Bloggers Beware!!

Yesterday the BBC had this article on their website. The tag-line was:

As a growing number of people claim to have been sacked over their blogs grows,
what safeguards can bloggers take?

Now I don't know if this is scaremongering, whether it is the backlash against blogging as predicted by some at the CIPR Northern Conference or whether some people just don't realise (a trap that I fell in) just who reads their blogs.

It is worth thinking about. Blogging is merely conversation that others can see and contribute to. Sensible, conscientious Bloggers therefore have nothing to fear if they do not forget this.

My favourite five social mee-jar

Now I have never seen myself as particularly 'techy'. Sure I can operate an iPod and a DVD player. I have my own blog and occasionally (although not always successfully) dabble in HTML.
You see having a blog instantly signs you up to an exclusive club where we all think we are fairly 'cutting edge', or at least we wish to receive recognition for embracing the new possibilities for communications, that the Internet and new technology sends us, or bloggers just want to have a bigger platform for conversation and reflection of these relations we call public. but I propose that really it is about exploration. Our need to discover.

You see, to seek out new things is something that we all do and it is this appetite for the new and shiny that lead us to blogging long before the vast majority. We like to try new things out; metaphorically stand in front of the mirror with them and see if they fit.

But how does this link with my 'techy'ness? Well I was tagged with this latest meme first by Stephen, and then by Simon. Like many things I read from both of these guys it had me pondering, this time (as I was meant to) on what I use social-media-wise.

Initially I couldn't think of anything. Nope, nothing at all. Does Yahoo fit? Could I use (as Simon did) Google? Would I be shunned by other bloggers for my lack of knowledge?

But then I calmed down and began to think logically, and discovered that actually I do have experience with much of this new 'social media'. In the same way that my appetite for discovery had led me to blogging in the first place, I have also flirted with many different online tools. In my blogging enthusiasm, every time I read about some new tool I like to sign up and try it out. (As long as it is free of course.)

The key thing is that I do not use any of them particularly regularly - but I am signed up to possibly the majority of them. So here are five of the social media that I am signed onto and I reckon I use possibly more than the others...

Technorati - I mentioned this before. You can see who is linking to you and search the blogosphere for various tags. As far as seeing who is linking to you it is always nice for a little ego boost on days when you feel all alone on the information superhighway. Or you can check out how many link to other sites, if you want. I actually don't use this all the time but I like to check in once or twice a week.

YouTube - I love this! It is an excellent way of wasting so much time. You can watch the latest trailers and music videos. Strangly addictive, I probably find myself on YouTube every couple of days.

The 'new PR' wiki (Crispy News) - This has been a recent discovery for me. On one hand I can just go there and read what blog posts have been voted as the most interesting, informative or just plain amusing PR posts on the web. I have uploaded two articles (the first one was my own as way of an way of seeing exactly how 'New PR' worked.

Blogger - although I have occasional issues with Blogger, I cannot fault all the good work that its doing; helping so many people set up their own blogs in a (very) cheap and simple way. And I reckon I use it at least twice a day, just checking things and messing about.

Now what for the last one?...

So many choices. Should I go with Frappr? or perhaps MySpace (although I have slagged it off I still guiltily return to check out various sites)? Maybe Del.icio.us? Actually no, not Del.icio.us. I'm still getting to grips with it and so I can't really lie and say I use it all the time.

So I am going to go with:

Podcasts - just great. I have recently been so inspired by other PR podcasts that I have even began experimenting with the medium myself. As we say in South London - Nuff said.

So on to the tagging:

I would be interested in hearing what Owen, Ed, Richard, Chloe and Sam have discovered.

Busy Busy Busy!

I have been having a few teething problems with a wireless Internet system, which left me in a rather dazed and confused state for a while! No excuse I know but I shall endeavour to bring you up to speed.

I was in the Guardian Last Saturday - in the 'Rise' section that's for graduates and you can find nestled in the jobs section. I had to review some books on job hunting.

This all came from when I was approached by a Chris Alden, a journalist completing a piece for the Guardian Newspaper. More specifically the Rise section of the Saturday paper that is in the Work section and is aimed at graduates. Chris had found me through this blog and wanted me to help reviewing eight books that are written to aid job seekers. They were:

What Should I DO With My Life? - Po Bronson
The 2006 What Color [sic] is Your Parachute? - Richard Nelson Bolles
How to Get a Job You'll Love - John Lees
Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions - Martin John Yate
How to Get The Best Graduate Job - D. Williams, P. Brown and A. Hesketh
Pitch Yourself - Bill and Michael Faust
How to be Brilliant - Michael Heppell
Brilliant CV - Jim Bright and Joanne Earl

Some of which were rubbish and some were rather helpful. You can read the article here.

They also put me on the front cover which was nice!

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I also went to the CIPR Northern conference! I was incredibly disappointed that not one single student took the CIPR offer of cheap tickets! - Come on guys at this rate they will never offer again!!

Anyway I went and had a wonderful time! I have some pictures (courtesy of Andrew) but Blogger is misbehaving so I'll put them up at another time.

Anyway on what was probably the hottest day in the history of Leeds (6th July - write it down) over 150 delegates descended on the Electric Press in the Millenium Square. I handed out some badges (which - future student helpers note - was an excellent way to meet people too) and showed all the delegates about and then got to see all the keynotes and visit three workshops. Bargain!

I was also interviewed for the podcast being done of the day and it is well worth listening to as you get to hear large chunks of the conference including behind the scenes questions. There is also a videocast too!

Stuart Bruce's blogging workshop really opened my eyes as to the rather shocking lack of knowledge by so many of the other delegates about blogging and a lot of other social media. I found this fantastic and incredible - I can't imagine not having a blog and not reading others. After all, blogs and other web sites where I get my information from for the most part!

This continued to be the theme of the day and certainly most people there will have gone home with their heads ringing to the tune of podcasts, RSS feeds and blogs!

Anyway I shall let you know tomorrow how I am preparing for the Hill and Knowlton Graduate Project Day on the 19th!

I Have a PR Degree!

Hurrah and indeed hurray.

I am now the proud owner of a BA PR (2:2)!!

I got the results a few days ago which probably explains why I have been scooped with my own story! (Is there nothing that Stephen Davies chap doesn't know?)

Anyway massive thank you's to all those who helped with my dissertation research and any other projects I was doing.

Wages of Spin - in French?

Well I discovered this through Google today and it made me laugh a lot.

You see Mme. Wright? Who knew that forgetting my handbook and chatting with Iona Sherlock at French GCSE wouldn't have the catastrophic effect you predected. Despite my B at GCSE I can still communicate with the good people of France!

I'm off to look at other frenchified pages.

If you use the links from my frenchy page you will see other blogs like Richard Bailey's and Stephen Davies' frenchified.

"Who said protest was futile?!"

Andrew Wake, one of the organisers of the CIPR Northern Conference, has just left a comment on one of my other posts saying:

CIPR have now approved 10 student places at £25 on a first come first served basis so anyone interested needs to e-mail us (andrew@dontpanicprojects.com) or give us a call on 01706 828855.

Who said protest was futile?!

I thought I would highlight it and look forward to meeting anyone who applies.

To get a job... or not?

Like many in my position I am pondering whether to get a summer job.

You know the type, a bar job or waitressing. Something with very little reponsibility that will pay me weekly and keep me sweet until the grown up job of my dreams arrives.

Now I will need something that will allow me to go to interviews, attend the conference and my H&K day and graduation weekend. If I do get a job that starts straight away I will need to be able to ditch rubbish job fairly quickly - a week or so's notice.

It's a pretty tall order really. But I reckon it will keep me out of harms way and maybe I'll be able to afford a holiday at the end of the summer? A holiday....