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This is really interesting article following the ways in which Lady Gaga has capitalized on using social media to promote her brand - especially now that she has her own social networking site for her fans that launched earlier this summer. I don't consider myself an avid fan of hers, but I'm really impressed with the way she uses social media to interact and connect with her fans; which is basically the only reason why I follow her on Twitter.

As a consequence of spending so much time online, we now leave traces of our personality everywhere. Our online behaviors are of interest to recruiters and employers, who are desperately trying to translate them into "digital reputations" and use them to find talent online. This HBR article mentions that Egosurfing -or self-googling-is now more important than updating your CV.

You can now promote your posts onto your friends' news feeds by paying Facebook to do it. What does this change mean for users? I see this being used for promoting when people enter contests eventually. What will this mean for business exposure?

While I think grammar is always important, it is especially relevant to us as professional communicators. This blog from HBR explores why proper grammar matters.

Interesting how use of social media is becoming less frowned upon in the work environment especially in the fields of marketing, PR, customer service etc. What are your social media habits in the workplace?

The CEO of Pinterest explains the tools they used to grow the site.

This article looks at how different large organizations are using NASA style control centres to manage social media content and analyze who's talking about them on social networking sites! 

This article elaborates on the idea of the constant shifts towards more mobile and interactive digital technology. We are now able to use our smartphone to make payments. Canadians are embracing smartphones as part of their everyday life, and increasingly they are using these devices to stay connected to their finances through service like mobile banking and emerging options such as mobile payments. It is interesting how much technology has impacted our every day activities.

Wow. This is really interesting and such a great way to present the information.

Hi everyone, Given the PEW study we just read that highlighted the use of mobile phones, I found this article particularly interesting and relevant. Published by the World Bank, it explains how access to mobile phone use has reached to 3/4 of the global population. Pretty mind blowing stuff.

Potentially use of tablets to make TV interactive.

These data shed additional light on access and use.

This resource offers national programs targeted to communication professionals including conferences and speaking tours. It offers an accreditation program (Accredited Business Communicator or ABC) The IABC offers student membership (http://www.iabc.com/join/). There is also a very useful Student Connection Blog available with relevant updates and links - http://students.iabc.com/sc/.

As a group, we have been discussing ways to stay organized and on top of our workload for this program and seeing as the vast majority of us have smartphones some of the apps suggested here might be able to help! The suggestions come from app developers who are students themselves, including Brennan McEachran, who is a fourth-year commerce student at Ryerson.

Twitter posted this "Best Practices for journalists" on their blog. Twitter wasn't 'meant' or built to be a tool for professional communicators but has obviously been used as such since its creation. I just found it really interesting that the tool is telling the storyteller how to do his/her job. I wonder why Twitter as an organization felt the need to post this best practices for journalists. What is the communication strategy here? Do they hope to change Twitter practices? Bring in more would-be journalists on the site? They even include quantitative research and examples to support their recommendations!

Emojis represent a move to standardize emoticons. I'd like to emphasize the "emotion" part of the portmanteau. Emotions are devastatingly difficult things to transmit electronically. But try we shall! Emotions are information- and context-rich. We want people to know how we feel because that piece of information provides a lot in any communication context. How often do you use emoticons or emojis? Why do we try to avoid using emoticons and emojis in formal/professional communication? Why is it inappropriate to display emotions in a professional setting?

I mentioned Myspace a lot in the discussion for next week. Here is an example of a social media that essentially died but is trying to come back. Aggressively. The interface seems to highly draw upon Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest... Will the redesign work? Do we want a Twitter-Facebook hybrid? Or do users like having them separate? What will the new Myspace mean for communicators who use social media?

Although this article was written last year, it still resonates due to the fact that more schools seem to be adopting iPads while others are banning the use of iPads. This quote is also insightful: Daniel Brenner, the Roslyn superintendent, said the iPads would also save money in the long run by reducing printing and textbook costs; the estimated savings in the two iPad classes are $7,200 a year.

As more people turn to brands on Facebook, it's important to know why they do-or don't-click "like." Consider these new findings. I find this surprising. Maybe because I don't "like" brands on Facebook to avoid a cluttered page and newsfeed. Personally, seeing a brand's post all the time would turn me away from the brand. I'm not sure why, but I still seem to have this mentality that Facebook brand pages aren't as "legit". But that's just me. Check out the infographic.

When you're evaluating a brand name, it can help to visualize it in a variety of settings. Catchword's Name Visualizer is a free tool that allows you to contextualize name candidates in six real-world scenarios, from a business card to an advertising billboard. This site builds on this week's discussion on virtual team work and also relates to our Visual and Document Design course. We can now have the ability to connect virtually using visual applications. Brand creators can decide on an effective brand name and brand placement for their products or services through virtual applications.