Of all varieties of fopperies, the vanity of high birth is the greatest. True nobility is derived from virtue, not from birth. Title, indeed, may be purchased, but virtue is the only coin that makes the bargain valid.
- Robert Burton

Did you know I have a tattoo on my arm with the saying “Virtus sola nobilitas.” on it?  It’s part of my family crest. As cool as that is, what’s more important is what the words mean. Essentially, it means that virtue is the only coin that makes the bargain valid.

Why do I bring this up? Because the words mean a lot to me. They resonate. I like people who carry themselves without pretentiousness. Especially when they so easily could. I think it’s an amazing quality to possess. Humility. Especially in today’s personal branding, all about me world.

At Social South I was amongst the most unpretentious, unassuming, group of high profile social media thought leaders assembled in one place at one time. Sure, I could have gone to a half dozen “larger” more visible cities and had just as many social media thought leaders assembled. And I have. But I would have gotten the attitude thing along with the assumptive title of social media thinker, high brow, I’m better than you, thing.

There would be none of this at Social South.

Beyond a list that included the incredibly down to earth Beth Harte, the humble Mack Collier, the classy Toby Bloomberg, the social media handyman Paul Chaney who has a book coming out, the incredibly smart Jason Falls, the genuine Christina Kerley, the effusive Kellye Crane, the solid Tom Martin, the refreshing An Bui, and of course the giving Lionel and talented Richard from Dell, There were a host of “other” people that deserve recognition in their own right.

From Andrew Keen, Dave Barger, Mitch Canter, Robert French, David Griner, Tammy Hart, to Dana Lewis, Andre Natta, Phyllis Neill, Will Scott, Jeff Vreeland, Stacey Hood and of course Ike Pigott all of them brought value, humility, a sense of community and a sense of “leave the ego at the door and lets learn from each other.” You don’t get that at 95% of the conferences that you attend. That’s why Social South worked.

Of course I would be remiss to not bring up 2 more people. The first is as finest an individual that I’ve met from practically meeting for the first time. This person essentially pulled Social South together and shaped it into the conference that it was and did it in a way that it was seamless and looked effortless. Scott Schablow you rock.

Esra’a Al Shafei

What can I say. This person gave one of the most riveting non-keynote keynotes I have ever heard. And it was via Skype. The night before Scott Schablow mentioned that every time he heard her speak, it gave him goose bumps. I had no idea what he was talking about. Yet, this was no exception. Not only did it give me and everyone else goose bumps, it also reduced more than half the audience to tears and the rest were giving her a standing ovation.

Esra is the founder and Executive Director of MideastYouth.com, and what she did was she showed the crowd gathered at Social South the true power of crowdsourcing people for the cause of freedom and human rights via  social media, via video, via the internet and really any other means possible. She showed what’s possible. What is possible.

In short, it was the perfect keynote for a group of people who were so into what they were doing. People who were so genuine, that it made perfect sense for them. As I said, you don’t get that at other conferences. You hope to, but you generally don’t.  And That’s why Social South worked. Thank you #Soso!

I could go on, but it might take days to highlite everything! But one more thing before I go, here is that tattoo and remember,”Virtus sola nobilitas.”

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Victoria Greene did an interesting interview of Robert French, the creator of PROpenMic. How awesome is that? She actually got to speak with the creator of one of the most widely used social websites for PR Professionals. I left a comment telling her how awesome it was! Check it out… Robert French by Victoria Greene.

Digital media is becoming a core skill for journalists.

But it is not yet a core skill for their faculty members.

This issue came up in Poynter’s chat on Monday, “What Do College Journalism Students Need to Learn?”

Robert French of Auburn University asked:
“Where would you rank the importance of learning technical aspects like video/audio production, CMS / social network usage (how to use open source platforms to create online communities)? Should programs have this interweaved throughout the curriculum, or only one course? Finally, should faculty be actively involved in emerging digital media networks? blogging? podcasting?”

My answer was:
“Robert, I think all students need to be able to do basic work in at least two media. And it’s unfeasible for most schools to integrate digital media throughout the curriculum. So I’d suggest all students having at least one course. I think all faculty members need some experience with digital media. But for both students and faculty members, there’s still room for different specialties.”

I think everyone else who addressed this disagreed with me about the feasibility of most schools integrating digital media throughout the curriculum.

Possibly we’re just understanding the question differently. I meant how feasible this is to do soon. And by “throughout the curriculum,” I meant “in every course.”

I doubt all professors are ready to do this. Take any representative sample, and see how much of a digital presence they have.

One answer could be to get rid of any faculty members who can’t or won’t integrate digital media.

But they have expertise in other areas. It would be a shame to throw that out.

If that were done, the breadth and total sum of knowledge among the faculty would be sharply diminished.

I think it would be better to start with a more-basic move – such as getting syllabi online and easy to find.

PRSSA National Forum Article

I wrote an article for PRSSA Forum, check it out!

I interviewed a Professor at Auburn University, Robert French, and the Founder of Caffiene Communications, Bryan Lemonds.

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to talk to a group of students in Dr. William Ward’s class at Ferris State University about using social media tools in marketing research.

Since visiting the class, I’ve been thinking a lot about how educators deal with the challenges of teaching students social media in the classroom.

Dr. Ward, @DR4WARD on Twitter, encourages each of his students to participate in several ways on the social web. This includes teaching them to read blogs, understanding things like RSS feeds, and how to get involved in other social networks like Twitter.

How do you prepare communications students for a world where no canonized body of work applies?
Granted, this question doesn’t just apply to the classroom — many of us blog, at least in part, to help others learn how to navigate the social web.

The notion of “digital natives” is a bit of a fallacy. While millennials may not be shy about finding their way around a computer or mobile device, parents and teachers have been telling them that online social activity is for play. Getting many of them to make the leap in understanding how all of this can be applied to business is just as much work as it is for anyone else.

Teachers, in many ways, face the same challenges in the classroom as social media advocates face in the business world. There is no empirical evidence and the traditional media as we knew it for the last 80+ years is on the decline. The tried and true methods no longer apply and the mental flexibility necessary to adapt is something that can barely be explained much less demonstrated in a classroom environment. I’m sure many also face internal resistance to the implementation of social media in the classroom from administration officials as well.

While there are a lot of questions around this issue, I stumbled upon a syllabus for Dr. Stacy Spaulding’s online schedule and syllabus for a class at Towson University called Writing for New Media via an incoming link to this blog.

The resources she’s gathered to share with her students offers a wealth of information, but I can’t possibly tell you how shocked (and honored) I was to discover that univeristy students were now required to read something I wrote here.

If you’re curious, the three posts I wrote that she included in the schedule for the class are:

Why blogs matter
Why communicators should get to know SEO
Five very official tips for building an online presence

There are also plenty of nuggets from other people you may already know:

Chris Brogan -27 Blogging Secrets to Power Your Community

David Armano -Influence Ripples and Social Media Fragmentation

Steve Pavlina – How to Build a High Traffic Web Site or Blog

Frank Rich – Why I Link

Another great resource she includes is this video in which David Ardia, director of the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard, talks about CDA 230, the section of the Communications Decency Act that provides some protection to people who run websites.

Whether you’re a beginner to blogging of you’ve been at this for awhile, Dr. Spaulding’s syllabus is a great place to start.

Other educators I know of that are implementing social media into their classrooms:

• Robert French Auburn University on Twitter as @rdfrench
  Robert also has a list of his students’ blogs and Twitter accounts
• Karen Russell University of Georgia on Twitter as @KarenRussell
• Barbara Nixon Georgia Southern University on Twitter as @BarbaraNixon

Dave Fleet also pointed out some educators in his post of 40 PR-Related People to Follow on Twitter. You can also follow Dr. Spaulding on Twitter @DrSpaulding.

Aside from the many resources listed here and on Dr. Spaulding’s classroom schedule and syllabus, how do you teach others about blogging, writing for new media and implementing social media into even the most traditional spaces?

Photo by luc legay

As I’m sure many of you do, I subscribe to a myriad of other professionals’ media – blogs, twitter, RSS, etc. Today Robert French, public relations professor at Auburn,  posted a blog reinforcing a major ideology behind the practice of Virtue IMC – ethics of public relations practitioners.

Here is a link to his blog – and my response. I have a hard time digesting it when PR “practitioners” choose to not abide by the PRSA Code of Ethics.

It also plays into why I’ve developed my PR practice as I have. Virtue is not just a kitschy play on my name – it’s a credo in how my firm conducts business on behalf of its clients. I have prospective clients that call and ask if I am a publicist – to which I respond that I am not. My job is not that of an agent – getting you seen on a red carpet, bailing you out of jail, making sure you are dressed with all the proper garments before you go out, none of this is my job; providing you visibility & credibility to YOUR publics is. I am happy to be your public “relationship” representative, providing your publics with the information that you want to share.

Virtue IMC practices marketing communications in the best interest of its clients. I’ve sat with prospects that tell me what communication practices they want – without considering what is in their own best interest. Their college-age child told them getting a MySpace/FaceBook profile or some other Social Media will make them millionaires – it might if you are catering to the “MySpace” demographic & their product or service fits that medium. Having a TV commercial means the phone ringing off the hook – make sure you put a TV spot on NBC during 30 Rock. Well last time I checked, TV advertising can be cost/labor-intensive and I tend to use my DVR to record things so I can bypass those pesky interruptions. So why would I make a recommendation to a client that is NOT in their best interest.

That’s just it – I WOULDN’T… it’s the pride I take in my practice that translates into having the tough conversations with clients to deter a costly (whether financially or reputation) mistake. Ultimately, the client is in charge. But without a realistic impression of what a potential strategy could cost a client, how can they make informed decisions?

Sometimes, that means walking away from a situation or making a choice to not engage with a prospect. It’s a tough spot, but ultimately its a decision that is in the best interests of all involved. As French suggested, why engage with a client that has already dug themselves in so deep that it’s tough to see daylight? Please understand, there is a difference between crisis communications and reputation spin doctor. I can’t turn an onion into an apple – so why try to turn a situation into an “opportunity”?

In the case of Blago (the conversation on French’s blog that birthed this post), the Govenor is in boiling water over his head and drowning with each additional “tactic” he takes. Why is his representation trying to paint him as anything other than a guy who did something wrong? Like French said – stop discussing it. At least admit that you did wrong. Heck, even apologize if it’s sincere. But people’s BS sensors are working and they can smell it when it’s served.

My tactic in that type of situation is to face the bad head on. Address it honestly, sincerely apologize and tell your publics what you are going to do to make a positive change. Oh yes, and do what you say you are going to do. Weight Watchers has a saying “If you bite it, you must write it” to hold its members accountable. I’d like to spin-off that: “If you say, you must play it” – meaning what ever you say to your publics, you’d better be prepared to put it into action. Your publics will hold you accountable for it; if you don’t deliver on it, you will lose them for good.

Marketing Virtuously,

C

Parker Mason from BlogCampaigning tagged me in an interesting game going around the Web right now. The game is to “come up with five great examples of social media use that our peers might not have noticed.” It’s harder than I thought it would be!

Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules
2. List five social media projects that deserve better exposure
3. Tag “Social Media/Digital Experts” at the end of your post and list their names
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged
5. Tag your post “Five Gems” so we can search for all of these great examples

Here are my favorite five in no particular order:

Nike+

Nike has always meant “genius” in my mind. The company took a product and turned it into an online community for runners to partner together and share experiences, goals, training and accomplishments. Training alone is extremely hard (I did it for my first marathon and it was not easy), so why not meet your target market’s needs with a product and a community? Get your Nike+ gear, plug it into your computer and you and your online running friends and supporters can track your progress and cheer you on to achieve your goals.

Starbucks

Specifically, Starbucks’ use of Twitter. The official Starbucks Web site says, “We always figured that putting people before products just made good common sense. So far, it’s been working out for us. Our relationships with farmers yield the highest quality coffees. The connections we make in communities create a loyal following. And the support we provide our baristas pays off everyday.” The relationships built through consistent daily twittering in which the company offers contests and other incentives for interaction actually makes fellow twitter-ers feel connected to the company. The way the person behind the account writes and interacts reflects the comfortable, personal, “where everyone knows your name” feel that a small-town coffee shop has in spite of the global nature of the company.

Barack Obama

I hate political campaigns, I realize that today is election day, but I don’t want to talk about it. The statistics say it all. (I know it’s irrelevant now, but future politicians and campaign managers would do well to look at this!)

PROpenMic

PROpenMic is a social networking site for PR students, educators and professionals. It has many similarities to Facebook, but groups are PR-centered, the front page content is PR-related, and participants can feed their own PR blogs to the site, among other features. The creator, Robert French, is a PR professor at Auburn University and he maintains the site, constantly adding new and useful features. If you are in any way related to the field of public relations, check out the site!

Keppie Careers

Miriam Salpeter founded Keppie Careers, offering a number of services related to job searches and careers. This woman is everywhere the people who will be entering the workforce in the next few years are. She hosts the official Keppie Careers Web site, maintains the Keppie Careers blog, and is on Twitter, to name a few of the social media outlets she uses. I have watched her build and maintain relationships with clients (and potential clients) through Twitter, while attracting new potential clients through free advice and interesting nuggets of information on her blog. I’m impressed!

I’m tagging Robert French, David M. Scott, Brandi King, Whitney Taylor (because I want to know what the fashion industry is doing with social media), and Dana Lewis (to make her start a blog – probably the most accomplished person in the world without one!)

Linked for attribution

From his blog, InfOpinions?, Robert French responded to a post on PR Open Mic titled “Colleges Fail on Social Media,” which was based on one practitioner’s visit to a communications class at American University. In his response, “Someone Claims ‘Colleges Fail on Social Media’ :: I Don’t Agree,” French stands up for the hundreds of universities that are engaging their students in social media.

As the founder of PR Open Mic, one of the Web’s most popular and growing public relations social networks, French ought to stand up for the hundreds of universities that are pushing students into social media—and I’m glad that he did. As a University of Oregon student, I feel my professors are doing a terrific job of teaching social media (which was something that once dumbfounded and even frightened me). Moreover, there are more than 2,500 PR Open Mic users, many, if not most of them students. This demonstrates that many universities are emphasizing the importance of joining social networks and engaging in social media—in some cases even requiring students to join networks and blog (such as in my advanced PR writing class).

Linked for attribution

However, I do not feel the same way about these requirements as I would other assignments (like essays). I know blogging and networking will benefit my education and my future career. I have also found social media to be quite fun. I enjoy tweeting on Twitter, reading up on PR Open Mic, and blogging—I’ve even started a personal blog. The only downside is getting all of your passwords confused and just not having enough time to engage in everything.

So, I want to know what you all think:

Is there enough social media education in universities today? For my fellow University of Oregon peers: What do you think of the social media education we are receiving? Is it useful, confusing, fun, or possibly a waste of time?

If you read any articles about blogging they all tell you to write winning and attention grabbing titles. Yes, I know I failed today, but this is what I am going to write about so at least it is accurate.

Today, we had the October luncheon for the local Birmingham Social Media Club. Robert French from Auburn University came in and spoke about PR and Social Media and just how powerful it could be. He gave us a lot of ideas. We will probably be putting some of them to use with our new Real Estate brokerage which is going to be very exciting. Robert is very active with InfOpinions and PROpenMic. Go take a look at what he is doing and putting together at Auburn.

Something else he talked about was Camp Ascca. Let me note that Camp Ascca has nothing to do with PR and Social Media, however, Robert has been working with them in using Social Media to grow and enrich the program they have there. I urge you to take some time and see what they are doing (see their Camp Ascca blog) and if you feel so led, contribute to what they are doing so more children, teens, and adults with special needs can have such great and enriching experiences.

On another note, one of the members of the Birmingham Social Media Club has a site, The Terminal, which has been nominated as one of Birmingham’s Best Websites. He is up against some very big names and  it would be very cool to see his site get the attention it deserves. So, stop right now, and go vote for the Terminal as Birmingham’s Best Site (non real estate related of course)

I suspect that Planet Janet really didn’t need to write this column – if you had asked anyone familiar with her previous work to imagine what she would write about the new Chief Justice, they would have been able to conjure up a word-accurate copy of what the Oz has printed. Richard Ackland likes him, George Williams says he’s difficult to predict, the spectres of Anthony Mason and an activist Court, etc. She depicts Robert French as a young Anakin Skywalker, trying to tread the path of black-letter law as he grows in his Jedi powers, but inevitably vulnerable to the seductions of the Dark Side – judicial activism.

Janet’s projections should make an excellent movie one day.

The guy who ran as the Liberals’ candidate against Kim Beazley Sr. in 1969 is, someone would have us believe, a friend of the Left. The evidence? Well, Richard Ackland likes him (Bolt’s brain: “friend of my enemy is my …?”). He disagrees with Janet Albrechtsen (Bolt’s brain: “enemy of my friend is my …?”). And:

What’s more:

He’s a product of a Jesuit school, he’s been involved in Aboriginal legal aid and as a convenor of an Amnesty lawyers’ group. As if that’s not enough of a pointer, don’t forget his involvement this month in striking down the World Youth Day regulations designed to prevent pilgrims being “annoyed”.

Wow – a judge not only raised with Christian values (particularly the meaningful ones, like charity and tolerance) but who applies similar principles in respecting human rights and free speech.

Elsewhere, Tim Norton didn’t get Bolt’s Leftist memo – he notes that French wrote the majority opinion in the appeal to the full Federal Court about the Tampa and is unimpressed with the appointment. Legal Eagle notes that it makes a change to have a Western Australian heading the High Court; Jeremy Gans weighs French up against the others on the shortlist and appears optimistic about his reasoning with respect to human rights charters.

I had not read any of French’s writing or speeches before his appointment, so I have just made a start by reading his speech from February 2008 on judicial activism. First impression – I seem to like both the way he writes and the way he reasons. I’m going to read some of his judgments (the Tampa and World Youth Day cases would seem a good place to start), but as has often been noted, it can be hard to pin down what a High Court Justice will be like until he or she starts performing the role.

Like the cold front that rolls in during late Spring, today’s “3sdays 3Q’s in 3Min” is so cool, it’ll make you put your hoodie back on.

Every Thursday, socialTNT channels the spirit of citizen journalism by putting bloggers, reporters, PR pro’s or anyone with something to say about social media in front of the camera for a short, three minute interview. In addition to helping PR peeps pitch these individuals more effectively, the videos are meant to encourage dialog between reporters, PR/communications practitioners and marketers on the future of media.

While at interactive marketing and advertising conference ad:tech, socialTNT had the chance to catch up with fellow PR blogger Paull Young. We’ve enjoyed Paull’s blog, the Young PR Blog, for quite some time and couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say. In today’s interview, Paull gives some advice to graduating communications students entering the workforce, and offers some tips to social media pr and marketers on how best to listen to your audiences.

Paull started off his career doing traditional PR at a Sports PR firm. In December of 2005, Paull started blogging his experiences as a freshly graduated PR professional. Less than a year later, Paull shot to celebrity status in the blogosphere by launching an “Anti-Astroturfing” campaign with Trevor Cook in July 2006. In March 2007, Paull left the big island of Australia for the Big Apple to join Constantin Basturea at social media communications firm Converseon.

As Paull’s career has evolved, so has his blog. No longer just a chronicle of his progression up the PR ranks, it now includes tons of tips, tricks, strategy and case studies. Check out this great post on using Twitter to form a conversation.

Fun Facts About Paull:

• Noted as being Australia’s first student PR blogger
• Huge Rugby Fan
• Conducted a world tour to meet with fellow bloggers
• In addition to Twitter and LinkedIn, you can also find Paull blogging at Forward
• Paull’s mom is also a blogger!
• Was recently on Fox News giving advice to Small Biz peeps

Watch as Paull explains the differences he’s encountered moving from traditional PR to strictly social media, gives advice to new PR pros entering the workplace, and shares a secret about listening to your audience.

How do you track the conversation around your clients? What advice can you give students graduating in May?

If you haven’t done so, please join PROpenMic, Robert French’s social network for communications students. They’d love to hear your insight

No time to watch the video at work? Get “3Q’s in 3Min” free from iTunes and watch it on the go!

Also, don’t miss a post: Drop socialTNT into your RSS reader [what’s that?]. Better yet, subscribe to socialTNT by email!

I just joined PROpenMic yesterday, a community for PR students, educators, and pros to convene and share information, questions, and wisdom on the industry. It was created by famed PR educator and blogger Robert French of Auburn University, and from my experience so far is a great resource for PRs across the board to meet others and collectively share information. I wish I had this when I was in college getting my PR degree!

The community is a helpful training ground for students and young PR pros, and is also a great way for seasoned PR practitioners to mentor the newbies. I’m a huge fan of the site already from the little I’ve tinkered with it. I look forward to getting involved and meeting new people in the industry, as well as hopefully contributing some worthwhile info to the community.

Check it out for yourself and get signed up! And while you’re on there, go ahead and add me as a friend.

I’ll be hosting Forward Podcast 37 “What Are You Doing to Address Globalization?” over at BlogTalkRadio on Saturday. We put out podcasts on the 1st and 15th so this month we’re doing a live show about globalization.

Show goes live at 7 p.m. GMT / 2 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Pacific on the Forward Podcast Channel. Since it’s live, we’ll be taking your calls at US +1 (646) 716-9941.

Who: Richard Bailey, Robert French, Paull Young, Luke Armour and YOU.
What: Forward Podcast 37 Live
When: Saturday, December 15th 7 p.m. GMT / 2 p.m. Eastern / 11 a.m. Pacific
Where: Forward Podcast channel on BlogTalkRadio

Tentative topics of discussion:

• Learning of languages
• Work experience overseas and in minority communities
• Issues like trade, aid, labor, climate change and religious fundamentalism
• What are you reading and watching?
• Whatever’s on YOUR mind

Join us live or catch the archive on the Forward Podcast Channel archive or through the Forward Podcast RSS feed.

Listen to the archive from BlogTalkRadio: