David Kamerer

Associate Professor of Communication, Loyola University Chicago

Zeitgeist check at popurls.com

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popurls.gifWhile I’m living my wonderful but fairly ordinary life, millions of people post stuff to the web. Most of it is not worth looking at, but a tiny bit rises to the top, either by brilliance, outrageousness, or chance. 

Wouldn’t you like to review the new stuff at the end of the day? Now you can, thanks to Popurls.com. It’s a blast of links from the most popular blogs, social media sites and aggregators. Breathtaking! 
Once again, a web site that shows that metadata – data about data – is more interesting than data itself. Got that?
If you don’t visit Popurls, life will go on. But if you do, you’ll spend far more time than you should, tapping the zeitgeist. Good or bad thing? I can’t decide. Visit at your own risk. I can quit anytime …

Take your CV online with Visual CV

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VisualCV.gifThe other day the Wichita State student public relations society hosted a networking event at the Greteman Group. I spent most of my time there meeting students and critiquing resumes. I met some impressive young adults and they brought with them very good printed resumes. However, only one student had purchased and set up a web domain to show off their work.

The advantages of an online presence are pretty compelling: there’s 24/7 access to your portfolio, evidence that you have some online competence, and the ability to provide as much – or as little – information as a potential employer might want.
I know there are a lot of click-and-build options for personal websites, and a blogging platform might also work well. But here’s something that’s worth a look: Visual CV. It’s a new (still in beta) site for creating interactive resumes. You can embed video or other pieces of your work, and generally you have lots of control over presentation. While you can make it as interactive as you like, there’s a button on the bottom that generates a PDF. Nice! Check out Guy Kawasaki’s Visual CV. I have not signed up for this service (it’s free) but it’s definitely worth a look.

A class project, gone horribly wrong

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I’m interested in blogging and social media primarily as tools for my  work, which is in public relations. These tools are 

potentially great ways to develop targeted relationships to help achieve strategic goals. As a public relations professional, I 

belong to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). This organization works to separate what I call “ethical PR” from 

all the two-bit hustlers out there who will do anything to get their messages to their destinations. I am also accredited in public relations (APR), which distinguishes public relations practitioners much as the CPA distinguishes some accountants. It’s a good start, but will only help when there’s a critical mass of professionals to create a norm of good practice in the field.


PRSA has a code of ethics which all bloggers should at least consider. In fact, most of the sins of the blogging world would go away if bloggers would follow this code. 

Here’s what happens when people who are not trained in PR teach students to use social media tools. In short, this class project used deception and failed to disclose its relationship with its client, Coach, maker of designer purses and other leather goods. These people – the teachers AND the students – should have known better.

Liar, liar, career’s on fire

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Most aspiring singer/songwriters would tell the world when they signed a major record label deal. But Marié Digby didn’t tell a soul.
She didn’t tell anyone that Hollywood Records, owned by Disney and home to stars Hilary Duff and Raven Simone, bought her computer and production equipment so she could post simple videos to YouTube.


She kept quiet that Disney paid for polished studio recordings, featured on her MySpace page. On that page, under “Record label,” she specified “none.”

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Tools of the trade: Survey Monkey

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Last year I was asked to do an attendee evaluation for a
national meeting Envision hosted for some 450 participants. “No problem,” I
told my boss. And in a week, we had responses from 40 percent of our attendees
– a response rate that rivals that of any professional research firm.

It
turned out to be a quick and easy project, thanks to the online tool Survey
Monkey. Here’s a look under the hood:

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