When people hold their newspapers, they notice the big headlines and the pictures. These are the things that draw their attention. If the pictures look interesting, they will read the captions which are the short pieces of text or descriptions beside or below the picture.
If I don't have enough time to read the newspapers, I normlly glance through the pages and if I find the pictures very interesting or intriguing, I would stop briefly and just read the accompanying text. If I find time to read the papers later on the day, I would go back to those pictures again and read the stories beside it.
It's interesting to think how photos or even graphics on newspapers and magazines help 'sell' the news stories to the readers. Photos and graphics have become marketing 'tools' to help promote a news story, and sell the publication- at least in my own opinion. I would know an attention-grabbing photo with a very good caption when I see one. Photos in general should be able to tell you the news. Although photos cannot do it alone, it cannot give readers all the answers to the story like Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? In this case, captions should be able to make it clear to the readers what's happening in the picture or who is in it.
If you're able to see today's paper, is there any picture that caught your attention? And, did you ever bother to read the caption? I thought then that looking at pictures (including graphics) and the corresponding captions serve as a good exercise to anyone interested in copy editing. We undoubtedly use our common sense when we look at pictures and see if the caption helps explain what's being told in the picture. If you were in-charge of putting photos and captions in a print or online publication, you will surely need to have an eye on this stuff but for everyday readers of the Winnipeg Free Press for instance, readers don't necessarily have to build up on that skill; their quick response to look at the picture and read its corresponding caption is enough to tell you that you have succeeded in getting their attention.
Voters for the upcoming 2010 Civic Election have their opportunity to decide now who they want to vote for mayor, city councillors, and school board trustees. One way of doing this is looking at their self-promotional materials.
I have received at least a couple of materials from local candidates in the last couple of weeks. Somehow, finding time to read these materials was as simple as resting on the couch after a heavy meal-- at least that's how it worked for me. As I was reading through one candidate's tri-fold brochure, I noticed several errors that were avoidable. Unfortunately, I assumed that no one cared to proofread the material or maybe yet, the individual responsible in proofreading it was too busy multi-tasking at the candidate's campaign office.
The errors I found were on subject-verb agreement; structure and organization of thoughts; and spelling of words. I wonder- maybe it's just me who's thinking critically here that at the sight of a minute error, I would readily grab my writer's pen and do an unsolicited editing work. The brochure looks fairly decent with the candidate's smiling face on the cover. He looks more like my friendly neighbour who would not think twice to help me just in case I trip on the sidewalk on a rainy day. But these promotional materials serve as an extension of the candidates' overall image. If these errors were done on a provincial or federal level, there is simply no excuse; people will easily notice and probably the media will write about it.
The civic election has its own limelight shining upon all the candidates and their throngs of supporters. Errors on their self-promotional materials are somehow forgivable (at least for now) and the public wouldn't stage a rally to contest a candidate from running on the basis of wrong grammar. These candidates may not even know that such errors appeared but if they did, there's nothing much they can do; all of the materials were already printed with donation dollars spent.
My decision on who I would vote for the different offices is stil hanging by the thread. I think I still have to give myself more time and study these candidates even closer.Their agendas will be a good place to start; that will give me an inside look on what they will be doing in case they get elected. As with their brochures, flyers, and other self-promotional materials, how I wish that these materials will also best reflect the candidates' image even if it's printed on a piece of paper.
There are certain mornings we find it just hard to get up from our beds and start off with our day. But once we’re in front of our computer or laptop screens, our fingers just can’t stop tinkering away those keys to share what’s been going on in our lives with the rest of the world.
The use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook, has been a vital part of most people’s lives including mine. Honestly, I have never thought that I would let social media be part of my life not until three years ago, when a friend invited me to join Facebook.
Although I have only been using Facebook for three years now and joined the Twitter community five months ago, I can say that there is still so much more to learn as I go along.
Twitter vs. Facebook
If you want to reach millions of people directly and would want to send short messages called “tweets” on any topic and likewise receive tweets from other people you choose to follow, then Twitter is the right one for you.
Twitter is a “micro-blogging” site that allows you to send short messages of 140 characters or less. Twitter allows you to send messages instantly, post a link to an interesting site, and ‘re-tweet’ someone else’s post/comment for others to see.
What I also find interesting about Twitter (and which makes it totally different from Facebook) is the fact that I can know of the latest news instantly. Since I follow a certain news organization, its tweets are all about news updates which I find very useful.
As with Facebook, it’s a totally different stage. As a social networking site, you enjoy communicating with your friends much deeper by sending and receiving emails; sharing photos and videos; writing comments or updates on your wall or someone else’s wall; and even allow for a string of discussions on a certain topic. Facebook also allows you to display or share your profile with others, which eventually becomes your ‘online resume’ (at least this is what I consider it to be). The site’s extensive privacy controls allows you to control which people can view your photos, videos, wall postings, profile, etc.
So if you like to keep in touch with your old friends and classmates way back in primary years, or better yet keep in touch with fellow co-workers, then Facebook is the right one for you. The great thing about Facebook is that it allows its users to create event or fan pages. If you have an important event coming up that you want to promote online and simply create more awareness among Facebook users (and even non-Facebook users), then a Facebook event page will be a good tool for you.
How do I use each one—at least for me?
Somehow by discussing the differences between Twitter and Facebook, you are already getting a grasp on how I use each one. Most of the time, I would use Facebook just because that most of my acquaintances, friends, and family are in it. I find it easier to share what’s going on in my life with others by posting a comment on my wall which allows them to give their feedback instantly. By putting up a comment on my wall also gives me the option to share a link, photo, video, event, and others. There are also third-party applications which I used long time ago like “send your friend a smile” but later on discontinued its use after learning that these third-party suppliers are not connected with Facebook in any way and uses my personal information for the purposes of their business. Overall, I don’t feel comfortable with this. So every time I receive a request to play a game or receive a virtual gift, (except for friend and event requests), I simply ignore it so I can better protect myself from a third party accessing any part of my personal information.
And so, how about my friends and family—how do they use each one?
For them, they would use Facebook more than Twitter because their friends, colleagues, and family members are on Facebook, too. Just like how I use each one, they use Facebook more for personal stuff since they can socialize more with it by sharing personal photos and videos. On Twitter, most have a combination of ‘strangers’ following them and people that they know of personally. Generally, they would tweet of things that could be of great interest to everyone, while they would communicate personal messages through Facebook. When asked what characterizes a ‘good’ person to follow or friend, the answers I got range from people who share the same school, company, interests, or even friends (on Facebook). As with people to follow on Twitter, the criteria is more varied and loose; some would follow people who they know personally or are in the same company or network they belong to; for the others, it’s a matter of common topics they’re interested in or simply finding that person popular enough to follow.
What do these all mean for a strategic use of Facebook and Twitter on PR?
If we have an upcoming event let’s say, the launching of a children’s book, a Facebook event page can be put up to invite potential guests to come. In Facebook you will be able to include more information about the event by putting up a promotional video and even a link to the actual website. If you are hoping to get more exposure let’s say, to your target audience of university students in Manitoba, your event page will be shown on the news feed of those people who recently responded to your event by way of leaving a comment on your wall or confirming their attendance. With Facebook, you can target more specific groups or networks of people who are more likely to be your target audience.
Generally what we are looking for in here are the different behaviours of people on how and why they use Twitter and Facebook distinctly to meet their individual purposes. As it turns out, Facebook for most is for sharing more personal information, messages, and interests. It’s basically a platform to ‘present’ oneself to others. As it becomes, one’s Facebook is like an online identification card and resume, promoting one’s interests, updates, and other information to other people. So if there is any event or product that you would like to create more awareness for and more direct responses from other people, then Facebook will be a good place to start. If it’s more for creating “buzz” for your event or product, Twitter will be a good platform solely because that the way the site allows messages to be sent through (in short lengths), people will readily be notified or updated—and if interested, a link can be provided or attached by the sender along with the original post. If it’s really more for the “buzz” and for the purpose of sending out the message in a way similar to word-of-mouth (this time it’s done virtually), Twitter gives you that benefit of sending out your message instantly to the public—allowing anyone to read it and give you the benefit of having let's say, hundreds of people to read it. Twitter will be very useful if you are meaning to send out the message to the general public and get feedbacks, responses, and even leads instantly. Remember, we can create more “buzz” on Twitter if used in the right way for the purposes of your PR plan—consider using “trending topics” when needed.
Here's a fun video on social media which you may find interesting- enjoy!
Today’s generation hardly listens to radio dramas anymore nor do a majority of children even know what a radio drama is. These past years, my children have grown to like listening to radio dramas particularly the Adventures in Odyssey.
Back in 2005, I listened to one of its episodes and began to discover how useful it can be in creating a positive influence to my children. For almost five years, listening to Adventures in Odyssey is a staple in my children’s entertainment.
Adventures in Odyssey provide character-building stories kids love. As an example, I listened to its Christmas 2009 episode entitled,“Snow Day”—an AIOradio drama episode written by John Fornof.
The story focuses on Alex’s mission to bring a cookie tin full of chocolate macadamia nut cookies to his grandmother—only to be stopped by another kid named Rodney along the way. In his quest to reach his grandmother’s house with some help from his friends Cal, Nathaniel and Mandy, Alex persevered and enjoyed the sweet smell of victory.
This radio drama’s creative team includes Rob Jorgensen as the sound designer who creatively captured ‘real’ sound effects. Jorgensen revealed in an interview that he spent one day just to make the sound of a sled going down the hill. Jorgensen went to Home Depot and bought a garbage can and went on top of the hill. He placed a recorder on his chest and held a microphone above and launched himself down the slope. In the end, he got the sound effect he wanted for the episode.
Writer John Fornof said that he also based the story from his real life experience when he was a kid. Living north of Pittsburgh, Fornof recalled the fun memories he had sledding down the snowy hill. He then took a moment in his life and puts it in the story creating a very visual show.
Listening to this radio drama/comedy stirred up my imagination. The story when listened to was as vivid as an open storybook, with scenes painted right before my eyes. The use of words especially in the narration, appealed to my senses—I can see, feel, taste and even smell the different aspects of the story as unfolded in the drama.
The use of background music was very vital in creating the right moods in the story. Not only did it advanced the timeline of the story, the music also created a sense of anticipation for the listeners whether an air of suspense or excitement is coming our way.
At the most part, I really like the sound effects. Some of the sound effects which I think were creatively executed were the sounds of paper bag being folded; snow being scraped from the ground; snowballs being thrown; the sound of ‘sniper snowballs’; running on snowy ground; and even the ‘slow motion’ sound effect done by lengthening the actors’ dialogues weaved with special sound effects (by the way, Jorgensen is a great fan of Chariots of Fire—this served as an inspiration for him to create the slow motion sound effect).
Overall, the sound style is very ‘cartoony’—there’s a lot of imagination involved and surely, the creative team amped up on the effects to show its fantastic side.
In as much as my kids enjoy listening to Adventures in Odyssey, I too, can say that this is wholesome family entertainment where discussions are encouraged after listening to every episode. Adventure in Odyssey is aired in Winnipeg through CHVN 95.1 FM on Saturday mornings from 8:00-9:00 a.m.
Radio dramas need not be a thing of the past—it still does have a place in the household. By listening to it, your mind creates vivid images that stir up your imagination and sense of creativity.
