The Internet of Things

By now, you may have heard rumblings about the "Internet of Things" and depending on the context, it can be defined in many different ways. Everyone, however, agrees that the emerging "Internet of Things" (IoT) will link everyday physical products to each other via the web. This will be (and currently) is done by embedding technology in an object in order for it to communicate with other connected devices. This will essentially create a giant digital information system. The experts at Harbor Research suggest that the Internet of Things will have a bigger impact on our daily lives than either the internet or social media combined, radically shifting the way that we think, act, and connect with each other.

"We are creating a connected world with entirely different touch points," said Glen Allmendinger, president of technology and business development consulting firm Harbor Research. "In the past, a company would sell a product, and it would disappear into a black hole. There was no way to know what anyone did with it or what other marketing opportunities existed. Today, it's possible to see how a customer uses a device and discover all sorts of opportunities."

Recent articles point to the IoT as the interaction and exchange of data between machines and objects, and now there are product definitions reflecting the same concept. Nike has been utilizing this technology for a few years now, with their Nike Fuel band that tracks and monitors your fitness levels, suggests ways to conserve energy, and connects you with a community of Fuel Band users.

There is almost no limit to the possibilities that the IoT will bring and it's no secret that marketing will be at the center of that universe. The Blake Project's Derrick Daye believes that the IoT will change branding in a monumental way. "It can deliver the brand promise at every point of customer contact and deliver a more meaningful relationship. It can help a company create a greater brand alignment across devices, screens and experiences."

Needless to say, the Internet of Things is here to stay. I'm anxious to see how the University of Minnesota will start integrating this technology into the different experiences that they offer. What will this mean in terms of recruitment, retention or giving? Marketing and branding? Only time will tell.

The Economist and the Oxford Comma

I greatly enjoyed all of the clever grammar oriented memes and messages over social media yesterday, but this really tickled my fancy.  Enjoy!  The Oxford Comma: Is a Comma Grammar

Naming Winter Storms

As a native Minnesotan, I was irked beyond reason when The Weather Channel started naming winter storms. The practice came to my attention when the so-called Winter Storm Caesar was approaching Minnesota in December.

What the what?!! Remember the Halloween Blizzard of '91? The Armistice Day Blizzard of '40-something? (OK, we weren't there, but we've heard of it, over and over.) The thing is, Minnesotans know that winter storms must EARN their names, not be assigned them in some marketing scheme by East Coast weather elites.

Which leads me to this blog post's real topic, the idea that social media can save lives. Well, that's what The Weather Company (parent of The Weather Channel) is claiming. In an Adweek article, Weather CEO David Kenny claims that they named storms so that people would start tweeting and posting about them on social media, thus raising awareness and saving lives.

Kenny
cited the nearly 800 million photos and tweets that "Nemo" generated
over 5 day period as proof positive that the naming system worked to
raise awareness and served to consolidate the torrent of storm-related
social media data. - See more at:
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/weather-channel-thinks-facebook-and-twitter-save-lives-147540#sthash.3FnaXZWx.dpuf

Kenny claimed the almost 800 million photos and tweets that "Nemo" (good lord) generated over five days when it slammed the east coast was proof of his claim.

What do you think? Does naming something encourage social engagement about it? What could we name here at the U to encourage social engagement? Please share your thoughts! And heaven help us if Winter Storm Yogi should approach the northern plains.

Kenny
cited the nearly 800 million photos and tweets that "Nemo" generated
over 5 day period as proof positive that the naming system worked to
raise awareness and served to consolidate the torrent of storm-related
social media data. - See more at:
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/weather-channel-thinks-facebook-and-twitter-save-lives-147540#sthash.3FnaXZWx.dpuf

Do You Code?

I ran across Code.orgs latest YouTube entry featuring the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and will.i.am. (among others) who discuss the importance of coding. Calling it the new human "superpower" - the video states that 90% of schools in the United States do not teach this basic skill. 

It seems as though the industry would go to any length to retain top talent by making "the most awesome environment" for their employees. This includes full service dining centers, rooftop lounges and onsite dry cleaning (leading me to think I've chosen the wrong career path!). 

Were you taught code in school? Do you consider it a basic skill when entering today's work force?

Color of the year

Pantone announced the color of the year for 2013 today: emerald (17-5641 for those of you who like to be exact about this kind of thing). Those of us who prefer green may be a little smug about this announcement, but...does it really mean anything? Will we start seeing more designs using this color that purportedly "enhances our sense of well-being further by inspiring insight as well as promoting balance and harmony?"

Is it more than a marketing tool? Is it fun, regardless? Would you have picked something else?

Papal Tweets

Only the Pope could start a Twitter account, not post a single tweet, and still have 116,859 followers (as of this posting). He's barely begun his social media journey, but could it be that he's already having trouble "feeding the beast"?

What suggestions do you have for the Pope, or anyone else who is considering starting a Twitter account? How should they keep it fresh, on message, interesting? I'd love to see your comments.

Break Time

This morning I heard this story about treadmill desks. Pretty nice set-up. Well, with that and the upcoming University holiday on my mind, I'm reminded of how important it is to move around and take a break. 

Oh, there are helpful apps too, like BreakTime--it never forgets your breaks.

 

The evolution of social media: We don't even bother to read anymore

It's all about images now, as this article from Fast Company notes. How do you show, rather than tell, what your unit does?

Finding Your Niche in a Social Media Explosion

It seems I can't do anything in the communications world without bumping elbows with yet another one of the billion social media tools popping up these days. In the crowded room of businesses, college departments, and organizations all screaming for your attention through their various social media, it can be hard to decide what tools are best or applicable to you and your place of work. Here's a quick article on some of the newer buzz-tools out there: the new Facebook Timeline for businesses, Pinterest, and Instagram.

What's your take on these new platforms? Do you see an opportunity to use them in your workplace?

Millennials. Not so community-oriented?

A few years ago a Forum conference session focused on the mindset of millennials. We were told that they are into their group, the betterment of their community, being part of the gang. New research is showing that perception may be way off. Since many of us communicate to millennials (and work with them here in the Forum, :-) ) here's that article, from The Chronicle.

Millennials Are More 'Generation Me' Than 'Generation We,' Study Finds

By Joanna Chau

Millennials, the generation of young Americans born after
1982, may not be the caring, socially conscious environmentalists some
have portrayed them to be, according to a study described in the new
issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The study, which compares the traits of young people in high school
and entering college today with those of baby boomers and Gen X'ers at
the same age from 1966 to 2009, shows an increasing trend of valuing
money, image, and fame more than inherent principles like
self-acceptance, affiliation, and community. "The results generally
support the 'Generation Me' view of generational differences rather than
the 'Generation We,'" the study's authors write in a report published
today, "Generational Differences in Young Adults' Life Goals, Concern
for Others, and Civic Orientation."

Continue reading

A Beginner's Twitter Guide to Domination in Five Steps

As the new Marketing & Promotions Chair for the Communicators Forum, I've been having fun diving into the depths of Communicators Forum social media, especially Twitter. Social media has become an unexpected passion of mine over the last year or so, with daily use of it for my day job at Northrop Concerts and Lectures, and my side project, the literary website Hazel & Wren.

I've learned mostly by trial and error, and by watching and learning from expert tweeps as they grow with their following and gain momentum for their business or organization. But perhaps the most helpful for me are simple guidelines from other users that pop up in blog posts, articles, and more all over the internet, such as this one, which I stumbled upon last week, and passed on through the UMCF Twitter channel. And, as a bonus, here's a quick look at some things I've learned over the last year or so in my own guide: A Beginner's Twitter Guide to Domination in Five Steps. (Brace yourselves for the power of this knowledge.)

A Beginner's Twitter Guide to Domination in Five Steps:

1.) Follow like-minded people. This is the number one step to exponentially increase your number of followers. Search hashtags and topics to see who is talking about them, and follow them. Or, even better yet, find another organization similar in cause to you, and start following who they follow. Not everyone will follow you back, but the surprising majority do. (This means your description and recent tweets better be stellar, so these people are intrigued at first glance.)

2.) Curate lists. This has been the most helpful for me to not only more easily find quality content, but also for organizing my approach and to make sure that I'm diversifying my tweets. If you're unfamiliar with lists, what this means is that you create segmented categories of Twitter accounts that you follow, based on their content and/or area of interest. For example, I have a list for the Communicators Forum called "University Departments." Another could be called "Communications Publications." That way, you can just view the feed from that list's sources specifically, to narrow down and focus the constant stream of information coming in. You can make these lists public or private, and can call them whatever makes the most sense to you. These take time to curate, but are so worth it.

3.) Be smart with your retweets. Don't get overly click-happy with that retweet button. Yes, it's just so easy, but doing that too often can make it seem like you don't have any original content or thought, or, that you're just plain lazy. If you're going to retweet something, switch it up more often than not. Copy and paste the tweet into your own post, tag the owner with RT, and preface it with some your own commentary. This could be something as simple as "Especially agree with rule #3 RT @umcf: The Official Rules of Twitter Domination http://LINK_HERE". You can also start over completely with your own original tweet, and just tag whoever originally posted the link by ending your post with: "(via @umcf)." Just remember: your followers want to know what YOU (whether you are an individual, or the voice of an organization) think, not how many posts you can retweet in a minute.

4.) Use short links for original content. Here at the University, we have a fantastic link shortener, z.umn.edu. Why use short links for original content (i.e. your organization's blog posts, events, etc) specifically? Stats, my friends, stats. Through z.umn.edu short links (and others) you can then track who is clicking that specific link, and where those paths to your original content are starting from (Twitter, Facebook, emails, etc). This can be incredibly helpful when figuring out where your audience is getting their information. There are other link shortening services outside of the University, but many of them you have to pay for, especially if you want to customize your short links.

5.) Tweet at least 3-5 times a day. From what I've heard, tweeting about five times a day  (and not all at once) yields the most effective results. At that rate, you're not pushing people off the edge with endless tweets about your oh-so-amazing breakfast sandwich, and you're also making following you worthwhile with daily updates and insights. For some organizations, it can be tough to get up to five tweets per day, but just work in that direction. This doesn't have to be (and shouldn't be) solely original content. The main purpose of Twitter is to embrace and engage with your community, whatever it is. Retweet insightful posts from fellow professionals, engage with your followers by asking questions and starting conversations, seek out articles and sources related to your field or area of interest, and share it all with your community.

That's all for now, folks. Happy tweeting, and may the force be with you.

Poll: Paying for online content

The Star Tribune recently announced that they will start charging for their online content. The New York Times did the same earlier this year with much media coverage and public debate. MinnPost operates on a reader-supported model.

As more and more communications channels are moving to a paid-service model, we're curious: do you pay for online content?

Communicating with your faculty about the value of research and expertise publicity

Jeff Falk (the handsome fellow to the left, in full professional regalia), assistant director of the U's News Service, has some helpful advice today on getting University research and researchers in the news. First step: making sure faculty see the value of media relations. That's where you (we all) come in. Here's Falk's post:

"If your research is stale, if your classroom is boring, if your community engagement is ineffective, you must reinvent yourself, or, frankly, you must step aside," President Kaler implored faculty in his Sept. 22 inauguration ceremony address. "As you expect me to deliver on my job, I expect you to deliver on yours."

Here at the University News Service, we believe there are few better and simpler ways to highlight the value of faculty research and expertise than through focused and strategic media relations. Here are some suggested talking points to emphasize with faculty when discussing the importance of media relations:

--News stories on University of Minnesota research and expertise are read by state legislators, the governor, and Minnesota's Congressional delegation as well as citizens, donors and, when there is national publicity, people at federal funding agencies.

--Research results can help inform decisions on important public issues.

--Many grant applications require public outreach and education, and there certainly is a need to improve public appreciation of science and how research benefits society.

--Popular press coverage makes it more likely research will be seen and cited by other scientists

--Announcements about grants, appointments, and awards rarely get more coverage than brief mentions in local newspapers. This is why it is important to focus on publicizing research findings and faculty expertise.

--Finally, popular press coverage of research often results in valuable contacts with potential collaborators. Most national and international publicity about the U comes from coverage of peer-reviewed research findings.

As faculty have been charged to push the envelope, we as communicators need to take advantage of this opportunity and help them understand the value and impact of telling their stories.

--Jeff Falk ( jfalk at umn.edu )

Technology and Communicating With Students

This article from UW Milwaukee caught my eye because my friend's sweet son is in the lead photo.

Technologies help students pass to head of the class

But as I read, I was stunned by this statement:

"Summarizing a recent study from Ball State University, UWM First
Year Center Director Ericca Pollack says 30 percent of students
regularly use email, while 97 percent use some form of text messaging." [Emphasis is mine]

Am I super old-school because I still email? Can I even connect with students today without texting?

UW-Milwaukee's students are meeting with advisers via Skype and taking virtual field trips online. Some of our Forum members work in student services and classroom technology; what do you think of this piece? How have you changed the way you communicate with students over the past few years? How has the classroom changed? Please share your comments.

Central Corridor Light Rail construction special presentation

The Central Corridor Light Rail construction is going to be a significant disruption to lives on the Minneapolis campus. Please join us for this special presentation:

Friday, March 4, noon-1 p.m., 108 Mechanical Engineering.

After years of discussion and planning, major on-campus construction of the CCLRT has begun. The 11 mile line will travel through campus on Washington Avenue as it links downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, and will include stops on the West and East Banks and in Stadium Village. When the trains begin running in 2014, the transit and pedestrian mall planned for Washington Avenue is expected to become a University of Minnesota landmark much like the Northrop Mall or The Knoll.

Over the next three years, the scope of the project and closure of Washington Avenue will create challenges on and around campus. This presentation will provide an overview of the project, outline the construction schedule, and discuss plans for minimizing campus disruptions and protecting University research. Please join us if you are able. All are invited--bring (or send) your non-communications colleagues!



Central Corridor Light Rail construction and the U

Presenter:

Tim Busse
Communications Director
University Services

Social Media Blunders: We Know Better

I read with some relish this piece posted today from SmartBrief on Social Media:
The Suxorz pick the worst social media moves of 2010.

I can't help it, I love to see the bad. I learn so much from it.


Remember Cisco's "Ted from Accounting"? Barely, right? It was their lame attempt to mimic Old Spice's brilliant campaign where Ismail Mustafa made videos on the fly based on tweeted suggestions.

Did you hear about Denny's asking their customers to "join the conversation"--by directing their customers to an abandoned Twitter account held by a boy in Taiwan? Anyone can make an error, but it took Denny's many months to even notice their mistake.

My favorite blunder? The Price Chopper grocery store complained to a customer's boss when she complained about the store on their Facebook page. Yikes!

As I read about these beautiful losers, I couldn't help but think that we know better here. I thought of the monthly program we had a couple years ago with Katie Elfering from Iconoculture, who taught us viral videos can be nurtured, but never controlled. And while entering social media is nerve wracking, Liz Giorgi reminded us at a social media brown bag that we have to let the audience have their say and police themselves--there is no absolute control, and that's ok. The benefits outweigh the risk.

And finally, we don't need a monthly program to tell us to check our work. The Denny's mistake is hysterical because their real Twitter accounts are much longer than simply @dennys, and they just simply didn't notice or bother to correct their mistake. We know better: check, test, recheck, retest. Then click send.

Eisenhower's Farewell Address

Happy new year, Forum members! Since it's University Winter Closure, and technically we aren't here, I thought it would be fun to share a little holiday trifle.

OK, maybe President Eisenhower's farewell address is not a trifle. But this piece from the New Yorker, with a lede starring former U Relations staffer Grant Moos, is an interesting brief on the back and forth of one of the most famous presidential speeches of the 20th century.

Those of us who write speeches or columns for others will surely relate to this story of the back and forth between Eisenhower, former U president Malcolm Moos, and the rest of the team who put this speech together. But 29 drafts?! Mercy.

Alison Davis-Blake, dean of Carlson, on communication

An interesting interview in the Financial Times today with Alison Davis-Blake, the first female dean of the Carlson School of Management at the U.

Davis-Blake says some things in response to the question, "How do you deal with pressure?" that I think applies in all communication--particularly if you're feeling under pressure these days.

Davis-Blake says:

"First, I set priorities. Second, I check my assumptions and thinking with others. I find that when you're under pressure you have a tendency to become isolated and think that you have to act now--an approach that can easily lead to errors. Third, I don't ever, ever make an important decision, or especially send an email, when I'm tired, or angry, or emotional. To do so is asking to make a mistake."

Does that ring true?

See the full interview at Financial Times.

Dating stories

This post will likely be nowhere near as exciting as the title suggests, although in doing a bit of research, I did come across some interesting dating stories that lead me to believe my own dating life may not be as disastrous as it could be. For example, I have yet to compare firearms on a first date. Still, I have stories. I invite readers to any of the monthly Campus Club Thursday happy hours to (potentially) hear them.

Point being, it turns out using "dating stories" as your search term when looking for information on the philosophy and guidelines of including a date when publishing a story online does not get one the information most relevant to the topic. It did however, provide about a ten minute, very entertaining detour. The Internet is full of detours.

I may be in the minority here, but whenever I see a story online without an accompanying date, I'll usually immediately backtrack and look for one with a chronological anchor--there's almost always a second source, and usually many more. Of course, the relevancy of a date varies with the content--whether it's topical, for example (news stories and releases always include a date), or in the case of academics, whether it's inclusive of the latest research.
 
Lately, I've noticed that, more and more, dates are being left out of stories published online. The thinking behind not including a date, presumably, is that you want to get as much life out of a story as you can before people think it's obsolete--therefore, if people aren't sure when it was published, they can't be sure when it becomes obsolete. And we all know that what you don't know won't hurt you.
 
But in this case, it's hurting the content producer when I don't read what they'd like me to see. The plan to give it more life backfires and gives it less. Again, I could be in the minority here, so do let me know your thoughts.
 
Write timeless classics
The simple way around all of this is, of course, to write something that is absolutely timeless. The poem "Ozymandias" comes to mind.

The temporal truth is that certain stories require a date, and certain stories may not, but to me, as in dating, there's no sense hiding your age. If you're looking to extend the life of a story, use other means, like referencing the story in later stories, repositioning it in another publication, or ideally, by making it really interesting so that people want to read it again and again--not by leaving it floundering in the land of unsureity*, which isn't even a word so far as I know, which makes it even less sure of itself, so now I'm really not reading it.
 
Maybe dropping the date is just a part of web culture. Blogs, for the most part, want to be the first and the fastest, and people want what's new, right now. Online, you navigate quickly through a near infinite variety of content, and as such, maybe it's the very nature of the online world that's led to the dismissal of dates--we have so many options, after all--maybe we just don't care from whence or when it came. It's here, now, and available, so what the hell. There's plenty of blogs in the sea.
 
I'll tell you what though...I still like a good date. Just like I prefer a book where I can get the copyright right up front, before we (the book and I) get too involved. After all, I'm going to be taking that book to bed sooner or later, and I want to know whether or not it's obsolete. With any luck, it'll be timeless.
 
*The land that time forgot was taken as a metaphor, and so I created my own--the land of unsureity--soon to be a major motion picture.

U's "Driven to Discover" campaign cited in WSJ

Congratulations to the U's marketing department! The latest round of Driven to Discover was highlighted in a Wall Street Journal article on college advertising campaigns, where Minnesota was called "the national champion of self-promotion."

What did WSJ find so impressive?

"The ad that graded the highest overall was Minnesota's. The ad features
Massoud Amin, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, who
talks about the importance of creating a better power grid. Our
panelists liked the ad because it was about academics. They also thought
it conveyed messages about research and diversity without beating the
viewer over the head with them."