Dusting Off The Archives

After a discussion with my colleague Dave Fleet regarding journalism, online outlets and social media, I decided to go back and have a look at my old Online Reporting haunt from 4th year jskool. Sadly, it has not been updated since last school term (really hoping they keep it alive though). But I did manage to dig up a few old posts from 2007 (!!!) and thought I'd re-post them here. While somewhat dated by the events included in them, I find it very interesting that 2 years later, we're all still having the same debates. Here's one from February 14, 2007:

Social Networking or Anti-Social?

By Kerri Birtch | Published 02/14/2007

It seems like the only way to be ‘in-the-know.’ It’s how you say "Happy Birthday" to your friends; heck it’s how you know it’s your friends’ birthday. It’s how you found out about the party you went to this weekend. It’s how you met your significant other. It’s how you found out they cheated on you. It’s what made you stalk them to begin with, just because you could.

Yes, that’s right, it’s Facebook, MySpace... [insert social networking site of choice here].

But for all it’s worth, these so-called social networking sites actually do the opposite and can be a cause for concern when open forums become breeding grounds for bullying, stalking and quite frankly, anti-social behaviour.

These sites create a lack of connection among actual people. They allow you to sit at your computer and ‘talk’ to multiple people at once and in so doing, promotes the loss of real face-to-face communication. Yes, most users post profile pictures for others to see, but these sites they make it far too easy to disconnect from human interaction.

But beyond the lack of real connections, there are also real concerns.

Recently at a Toronto area Catholic Secondary School, 19 students were suspended between three to eight days for ‘cyber-bullying’ their principal on Facebook. According to reports, the students created a group to discuss amongst themselves, their discontent with their principals’ enforcement of school policies.

Reports state that the students were not accessing the site from school computers and were not on it during school hours. So where should the line be drawn? Had the students decided to sit in the cafeteria and have the same discussion, would they still be suspended?

This is just one of the many reasons people like Marie Costa, a fourth year Radio and Television Arts student, don’t have a social networking account. “I think it’s a total infringement on people’s privacy. I wouldn’t want everyone knowing what I’m doing all the time,” says Costa. And while there are a wide variety of privacy controls at the user’s disposal, few actually choose to use them. Costa echoes the sentiment about lost connections: “A friend actually told me I missed her party because I’m not on Facebook. How ridiculous is that?”

Ridiculous indeed. But it gets worse. There are actually anti-Facebook groups on the site. In fact, the search result number for “Anti-Facebook” came back at 239 groups. Although upon closer inspection, not all were in fact anti-Facebook, it still brings up a rather ironic point: If you are anti-Facebook, why are you using it to create groups?

Many of us would love to boycott Facebook: It’s often a source of procrastination. It’s a place where our demons come back to bite us in the butt through pictures we didn’t know were taken. And it really isn’t doing much to enhance our true social selves. But let’s be honest, it’s the train wreck we can’t help but look at as we pass by.

So, yes, I will be keeping my account, regretfully.

Big Picture Thinking

So once again, big surprise: It's late at night and the hamster wheel in my head is still spinning, so I've decided to give my poor, neglected blog some loving. I got thinking lately about 'big picture' stuff - that "60,000 foot view" that is so commonly talked about in PR circles (or at least mentioned by the awesome people I work with) and I figured it might help to write it out.

The main reason my thinking has shifted towards the high level view is that coming up in a few weeks, I will have been a PR Account Coordinator for a whole year. And what a year its been. Amazing to think how much things can change (personally and professionally) in such a relatively short period of time. But I digress.

For my annual review, I'm required to submit a *concise* synopsis of my achievements over the past year and my goals for the upcoming year. Side Note: I may or may not have jokingly suggested that one of my goals be "To become more goal oriented" - I did not actually write it down, but it certainly crossed my mind.


At this stage in my career it's very difficult to think 'big picture'. Where do I want to be in 5 years? Good question. What is my long-term career goal? Yet another valid question. Answer: Happy. Yup. The past year has been all about doing what I can to stay happy and content. So that's why the mind shift seems so tough. But when I sat down to jam out my *concise* 6 page document, I realized that maybe I was already thinking big but wasn't aware of it until I needed to look closer. I also realized I know more about what I want than I did 6 months ago, and I certainly know more than I did a year ago.

For instance, I'm certain that I enjoy communications and hope to enjoy a long career in the field. Exactly where I'll be within that very broad spectrum, I don't know, but I feel confident that I'm on the right track to somewhere good.

I have also come to terms with my inner geekdom. It used to be that girls didn't want to be geeky or known to have 'technical' interests, but heck ya I do, and I'm proud of it. I have no problem admitting that I actually like watching Mythbusters, can do some basic HTML coding (or at least interpret a fair bit), like playing video games, can film/edit digital footage and yes, lets not forget my fascination with social media.

So my point is this: Sometimes you have to take a step back (or fly really high) to figure out exactly who you are and where you're going. That 'big picture' thinking might be just what you need to find what's already close to home. :)

Well, it's happened...

Once again, I'm writing this fairly late, and as a result of some slight insomnia. The main reason I'm writing this post is because, well, I haven't written one in quite a while. I've talked and talked about always having something to say and not really caring all that much about who reads it, but recently there's been a shift for me. I haven't really been able to think of something to write about and I've been weary that if I don't have something good to say, then I shouldn't write at all. Tonight, however, I decided to just bite the bullet and start writing. My theory is that the longer you stop writing, the more difficult it becomes to start again.

So for lack of any thought provoking content, I'm going to offer a brief update and a few reasons why my blog is lacking in love:

Work - The last few months have been pretty crazy, but it's been a really exciting time. I've been doing a lot of social media work for clients and it's kept me very busy. It's tough to motivate myself to blog when I've been in the space all day at work.

Summer - Yes, it's sort of summer. I'd like the warm weather to finally get here but for now it's not too terrible. But it does mean I've been able to get out and play a fair bit of beach volleyball and hit the patios with friends instead of sitting in front of my computer all night.

Family Stuff - Unfortunately, a few weeks ago my grandmother passed away. It was difficult, but we were comforted by the fact that she lived long and fulfilled life (she was 91). She had also been sick with Alzheimer's for a long time, and now she is at peace. Our family is handling it fairly well, and I personally am doing alright too.

That's really all the updates I have. I will be trying to blog a little more regular from here on, but if I don't, not to worry, I'll be back at some point ;)

What events do you find affect your blogging? How do you motivate yourself to keep going?

PS: This is my 100th post! Yay, me!

My Written Path

It's late - I've got an odd case of insomnia, and I started thinking about my blog, and writing. Actually no, I started thinking about a project I was editing today, then realized for the first time in a very long time, I did not print it off and take out my trusty red pen - I edited on screen. Ick.

And somewhere in my twisted mind, I began thinking about where I learned these habits.

First off, I've always loved to write. Since grade school I've been told I have a knack for it - not the best a verbalizing my thoughts, but gimme a pen and paper and I've always managed to be clear. Not always concise, but clear. *After Post Note: I warned you ;)

Then my mind fast forwarded a few years. Picture it: High school, Grade 12 English. (Sorry, been watching a lot of Golden Girls re-runs lately). My grandmother had passed away that semester and it was really affecting my grades. I was going to have to drop the course if I had any hope of going to University - bad grades drag down the GPA you know. So I was quite upset when I went to my teacher to tell him I needed to drop the class. He just shrugged and said "Maybe you're better off." What the heck kind of thing is that to say to a distraught student? I managed to pass the course with a different teacher the next semester and completed my OAC english credit through continuing education. A year and a half later I was accepted to Ryerson's J-Skool: 125 spots for 3000 applicants. To this day, my mother threatens to send a photocopy of my J-Skool degree to that teacher.

Really, it was what I did in that year and half in between that got me in though - I did freelance work. I took unpaid internships and got a few things published. Even got paid for a few pieces. But my first internship was with Your Workplace Magazine. I was 18 and very green let me tell you. In fact, see for yourself - gotta love archives. I think that one is from 2000 or 2001. Anyhoo, my editor at the time, Sheldon McNeil, told me that if I wanted to be a good writer, I had to read William Zinssar's "On Writing Well". After four years of journalism school, I still think it's the best writing book I've ever read. Thanks Sheldon!

From there, as I said, I hit journalism school and tried to be a total keener. Unfortunately something about it just didn't quite fit for me long term and I ended up taking the 'Online' option in my fourth year - which is in part what lead me to social media. We were required to blog and incorporate multimedia into our news writing. Here's one of my personal faves from that year - includes an audio slide show, kinna kewl ;)

So after all that, I'm still left wondering where I got my habits. I have a bookshelf lined with writing and grammar books, but I can't say I remember much from them. In my mind, this backs up my theory that you can't teach the natural ability to write. You can, however, harvest the craft with a lot of practice.

Who Influences You?

In social media, we often talk about the 'influencers' of the space. In general, there are the big guys that everyone knows about: Seth Godin, Chris Brogan, Brian Solis etc. etc. And of course I'm happy to give credit where credit is due - these guys definitely influence the space. 

But do that actually 'influence' you? Sure, I read their blogs every now and again and I follow them on Twitter. But I can't say they influence me directly in a big way. If Chris Brogan writes about a new product, does it influence my thoughts and opinions - maybe a little. But not nearly as much as what my friend, family, or co-worker might have to say. Even someone in my smallish social media network will have more influence on me than Chris Brogan. 

After a discussion at work today, I've been thinking a lot about this. As PR practitioners and social media participants we need to be more open minded about those we consider influencers and why we consider them to be. Should influence be based on affiliations with news outlets, traffic numbers or engagement scores? Sure, they can be helpful guidelines, but maybe a better starting point is to look at who we know and how they may be a type of influencer that we hadn't originally thought of.

Maybe, we need to change our view of an 'influencer' all together. Perhaps everyone has the potential to be an influencer, but if this is true, how do we choose who influences us most? 

Swine Flu Rant

Rant Alert!

With all the drama and so-called news on Swine Flu in the last few days, I feel compelled to do a little round up with my own two cents thrown in. First off, I will say, all the commotion is ridiculous. It's unfortunate yes, people are sick and some very unfortunate souls have suffered a sad fate, but for the most part, it has been blown far out of proportion.

Here's just ONE example - I just did a Google News search for Swine Flu in Canada, and results came back with over 43, 000 

news stories. (Note: It seems these are not just Canadian stories, but nonetheless.) 

Currently, there have been 34 confirmed cases of Swine Flu in Canada. I would like to know how many people are currently diagnosed with 'the flu' - I would bet it's more than 34. 

There have been no deaths in Canada, and all cases thus far have been mild and treatable. But this 'outbreak' has caused such a stir that the World Health Organization has now 're-named' it 'H1N1 A Influenza' because of the implications to the pork trade. Honestly. 

Here is my question - what is the difference between this, and the regular flu strain that effects Canadians everyday? Aside from 'it's a different strain' I haven't found much else to say what exactly makes it such a super-strain virus. I noticed an article today about tips for avoiding swine flu, guess what...the tips are much the same as avoiding any flu! 

So I have this to say...remember 1976? (No, I don't...wasn't born yet, but MOCC does)

Rant Over. 

PS: Don't get on an airplane or take the subway.

Some Analytical Thoughts...

Have you ever checked out your Blog Analytic's and looked closely at how people found your blog?

Here's a few of the rather interesting Google queries that have led people my way:

-Can people find out if you're creeping their facebook - Fair 'nuff, I write about Facebook.

-Demographics targeted towards marley and me - Hmm...maybe because I wrote about my dogs?

-Broken thong - That's what I get for writing about a malfunctioning thong many moons ago [Edit: Not Mine]

-Importance of proof-reading your work and not rely on spell check - Yes, I wrote about that too..but who Googles that?