compete Against Facebook “Like”

esiff — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:05:33 +0000

According to a recent report from Mashable, Google will now have a button comparable to the ever-popular Facebook “like” button called +1. After Google Buzz, I can’t help but be a little skeptical of any Google foray into social media, but perhaps the best feature of this button will be the fact that it’s integrated into the Google search engine itself.

Google Plus One Button

Users who opt in will start to notice a small +1 button beside each link that comes up in Google search results. When you click on this button, your name becomes associated with that link across the web. It also shows up in a feed on your Google profile which is required to use it. You can also +1 an advertisement you like which will subsequently be recommended to your friends.

I’m thinking that the +1 button will most likely be successful (more than Buzz anyway) due to the fact that (according to Google) the data will have a direct influence on its search rankings, but its also another means of combating content farms, as users will be less likely to share their content. Will you be opting in?

See video for more information:

Technorati Tags: +1 Button, Content Farm, Facebook, Google, Like Button, Plus One, Search Engine, Social Media

PRobecast #111: Children’s Digital Media Consumption, The Power of Mom, LinkedIn

Alison Raymond — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 20:46:34 +0000

In PRobecast episode #111, Topazers Evan Siff, Renatta Siewert and Justin Martell join me in talking about a study on the digital media consumption of children, the power of mom bloggers and LinkedIn’s new aggregator service.

Study finds children increasingly consuming digital media – According to recent studies by non-profits Joan Ganz Cooney center and Sesame Workshop, young children are increasingly consuming digital media, and most of the time is more than one type at once. While TV trumps internet usage, the study found that 60 percent of children under the age of three watch videos online. Do you think the increasing use of digital media is a good or bad thing for children?

The power of the mompreneur – More than ever, the power of women is being shown through social media and companies trying to work with social media moms to increase awareness of their brands through their channels. Marketers have started working with these moms to promote their campaigns, however not in an overt way – they’re working to promote a two way conversation to get people thinking by asking questions. How can more brands push their campaigns this way?

LinkedIn’s new news service – On Thursday, LinkedIn announced a new news aggregator service called LinkedIn Today. This new service will aggregate headlines based on what people in a user’s professional network and industry are sharing. Users are also able to search for particular key words to see what people are sharing. This service will go head to head with Google News or Yahoo News. Do you think this new service will get people going to LinkedIn more often?

This week, mompreneur’s win! Their increasing influence among consumers and brands finally figuring out how to harness their relationships to make campaigns successful is the reasoning behind this week’s pick.

Who do you think should have won?

MP3 File

Technorati Tags: digital media, Internet usage, LinkedIn, mompreneurs, social media moms

PRobecast #104: Apple’s “App Store,” Verizon’s iPhone, Amber Alerts

Alison Raymond — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:35:04 +0000

In PRobecast episode #104, Topazers Evan Siff and Renatta Siewert join me in talking about Apple owning “App Store,” Verizon’s iPhone, Amber Alerts on Facebook and Hyper Local Marketing.

Verizon’s iPhone – On Tuesday, Verizon announced that they will be offering the iPhone 4 to Verizon customers come February and there has been a lot of debate around what this will do to AT&T – or if it’s even worth getting an iPhone from Verizon.

Apple owns “App Store?” – Microsoft wants to call their application store an “App Store” but Apple is saying they can’t do that. Apparently Apple owns App Store as a registered trademark, but Microsoft is saying the term is too general for any company to own it. Thoughts?

Facebook to publish Amber alerts – Facebook has partnered with the Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to partner Amber alerts to those who sign up to receive them. This is a big and great step for this program, as Facebook is a huge community. Do you think this will be a big help to find missing children?

Local goes hyper in 2011 – An article in PRWeek, talked about how local marketing is going to go into overdrive in 2011 – especially with companies like daily deal sites popping up left and right. Promoting local brands has been an important strategy to rebuild the current economy, but these local brands must understand the value and needs of their customers because happy customers are essential if you want them to come back.

It was unanimous: Facebook’s partnership to promote Amber Alerts. Not only is this a great way to promote a good cause using social media, this is also a giant step in the right direction for Amber Alerts to get in front of a huge community that may not have seen these alerts.

Do you agree?

MP3 File

Technorati Tags: Amber Alerts, App Store, Apple, Hyper-local Marketing, Microsoft, Podcast Ready, Verizon's iPhone

Silence Broken in Tunisia via Social Media

esiff — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:38:20 +0000

Tunisia, a friendly, moderate Muslim country known for gorgeous sandy beaches, bustling bazaars and where the original Star Wars was filmed (see: Djerba) has been suffering from sky-rocketing unemployment and food shortages behind the façade of a popular tourist destination. Combined with widespread disapproval of the iron-fisted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (who came to power 23 years ago in a bloodless coup), the conditions have sparked riots across the nation over the past three weeks.

According to a report from the Associated Press, it was social media like Facebook that has helped the Tunisian people to organize protests and break the barriers of fear and silence that have been keeping their emotions bottled up for so long. “Video-sharing sites like YouTube and Daily Motion are banned in Tunisia, where newspapers are tightly censured, but Facebook abounds and videos posted there are quickly spread around.”

Once again we are witnessing the power of social media and how it can be so much more than just a means of sharing the agonizing minutiae of our everyday lives with the rest of the world…

Person of the Year

esiff — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:33:56 +0000

What do Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, FDR, Winston Churchill and Mark Zuckerberg all have in common? They’ve all been chosen as ‘Person of the Year’ by Time magazine.

Zuckerberg is the latest recipient of the award, whose criteria isn’t academic but rather based on the person, idea, group of people or object that “for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year.”

Well, it’s about time (pun intended)! Over the past five years, social media has had a profound effect on… well, just about everything. Facebook is to VHS what Myspace is to Beta, and they can now boast to having at least a half-billion members around the world, sharing thoughts, pictures and staying in touch in real-time.

However, social media isn’t just for complaining, letting people know you’re about to take a shower, which restaurant you’re eating at or posting incriminating pictures of you and your friends/family. Social media has become an incredibly powerful tool that can be a more effective instrument of social change than diplomacy or weaponry.

Whether we like it or not, social change is going to occur all over the world, for better or worse, and social media is now a mass medium. I would have been a bit more satisfied if Social Media itself had won the award, like the computer did in 1982 but nevertheless, I salute you Mr. Zuckerberg.

Meanwhile, millions of Apple Fanboys and Fangirls will almost certainly be whining about how Person of the Year should be Steve Jobs, who has still never won the award.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Man of the year, Mark Zuckerberg, Social Media, Time Magazine