Twitter the new Facebook

This blog is dedicated to everyone who has asked me about "Twitter" and its purpose. Well here it is ladies and gentlemen enjoy. 

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.  

Twitter messages may be tagged using hashtages, a word or phrase prefixed with a #, such as #okstate. This enables tweets on a specific subject to be found by simply searching for their common hashtag, provided that the user has tagged their tweet. 

Here's a  great YouTube video titled "Twitter in Plain English."

It explains what Twitter is all about and how it works. 

I predict in a year Twitter will surpass Facebook in users and become the No. 1 social media Web site. 

Until next time. 

Best, 

GPaul

The Top 5 "Best-of-the-Net" PR Web sites

After further review of the most effective and beneficial PR Web sites, which contains up-to-date job openings, blogs, articles, newsletter and free weekly subscribes, I've developed a list of the Top 5 "Best-of-the-Net" PR Web sites. 

Each of the following Web sites not only inform recent graduates about what's going on in the PR industry, but also ways of continue improving your strategic communications skills in every sector in PR. 

The Top 5 "Best-of-the Net" PR Web sites 

1. O'Dwyer's PR Market Place - Online access to inside news public relations, including firms, insider analyses, jobs and publications. 

2. PRWeek Jobs - A new, fully searchable database let's you look for jobs by company, industry, job title, level of experience and location for FREE. 

3. International Association of Business Communicators - Access to industry information sources for searching business communication topics. Plus current and free PR job board provided to members and non-members. 

4. Twitter - Following PR Pros and building relationships with those pros often informs you on job openings, meeting and conferences on "hot topics in PR." 

5. Public Relations Society of America - PRSA provides in depth PR resources, member and agency lists, links and several superb publications, including Strategist and Tactics. 

There you have it, the Top 5 "Best-of-the-Net" PR Web sites. 

Until next time.

Best, 

GPaul

Sales vs. Public Relations. Which route should "WE" take in May?

It's February. Only three months until graduation, which is an indescribable feeling; however, after a month of proactively searching for jobs, I've found more than half of the jobs in PR are intertwined with Advertising and Sales. Which is one to do? This is a hot topic among my peers upon graduation, which was brought up via Twitter. 

Both PR and Advertising/Sales have different goals and objectives. PR is two-way communication in an effort to build mutually beneficial relationships. On the other hand, Advertising/Sales is one-way communication through controlled messages to generate sales. 

However, both PR and Advertising/Sales has a common goal, which is to build long-term relationships with either a client or various publics. 

"Selling is listening, not telling," which is similar to what PR professionals do through research. We don't tell our publics what to think or how to feel, they tell us what they think and how they feel. If we listen correctly, like a seller, we can change the publics attitude through increasing awareness or a PR campaign, which can improve the image of an organization or increase support for a non-profit organization. In effect, resulting in an increase in revenue the client, which is the goal of sales correct? 

Though PR and Advertising/Sales professionals may agree or disagree with my thoughts on PR and Advertising/Sales, I've realized we share a common goal. But is one to seize an opportunity to acquire a job in sales upon graduation during a slow economy? Or take another PR internship? So many options. 

Until next time. 

Best, 

GPaul