My Dow Network – My Corporate Social Utility

Before I left Dow, I promised I would be one of their first “Alums” to get active on Dow’s new social media site, My Dow Network. The site has been around for more than a year. It’s an interesting model – connecting employees, quitters and retirees in a private social community. 

I’ll blog more about it later. For now, check out Dow’s feature story on the network, I’m pictured. Also, Dennis McDonald wrote an interesting summary based upon a conversation with one of my former team members, Trish Bharwada.

Dow alumna Becky Marxer, who is now working at a public relations firm, says My Women’s Network helps her to stay connected with friends she left behind when she moved away from Midland to be closer to her fiancé. 

“This is an easy way to keep in touch,” says Marxer. “Although I’m 600 miles away, it feels like I’m back at Dow.  I have about 35 friends on my contact list.  I can look at their photos, keep in touch with job moves and stay current.”

 

By the way, as an accommodating PR professional, I did not object that they characterized my leaving the company to get married. That said, that explanation is a little simplified and… minorly feminized. Alas, gotta paint the one woman as having work/life balance issues! To be honest, I DID have a life issue – my future husband lived three states away! (Vent completed.)

Dow, I will always love ya – great company, even better people. Thank you for all the opportunities you affored me.

Tweeting for Business & Chief Tweets

Interesting read over at NYTimes, How Twitter Can Help at Work. Also, new twitter application for employee-to-employee tweeting, Yammer. Cool Video on their site.

UPDATE: Just found this cool CEOs on Twitter content over at BusinessWeek. Worth checking out and following some of these guys.

Communications for a Digital Globe – Live Webcast 9/12

LIVE FEED (1-2:30 p.m. CST, Friday, Sept. 12): mms:\\streaming.more.net\UMCJSchool 

Top Executives, Communication Experts Gather to Discuss Future of Interactive Communications

Columbia, Mo. (Sept. 8, 2008) — Top corporate leaders, journalists and strategic communicators will gather with citizens Sept. 12 for a spirited, free-flowing roundtable discussion about the future of communications during the centennial celebration of the Missouri School of Journalism and the dedication of the Reynolds Journalism Institute.

 

Gary D. Forsee	Russ Mitchell, BJ ‘82	Susan L. Bostrom
David W. Dorman	Mark Hoffman, MA ‘80	Carol J. Loomis, BJ ‘51
Amy McCombs, BJ ‘68, BA ‘69, MA ‘72	Dave Senay	Ralph de la Vega

“The President’s Roundtable: Communication for a Digital Globe” will look at the challenges – and identify winning strategies – when it comes to dealing with constant technological changes in communication. The discussion will feature viewpoints from people as diverse as a chief executive officer of a major company to an average citizen who is learning to live in a digital world. This free event will be from 1-2:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 12, in Jesse Auditorium. It is open to the public, and registration is not required.

Sue Bostrom, chief marketing officer, Cisco David Dorman, chairman of the board, Motorola Inc. Mark Hoffman, MA ‘80, president, CNBC Carol J. Loomis, BJ ‘51, senior editor at large, Fortune Magazine Amy McCombs, BJ ‘68, BA ‘69, MA ‘72, former president and CEO of Chronicle Broadcasting Dave Senay, president and CEO, Fleishman-Hillard International Communications Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility

Twitter Handbook is Here!

Exciting evening development. The Twitter Handbook was just been released. Check it out, it’s free. I’m scanning through it now. What do you think, 181 pages on a 140-character medium? Looking forward to the upcoming dialogue on the handbook!

Wonder how long it will take for me and my fellow PR brethren to monetize the insights. So many vultures out there trying to sell “the twitter solution.” I can tell you one thing, being an early adopter or first in your industry to get on Twitter puts you in a good competitive position. BUT… I have a hunch that many of us, passionate strat. commers, will toss our savvy to wind and go hog wild – spamming and promoting with dollar signs in our head versus relationship development in our hearts.

Hope us PR flacks get it right this time! Personally, I’m doing my best to be smart about it. In a new world like Twitter, one must rely on his/her instincts. In my case, those instincts are deeply rooted in strat comm theory.

… Alas, when I start talking “theory,” I know it’s time to log off.

Google Chrome Rejection – Crash and Burn?

Update to Loving Google Chrome from last week.  Chrome has crashed on me a few times today. It freezes up on Facebook and seems to be slowing my other applications. I still love you, Google Chrome, but you really need to patch things up. Some flowers would be nice.

Bringing My Colleague Into the 21st Century

UPDATE-2X: Had an awesome session this morning. Though we got to mashups, we didn’t even make it over to Facebook. We’re going to schedule a “part 2″ meeting for next week. Was an incredibly fun session, but I think I my colleague’s head might be swimming a bit at the moment! The Common Craft videos were a huge hit. Sent her a follow-up note with links to some reccomended tutorials.

UPDATE: Meeting rescheduled due to pressing client projects! We’re meeting this Friday morning (9/12). Do you have any advice or links to cool social media tools and/or tutorials??

Today is an exciting day at the St. Louis office of Fleishman-Hillard. Today, I am embarking on an hour of virtual enlightenment with a colleague. Actually, our Outlook meeting maker is titled something like “Bringing you into the 21st century.” 

This is a real treat for me. This afternoon, I get to spend a full hour of my day bringing the world of social media and new technology to a coworker. Here at FH, we do all sorts of “digital bootcamps” to help meet specific client needs – we’re a very “switched on” firm. But I’ve never had the opportunity to sit one-on-one with somebody and help open their eyes. 

Don’t get my wrong, I’m no Morpheus here. Just a passionate communicator looking to spread the good word of social media. Part of our journey will bring us to this blog and we’ll watch this embedded video on Twitter.

Oooh – I’m excited! Wikis, and Facebook and LinkedIn – oh my! IM and Rick Roll and chrome life – oh yes!!

The Effects of Internet Content Structure on Attention & Memory

A few years back, I executed a psychophysiological research study to fulfill the requirements of my master of arts degree. To date, my mom, dad and husband are the only folks who have cracked this book open. It’s dense, academically focused and it’s got some seriously questionable grammar! Nonetheless, it’s online – so might as well offer it up to the global collective. 

What’s the point? What knowledge was discovered and articulated?

Findings suggest that content structure does impact allocation of cognitive

resources for controlled attention. BSM requires less effort and fewer cognitive resources

allocated during exposure with no significant memory differences.

I presented these findings of my thesis at a couple academic conferences – it got me a trip to NYC and Lisbon. It also helped me get my first post-grad job. If one person out there finds value in it, all the better! 

Long live the Missouri School of Journalism and The PRIME Lab – Mizzou-Rah!

Loving Google Chrome – Search Replaces Address Bar

Just saw an interesting post over at Web Strategy by Jeremiah. Helped crystallize my thinking around why I love Google Chrome so much – aside from the cool design and snappy features… 

The search box circumvents the address bar
After playing with Google’s Chrome browser for the last few days, . Google “Address” bar, which is just called a “Box” is really a search field that anything entered into it will deliver a webpage (it first looks at your historical activities) or renders Google search results, or of some other search engine of your choosing (Including Twitter search). As a result, it’s become apparently that I no longer need to enter in URLs to my browser for 99% of all tasks.

[Chrome is a nod to the future, the address bar is really a search bar. URLs will be an anachronism]

 

…is what I mentioned in Twitter with a flurry of agreements back from the community. Lori MacVittie expands further on the idea and agrees that like engine parts in our car, or IP addresses, they mainly go invisible as we drive to our real world or online destinations.

Born To Be My Baby – Guilty Pleasure

Lots of things make me tick. I find motivation in some seriously mundane things. But when I need to get pumped up before a big meeting with a client and get that signature energy going, do you know what I do? Nope, it’s not guzzling a Monster energy drink and it’s not shadowboxing. It’s Born To Be My Baby (B2BMB).

So, I’ve been a major Bon Jovi fan since the age of three (no joke – it’s a good story). In fact, before I met my husband, I was somewhat convinced that Jon was the man for me. I stuck with them through the tough years when nobody loved the Jersey boys – I could go on forever.

Back to my guilty, close-my-office-door pleasure. B2BMB is a rocking song – but not Bon Jovi’s best, not by a long shot. The B2BMB video, on the other hand, is to die for.

Shot in the late ’80s, it was way before it’s time (it’s format has been replicated several times). The way the instruments and vocals build, the way you see the guys’ personalities – the viewer feels part of the action, part of the excitement. I often think how we PR professionals can replicate this persuasive communication. (No answers yet, just a slice of joy every time I watch the video!)

If I ever do karaoke – serious karaoke – I’m rocking out to this song. It seriously pumps me up when I’ve hit a wall. Enjoy!

I’m on Google Chrome!

I just got on Google Chrome! I’m the true test for how intuitive an interface is – especially when it’s as powerful as this one – which Google touts in the most non-evil format, a comicbook . 

Google Chrome

So is it me or does the chrome icon look a little like ’80s game Simon? Hoping this browser is easer to master than Simon… I was never good at that game.