Readings for Sept 3 Blog Post Social Media Task 2: Scavenger Hunt

Sept. 3 Readings and Blog Post/ Class Discussion for Sept. 10:

Here are the readings you will need to complete your blog post for Social Media Task 1.  Your post should not summarize these articles on your blog. The assignment is for you to compare and contrast them, analyze them, and share your opinion on the future of journalism and public relations.  You may use the discussion questions below to help you write your post. The blog post is due on Sept. 3.

The Future of Public Relations — Three Forks in the Road

Robert  Wynne/ Forbes

Last Call: The End of the Printed Newspaper

Clay Shirky/ Medium

The People Formerly Known as the Audience

The Economist

Discussion Questions:  What is social media?  How has social media evolved over time?  How has it changed both the journalism and public relations fields?  How has it changed our daily lives and the way we consume information?  What does the future hold for journalists and PR professionals as social media continues to evolve?

Social Media Task 2:  Twitter Scavenger Hunt

This is a fun exercise to start the semester and is great practice for your Live Tweeting assignment later on. This task should be conducted during class time on Sept. 3. Before you start, set up a Twitter account for the class and follow the class Twitter account — @BollShu. Always use the class hashtag when posting anything on your class Twitter — #Boll3422.

Winning Team(s): The one or two teams with the best tweets — who took initiative and went out of their way to be creative  —  will be the winners. There can be up to two first-place winners.

Grading: Total possible points for assignment = 20; total possible points for two winning teams = 25; total possible points if only one team wins = 30.

Get Started:

Part 1: The Hunt — In-class assignment for Sept. 3

• Work in teams of two.
• Before you start, make sure you are following the class Twitter — @BollShu — and all of your classmates on Twitter.
• Send out an introductory tweet or two explaining what you are doing and introducing yourself and your partner (each of you must post an introductory tweet.)  Ex. — I’m a Seton Hall student participating in a Scavenger Hunt for my Social Media class.
• Post tweets for 8 of the 10 items listed below (See “Topics for the tweets”). Work with your teammate to get the 8 items. You will most likely have to talk to more than 8 people to get 8 winning tweets. When posting your tweets, divide them equally between your Twitter accounts (you will post 4 of them to your Twitter account, and your partner will post 4). But you should work on all 8 of them together — see who gets the best responses for each topic and chose the best one to post. Don’t number the tweets when you post them. It should be clear from the content of the tweet which of 8 items it is.
• Respond to at least two of your classmates participating in the scavenger hunt.
• All tweets MUST contain two hashtags — #social3422, and another hashtag that is relevant to the content. Any tweets that do not contain the hashtags won’t count. Yes, this limits the number of characters available for your tweets, but that’s part of the challenge. You may use more than one tweet for an item.

Topics for the Tweets:

1. School spirit! Photo and quote from someone (not you or your partner or anyone else in the class) revealing school spirit.  (What that means is up to you. Be creative.) Be sure you include the person’s full name, age, profession (if SHU student, say the major) in all the tweets.
2. Eating spot or watering hole. Photo and quote (not you or your partner or anyone else in the class) from your favorite eating spot or watering hole on or near campus.
3. Professor on campus. Photo and quote from a professor on campus. Ask the professor what role he/she thinks social media plays in our society today. Be sure you include the professor’s name and department.
4. Student on the street. Photo and quote from a student (not you or your partner or anyone else in class). Ask where the student gets his or her news and if he/she uses social media to keep up with news. Be sure you include the student’s full name, age, and major.  (You may have to do this one in two tweets.)
5. Academic excellence. Photo and quote that reveals (you are going to have to be creative) how Seton Hall contributes to cutting-edge research and/or learning.
6. Scenic spot. Photo and quote (not you or your partner) of your favorite scenic spot on or near campus.
7. Little-known fact. Photo and quote of something you think many people might not know about our school or campus or city.
8. Fanatic fans. Photo/quote from somebody being asked about the men’s or women’s basketball season, or other sport of your choice.
9. Extracurricular extravaganza. Photo and quote that exemplifies some of the huge variety of clubs, organizations, etc. available to students at Seton Hall.
10. Freestyle. Your very own final unique tidbit of information/photo about our campus or city.  Be creative.

Part 2:  Blog post for Sept. 10:

Create one blog post: It should be written like a story about your adventure, and not just contain lists. The story should be posted to both of your blogs. You can copy and paste, but you should write it together. It should also include photos, either from the tweets themselves and/or of your team during the Scavenger Hunt. Your blog post should include the following:

•  1) All 8 of your tweets in the order of the items listed above. Make sure your Twitter account is embedded on your blog (see directions on WordPress.com) and make sure you select that 8 tweets can show.
• 2) What were the top five tweets in the class (in your opinion).
• 3) At least one response you sent to another team, but you can include both.
• 4) Introductory and explanatory text within the blog post to make it clear what it’s about.
• 5. A brief reflection on the scavenger hunt. What were the highlights or challenges of this assignment?
• Be sure to post a link to your blog post in your tweets.
• This assignment is due on Sept. 10.

Tips:

• Think like a reporter. Search for the interesting, the important, the relevant, the unique, and the immediate. Double check your facts. You must get people’s real FULL names (first and last) and spell them correctly.
• Think like a public relations spokesperson. Show the world what is great about Seton Hall. Promote the college brand.
• Don’t limit yourself to Fahy Hall and College of Communication and the Arts students. The goal of this assignment is to publicize the university, not just COAR.  Show some initiative and creativity.
• You may use more than one tweet for an item if necessary, but don’t overdo it. Sometimes less is more.
• You may use common abbreviations to stay under 280 characters (e.g., “dept” for “department” or “prof” for “professor” or using “&” in place of “and”). But no “text speak” (no LOLs, OMGs, etc.) And avoid exclamation points. Use proper grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.
• Photo advice:  When taking photos, try to “fill the frame.” Don’t be afraid to get in close. And no sideways photos. Don’t make readers have to turn their heads to see your photos.

Have fun while you’re doing this!