Hoosier PRSA Blog

Wolfram Alpha: making the world computable

My brother-in-law has shared a gold mine for PR pros, who are expected to be expert researchers – and, if you’re like me, who like to use comparisons in your writing to catch your reader’s attention or to put information in context.

 

Now there’s Wolfram Alpha.

 

It solves math problems, figures out what the weather was on your date of birth, determines the third largest country in Europe, compares two books, creates a scatter plot for the correlation between GDP and railway lengths in Europe. 

 

It can tell you how many calories you’ll burn if you run four miles, based on your height and weight. It can tell you about carbon steel, analyze stocks, help you decide which mortgage terms are better and compare statistics of sports teams.

 

The speed and depth of information is mind-boggling. Watch the overview video before you do anything, so you’ll understand just what this system can do.

 

“We’re trying to take as much of the world’s knowledge as possible and make it computable,” says Stephen Wolfram, creator.

 

Go on, check it out. Tell the boss it’s research. Because believe me, you’re going to be using this site.

 

 

The Evolution of the Press Release

Comes today a dated -- nonetheless, apropos to our craft -- treatment of the social media release by Future Works, Brian Solis.

Press releases come in different flavors and serve different purposes. Well-written press releases are far from dead. In fact, when developed strategically, their opportunities, appeal and benefits are only expanding in conjunction with the groups of various influencers and consumers who rely on them for relevant information. Read more about the evolution of the press release as TechCrunch.

How is your agency using the new SMR?

Only Talking, Not Listening

There's an interesting article about IU Basketball coach Tom Crean using Twitter in the May 1 edition of The Indianapolis Star. The title of the article, Crean uses new social network to push IU program, doesn't quite mesh with what Coach Crean is actually doing.

Yes, he's pushing the IU program.
Yes, he's using Twitter, a social networking site.
But no, he's not networking.

According the article, "Crean has nearly 3,000 followers at twitter.com/tomcrean. Fans can sign up at the Web site to receive Crean's tweets on their phones. But this isn't back-and-forth communication. Crean does not read or receive replies."

He doesn't read or receive replies? That's not networking.

If I show up at the next PRSA luncheon and just talk and don't listen, I'm not networking... that's called talking. We PR folks call that one-way, ineffective communication.

Please don't misconstrue, I seriously doubt Coach Crean would have the time nor the need to reply or listen to most of the Hoosier faithful, and I'm guessing NCAA rules probably don't allow him to actually interact with recruits beyond a few messages (Kelvin Sampson take note). However, if all you are doing on Twitter is talking, you are missing the point.

At our chapter's Social Media Boot Camp last week, James Burnes of MediaSauce, made an excellent point: He said he get's the most use out of Twitter by listening.

Back to Crean, perhaps he is using Twitter in an effective way. How else could he send short messages to interested crimson-clad hoop fans?
One of those banners that follows airplanes? Too costly and not good for the environment.
Press releases? Naw, he'd have to deal with the PR people.
Emails? How 1990s!
Press conferences? He'd been dealing with the media filter.

The point is, if you are only using Twitter to "get followers" and not following others and listening to what they have to say, you aren't using this media channel to its full extent. Or maybe you are just like this guy: