Social Media Professor

Is Richmond mediocre in social media?

Posted on March 20, 2012 by marcusmessner

A recent list in Men’s Health magazine ranked Richmond as rather mediocre in the social media sphere of American cities. The River City only came in as the 38th “most socially networked city” and earned a C+. I was interviewed by Richmond.com writer Jennifer Pullinger on the reliability of the ranking and the social media community in Richmond. Continue reading →

Posted in Social Media | Tagged Business, Facebook, Foursquare, Men's Health, Ranking, Reliability, Richmond, SMCRVA, Social Media, Technology, Tumblr, Twitter, VCU | Leave a comment

Digital health communication trends and Wikipedia research presentations at IPRRC

Posted on March 10, 2012 by marcusmessner

At this week’s International Public Relations Research Conference in Miami, I presented two new research studies that explored trends in digital health communication research as well as referencing and framing patterns in Wikipedia articles on the banking industry. The study “From Web to Mobile: A Meta-Analysis of Trends in Digital Health Communication Research, 2001-2010″ is a collaboration with VCU graduate students Shana Meganck and Scott Quarforth as well as my VCU advertising colleague Scott Sherman. The study “Cite that Crisis: An Analysis of the References in Wikipedia Entries of Major Banking Institutions” was conducted with my research partner Marcia W. DiStaso from Penn State. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Health, Public Relations, Research, Social Media | Tagged Agenda Setting, Banks, Business, corporations, Financial Sector, Fortune 500, framing, Google, Health communication, Meta-study, References, Social Media, Sources, VCU, Wikipedia | Leave a comment

Why “Kony 2012″ went viral

Posted on March 9, 2012 by marcusmessner

An online campaign can hardly be more effective than the one of Invisible Children. This week, the nonprofit published an online documentary video on the abductions and mass murder of children in Uganda that went viral and brought attention to an issue that most Americans had never heard about. The central focus of the video “Kony 2012″ is the rebel leader Joseph Kony, who was indicted for war crimes in the region, but has never been captured. In the first few days after its release, more than 60 million people watched the video, which spread quickly through social media channels. NPR’s Alan Greenblatt interviewed me on the social media marketing success of the video. Continue reading →

Posted in International, Journalism, Politics, Public Relations, Social Media | Tagged Audience, Campaigns, Global, Government, Invisible Children, Joseph Kony, Non-profit, NPR, Social Media, Strategy, Uganda, Youth | 1 Comment

What to do about the Google privacy changes?

Posted on March 1, 2012 by marcusmessner

Google changes its privacy policy, combining data from all of its services into a consolidated user profile that makes it more efficient for advertisers to target consumers. Why is Google merging all of its privacy settings into one and what are users of Google Search, Gmail, Google+, YouTube, Picasa and Chrome supposed to do to protect their privacy online? CBS 6 anchor Sam Brock interviewed me on the topic. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Law, Social Media | Tagged Advertising, Business, CBS 6, Chrome, Data, Facebook, Gmail, Google, Interview, Picasa, Policy, Privacy, Search, YouTube | Leave a comment

Follow “iPadJournos” on Twitter and Facebook

Posted on February 18, 2012 by marcusmessner

This semester, I am teaching a Social Media Journalism class at VCU, in which all 14 student received an iPad to do mobile reporting projects. This innovative technology project is run in cooperation with VCU’s Center for Teaching Excellence and the Technology Services of the College of Humanities and Sciences (Hastech) as well as WTVR CBS 6 as a media partner. In the first six weeks of the semester, the students have been engaged on various social media platforms and visited a Social Media Club event this week. Social media experts like Scott Wise and Lorenzo Hall, executive producer and reporter at CBS 6, have also enriched the learning experience as guest speakers. Continue reading →

Posted in Blogs, Journalism, Social Media, Teaching | Tagged Blogs, CBS 6, CTE, Facebook, Hastech, iPad, Lorenzo Hall, Scott Wise, Social Media, Students, Twitter, VCU | 2 Comments

Should PR pros edit Wikipedia?

Posted on February 11, 2012 by marcusmessner

As the online encyclopedia Wikipedia grew in popularity, public relations professionals started monitoring the entries on their companies and organizations. Long forgotten scandals and crises suddenly began appearing again on Wikipedia and significantly increased the amount of negative content on major corporations. But what can PR pros do? Polish or rewrite the entries? I was interviewed by PR News on strategies that PR representatives can use to correct mistakes and update information without getting in trouble.

Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Public Relations, Research, Social Media | Tagged Business, corporations, Facebook, Fortune 500, PR News, Public Relations, Social Media, Wikipedia | Leave a comment

Social media for small businesses

Posted on February 10, 2012 by marcusmessner

While large corporations have implemented coherent social media strategies, small businesses still struggle to devote resources and time to an effective social media plan. I was interviewed by Jacob Geiger, editor of the business portal Work it, Richmond, on what small business need to do to engage on Facebook and Twitter, the worst mistakes that can be made as well as teaching social media at VCU. Continue reading →