Social Media Monitoring Tools

This week I have a social media audit project due in my Social Media for Public Relations course. We were provided with a list of ideas and tool we could use for this assignment. Here are some really great tool you could use if you wanted to monitor a company/brand/person/event etc.

First of all Google Reader is an essential social bookmarking tool. It is a place were you can send all the information from all your monitoring tools through RSS feeds and keep it organized and compressed.  I use Google reader on a day to day basis.

Back to the presented topic. Here are some great tools I used for my project:

Google Alerts:
Google Alerts tracks the Web for Sites, Blogs, News, Microblogs, videos, and Images.
For this project, I created a Google Alert for any of the above having to do with iPad, iPod, iPhone, iTouch, iTunes, Mac, MacBook, and/or Steve Jobs.

The Alerts will be sent directly to my Google Reader as-they-happen.


Twitter Advanced Search:
Twitter Advanced Search gives the option to find tweets based on words, phrases, hashtags, people, places and attitudes.

Here's what my results feed looks like:

You can also RSS Feed these results, which of course I did. I highly recommend you do as well. This search also provides 'in real time' results like Google Alerts.


IceRocket:
IceRocket searches the Web for sites, blogs, news and more for your key words of choice. Here are my results:

IceRocket provides you with the option of viewing results from today, the past week, month or you can choose dates yourself. It has RSS feed capability as well as the others.

There are many more site like: Social Mention, BoardTracker, Delicious, Yahoo Pipes, etc.

You can also monitor the subject of your choice on Facebook and Myspace.

The point of all this monitoring is basically to research and see what other people are saying and reporting on your topic. It is a very helpful research tool, essential for social media savvy university students like me!

The Democratization of Fashion

If your a fashion enthusiast and love social media, you'll love CHIQ! 

This week I Finished my Personal Learning Project for my Social Media for Public Relations course. This Project was aimed at providing the student with the opportunity to tailor an assignment to our own learning needs and course related interests. I chose to create a digital media kit for http://chiq.com/

I believe that Chiq is unique and I am confident in it's mission to reshape the dissemination of fashion.

Chiq is an online community that encourages women who follow style to become fashion leaders. It is an indespensable resource for fashion dissemination and the Internet's only open platform social networking site devoted exclusively to fashion and online sales. Community members upload photos of their favorite clothing, shoes and accessories and are awarded points from other members who cast CHIQ-it votes for the items they consider 'hot'.

Now I know this doesn't make much since right now, but let me explain a little further...

Becoming a user:
Becoming a user is simple and best of all it's free! Just go to the Chiq web site and click the 'my chiq' link and it will prompt you to sign in or create an account. 


Once a member:
Once a member of the Chiq online community, you can upload and submit items from multiple sources which you believe are fashionable and want to share. It's an easy and convenient way to share your favorite fashions.

Chiq it:
Once a piece is uploaded, other users can vote on the item with the "chiq it" icon.


What's it for?
With users consistently uploading new items daily, everyone can keep up with what's new, trendy, and successful. Further, not only do members help determine what is showcased, but they also have the opportunity to network with other users who are passionate about fashion. 


What all does the site entail? 

Chiq provides an up-to-date feed of what users are uploading.

It provides a real time list of what's most popular via chiq votes.

 A blog reporting all the latest trends from around the world.

A list of the hottest topics being talked about in the chiq community.

Chiq is also participates in social media communication, such as Twitter and Facebook, so you can follow Chiq updates whenever you want!

So what makes Chiq different?

Chiq isn't just for fashionistas! It also for the user of bloggers, lables, and linkage partners. how so you ask?

Fashion bloggers can both utilize and contribute to Chiq tremendously. Bloggers can pull trends and new ideas from users and contribute to the forum by communicating their own thoughts to the community. 

Lables can take consumer feedback on their products and use the information to benefit the growth and innovation of their company. The more products produced by a label posted, the more feedback is provided.

Linkage partners can utilize Chiq as a promotional vehicle for fashion items as well as a traffic accelerator and sales mechanism.

Why Chiq matters!

Chiq is so unique and important because users now have a voice in shaping the marketplace.

The iPhone: What your Blackberry can't do

Can your phone navigate the night sky? Can you tune your guitar with it? How about record how many miles you just biked If you have an iPhone, it can!

There is an iPhone app for just about anything and everything today. Here are just a few apps to temp you to flip from your old phone to a smart phone:

Star Walk - With Star Walk you can navigate the sky in real time. If you tilt your phone towards the night sky, the app can tell you if you are staring at Orion himself. You can also review the phases of the moon and see what it will look like tomorrow or next week. With the Time Machine display within Star Walk you can even travel through time to see what the whole sky will look like a year from today. And, If your unsure about a constellation you are observing, it's okay! Star Walk also has Wikipedia access, which can look up any information you need to know.  

Cleartune- Cleartune is an instrument tuner and pitch pipe. The built in mic within your iPhone picks up noise and creates a convenient and accurate way to tune your guitar or other instrument like a pro.

"As a regularly performing professional musician with a college degree in music and teacher I would reccomend this product to anyone."

-AmazedMusician

iMapMyRide- iMapMyRide uses your iPhone's GPS technology to track your path and find out how far you bike. Now it's easy to track your progress and reach your goals. There is no more second guessing. You can feel confident and comfortable knowing time, distance, pace, speed and elevation. Once you're done with your ride, you can save your data and it will automatically upload to MapMyRide.com.




There are thousands of apps out there to help you doing anything from manage money to finding you a good dinner spot. There are over 50,000 apps out there for you to discover. Don't be shy, take a look at more apps at the Apple web site.

Archiving Tweets

Twitter has made it all the way to the Library of Congress!

According to the library of congress blog, your tweets will now be archived in the Library of Congress. Every tweet since the beginning of twitter history (March 2006) will be archived digitally and housed in the infamous Library of Congress.  These tweets will be made public.

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. It  receives copies of every book, pamphlet, map, print, and piece of music registered in the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States and serves as a research tool to congress and the public.

According to the Twitter Blog: "Today, fifty-five million tweets a day are sent to Twitter and that number is climbing sharply."

Why are our tweets going to Congress?

“Tweets and other short-form updates create a history of commentary that can provide valuable insights into what’s happened and how people have reacted,” wrote Dylan Casey, Google’s product manager for real-time search.

Our tweets are seen as a time-line of history that have recorded important world event such as the presidential election of Obama, and the earthquake in Haiti. The Library of Congress believes that are tweets can have a large contribution to history.

Also in twitter news: Google has created a wonderful new way to revisit tweets related to historic events.

You didn't think that the Library of Congress was going to take the whole cake did you?

It's called Google Replay.

"Since we first introduced real-time search last December, we’ve added content from MySpace, Facebook and Buzz, expanded to 40 languages and added a top links feature to help you find the most relevant content shared on updates services like Twitter. Today, we’re introducing a new feature to help you search and explore the public archive of tweets", says Dylan Casey, Product Manager for Real-Time Search.

with this "search engine" you can recount any subject that has been tweeted about in the past. Currently, you can only search back a couple of months, but soon you will be able to go back all the way to the beginning of tweeting time.  


How do you feel about your tweets going public?

iPad Ban

If you're thinking about taking that iPad to Israel, think again!

The Wall Street Journal released a report recently stating that Israel has banned the iPad. The Apple product's wireless technology is said to threaten interference with other technologies. Reasoning behind this ban has said to be because the iPad was developed in U.S. standards and does not converge with European or Israel standards. This is because U.S. standards allow stronger signals than that of other countries. 

"This device's wireless strengths violate Israeli law and will overpower other wireless devices in Israel," ministry spokesman Yechiel Shavi said.

Apple argues that the iPad has been created in compliance to international Wi-Fi specifications.

People have been flying into Israel for years now with other devices with the exact same configuration. Why is it not that Israel is putting a foot down? is there something fishy going on here?

"Mr. Shavi, the ministry spokesman, said anyone who brought wireless devices configured to U.S. standards into Israel in the past should have declared them to customs officials and could have had their devices confiscated."
Those flying into the country are being denied the ability to keep their devices and are being asked to leave them with authorities in the airport at the cost of a storage fee. At the time of their departure from the country, they may pick their devices back up.

This may be seen as an extreme inconvenience for those who use their iPad as their main source of organization, communication, and information. Those on business trips may want to arrange a different form of technology and return back to their laptops.   

There is a theory that Israel feels that the technology of the iPad undermines their status in the technology industry as a high tech country and influence. Another speculation is that it could possibly interfere with Israel's military "communication technology".

Once Apple has released a version of the iPad that is in accordance with the standards of Europe and Israel, the ban will be lifted.

Re-Cap St. Edward's University 2010 Homecoming Weekend!

2010 Homecoming Celebration Video 

This year marks the 125th Anniversary of St. Edward's. As so, the university wanted to make this year's homecoming celebration extra special for student, faculty, and alumni as it launches a year full of celebration. This video chronicles the events that occurred over Homecoming weekend Feb. 19-20 2010. One of the most exciting contributions to celebration was the welcoming of the class of 1970 for their 40th year reunion! I know they were proud to see the university buzzing with excitement and celebration.

This film starts out with a view of our main building from East Hall, our all girls dorm. It then hit all the highlights of the weekend. The Homecoming Tailgate was a huge success this year. Last year it was canceled due to high winds. The tailgate included, music, vendors, and tons of food. Everyone was there including our unofficial school mascot, Pax. His unavailing was a huge success; students, faculty, and alumni alike were all enthusiastic about his attendance. The tailgate was the opener for a great game! The St. Edward's hilltoppers men's basketball game against UT Permain Basin was a nail bitter. With the support of the huge crowd, the toppers beat out UT by a single shot. It seemed the school had a glow about it for the rest of the evening. After the game, our Mr. & Mrs. SEU were crowned. Fireworks capped off this fairytale weekend. Everyone joined together as fireworks lit the Austin Skyline. It definitely a weekend to remember and hold close.

Ask Lynda

This week I spent a lot of time working on my personal learning project for my social media class. The personal learning project was designed to provide students with the opportunity to tailor an assignment to their own learning needs and course related interests. During the brainstorming process, I was given the opportunity to work with CHIQ and create a digital media kit for the website.

As I began researching how to make a digital media kit, I discovered that it required me to know how to navigate Adobe InDesign (CS4). Prior to this project I had never used a CS4 (Creative Suite) before. The situation became immediately overwhelming. I had never taken on the responsibility of working with an actual company to make a real product. I was terrified that I would fail. Luckily for me Chiq spokesperson, Christina Hall, was very willing to help me learn. She gave me the web address to a site where I could learn all the CS4 programs and much, much, more. This site is  www.lynda.com.

Lynda.com provides training videos on a variety of software from Access to Garageband to InDesign. You can search for what your looking for by subject, vendor, software or author. Users have access to over 42,000 video tutorials with anytime access. Lynda is not a free service, but it is completely worth it if you want to learn a program from top to bottom fast. Lynda provides updates on the latest software and videos.

Not only does Lynda provide thousands of useful tutorials, but the tutorials are easy to navigate and follow. Take InDesign for example. The InDesign "essential training" videos are broken down into sections:

These section are broken down into several videos. Lynda provides how long each video is and how big each file is. It also lets you know which videos you have already viewed just in case you leave the site and come back later to continue your lessons.

Along with each video you can access a description (overview), exercise files, so that you can follow along with each video, and a transcription.

I will not only use Lynda's help for this project and product but for future projects and products. Learning this material could help me in my future career. Learning all the CS4 software could give me an advantage in the work place.