Social Media Releases: The New Press Release?

As an education major, I don't have much experience with either press releases or social media releases, so before I began writing this post I did some research. I was curious about the differences (if any) between press releases and a social media releases. Here's what I found...

According to http://www.entrepreneur.com/, a press release is "a public relations announcement issued to the news media and other targeted publications for the purpose of letting the public know of company developments." That seems simple enough. In other words, it's a concise way to let people know about important news that pertains to your company or organization. The same website where I found a definition also offered some tips about developing a press release:

1. Make sure you have a reason for sending a press release.

2. Make sure your release is targeted for the publication you're sending it to.

3. Limit your press release to one to two pages.

4. Follow standart format (typed, double spaced, white letterhead with a contact person's name, title, company, address and phone number in upper right-hand corner).

5. Add a brief, eye-catching headline in bold type.

6. Don't embellish the information.

Those seem like simple rules to follow.

Now that I've learned all about press releases, I want to know what a social media release is and how it differs from a press release. According to http://webprpro.com/prglossary, a social media release is "a new format of writing press releases that incorporates web-based tools for people to share and discuss the information of the release with one another." That makes sense to me. Instead of catering to traditional journalists and news outlets, social media releases are developed for web-based news outlets. The rules for social media releases seem to be similar to the rules for press releases (and I guess they would be because they're basically the same thing only in a different format). Several websites even offer templates that you can follow when developing a social media news release.

So, the confusion has been made clear!

YouTube: The New How-To!

I have to admit up front that I'm not a good cook. At all! Usually when I try to make something (anything really, including those stir fry meals you can get in the freezer section of the grocery store) I end up screwing it up. I can't cook well. Just the other morning I tried to make some cinnamon rolls for a late Sunday breakfast. All I had to do was turn the stove on, place the rolls (the kind that come in a can of course) on a baking sheet and cook them for 10-12 minutes. Well, I ended up with cinnamon rolls that were gooey on top and black on bottom. Obviously cooking is not my forte.

But the other night I was starving and all I had in my refrigerator was cheese and eggs (I am a poor college student after all!) so I started thinking about what I could make with the ingredients I had on hand. I finally decided that I wanted an omelet. Well, you can probably guess from my previous descriptions of my cooking skills, that I had never cooked an omelet before. I knew what I wanted to go in my omelet, I just wasn't completely sure about how to get started. Then I thought of YouTube. Hey, it was worth a shot. Surely somebody had put a video on YouTube about how to make an omelet. Guess what? Somebody had! I found a great video that gave a quick demonstration about cooking omelets. I'm a visual learner, so I needed those visual aids to help me. If you're interested, check it out below!

Previously, I had only thought of YouTube as a place to find funny videos that other people had posted, but now I realize YouTube can now take the place of all those How-To books that used to be so popular. You can learn anything from how to make a paper airplane to how to make out. So the next time you have a question about how to do something, before grabbing a book, check out YouTube. You might be surprised at what you find!

Podcasting and Foreign Languages

When I was in the ninth and tenth grades, I was enrolled in Spanish 101 and 102. I did well in the classes, but I can't say that I remember much about Spanish...except my chosen Spanish name. (I was Catalina!) I didn't have a bad teacher, and I didn't dislike the class. I just never really had an opportunity to use all the Spanish that I had learned, so I forgot it. Well, little did I know that I had a ready made, free, review tool at my fingertips...a podcast. I admit when I use iTunes, I generally download music and don't pay much attention to the rest of the things offered there, but after learning about podcasts, I was curious. In case you didn't know, there are TONS of free podcasts available on iTunes and they cover every topic imaginable from learning a foreign language to discussions about books and authors. It was great!

Just so you know, here's the podcast that I listened to: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/coffee-break-spanish/id201598403

For those of you who are like me and have some trouble with technical terms, here's a definition of podcasting. According to podcastalley.com (which is a great source of information pertaining to podcasts; they even offer links to certain podcasts) a podcast is: a way to get audio content out to publics using an audio player that supports an mp3 format. So for those of us who are learning all these new technical terms, it's like a combination between an RSS feed and an audio file. The best thing about a podcast is it's convenience. If you have an iPod or any other mp3 player, you can listen to a podcast while doing almost anything else. So you're getting information while at the same time, you're getting things done (such as cleaning or exercising). I have to say, I'm beginning to like this idea of podcast!

Forums are "Full" of Information

When I was growing up, one of my favorite TV shows was Full House. I loved it! And I still love watching reruns of the show now. So what does my favorite 90's TV show have to do with our topic of discussion this week: forums? Well, there's a Full House forum that keeps you up to date on what the stars are doing now, how to purchase full seasons on DVD and even games you can play testing how much you really know. Actually there are forums for almost any TV show you could imagine...a few of my other favorites include The Golden Girls and Designing Women. Before I began doing research for this blog post, the only experience I'd had with forums was discussion boards that were required for classes in which the teacher generated discussion topics and we were required to post our thoughts and ideas about the topic. So I guess I was thinking that all forums were like that. I had no idea that forums covered so many topics. I you have an interest (in almost anything), there's probably a forum out there for you.

I like the fact that forums give you a chance for discussion. With most technology, I don't feel like I'm interacting with other people, but forums are different. They offer you a place to express your opinion, but also a place to talk with others about their opinions. I also like that each forum has it's own set of rules. If you read the rules beforehand, then you know what is acceptable to post and what isn't acceptable. That's helpful if you're new to the forum.
Overall, I like the idea of forums and I wouldn't mind re-discovering my old favorite TV shows!