Here are the readings we will discuss in class on Feb. 26.  Your blog post on the readings is due by the start of class.

Briggs, Chapter 4 — Going Mobile

How Do Social Media Algorithms Affect You

Forge and Smith.com

Questions to Consider:  What are social media algorithms?  What are the most effective ways to deliver content on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for marketing purposes?  What types of news stories lend themselves well to mobile reporting?  When planning to live-tweet an event, how should you prepare?

Twitter profiles due today.  Here’s the video we watched in class about writing your Twitter profile.   

Twitter profile video

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

This assignment is due on Feb. 26.

Description:

For this assignment, you will begin to build a social media network by following at least 40 new accounts on your class Twitter and creating at least 4 lists to organize them.

Explanation:

Follow at least 40 new accounts on Twitter, including:

— @Bollshu and all of your classmates — if you’re not already.

These should include:

—  At least 10 more Seton Hall accounts than you’re not already following, including Seton Hall student media accounts — WSOU and The Setonian.  This must be the main account, not the account of an individual student.

— At least 10 non-Seton Hall news organizations.  TV stations’ news divisions or news shows, wire services, newspapers, magazines, or online news sites.

— At least 10 Twitter accounts related to public relations, advertising, journalism, social media, and/or digital media.  It’s fine if a few of these are individual journalists or PR professionals (especially if they are journalists or PR pros who are social media “stars”), but several of them should be the accounts of organizations, bloggers, or individuals who write about the journalism, PR, advertising, social media and digital media industries.  If you need inspiration, a Google search will turn up several “journalism/PR accounts that students should follow” types of lists.

You can also go to search.twitter.com and search for journalism, PR, social media and digital media. When you find a post that looks interesting, click on the profile of the person who posted it, if other posts from that person seem interesting, you can follow that person.  You can also see who that person is following and decide if you want to follow any of them, if they have something to do with journalism, PR, social media and digital journalism.

All of this helps to get people to follow you.  Usually when you follow someone, that person will follow you back.  The best way to build a network is by posting good content and promoting people you follow.  The more good you put out there, usually the more you receive.

— You can also follow other people who don’t fit into any of the above categories — but those are in addition to the 40 followers for this assignment.

Create at least 4 lists:

Organize each of the Twitter accounts you’re following into public lists

— Create a public Twitter list of our class, and add me and all of your classmates to that list.

— Create three more public Twitter lists of the categories named above, and add followers to each one.

— If you get stuck, there are tons of articles online that provide instructions for creating Twitter lists.  You can also go to: Wired: How to set up Twitter lists.

 

 

Here are the readings we will be discussing in class on Feb. 19.  Please write your blog post offering your opinion and analysis on the articles.  The post should be at least 400 words and should contain artwork.

Twitter for Public Relations: Fact and Fantasy

Forbes

Briggs, Chapter 2 – Microblogging, pages 54-62, pages 79-85

Twitter Isn’t the Voice of the People, and Media Shouldn’t Pretend It Is

The Columbia Journalism Review

10 Ways Twitter is Valuable to Journalists

The Buttry Diary

Should Journalists be using Twitter

The Columbia Journalism Review

Questions to consider:  How has Twitter become an invaluable tool for some journalists?  Do all journalists need a presence on Twitter?  What are some innovative ways to attract followers and build an audience?  How can Public Relations practitioners incorporate the use of Twitter into campaigns?  How can one guard against sharing facts and information that are not verified?

 

Social Media Task 5/ Part 2:  Writing the blog post for the Scavenger Hunt:

— Due at the end of class on Feb. 19; to be presented to class on Feb. 26.

Create a blog post from the results of your scavenger hunt that contains the following items:

1. All 10 of your tweets in order of the items listed under “Topics for the Tweets” on Feb. 12.  Embed the tweets within your blog post.  You must follow the instructions located here for embedding tweets within a blog post.  If you follow the instructions correctly, your tweets should look like actual tweets in the blog post.
2. The top five tweets from other teams (in your opinion).
3. At least one response you sent to another team.
4. Introductory and explanatory text within the blog post to make it clear what’s what.
5. A brief reflection on the scavenger hunt.  What were the highlights or challenges of this assignment?

See entire assignment description on Feb. 12.

 

 

 

Here is your blog post assignment for Feb. 12.

Research our guest speakers, Stacey Bender, CEO of The Bender Group Public Relations in Montclair, and her social media expert, Hayden Hammerling, and write about them and the company.  You should look beyond the website for the company.  The post should include the fact that they are speaking to our social media class at Seton Hall on Feb. 12 at 5:30 pm in Nursing, Rm. 105.  You should also Tweet about The Bender Group coming to speak and post it on Instagram, mentioning that it’s open to all journalism and PR students at SHU. Start tweeting and posting this week, and be sure to Tweet and/or post at least three times before the event. Don’t forget to use the class hashtag — #social3422.  (Let’s see how many people read your tweets and see your Instagram posts!)  Invite your friends to come and listen, too. We want a full classroom.

Also, please come to class on Tuesday with at least five questions to ask the speakers. Try to think of questions your classmates won’t ask so that your questions don’t get used.

 

In-class Social Media Task 5:  Twitter Scavenger Hunt

This task should be conducted during class time during two classes.  Part 1, the scavenger hunt and tweets, should be started on Feb. 12 and is due at the start of class on Feb. 19.  Part 2, the blog post, should be completed in class on Feb. 19.  It’s due at the end of class on Feb. 19.

Winning Team(s):  The first team to complete the Scavenger Hunt, posting all 10 tweets, wins 5 extra bonus points, which is 25% of your possible grade.   (I’ll know the winning team by the date and time on the tweets.)  The team with the best tweets — who took initiative and went out of their way to be creative  —  will also earn 5 additional bonus points.

Grading:  The task is worth 20 points, plus the possible bonus points.

Get Started:

• Work in teams of 2
• 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.)
• Post tweets for each one of the 10 items listed below (See “Topics for the tweets”).  Work together as a team to answer the 10 items.  When posting your tweets, divide them equally between your Twitter accounts (you’ll post 5 of them to your Twitter account, and your partner will post 5).  Don’t number the tweets.  It should be clear from the content of the tweet which of 10 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.  If necessary, 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.)
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, year in school, 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 remainder of the men’s or women’s basketball season, or other sport of your choice.  Be sure to include the person’s full name.
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:  In-class assignment for Feb. 19:

• Create a blog post that contains the following items:
•  1.  All 10 of your tweets in order of the items listed below.  Embed the tweets within your blog post.  You must follow the instructions for embedding tweets within a blog post located here .  If you follow the instructions correctly, your tweets should look like actual tweets in the blog post.
• 2. The top five tweets from other teams (in your opinion).
• 3. At least one response you sent to another team.
• 4. Introductory and explanatory text within the blog post to make it clear what’s what.
• 5. A brief reflection on the scavenger hunt.  What were the highlights or challenges of this assignment?
• Be sure to tweet a link to your blog post.
• This assignment is due at the end of class on Feb. 19.

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.  Don’t overdo it.  Less is more.
• You may use common abbreviations to stay under 140 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.  Avoid taking all vertical photos, unless the scene lends itself to a vertical photo.  And no sideways photos.  Don’t make the reader have to turn their head to see your photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the readings we will be discussing in class on Feb. 5.  Please write your blog post offering your opinions and analysis on the articles.  Please do not just quote or summarize the readings.  The post should be at least 400 words and should contain artwork.

Ghost in the Machine: Will Facebook Break Democracy?

The New Yorker

Blogs as Excellent Public Relations Tools

SEO Chat

7 Ways to Build Your Brand In the Blogosphere

Problogger.com

Key Strategies for Using Blogging to Build Personal Brand

Sarah Green

Something Extra:

12 PR Blogs Your Competitors are Reading

 

Social Media Task 4 Presentations: Present your crowdsourcing results to the class.

 

 

 

 

Readings and Blog Post:

Here are the readings we will discuss in class on Jan. 29.  Please blog about your key takeaways from the readings.  Remember — your assignment is not to summarize these articles in your blog post.  The assignment is for you to compare and contrast them, analyse them, and share your opinion on the future of our profession.  You can use the questions below to help you write it.  Your post should be at least 400 words, broken into 3 to 4 paragraphs.  It’s due on Jan. 29.

Briggs, Chapter 3, Crowd-Powered Collaboration,  pp. 91-100, pp. 102-108

How to Turn Your Social Media Crisis into PR Success

CISION

Real-Time Social Media Creative Marketing and PR

The Huffington Post

 

Questions to consider:  Being a good communicator means forming good relationships.  Social media allows PR practitioners and journalists to collaborate in new and meaningful ways, both with each other and with the public.  What is the value of collaboration?  What are the benefits to collaboration?  What are the dangers?  How should professionals interact with the public online, especially when comments are negative?  What is meant by real-time marketing?

 

In-Class Assignment:  Social Media Task 4 — Crowdsourcing

Part of this Social Media Task is an in-class assignment for Jan. 29.  The final assignment is due on Feb. 5.

In-class Social Media Task 3:

Social Media Task 2 is an in-class assignment that must be completed on Jan. 22.

Description:

You will use social media to find ideas for news stories or feature stories, or for PR campaigns by reading Facebook conversations and tweets, and by looking at Instagram and Snapchat.  Choose one of the following two ways to do the assignment.

1. To do this assignment from a journalist’s perspective, look for four different story ideas about what’s happening at SHU for Winter/Spring 2019.  You should read various SHU organizational Facebook conversations and tweets, as well as student conversations and tweets, and look on Instagram and Snapchat.  You should not choose an idea that happened in the past.  It must be something you will be able to tweet about later for Social Media Task 4.

2. To do this assignment from a public relations rep’s perspective, look for four different ideas you could highlight in a PR/marketing campaign about SHU as it relates to Winter/Spring 2019.  SHU is your client.  You should read various SHU organizational Facebook conversations and tweets, as well as student conversations and tweets, and look on Instagram and Snapchat.  You should not choose an idea that happened in the past.  It must be something you will still be able to tweet about later for Social Media Task 4.

Grading:  

This task is worth 20 points and is due at the end of class on Jan. 22.  You should pitch your four story ideas or your four PR/marketing campaign ideas to me as soon as you decide on them.

Social Media Task 3:

Set up a Twitter and Instagram accounts for your blog and follow at least 20 Seton Hall organizations, clubs, teams, or people. Also follow at least 4 media organizations that cover Seton Hall news.  Please follow the class Twitter account — @Bollshu — and also follow all 17 of your classmates.  (That’s a minimum of 42 people and organizations initially.)  Be sure to provide a link to your blog on your Twitter profile page. Also, please attach your Twitter feed to your blog on the right side of the homepage.  Whenever you tweet anything for this class, please use the class hashtag — #social3422 — so you get credit for the work.

Grading:

The total task is worth 20 points.  It’s due on Jan. 29.

— Breakdown:  10 points for setting up the Twitter account, following a minimum of 42 people and organizations, providing a link to your blog, and attaching your Twitter feed to your blog; 10 points for setting up the Instagram account and following the same people and organizations.

 

 

Get Started:

— For this crowdsourcing assignment you will use the ideas for stories or PR campaigns you found last week.  Use your class Twitter account to ask your readers for any information they may have about your story ideas or your PR campaigns.  Be sure to use the class hashtag — #social3422.  You can use other hashtags too, just be sure to include that one.  You should tweet once during class about each idea, and tweet about each ideas at least three more times during the week.  Sometimes it helps with getting responses to do a survey for one of your tweets.

Due Feb. 5:  You will present your crowdsourcing results in class

— Write a story for your blog using any information you may have gotten from readers over the week for one of your story ideas, or one of your PR campaign ideas.  You can also use any information you get yourself by calling sources, DM’ing or emailing sources who sent you info, or going to an event.  Post the story to your blog and be sure to thank your readers for their help.

— Tweet about your new blog post.  Be sure to use the class hashtag — #social3422.

— Think like a reporter.  Have an eagle eye for the interesting, the important, the relevant, the unique, and the immediate.  Double check your facts.  When you interview someone, you must get their 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.

— Take photos and post them to your blog.  Some advice:  when taking photos, try to fill the frame.  Don’t be afraid to get in close.  Avoid taking all vertical photos, unless the scene lends itself to a vertical photo.

Grading:

The assignment is worth 20 points, broken down as follows:

— 10 points for the written content; how well you used the information you got from your readers and how much information you got on your own.  Your post should be at least 400 words.

— 10 points for how well you did crowdsourcing.  (Even if you didn’t get any responses, I want to see an effort to get some reader input.)

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!