Time is of the Essence

A group called Reboot is encouraging members of the Jewish faith to turn off their their electronic lives for the Sabbath. They aim to rebuild tradition after the last decade of 24-7 Myspace, Facebook and now Twitter abuse. This weekend was the National Day of Unplugging lasting from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. I am curious to know how hard this was for the participants? If you cannot shut-off your devices for the boss, then who?

Everyone is so connected 24-7, with new technology unfolding every month, from iPhones to Blackberries. Can you really blame everyone being so connected? It is so easy nowadays. Is social media creating a digital addiction? You see it everywhere, you may have experienced it yourself at some point! I know I had friends in the past that would not put down their cell phone to a point you question why they even want to hang out! Sometimes I see couples out to dinner glued to their smart phones, not even speaking a word until dinner arrives! Even “True Life” a popular MTV show is featuring a “I have Digital Drama” show next week that follows two lives as they become more desensitized to their addiction to the internet. It isn’t just them America, we all have a little twinge that tells us to check our Facebook, yes even at the dinner table.

If every person, no matter what race or background instilled a “National Unplug Day”, do you think we could do it? I am pretty sure I would have to lock up my iPhone and Macbook, what about you?

Most days I peruse various sites to check out the news and relevant stories. I was shocked to come across this video with Representative Patrick Kennedy, screaming during a House of Representatives meeting into the microphone. He was upset that there were only two members from the press in the meeting and directly attributed their lack of interest to their work in the House. He suggested that the press only cover irrelevant topics and when big decisions are discussed, like money or war, no one is there to relay to the American people.

I understand that we obtain news through a controlled filter. The press control what we are exposed to, good or bad. There are already 78 million viewers who tune into CNN each month to receive hard news.The point is, Americans ARE tuning into various news outlets. What messages are they receiving? Is it consistent among all levels? How much do you trust your news source? We already use tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to filter our news and social media profiles for us, it is hard even then to keep up with all the information. The press do a great job of covering relevant stories, yeah some are biased or modified, but what do you expect? This is the way our world works, and to get good press you need to focus on media relations. I do not blame the press for one second for not covering every Senate hearing. Do we really need to know everything?

Representative Kennedy’s outburst had a point, however it seems like he does not understand his audience. The American public should be the audience for all government related issues. As citizens of the United States, it is our right to vote and with that right we should stay tuned with all issues affecting us directly. The war, in theory, affects the entire country, but who is actually affected by it each day? Every issue our government debate is relative to each individual.

I will leave you with this food for thought: As a PR professional, do you think it is harder to pitch the “feel good” stories nowadays? I know we are not accustomed to pitching negative stores, as the saying goes “Not all press is good press”.

Photo Courtesy of: Business Insider

I learned the hard way this week about making your brand consistent. Over the years I have activated several social media tools including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Wordpress, Google Profile (the list is endless). Word to the wise, when you update one, update all of them. You never know what information is out there about you. You can only be in control of your own accounts and the image you are projecting. Perception is reality.

I took the time this week to go through each of my accounts to double check the information I was sharing with the public about myself. I am very careful about the personal information I share in general, but still checked it all. Projecting the same image to everyone supports your own personal brand. You share the information you want people to know, that is how it works. My advice is to go through all of your profiles and double check the information, make it all consistent. We are all so wrapped up in social media sometimes that we forget to double check the small details.

Review each social media profile for the following:

1. Double-check for spelling errors, punctuation and other minor errors
2. Clarify the image you are projecting – Ask yourself do you want people to know this about me?
3. Keep it simple, keep it genuine. Be a person.
4. Share truthful information, do not make up any information. It could come back to bite you if caught!

If you couldn’t make it last night, here is a recap of our #AZPRC meeting with the talented Jeff Hecht. During our meeting he made several relevant points, mentioned great case studies and even intertwined his personal love for “The Bachelor”.

Below are some key points Jeff went over personal branding:

• Twitter is a new tool to brand yourself, but you still need old school traditional tools too (phone, coffee dates, lunches)
• Work on your elevator pitch – Realistically, you only have  6 seconds to make the first impression. The goal is to get your foot in the door and get them to learn more about you. Work your way up to 30 seconds.
• A great way to brand yourself/network is to work the registration table at a local event.
• Know your audience, do your research before going to a networking event (with branding in mind)
• People will invite you into their house but not necessarily in their bedroom (Facebook Policy). You can add people onto your Facebook, but certain people should only have access to certain things. Keep what is personal, personal.

Thanks to those of you who came @cliquekaila @magpie247 @amandamarker @RedlinCook @CCPolitico @JennMcPhee@AlixSteinPR @abbygilmore @AshleyOakes @JeffHechtAZ