CONNECT 2008

Closing reception: takeaways and future directions

ugaconnect — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:35:11 +0000

Constantin Basturea wrapped up Connect ‘08 with a brief discussion of takeaways and next steps. Here’s what he had to say:

Will AP style still be necessary? Dr. Karen Hilyard explains.

ugaconnect — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:24:52 +0000

A lively ongoing debate among UGA Connect attendees was whether PR pros would still need to know and use proper AP style now that nontraditional communication methods seem to be the way of the future. I decided to ask my former PR instructor, Dr. Karen Hilyard (who now teaches at The University of Tennessee), and here was what she had to say.

Dr. Kaye Sweetser on 2008 UGAConnect vs. 2007 UGAConnect

ugaconnect — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:56:59 +0000

Second year conference attendee, Dr. Kaye Sweetser discusses the differences between 2007 UGAConnect and 2008 UGAConnect.

Listen to her insight here.

Paull Young discusses pressing issues in social media

ugaconnect — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:28:46 +0000

On Saturday the Connect team caught up with second year conference attendee (and token Aussie) Paull Young. Paull Young is a Senior Account Executive for social media communications agency Converseon. He speaks about some of the issues he faces as a young practitioner using social media techniques.

Listen to his discussion here.

Bert DuMars pre-speech interview

ugaconnect — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:18:59 +0000

Before we heard from Bert DuMars on Saturday afternoon, we caught up with him about his latest projects at Newell Rubbermaid and more. Check out what he had to say!

UGAconnect’s delicious page

ugaconnect — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:51:40 +0000

Connect 2008 has its own delicious page, which we’re still updating with links from the conference (“links” tag). We hope it helps you use the information and ideas the speakers presented at the meeting.

We’re also linking to blog posts and videos about the conference, so check out the “coverage” tag to see what people are saying about Connect.

Jarek Beem compares Connect 07 and Connect 08

ugaconnect — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:02:05 +0000

A Perspective on eHealth

ugaconnect — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:10:10 +0000

Mia Lustria talked about Research Perspectives in Consumer Health Informatics & Measurement Issues.

Consumer health informatics or eHealth: Help others make more informed health decisions

Using social media in healthcare – Examples of Consumer Health Informatics Applications:

Shift in emphasis in online searching from disease and treatment to wellness and prevention. Eighty percent of Americans have searched online for health information.

Why use social media for health?

Messages can be personalized
Reach a broad audience
Interactivity
Control the timing
Message can be tailored to narrowly-defined audiences

Example of tailoring to a specific audience online: Re-mission: Game and community for young people with cancer

Online Healthcare Challenges:

Access issues
Linking design and theory
Maximizing interactivity and tailoring capabilities
Finding ways to measure

Great presentation. Hopefully we will be able to get her slide show and post them up later on this site. Thanks!

Social Media Measurement

ugaconnect — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:08:00 +0000

Jim Fetig and Kathi Wallace from Georgia Tech spoke on measuring user-generated media.

Social media is fluid. So, how do we measure it? Don’t measure output, you have to measure outcome.

Case Study:

Audience: 42% of Americans say the Internet played a major role as they decided on a college.

Traditional journalism is rapidly changing: 70% of journalists read blogs for work and 70 million people watch YouTube videos every month.

Case study questions: What’s the norm for visibility? How does this compare to the traditional model? Are the measurements the same?

Focusing research on:

Social bookmarking sites
Blogs
Facebook
Institution blogs
YouTube

Findings:

One action they took was comparing media outcomes in traditional media space to social media outcomes.

General institution news (discussion of campus life, events and news of student groups) drove better visibility.
Actions and achievements of students were much more prevalent in social media than in traditional media.
Social media gave an equal opportunity for message communication just like traditional outlets did. Social media was not as uncontrolled as they expected.

Another question they asked was is there engagement around Georgia Tech related topics in social media? They measured this looking at:

Comments
Inbound links
Bookmarking sites
Forum thread length

One thing they found was that low visibility does not mean low engagement.

Lots of questions on this subject. Thanks Jim and Kathi for showing the Connect audience what your experience has been.

Thank you to those who donated.

ugaconnect — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 20:53:55 +0000

The Connect Team would like to thank all the companies who donated products for the conference gift bags.
•    Bauble Bath: Taking your bath from ordinary to luxurious!
http://www.baublebath.com/
•    Cram by Simple leap: Test preparation on your mobile device.
http://www.simpleleap.com/cram.htm
•    Wysong: Trying to make a difference in the world by approaching health as if thinking matters.
http://www.wysong.net/