“Social Media is the wave of the future”
· Today in class, Pallavi Kumar, a public communications professor taught us how to use social media for public communications. Kumar explained how the Internet is changing the field of communications. Kumar also explained how it is a lot easier to gain a consumer to buy your product through Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, because that’s where your media contacts are hanging out these days.
· We went over some notes from the press releases that were given back by Prof. Lawrence.
1. Core idea of press releases: you have to be POSITIVE and not just write what you think about the situation, remember you are representing your company.
2. Find something good you can say about it. In the final exam she will give us a set of facts and we are going to be writing a news story, a radio story, a web headline summary and a press release. Don’t just take a news story and write it under the format of a press release, why not do that? Because news stories have two sides good and bad -- “ a balance” but in a press release you alter it and make it positive. Explain, “Yes we are extortionist”.
3. You have to rewrite the material so it becomes appropriate for whatever audience you are targeting.
4. Initially when you are writing a press release it is going mostly to the media. Remember to have the 5Ws in the lead. Explain some of the things you are talking about and not just in general. Answer some of the questions that are implied.
5. You can’t write a press release without giving all the information that the reporters need to write their story. You give them enough information that they can go with. Answer some of the questions.
6. Pretty much ALWAYS you need direct quotes, because your goal as a press release writer is to have the reporter pick up the quotes from your press release. You need a direct quote from either your CEO or finance minister or who ever is directly involved because you need to have someone in there that the reporter can quote.
7. Most press releases have some information at the bottom that tells you about the company or what they are.
8. Press releases are usually one page, but they go less or more sometimes.
In-class writing: write a press release and a twitter feed just 140 characters explaining what is happening in the press release.
Homework for Thursday 3/15/2010
1. Graded Press release assignment--Make sure to remember that the press release you are writing is coming from the zoo’s point of view, a press release coming out from the zoo explaining what happened. KEEP IN MIND: what are press releases? How is the tone of them? They are POSITIVE so make sure to find a way to write this positively.
2. Last news quiz -- Everyone on Thursday bring in one question for the news quiz. Prof. Lawrence will gather them and put the news together for the news quiz. So if your question was chosen then you will get that one right. So try to bring in one news quiz, don’t bring in the first sentence you find when u open the Washington Post front page because everyone else will be as well. Try to find something from the Style, Metro or Business section.
Good luck!
Rugi: This is an excellent summary of the class. You were right to highlight what Prof. Kumar said about social media, and I agree with her that there will be many jobs available tracking a company's social media followers. So all your time spent on Facebook and YouTube can actually be included on your resume! (Well, maybe not all of the time.) You also explained very well the main points of a press release. Please remember those points when you write about the poor dead bear. We will be taking about about effective speech writing on Thursday. See you then.
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