Tips For A Changing Media Landscape (Part I)

The press and traditional media landscape has and is changing rapidly.

I read a nice blog titled 10 Tips to Go from Nobody to Front Page News.

It was a great little read and provided an overview or a review of the basics.  I question, are these the right tips for a changing media landscape?  What is your opinion?

The blog did not cover the realities of the changing news landscape, nor how we need to be aware of the lay of the land. We need to be very targeted in our outreach and know how to access a variety of media channels for greater Internet penetration and not just a single media placement in hardcopy newspapers.

1) Being aware of the Pew 2009/2001 State of the Media is a valuable read for anyone planning or needing to plan for strategic media outreach.

The average age/readership of newspaper consumption is way down. (I quote in part below from PEW) see directly below.

“Among readers of all ages, readership declined between 2007 and 2008. Young people in the age groups of 18 to 24, and 25 to 34 continue to have the lowest readership levels of daily newspapers.”

“Among readers 18 to 24 years of age, 31% say they read a newspaper yesterday, according to data from Scarborough Research. This represents a drop of two percentage points from the prior year. Those in the 25-to-34 age group do not demonstrate much better numbers. Readership of daily newspapers was down to 32%, also down two percentage points from 2007.”

“Those aged 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 also showed declines in readership in 2008. Readership of daily newspapers was down to 41% and 51%, respectively, among the age groups.”

“And, even the most faithful readers of newspapers, older people, or those ages 55 – to 64 and 65 and above have shown sharp drops in readership since 2000. In 2008, readership was down to 57% among 55-to-64-year-olds, a drop of nine percentage points since 2000. Those 65 and older showed an even greater drop.”

“Although 64% say they picked up a newspaper yesterday, this number has declined from 72% in 2000, an eight percentage point difference.”

The study, released in August, found that those who said they had read a newspaper yesterday 34%, compared to 40% two years earlier. Wow. Are we not even reading print anymore?

At best, only 34% are reading a newspaper?! Really? That low? And, predominantly 50 and older?

So, that tells me you need to know where the people are, how and what they are reading/viewing and target to very specific niches by doing your research in advance to create your media strategy.

2) Knowing how and where to reach traditional journalists, J-bloggers, hard print news distribution sources, e-news and commenting on virtualized news aggregate sites are all important tactics to the whole strategic element of nurturing a communications strategy.

Over all, the total number of daily newspapers continued to significantly decline. In 2007, the most recent year for which data are available, daily newspapers were down to 1,422 in that year from 1,437 in 2006. Of the total number of daily newspapers, evening papers continued to decline, while those in the morning continued a trend of growth. In 2007, the number of evening papers declined by 49. This compares with a drop of 31 evening papers from 2005 to 2006.

Although those newspaper numbers are changing with declining there is still value in getting earned or paid “Ink.”

Some of the players of the paid media distribution arena are PRNewswire, Businesswire, Cision, AP News, UPI, XpressPress, Reuters, VocusPR and each has their strengths in the distribution arena. There are others. And, there are sources you can use that are free.

There is more to the press release and pitch today than meets the eye. There are public relations software tools and resources including media research, media lists, press clipping services, media monitoring services and evaluation of media coverage.

But, more importantly, most companies, organizations, agencies and people are not building evolved news pages, evolved press releases or evolved media sites to accomodate and integrate the new media landscape across multiple channels.

Ask yourself, are you still writing and posting press releases the way they were developed in the early 1900′s, which were originally formatted for the telegraph wire for transmission? And, if your answer is ”because that’s the way it’s always been done?”  Then, I believe this single issue is ripe for greater discussion to evolve the press release format.

I suggest, learn how social media has challenged and changed traditional communication structures and prepare for that part of your entire integrated communication and news strategy.

Sound, informed media intelligence and media insight helps improve your communication performance, build your reputation and maximize the results of your integrated communication and marketing efforts.

I welcome questions and any additional comments.

When was the last time you read a newspaper cover to cover? Is it important to you? Why or Why not?

Please stay tuned, as my next blog on this topic will cover an overview of the communication landscape, according to the available channel choices, and how to link across multiple channels for continuous communications.

Most Sincerely,

Alice M. Fisher

Media Landscape Part II

(Bio) Well, yesterday  I wrote about the fact that PEW’s 2009 State of the Media Report findings indicated that in the U.S. only about 34% of the population is reading newspapers (personally, I think that is a bit high) and of that that number, the readership population is predominantly an older generation, with a few younger audiences  scattered throughout.  Newspaper ad revenues have fallen 23% in the last two years. Some papers are in bankruptcy, and others have lost three-quarters of their value.

By recent calculations, nearly one out of every five journalists working for newspapers in 2001 is now gone, and 2009? Well, that remains to be seen.

And, today, I read AP news and a few others want to charge money for online news content.  ”AP, News Corp bosses tell search engines and bloggers that it is time to pay up” Would you pay for online news?  I am not as versed on the international media landscape, but I am sure changes are being felt or noticed overseas as well. I did find a traditional media landscape for Europe for anyone who wants to dig into that area a bit deeper.  But, I digress.

OK, so, does AP and the top News Corp bosses sound a bit panicked here? are they mad?  Is this an attempt to recover from their own dismal landslide in revenues, as previously noted in the Pew 2009 State of the Media Report? I welcome opinions.

Long story short, print media, i.e. newspapers are struggling.  And, if you are unaware of the social media landscape, then developing your strategic public affairs or media relations plan for your organization could render results less than spectacular- you could be in a print newspaper black hole and not even know it.  But, who is reading print these days anyway?     Only about 34% of the people? And, what predominant age group? Is this the circle of influencers or your target audience that you want to reach?  I beg, please dig deeper.

When I stumble across companies jumping into the waters of social media unaware “because everyone is doing it or  because it’s the hottest thing out there”, or because public relations agencies are pushing social media practices as a “must have” for their clients as part of their new tool box of capabilities-I become just a little nervous.  But, contrary to what many may say, social media is not a silver bullet, nor is it ideal for every company. It’s a strategy that should be carefully and strategically researched and considered and its subsequent tools which are designed to take companies to where their target audiences are already conversing.

So, today I want to look at what that “new landscape” might look like with a bit more depth. Ultimately, our goal should be to prepare to advance from the basic direct one-way communication strategy, using those basic media tools of yesterday to a more aligned two-way continuous communications model/strategy where there is true engagement.  How, might you ask?

Before you start touting social media, please make sure your own site, your own news room, and press releases are Web 2.0 enabled. Are your own senior executives embracing and using the new media landscape?

Well, first off you need to know what the new media landscape looks like.  With a little research I came across a great little visual source which I just have to share which is a little farther below. After taking a look at it, I imaging you may be saying…”How can you achieve continuous communications across so many channels, simultaneously?  Believe me, there is a way to do this with a couple strategies. But, stay tuned, as I will get to that on my next blog post.  Now back to our landscape work.

Like I said, being aware of the media landscape is important.  The traditional media sources should not be completely ignored nor forgotten but part of your entire media mix.  Therefore, I am providing a couple of links to the top 100 US newspapers , the top 100 international newspapers, top radio stations by state and DMA as well as TV networks. We will now take into consideration the “other new” channels.

There is no question that social media is responsible for a dramatic shift in the relationship between those who produce news and those who consume it.  And, both traditional and new media are very fragmented.  But, consider it another step in the evolution of a more mature continuous communications model.  YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, to name just a few, are all incorporating innovative uses of the Internet.  Who are the top dogs (Websites) in the US?

News subscribers are no longer defined as simple recipients of news, getting information by only reading newspapers, watching television or listening to reports on the radio.  Today, consumers of news are also gatherers and distributors of news: they take part in creating it, capturing it, re shaping and disseminating it.

In fact, in a survey of 50 radio newsrooms in the top 50-markets, News Generation uncovered the impact that social media is having in the newsroom.  The survey found that nearly half of the newsrooms (45%) use Twitter and Facebook, to offer their technologically savvy audiences an extension to conventional radio to provide another broadcast platform.  But, there are so many other channels within the social media construct. Therefore, I would like to introduce the social media prism, a lense through which each petal represents a social media channel.

Source: Strategically, as a communications professional or agency professional, you should want to find yourself at the center of the prism – whether you’re observing, listening or participating. So, with this conversation landscape noted above, how does one manage all the channels?  How can you be “one with a channel” or even begin to strategize and garner results with this much fragmentation?  Does it make you dizzy just thinking about it?  But, to resonate, to be heard, to listen, to be in the mix, you do have to have some idea of what it all looks like and who is out there.

From my observations, there seems to be four main Web 2.o usages that have evolved.  And, the various topical usage tools and services displayed in this landscape are listed below.

1. Expressing tools allow users to express themselves, discuss and  their social life:

• Publication tools like blogs (Blogger, Typepad, WordPress), wikis (Wikipedia, Wetpaint, Wikia), microblogs (Twitter, Tumblr, Identica), citizen news (Digg, Newsvine, AgoraVox) and livecast (JustinTV, Ustream, BlogTV) ;
• Discussion tools like forums (phpBB, Phorum) and video forum (Seesmic), instant messengers (Y! Messenger, Live Messenger, Meebo, eBuddy), comments services (IntenseDebate, Cocomment, Disqus, BackType) and 3D chats (IMVU, Habbo, WeeWorld, vSide) ;
• Aggregation tools (Topix, FriendFeed, SocialThing, LifeSteam, Profilactic, Plurk…).

2. Sharing tools allow users to publish and share content:

• Content sharing for videos (YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo), pictures (FlickR, SmugMug, Picasa, Fotolog), music and playlists (Last.fm, iLike, Deezer), links (Delicious, Magnolia, Reddit) and documents (Slideshare, Scrib, Slideo) ;
• Product sharing with recommendations platforms (Crowdstorm, ThisNext, StyleHive), collaborative feedback platforms (FeedBack 2.0, UserVoice, GetSatisfaction) or swaping platforms (LibraryThing, Shelfari, SwapTree) ;
• Place sharing with tools based on local adresses (BrighKite, Loopt, Whrrl, Moximity), on events (Upcoming, Zvents, EventFul, Socializr) and on trips (TripWolf, TripSay, Driftr, Dopplr).

3. Networking tools allow users to search, connect and interact with each other’s:

• Search networks allowing users to find ex-classmates (Classmates, MyYearBook, Alumni) or persons (MyLife) ;
• Niche networks (Boompa, Dogster, PatientsLikeMe, Footbo) ;
• B2B networks (LinkedIn, Plaxo, Xing, Viadeo) ;
• Mobile networks (Groovr, MocoSpace, ItsMy, Zannel) ;
• Tools to build an online network (Ning, KickApps, CrowdVine, CollectiveX).

4. Playing services that now integrate strong social features:

• Casual games portals (Pogo, Cafe, Doof, Kongregate, PlayFirst, PopCap, BigFish, Prizee) ;
• Social games portals (Zynga, SGN, ThreeRings, PlayFish, CasualCafe, Farmtown,ChallengeGames) ;
• MMORPGs (World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Lord of the Rings Online, EVE Online, Lineage, Dofus, Runescape) ;
• MMOs (Drift City, Kart Rider, Maple Story, Audition, Combat Arms, Quake Live) ;
• Casual MMOs (Puzzle Pirates, Club Penguin, Neopets, Gaia Online, SmallWorlds, OurWorld).

But, for the communication professional, public affairs, media relations professional do you have to be on top and up to speed on all of them and have uptine # of channel masters working each one? I can hear someone saying in the background now, “I am going to have a media meltdown. How can I keep up?”

Is media still top down? Is it direct one-way communications any more?  Or, is it top down and bottom up simultaneously? Anyone have other thoughts on this evolving social media landscape?  Hurry, it will change yet again!

Next, we will look at how to distribute through and connect across multiple media channels after you have strategically performed your target audience research.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Sincerely, Alice M. Fisher

Integration in a Fragmented Media World

Like many, we all have our profiles set up in more than a few social networking sites. It could become a time consuming and complex task to keep up and in touch with all your friends and contacts from all these different networks. In my last post, I hinted at how fragmented communications has become. There are now tools that allow you to either post or connect across all the popular networks – Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, GovLoop, Flickr, Friendster, Twitter, AIM, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger,  just to name a few.

Are you a media, marketing, social marketing, public affairs or communications strategist looking for ways to streamline your external communications outreach and increase the depth of your Internet penetration? You can accomplish a more mature communications model that mirrors near ”continuous communications”  out to your target audiences.  And, you can do it across multiple online media channels. There are a few ways in which you can carry out this multi-tasking function.

You can either do it one by one with each individual channel with a single cut and peck-peck-peck method (no please don’t do that)  or you can do it simultaneously across all of your media channels posting from anywhere to everywhere.  

So, tonight, I want to mention a few tools which I personally like using, from an external communications perspective.   These do not require any IT investment except your time in learning how to use them. Really, it’s quiet simple.  They all are free.  Yep, no cost. Nada. I am sure there are similar tools out there and others are sprouting up through the Internet perma-frost even as I am typing this up (copycats, are a nice complement in adding to an already good thing).

I also personally believe these tools can help with more consistency in an organizations external messaging and driving increased awareness in a tough and highly competitive economy. 

The first tool I mention is for pushing/micro-blogging your messages out simultaneously. The second is for shortening your URL links (and making them trackable)  to save space  pointing people where you want to drive your target audience in a 140 character world. And, finally, the third  tool is for generally zooming down to a geographic area and ”listening” to the buzz on the street, real-time. Remember, we have to listen to know what to say in order to resonate with our target audiences ( this is just one tool).

1) Ping.fm. Often it’s the (seemingly) simple applications that turn out to be the most powerful, and the most popular. Simplicity is beautiful.  Ping.fm is a service that allows you to easily update a host of social networking and social media profiles all at once, seeks to resolve the headache of needing to log into multiple accounts to send the same message to different groups of friends and contacts all over the Internet. Ping.fm also has a decent help Wiki for more information. 

Additionally, I like the fact that I can Ping right from my browser toolbar so simply that it makes my just giddy.  While for some, Ping.fm may just be a nice little time-saving utility, for social media and communication professionals, this service may well be THE killer app of our time.   Over the last few years communication patterns have shifted primarily from face-to-face communication to more online communication in email, IM, and other tools.    As more collaboration is being done remotely through technology, there are relatively fewer opportunities for face to face informal conversations. In addition to time constraints or human resource limitations at work due to employee downsizing, drilled down efficiencies can be useful.    To learn a bit more about Ping.fm read what’s on Wikipedia for some general information.

2) I am sure many of you have heard of or used Tinyurl.com. I believe it has the longest shelf life and was the first, dating back to about 2001/2002.  URL shortening is a technique where an individual can  make a web page available under a very short URL  in addition to the original address.   Since the launch of Tinyurl.com about 100 or similar sorts of URL shorteners have been born.  As of Spring 2009, Bit.ly over took Tinyurl’s usage on Twitter.   So I think it is safe to say, it has leading edge staying power.  I personally like Bit.ly because it also allows me to quasi track the results of  my link click through rates in real-time. It has some other good features as well. I came across an article that talks about some of the others, of course each one has its pros anc cons.  For example, tr.im is another one which uses your Twitter account as your login, making it a sure-fire hit if it keeps up the rest of its services as well.  A great one to try, it might surprise you.  And then you have U.nu which creates the smallest URLs of any shortener, with only about 8 characters for each new URL  created(not including the “http://”).  That’s mighty tiny.  The point is, that you have some choices with regards to shortening your long Webpage URLs for all your external communications so you can drive people exactly where you want them to go with a compelling message and then track that link’s click results.   Anyone still hand typing paper press releases anymore and faxing them?  Really, you can do it all with in the blink or wink of an eye, well almost. Now, that’s affordable and near continuous communications.

3)  Visual Trends Map on Twitter topics being discussed or micro-blogged about in real-time. You really can get a pulse of what’s hot and what’s being talked about in specific geographic areas. Just incredible. And, then you can formulate and message and respond using the tools mentioned.

If one thing communications has taught me is that it is a constantly evolving medium. Never static, either in the evolution of the language we use or the medium in which we communicate through.  We started with fire and smoke signals, sticks drawing in the dirt, painting on cave walls, pen and ink, the Gutenberg Press, newspapers,  the telegraph, the LinoType, telephone, Radio, TV, Internet, Cellphones and so on to name just a few media landmarks (not necessarily in exact chrono order). 

Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of movable type in 1452, was deemed ”the most influential man of the millennium.” The first book printed in the colonies was in 1640. The first publisher was Lipincott.   And, Thomas Jefferson was a radical for his defense of Free Speech.  That old press release written in AP style? And, Ivy Lee, a PR genius.  It was created to fit into the evolution of communication by using a new tool with the advent of electronic transmissions across telegraph wires, dating back to the early 1900′s.  And, YES indeedy here we are in 2009  and we are still formatting our press releases the very same way we did 103 years ago.  Why?  Much has changed. Some things have not.

Your organization’s lead news ‘graph of 21 words or less in a 350 word press release should be considered a historical dinosaur (forgive me, being a PR professional, I should know better than to even whisper such).   It begs a few content related communication and distribution upgrades.  No, an extreme makeover.

Is that press release formatted for continuous instant consumption to fit in a 140 character Tweet?  Is it formatted for today’s “telegraph wire” in 2009? And, is that press release just sitting on your Website with a hyperlink to it sitting there percolating on your server going no where, with scads and scads of other press releases from years and years and years  ago?

There are, of course, still some resonating repeating themes from the original press release objective.  And, I encourage you to read the article to see if you can pick out a few?  I will wait, go check that link right there just above this line.

Open, transparent communication?  Hmmmm.   As this post draws to a close highlighting three useful online tools,  it leads me to yet another area for exploration.  Web 2.o enabled social media press rooms and social media press releases, can they still accomplish the Who, What, When, Where and Why in an inverted pyramid format?    Should we?   We we are to achieve open and transparent communications, we may well need to recraft out media relations is formatted, tactically accomplished and transmitted.  

Stay tuned for more.  Are you ready? Are your Website media “rooms” Web 2.0 enabled? Are  your press releases Web 2.0 enabled?

Have we come full circle?  Are we not still saying and wanting the very same things today that were echoed in 1906?  

What is your idea of the best Social Media Press Release for a main stream best practice?  There are some samples out there already floating around and being test driven, talked about and even used.  What do you think? 

Well, until Web 2.0 enabled press releases become mainstream, I hope you will see the potential value at least in the three tools I mentioned tonight to help with some of your organization’s external communication efforts. We may not be able to physically integrate all the media channels, but we can closer to streamlining our external communication efforts using these tools.

Have a good day everyone!

Alice M. Fisher

If you would like strategic advisement or help please contact me via email at alicemfisher58@yahoo.com                       Follow @Unlimitedpr  Twitter                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Resume & Profile: http://bit.ly/3kuiuV

Pandemic Flu Communication Plan?

The current social dynamic is ripe for further discussion for small business owners regarding your internal  communications on this specific topic  about the H1N1 flu.  If you are a small business owner who is only relying on the CDC updates, other news media outlets, the television or the World Health Organization for your sole source of communications and information, then I encourage you to consider leading an internal pandemic communication planning session or two. 

Are you communicating regular useful information to your staff?   Small business owners need to be on notice: first, there are a few reasons why, the pandemic flu is unlike the regular seasonal flu, as the severity of the illness in the pandemic flu is higher, which increases the rate of fatality, and second, all age groups are at risk, including otherwise healthy adults under 40—in other words, the majority of your workforce may be significantly impacted.

Without an employee communication crisis plan or pandemic flu action plan in place your business operations could come to a literal halting stand still.   Whether the 2009 H1N1 Influenza A virus (Swine Flu) situation impacts larger numbers of the human population this fall and winter or not, your small business lessons learned today can help small business owners prepare for improved  internal and external communications tomorrow.

The entire U.S. public health ”structure” has been in over drive this season with keeping government leaders, health professionals and the public informed in trying to mitigate the potential spread of the disease, as well as misinformation and panic. 

However, many have found that their agencies or organizations are not adequately prepared to communicate and regularly.  They are learning that their crisis plans need updating in light of evolving larger organization successes and failures to adequately meet public information demands. What is your small business doing? What do you have in place to communicate with your employees and the customers you come in contact with? What is your external message to the public at large?     

You may wish to consider holding a strategic communication planning meeting to discuss some of the following discussion topics and planning suggestions.

• Examine what are other organizations are doing to keep the public informed about the current pandemic.
• What are the challenges and strategies for addressing large scale, fast moving and ongoing situations?
• How will you balance precautions while avoiding panic and over reaction?
• How will communicate quickly and correctly in a world dominated by tweets, social media, and blogs?
• Will you communicate across all channels or just email? How will you do it simultaniously?
• How will you collaborate between different agencies & organizations critical to an effective response at your level?
• How will you keep an information flow of updates if websites crash under the load & if IT restrictions slow your efforts?
• How will you watch and plan for rumors, misinformation and what willl be your course of action/response?
• How does this pandemic level 6 crisis differ from other types and what does it means for communication team as front line responders?
• If required or ordered, how do you plan to continue to work while maintaining social distance and communications with your staff virtually to maintain business operations? Have you communicated this to your employees and regularly with updates?

I would be interested to hear more from others about what plans small business owners have created or are creating?  And, if you have not created any internal employee pandemic communication plans, then will you be doing so and then move directly from planning to an implementation phase in the next 30 days? And, why or why not?

I am providing a basic overview from an article I read that is a tad dated, but it offers some additional reading on Pandemic employee communication planning suggestions. For real time reporting, I am providing a map tracking the H1N1 Flue cases noted in the World.  You may zoom into your local geographic area and click on the red diamond for your state to obtain a visual of the  number of H1N1 cases.

Now PR & Social Commerce

Bio  (I am seeking a strategic social media opportunity).

What insights can we possibly draw from with the deluge of communication intelligence available with respect to the use of social media and social commerce?  We are seeing a new stage, yet again, in the evolution of communication, wherein social media is intersecting with the advent of the new social paradigm.  Determining how to aggregate and make the most of the social context from personal profiles, social media sites is worthy of discussion.

 I propose to fellow PR professionals and academia that there is a need to fill the gap between our traditional media, journalism and public communication training and practices with an opportunity to strategically plan for the concept of Nowism or NOW PR.  The real key here is the sustainability of the strategic integrated communications across multiple mediums.

But, how will PR professionals strategically move PR forward in this new era of Now Communications?

What is the real value of real-time communications?

If you are still putting out a single print press release in newspapers, doing little to no content updates on your Website, placing a single print advertisement in a local real estate booklet targeting potential home owners or in a poultry magazine for local chicken farmers, then ask yourself if is this still your best most effective strategic communication medium for results?

Recently, Forrester published a report, “The Future of the Social Web” where they sketched a timeline of the development of the Social Web, dividing its evolution into five eras. And, according to that report, the first era of the development of the Social Web started to explode the social relationships among users. 

 In the social functionality phase, social relationships resulted in a greater social functionality where several websites started to add social functionalities to help users interact with their peers and to make use of new applications and tools within the context of their own personal social networks.

We are now in the next era/phase, that of Social Colonization, whereby technology platforms like Facebook Connect or Google Friend Connect have standardized social functionalities among websites and a majority of websites now include many social functionalities.   More specifically, in  January 2009, Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social network by global monthly active users, followed by MySpace (see more on Facebook statistics).

If not right now, then very soon these  globally grouped identities, profiles and networks will allow PR professionals, organizations, agencies, businesses and people  to usher in the next era as a result of the interplay between Social Media, Data Mining and Electronic Commerce.

The challenge will be…is… to figure out how to theoretically adjust to these near real-time communication developments as it pertains to PR and public affairs professionals, social commerce and social technologists.  How will communication planning fit within the changing dynamic of our Social Context at any given minute and right NOW.  

Hence, there is a need for beginning a dialog on the future of strategic communication planning, now. What is the value of communication relative to the time between publication, consumption and influence? Just having a blog, a Facebook account, or Twitter profile does not make a social media strategy.  I see blogs and tweets, but no comments, no real engagement.  And, understanding the value of  continuous content doesn’t stop there. There are two other factors:

• Relevance to the target audience/consumer
• Ability to take action/engage (therefore possibly adopting new behaviors)

 The Internet provides users the opportunity to merge information as a result of social communications, social networks, financial data, healthcare information, insurance data, usernames and passwords, PINs, accounts, networks, emails and more.  Linear measurement is dead. 

As we sense the future, the PR profession will undoubtedly change as we have known it and now know it.  Our collective thoughts on where and how to strategically plan for near continuous communications is multi dimensional and will largely depend on how well PR firms/media, MarCom and public affairs professionals will be able to successfully adapt and plan for and apply new information management and communication models which will be derived from near continuous aggregated Data Mining tools as a result of the many Social Networks.

The potential of the Internet, social media and social commerce is the ability to consolidate and manipulate information with new applications of real-time data aggregation with the ability to ultimately take or enact more  immediate action. But, you have to stand above the ground swell and take a look at all the chatter.

The reason being that a person or target audience’s ability to take any action used to take years, months, weeks, then it was moderated with at least a 24 hour lag time…  now there is nearly no lag time.  New communication models will require immediate analysis and immediate communication. The new models of analysis will be a result of some of the following concepts:

• Novel aggregate media, social communication, social commerce algorithms
• Mining semi-structured disparate, fragmented communication mediums and data
• Classification and ranking of disparate, fragmented communication mediums and data
• Social clustering and analysis
• Aggregated media clustering and media analysis
• Aggregated SMS text Mining and analysis

• Privacy preserved data modeling
• Statistical methods of social media context
• Aggregated internal, parallel and external distributed data mining
• Interactive online media mining
• Contextual multimedia mining (audio/video)
• Aggregated Website, link mining
• Aggregated Real-time Graphical Mining

PR professionals will be required to formulate how to make use of new information management for advanced strategic communication planning and tactical approaches as a result of the evolving Nowism of communication from social networks and social commerce. Are you ready?

Are you considering tbe Nowism of communications and planning for it? “The boundaries” of what the web is  or has to offer has become much more blurred.  It is very deep. It does go beyond Google’s link popularity ranking.   Is Twitter part of the web or part of something else?   Now the web, in a sense, is just everything, all the time.

In 1998, the NEC laboratory at Princeton published a paper on the size of the internet. Who could get something like that published now? You can’t talk about how big the internet is.  What is the circulation of total readers? Or, AQH? Because what is the metric? Social commerce isn’t like traditional media or “Web 1.0”. You don’t pay for eyeballs, average quarter hour listeners or clicks.

Possible future PR, media and communication applications providing a sort of “Visual Digital Sky” of aggregated communications might include: 

• Aggregated Real-time Social Commerce statistics
 • Aggregated Social Media Context
• Aggregated Real-time Blog Communication Trends/ Context
• Aggregated Community Trends
• Aggregated User Content Recommenders
• Real-time Communication Trends Discovery
• Real-time Blogs/Social Networks Community Dynamics
• Aggregated Near Real-time User Reviews Ranking on Brands, Products & Services
• Blogs/Social Networks Summations
• Real-time Abuse/Fraud Detection
• Immediate or near real-time User Profile Modelling
• Near Real-time Event Detection & Tracking of Social Media communications (see Twittermap.tv or Twittermap.us & aggregate it)
• As a result, instantaneous Online communications/Advertising/News ( see Topix.com)
• Aggregated Information Retrieval
• Aggregated Sentiment Analysis
• Aggregated Language Processing of Global Communications
• Aggregated Semantic Tagging/Cloud SEO/SEM

• Aggregated Social Networking Search (see 123people.com)
  • Aggregated social network analysis with near real-time graphical analysis of complex global communications

We are seeing some of the above mentioned already, for example:

1) Consider Omgili. Omgili is the best way to find out what people are saying about anything and everything. Omgili is a way to find “subjective information”. As opposed to traditional search engines, which search for sites and pages, Omgili finds consumer opinions, debates, discussions, personal experiences, answers and solutions. Let’s say you want to see the buzz now about healthcare now. Omgili also allows on to create chatter graphs such as the one I added to my website for demonstration purposes.

 2) MicroBlogging Relevance and Influence aggregators like Twitalyzer to evaluate the activity of any Twitter user and report on dozens of useful measures of success in social media, and the top real-time influencers on Twitter.

2) Individual reverse social media tracking such as 123people.com

3) Reverse Image Mining like TinEye:  http://www.tineye.com/faq#what

4) Twittermap.us or Twittermap.tv allows you see the aggregated live buzz on the street anywhere in the US or World and all twitter accounts from in a zoomed in locality

Audiences demographics, social context for a social commerce is near real time.

Are you prepared for Now PR?

If you would like strategic advisement or help please contact me via email at alicemfisher58@yahoo.com                       Follow Me on Twitter                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Resume & Profile: http://bit.ly/3kuiuV

 

Video SEO Tips: Strategically Boost Your Search Engine Ranking

Even with my recent posts on the social media landscape, said landscape continues to morph at warp speed, and we are seeing more and more videos everywhere; on business sites, corporate news pages, personal websites, video hosting sites, mobile devices, social networks, blogs, cell phones, email and postings to video portals, and posting for clients.  The Government even has its very own video channel on YouTube.   

I had to post a video very recently and immediately realized there needed to be a strategy for this MarCom element as well to maximize my external outreach efforts.  So, I went on a little “virtual research trip.” 

According to eMarketer, 63% of Americans currently watch online video, up from 32% in 2007. I am sure this number is much is higher now.  Three years hence, is a life time in the social media world.

My focus is always to look at how the changing landscape can benefit communication and marketing professionals with new media strategies and tools.  To do more with less and to do it cost effectively. Therefore, I am constantly scanning the social media landscape. 

Because many users do not have unlimited web space, either as a paid service, or through an ISP offering, video hosting services are becoming increasingly popular, especially with the explosion in popularity of blogs, forums, and other social media interactive pages.

When posting a video from a business,  public relations, marketing and communication perspective it is imperative to understand how to leverage your social presence through online videos by applying Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) strategies. 

 You do not want to be the needle in the hay stack that nobody ever finds. You want your target audiences to find you!  With the rise of  our current “Moblution” and Internet hosted Video services, your goal is to ultimately rise to the very top in the top search engines and their respective ranking results.  Clearly, Google is giving preferential treatment to multimedia content in search results, and this is an important factor to know!  I can’t quantify this just yet, but it’s a personal haunch, which I will try to validate with a little more research (so stay tuned & I will update this blog).  But it is my personal opinion that online video is the fastest way to achieve top organic search listings.

Secondly, YouTube alone has more than 52,436,820 unique visitors a day and ranked as the third top Internet site in the US.          But it is also important to know that there are more than 30 other video notable video hosting sites.  And there are indeed many more!

I guestimate that what you/we/I want to accomplish is channel saturation and depth of penetration through syndication across as many video hosting sites as possible.  So, the question begs, how does one syndicate their videos out across various video sharing websites? And, how does one carry out VSEO? 

The end goal is to have your video “optimized” to appear highly ranked in Google’s search results.  Video Syndication Brings Higher Rankings and More Targeted Traffic. Therefore, the idea is to syndicate your video by sending it out across multiple video sharing websites simultaneously to obtain maximum exposure  using specific strategic key words for search term results.   Below are a few useful tips. There may be more, but this will get you started an out of the hay stack, so to speak.

Strategic VSEO Tips:     

• Place online video presentations on public sites and intranet portals
• Remotely update videos on video portal websites
• Enable viral video sharing
• Integrate comment & rating capabilities
• Allow for approval-based or automatic requests for video distribution
• Capture statistics on syndication, viewership, Search Engine Ranking, redistribution performance

 VSEO TIPS:  

1. Create Relevant, Unique, Informative Videos that speak to your target audiences 
2. Consider Your Video thumbnails – A video thumbnail is what users see first when they make their decision as to whether or not to view your video or another. Video search engines and video sharing websites use different methods to grab and show the thumbnail for your video. Some engines use the first frame of the video while others, like YouTube, will often take the thumbnail from the exact middle of your video.
3. Make Your Videos Less Than 5 min. Long – One of the worst things that you can do is to create a long-form video as most users watch videos 3 minutes or less. If you do have a video that is longer than 5 minutes in length, try to break it up into smaller videos and make sure to tag those accordingly.
4. Sitemaps – For video that is hosted on your own website use of a video site map on your site will help to filter page rank as well as direct search engines where to index your content. Use relevant keywords within the anchor text of all links to the videos that are featured in your video sitemap.
5. Surrounding HTML -In order to get your video to rank well, you clearly will need to provide the search engines with text based content that is relevant for them to index and rank you for. Ssurround your video content with relevant content (on-page) as well as related links.  Add a text transcript or external captions as text that you publish on the page with the video.
6. Descriptive Meta Data – Use relevant keywords in your meta data to optimize your video.   Include a keyword rich description of the video within the meta descriptions.
7. Title - Make sure that you use the relevant keywords in your title as this is likely the first thing that the search engines will use to identify your video. Also try using a catchy or unique title that will not only give attention to your video but convey your theme, product, or brand.
8. Tags – tag your videos with key phrases that are reflective of the content.
9. Keyword “video” - Eric Papczun pointed out at the Search Engine Strategies conference in NY this past April, that a lot of people add the word “video” to their search query keyword phrase. As a result, make sure that you add the word “video” to your title, description, meta data, etc.
10. Optimize your video for Important Key Phrases – You might want to optimize your video for terms users are likely to be searching for. Tag your video with these terms, consider naming the file name of the video with these terms in mind.
11. Optimize URLs - In the same way that you do this for other web pages, you will want to optimize your URLs so that they to contain information about the video. Also, make sure you only have one video per URL.
12. Branding – Many of us have found that video marketing is a great tool to help generate brand awareness with your potential customers. Use a watermark throughout your video to help incorporate your brand.  This will help to drive users back to your main site if the video is hosted elsewhere.
13. Inbound Linking – Link to videos using important keywords in anchor text.
14. Upload to Video Sharing. Simultaniously upload to video portals (tubemogul & here as a paid service called Hey!Spread) and provide links back to related content and other videos on your Internet site. Here is a list of ways to get your Videos On Video Search & Sharing Sites

• Miro – Miro converts any media RSS feed into a channel.
• Video Upload Pro – Software to submit your videos to multiple video sites including Atom Films, Blip.tv, BoFunk, Bolt, ClipShack, EvideoShare, Flurl, Google Video, Guba, Jumpcut, Live Video, Myspace Video, PutFile, Veoh, Vimeo, Yahoo Video, Youtube, and more.
• HeySpread – Free online tool to send videos to multiple sites
• TubeMogul  TubeMogul is the hands down the best free tool to submit videos to multiple video sharing sites in one go. Currently supporting Metacafe, MySpace, Yahoo, Revver, AOL Video, DailyMotion, Blip, and BrightCove, TubeMogul does a great job at syndicating your videos out to these video sharing sites with full support for Titles, Tags, and Descriptions and provides analytics for you to track your video views across all of these websites. I highly recommend this free tool.   More about TubeMogel: TubeMogul’s free beta service has been live since November of 2006, and in January 2008, TubeMogul announced the launch of its Premium Products, which include a host of new professional features.  Through its acquisition of Illumenix in October 2008, TubeMogul is also able to offer rich engagement and performance metrics to video sharing sites, content creators and advertisers.  Brett Wilson, Co-founder and CEO, Brett leads the strategic direction for TubeMogul. He spent the first three years of his career as a consultant for Accenture. Next, he founded and led YouCanSave.com, a profitable e-commerce company that obtained over $69 million in revenue and was successfully acquired.

16. Allow Embed Code – Definitely enable sharing and allow users to embed your video code into their own blogs and websites. This will help to create backlinks to your video which can help increase the video search optimization as well as make your video go viral.

17. Encourage Ratings and Reviews - When you encourage users to rate your video, search engines will pay attention to videos that have higher ratings. In addition, videos which get high ratings from users tend to be the same videos that users often mark as favorites and share with other users.

18.  Submit each video sharing site destination URL to Onlywire for social bookmarking

19. Check for your video across listings within specific video search engines and video search sites.

20. Syndicate – Submit your video RSS or MRSS.  Here is a list of where to submit to Video RSS and MRSS Feeds

• Search For Video -www.searchforvideo.com
  • Submit Video RSS
• Blinkx -www.blinkx.com
  • RSS Upload
  • RSS Instructions
• ClipBlast -www.clipblast.com
  • Submit Video RSS
• Pure Video– www.purevideo.com
  • Submit Video RSS 2.0
• Truveo– www.truveo.com
  • You have to sign up for a free Director account in order to submit your video feed
• AltaVista Video Search -http://www.altavista.com/video/default
  • You can submit your site to AltaVista and be included in the video directory
• Yahoo Video– http://video.search.yahoo.com/
  • Submit Video MRSS
• Grind TV-http://www.grindtv.com/
  • Submit Video RSS 2.0
• Astrasearch– www.astrasearch.com
  • Submit Video RSS Feed

OTHER NOTES:

The Future: Mobile Video Hosting

A more recent application of the video hosting services is in the mobile web 2.0 arena, where video and other mobile content can be delivered to, and easily accessed by mobile devices. While Internet based video-hosting services such as YouTube ( and many others) have developed means by which video can be watched on mobile devices, mobile-oriented video hosting services is an evolving component of the new Mobilution to come, in rapid succession. So, if I had a crystal ball, I would suggest learning all I could about VSEO strategies inside and out, and then strategize how your futre video productions/hosting and distribution will fit into Mobile Video for Mobile Devices (MVMD) will be developed, deployed and optimized for VSEO…because…..

the future is not for the Internet viewership but with Mobile Devices, where we will be decoupled from the desktop.  A mobile live streaming software called Qik allows the users to upload videos from their cell phones to the internet. Currently videos are stored online and can be shared to various social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and others.  Videos will be stored on the servers and can be watched from both the mobile devices and the website.

I suggest that the future is in the mobile device.  Start strategizing now and begin formating your videos to meet those screen/size/distribution requirements. 

• List of video sharing websites 
• Comparison of video services
• Managed video as a service
• Youtube

Also, a final note, please dont forget to continuoulsy build upon some of what I have previously posted in my other blog topics. For example, create a Bit.ly link of your video and submit it through Ping.fm and track it through both Bit.ly and strategically distribute through the Twitter Universe as well. Then send your bit.ly linked video through Mobile Marketing Services for distribution via cell phones.

Stay Tuned, as I will next talk about strategically Revamping Your Business Internet Press Rooms and Press Releases!  All the previous posts build upon the Changing Media Landscape, Social Media Landscape and Ultimately Web 2.0 enabling and maximizing your communication and marketing efforts into a creshendo of internal and external reciprocity with continuous communcations, or Now PR.

Online Newroom 2.0 Makeover Tips

  Do you need an eXtreme MarCom 2.0 makeover for your online news page(s)?  Well, below are some tips for strategic consideration. 

Public relations and marketing is about the conversation, these days. Right?

And, depending on which camp you are in; communications, marketing or both, you can more effectively enable “conversation” by shaping opinion, and opening the door towards selling the products, services and information you offer through MarCom 2.0.

 MarCom 2.0 offers new ways to do business.  An evolved and matured communications model is continuous communications, strategically integrated across multiple channels. Consider, that if you are not part of where and how the new conversation is taking place then you could be missing huge opportunities with the advent of Now PR and the changing social media landscape.

 In putting the cards on the table, I preface this post with the following obvious statements. And, I will never discount or dismiss that:

1. Face-to face communication and personal relationship building is still very important and relevant.
2. Research is key to excellent communication, marketing and business success.
3. Traditional PR ethics, and methods still have significant value. 

But, the times and new technology is changing how we start the conversation. And, it is time to consider restrategizing how to make use of MarCom 2.0 tools, and 2.0 enabled audiences by going where the people are located.

Key to your strategic planning questions, “who are your x-2.0 influencers?”  (Here is a recent semi-relevant article, GovTech’s Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers of 2010).

 I assume,  if you are a PR, MarCom, communications professionals, you want to help the media, constituents and your influencers to do their job more efficiently to help achieve your overall communication and business goals.  More, to the point, shape opinion, create change, win more business and win more clients with consistent continuous integrated communications.

 The Internet never sleeps and it transcends all business time zones and media deadlines, 24/7/365, no matter where you are. Hence, the term Now PR.  

An online corporate newsroom with stagnant content and a lack of adequate media “engagement” could be minimizing your ability to sway public opinion, increase awareness about your products and services or simply marginalizing your ability to win new business. 

 I provide the following analogies purely for contextual consideration (and for some fun):

1.  Would you still use a scythe, hay rack, horse and a single fixed steel plow blade, harrowing disks to “cultivate and harvest” or would you use a modern combines and ???  Wait, let me make the analogy more relevant to communications.
2. Would you use a Gutenberg press, telegraph/tele-type, the linotype machine, or the typewriter  to issue your Brand, messaging  or news to those “harvesting” information about your company these days?  My, my, my we sure have come a long way.  We have so many more channels to chose from.  Bull horns are still optional, as well.

If you use one antiquated method, tactic, tool or channel you could be missing the boat. You do not have to swallow the entire elephant at one time. But, I preface, if you are not strategically  instituting incremental changes in moving towards communication 2.0, then you could be presenting your brand, your corporation or your agency as an out dated Linotype machine that it operates at a slow technological pace versus current day new media and other MarCom professionals who require new media formats and newer interactive elements. And, if well planned your Internet newsrooms can serve to meet many MarCom needs.

 If you’ve built your online newsroom, and realize that your corporation, small business, organization, agency and/or Brand needs a makeover then the following tips can help in moving you towards making use of some new tools, new standards and evolving new interactive communication best practices to attract media,

Journalists, editors, and new business prospects require the basic nuts and bolts about who you are, what you do and how you do it. Before beginning your strategic communication 2.0 makeover, please make sure that you have the core communication basics covered by incorporating:

1.  Your public relations/media contacts (who is your key editorial/media voice for your CEO & Company?
2. Company basic facts
3. Perspective on the industry/Your target business sectors/events/issues
4. High resolution images for downloading/use by media (executive images, salient other images)
5. Updated financial information ( private companies would not do so, but may provide a one pager on percent of growth, general sales/revenues and growth goals and growth direction
6. Archived news releases by date ( possibly by key words as well)

 Here are a some next steps for strategic communication 2.0 planning consideration:

1.  If you are operating on limited funds, you might consider using some free resources already widely in practice on the Internet and even free open source and multi-platform distribution tools to save money and time (YouTube, Yahoo! News, Google News, Topix.com, bit.ly, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Ping.fim, SlideShare, IM Tools, Tubemogul and many others).
2. Give your news room “legs” by enabling it to be more virtual, more viral and more mobile. Plan to incorporate Really Simple Syndication (RSS), Multi-media Syndication (MMS), and ShareThis.
3. Incorporate an advanced search tool for news release archive, executive bios, E-press kits, key words.
4. Further consider arranging your contacts by your line of business verticals, capability, growth/industry sector. You may want to also provide executive social media bios, consider offering speeches, presentations, a relevant and timely short video snippet, quotes and sector remarks.
5. Incorporate Technorati’s functionality, it searches, tracks and organizes top blogs by topic and records timely up-to-date links relative to your subject matter/sector (technorati.com/about)
6. White papers and research findings, and real-time subject/industry buzz metric graphs.
7. Product and Service information.
8. Provide an e2.0, email, status update bar, media content update functionality or Twitter alert functionality for media, editors, constituents, and journalists.
9. E-press kits ( for core lines of business, events, initiatives, issues).
10. For enhanced SEO/SEM, VSEM/VSEO, strategically build, use and replicate key word meta tags/cloud tags, alt tags and meta descriptions across multiple channels, within your back-end newsroom source code, videos, E-press kits, graphics, speeches, events, blogs and pictures.
11. Create a multimedia library (High resolution photo library, video library, B-roll library, MP3 files).
12. Create external links/iconic image links to other key social networks where your business and executives maybe networking (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, LinkedIn).
13. Seriously consider your Twitter strategy and it’s value to your business.
14. Link or steam media past, current or related industry coverage by using Digg.com and del.icio.us.
15. Implement a new press release template, a social media news release (Stay tuned for my next blog post on this topic). This new press release format should enable your intended targets, constituents, and media garner the information, materials, and interactive media from within the news release itself to allow them to more easily create that earned media story more efficiently.

These are just a few thoughts for strategically planning a MarCom 2.0 makeover.

Let me know what you think?

Useful?

Relevant?

Plastic Bags? Ban ‘em? Tax ‘em? Yes? No?

 In the pursuit to eliminate all that is not green, plastic bags seems to be a natural target these days. Whatever happened to our wonderful big sumptuous decomposing brown paper bags which were taken from us when we were forced to use only plastic bags a few years ago? It was a huge change back in the day. Now, because they are nearly our only choice for use in retail stores (which are the same stores who bought into this whole mess and forced use to use them a few years ago) Now, we the consumer are being punished for using them? I just want to cry and scream, “foul!” 

The retail industry should be the ones paying the tax on the number of bags they order, not us. I can see it now, our children will be going back to brown paper sack lunches so they wont be taxed for each and every zip loc bag they use every day as well. Because of its widespread use of plastic products and packaging, some say, these plasitc bags have contributed to environmental conditions ranging from increased pollution to overloaded landfills to the country’s dependence on oil and not to say anything about its impact on animals ( and no, its have not help them build warmer nests).  Read the rest of the blog for more information, but I do want to know your opinion? Take My Poll on the Bag Tax here > 

In response, some cities have adopted legislation, and policies that tax our use of these bags and or ban plastic grocery bags made from polyethylene in favor of bags made from other materials such as cloth, compostable plastics, or paper. I think the public consumer should be better informed, there needs to be a coordinated communications plan for this issue.

And, I believe the newly imposed local policies and the taxing of the people with “hidden taxes” on plastic bags is made without informing the public correctly, nor fully disclosing all the facts and without providing the public a voice or vote on the policies being uniformly imposed on them. This is my opinion and gripe.

But, my gripe is more about the hidden taxing with no voice/no vote and no effective communication in advance to us we the people while impose said changes on the individual consumer. Instead of big retailers and manufacturers. Why tax us and punish us? There are a myriad of other arguments like the environment and the trash. And, there can be other local changes made to fix overspending and budgetary woes. I am already growing my own food with a garden and raising a small gaggle of chickens to offset high costs and being environmentally more conscious. 

But now….I am thinking that I may start recycling my old T-shirts/jeans or begin bringing cardboard boxes for my shopping from the Post Office, Fed Ex, UPS, DHL which are free for us to use. Or, maybe I can simply side step the retailers and buy my own plastic bags directly and have them shipped to our house and skip the tax? See the link/list of plastic bag manufacturers a little farther below.  Less material means less waste and fewer emissions.

• Plastic bags generate 80% less waste than paper bags.
• Plastic grocery and retail bags make up a tiny fraction (less than 0.5%) of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream.
• Plastic bags generate only 50% of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of composted paper bags.
• The production of plastic bags consumes less than 4% of the water needed to make paper bags.
•  Plastic grocery bags are fully recyclable and the number of recycling programs is increasing daily.
• Nationwide over 855 million pounds of bags and film were recycled in 2009—up 31 percent from 2005.
• According to EPA’s data, about 13 percent of plastic bags and wraps were recycled in 2009.
• Plastic bags can be made into dozens of useful new products, such as building and construction products, low-maintenance fencing and decking, and new bags.
• In recent years, many grocers and retailers have introduced plastic bag collection programs. Tip: Look for a collection bin, usually located at the front of the store or near checkout areas.

 Does anyone publish or even consider the total consumer plight on being taxed to death, at ever corner for everything? This is a recession for goodness sakes! Why are local governments and states taking even more money of our very limited incomes from families who are already stretched to the hilt, out of work and taxed beyond belief?

 First we are force fed plastics (a few years back on it being more environmental), now we are taxed or banned from their use. And, now they are no longer so environmentally friendly? I am either confused and mislead with the wishy washiness of just what is being touted as environmentally sound?

 Just what is the skinny on this plastic bag conundrum? Why punish the consumer for what was pushed down our throats a decade or three ago? What about those big manufactures of the plastic bags or the retailers who buy them? Why not fine, tax, ban, limit or boycott these huge manufacturers for the creation, supply and distribution of the bags to retailers since they are the ones that actually buy them? And many are importing from China and Taiwan.

 Here is a list or plastic bag manufactures that supply Maryland. www.iqsdirectory.com/plastic-bags/search/state/md

• Search your own state for the manufacturers of plastic bags here. www.iqsdirectory.com/images/usamapoutline-sm1.png
•  For discussion and greater fodder; here’s a thought question: If you were a policymaker, which would you choose?
•  A ban on plastic bags that will anger a significant percentage of voters while reducing plastic bag use almost entirely (over several years), but possibly increase overall ire at government’s meddling to “save the environment.”
• Or, a tax on plastic bags, which will reduce plastic bag usage 85-95 percent but maintain the illusion of free choice and, as an added bonus, generate revenue to address other pollution and over consumption issues (translation: help pay for additional government meddling to save the environment).
• Tax the big manufactures in each state if they produce more than a regulated number.
• Or, communicate to citizens to become more educated, re-use, recycle, and re-use yet again (because heck they last a 1,000 years). In addition to recycling, a recent national survey shows that over 90% of Americans reuse their plastic bags and about 65% of Americans reuse their bags for trash disposal. Other common uses include lunch bags, pet poop pick-up, cat box liners, boot liners, and water balloons. In this regard, the reuse of a plastic shopping bag prevents a second bag from being purchased to fulfill these necessary functions. Why punish us with a tax? We thought we were being more responsible and sustainable already.
• Or, why don’t we organize an Occupy Plastic Bag campaign against the huge plastic bag manufactures?

 Please read the following research from “Life Cycle Assessment for Three Types of Grocery Bags – Recyclable Plastic; Compostable, Biodegradable Plastic; and Recycled, Recyclable Paper.”

 The conclusions regarding the relative environmental impact when using a life cycle view are consistent with previous studies and need to be reinforced in the policy arena. The policies to discourage plastic bags may have more to do with litter than the overall environment. Whatever the goals of the policy makers, these need to be far more explicit than general environmental improvement, since the life cycle story is consistent in favor of recyclable plastic bags. It is possible that the emphasis of another report might be that the full benefit of plastic bags is even higher when large recycling is in place.

 A few more facts on plastic bags:

• http://www.plasticbagfacts.com/Main-Menu/Fast-Facts
• http://www.plasticbagfacts.com/PDFs/Life-Cycle-Assessment-for-Three-Types-of-Grocery-Bags.pdf

 Re-using, re-cycling, taxing manufacturers and distributors while instituting and providing for better public environmental communication plans from retailers on their own plastic bag purchases, bag use and conservation campaigns might be a solution, without pinching our already over taxed hardworking Americans supporting this economy and who are being left holding the bag, so to speak. Just a thought or two.

Alice M. Fisher, Unlimited PR & Associates, LLC, A Woman Veteran-Owned Small Business

Website: www.unlimitedpr.net

 

 Other Reading & References from Wikipedia

• ^ “Montgomery County Council passes 5-cent bag tax”. The Washington Post. 3 May 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/politics/montgomery-county-council-passes-5-cent-bag-tax/2011/05/03/AFePREjF_story.html. Retrieved 5 May 2011. 
• ^ European Plastics News: Plastic T-Shirt Carrier Bag (1965)
• ^ ^ab Natural Resource Defense Council
• ^ Joan Lowy (2004). “Plastic left holding the bag as environmental plague”. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. http://www.seattlepi.com/national/182949_bags21.html. Retrieved 1 December 2010. 
• ^ http://www.usitc.gov/publications/701_731/pub4080.pdf
• ^ US Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US Life Cycle Inventory Database
• ^ The Guardian – biodegradable plastic bags carry more ecological harm than good
• ^ Notes from the Packaging Laboratory: Polylactic Acid – An Exciting New Packaging Material
• ^ ^abc John Roach (2003). “Are Plastic Grocery Bags Sacking the Environment?”. National Geographic News. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
• ^ “Planet Earth’s new nemesis?”. BBC News. 8 May 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1974750.stm. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
• ^ “Plastic bags & Metro Floods”. Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation. 4 February 2011. http://www.mb.com.ph/node/302551/pla. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
• ^ “The Manila Floods: Why Wasn’t the City Prepared?”. ICIMOD. 29 September 2009. http://www.icimod.org/?opg=949&q=drr_document&document=605. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
• ^ Hinojosa IA, Thiel M (2009). “Floating marine debris in fjords, gulfs and channels of southern Chile.”. Mar Pollut Bull58 (3): 341–50. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2008.10.020. PMID 19124136. 
• ^ “Marine litter – trash that kills”. United Nations Environment Programme. 2001. http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/marinelitter/publications/docs/trash_that_kills.pdf. Retrieved 26 November 2010. 
• ^ Brett Israel (2010). “Plastic bag found floating near Titanic shipwreck”. Today. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/39077683/ns/today-tech_and_science/. Retrieved 1 December 2010. 
• ^ 2007 National Post-Consumer Recycled Plastic Bag & Film Report
• ^ Questions About Your Community: Shopping Bags: Paper or Plastic or …?
• ^ Waste and recycling. Environment.gov.au (2010-06-13). Retrieved on 2010-11-23.
• ^ Environment Agency (2011). “Evidence: Life Cycle Assessment of Supermarket Carrier Bags”. Environment Agency. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Research/Carrier_Bags_final_18-02-11.pdf. Retrieved 7 April 2011. 
• ^ Irena Choi Stern (5 August 2007). “Greening Up by Cutting Down on Plastic Bags”. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/05Rbags.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1. Retrieved 8 April 2011. 
• ^ ^ab Zev Yaroslavsky; Tim Shestek, Matthew Dodson; Giles Slade (audio). LA County Bans Plastic Bags. Interview with Warren Olney. To the Point. KCRW. http://www.kcrw.com/news/programs/tp/tp101119la_county_bans_plast. Retrieved 21 November 2010. 
• ^ ^ab Rachel Cernansky (August 17, 2010). “How Many Cities Have a Ban on Plastic Bags?”. Planet Green. http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/how-many-cities-have-a-ban-on-plastic-bags.html. Retrieved 19 November 2010. 
• ^ “Environmental Levy Scheme on Plastic Shopping Bags”. Government of Hong Kong SAR: Environmental Protection Department. 2009.
• http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/psb/en/environmental.html. Retrieved 19 November 2010. 
• ^ “Plastic Bag Recycling”. NYCWasteLe$$. NYC Department of Sanitation. 2010.
• http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/plastic_bag.shtml. Retrieved 19 November 2010. 
• ^ Andrew Darby (November 12, 2010). “Ban on plastic bags spreads to Tasmania”. The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/ban-on-plastic-bags-spreads-to-tasmania-20101111-17pgm.html. Retrieved 18 November 2010. 
• ^ Kathrine Mieszkowski (August 20, 2010). “Plastic bags are killing us”. Salon. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/08/10/plastic_bags. Retrieved 18 November 2010. 
• ^ Ali Eaves (August 9, 2010). “States weigh bans on plastic grocery bags”. Stateline.
• http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=504112. Retrieved 19 November 2010. 
• Lynn Thompson (28 July 2009). “Edmonds is first city in state to ban plastic grocery bags”. The Seattle Times.
• http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2009555416_bagban29m.html. Retrieved 24 March 2011. 
• ^ “Bethel, Alaska bans plastic bags”. http://www.sikunews.com/News/Alaska/Bethel%2C-Alaska-bans-plastic-bags-6532. Retrieved 24 March 2011. 
• ^ Emma Perez-Treviño (5 January 2010). “Brownsville commission adopts ban on plastic bags”. http://www.themonitor.com/articles/brownsville-34131-plastic-adopts.html. Retrieved 24 March 2011. 
• ^ Erin James (1 October 2010). “North Carolina bans plastic bags at all businesses on Outer Banks”. http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/262374. Retrieved 24 March 2011. 
• ^ John Tarantino (12 October 2011). “Portland Joins the Ban on Plastic Bags”. http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/2011/10/portland-joins-ban-plastic-bags/. 
• ^ Associated Press (December 19, 2011). “Officials Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags”. NPR. http://www.npr.org/2011/12/19/143989024/seattle-officials-ban-single-use-plastic-bags?ft=1&f=1001. Retrieved December 20, 2011. 
• ^ “Plastic Bags”. Irish Government: Dept. of Environment, Heritage, and Local Government. 2007. http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/Waste/PlasticBags/. Retrieved 19 November 2010. 
• ^ Matthew Knight (November 16, 2007). “Plastic Bags Fly Into Environmental Storm”. CNN.COM Technology.
• http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/11/14/fsummit.climate.plasticbags/. Retrieved 25 January 2011. 
• ^ Xing, Xiufeng (March 2009). “Study on the Ban on Free Plastic Bags in China”. Journal of Sustainable Development2 (1): 156–158.
• http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/viewFile/299/267. Retrieved 19 November 2010. 
• ^ Carrier Bag Charge Wales. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
• ^ “California Legislature fails to pass 25 cent bag tax”. Plastics News. 2009. http://plasticsnews.com/headlines2.html?cat=1&id=1244063213. Retrieved 5 May 2011. 
• “Seattle Rejects Its Plastic Bag Tax”. Business Insider. 2009.
• http://www.businessinsider.com/seattle-rejects-its-plastic-bag-tax-2009-8. Retrieved 5 May 2011. 
• ^ Brian Merchant (2010). “Plastic Bags Used in DC Drop From 22 Million to 3 Million a Month”. Treehugger. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/03/plastic-bag-use-dc-drops-22-million-3-million.php. Retrieved 26 November 2010. 
• ^ “Impact of Bill 18-150 on the Economy of Washington, D.C.”. The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University. 2011. http://www.atr.org/files/files/DCBagTaxStudy.pdf. Retrieved 8 February 2011. 
• ^ “Bills to tax disposable grocery bags in Va. fail to advance”. The Virginian Pilot. 2011. http://hamptonroads.com/2011/01/bills-tax-disposable-grocery-bags-va-fail-advance. Retrieved 6 May 2011. 
• ^ Daniel Valentine. “Lawmakers dump Prince George’s plan for plastic bag tax”. http://www.gazette.net/stories/04142011/prinnew170122_32537.php. Retrieved 25 April 2011. 
• ^ Assembly Bill No. 2449. Chapter 845
• ^ NYCWasteLe$: Plastic Bag Recycling – consumer info. Nyc. gov (2008-12-13). Retrieved on 2010-11-23.
• ^ Plastic Bag Recycling in Chicago. Chicagorecycling.org. Retrieved on 2010-11-23.
• ^ Governor Markell signs bill promoting plastic bag recycling. Governor.delaware.gov. Retrieved on 2010-11-23.
• ^ Plastic Bag Reduction. Cityservices.baltimorecity.gov. Retrieved on 2010-11-23. 

Seeds of Old Fashion Communication for 2012

As I write this, there is a rogue snow squawl just outside. This blog post is a detraction from my normal communications and social media related posts, as I examine my own  New Years resolutions for 2012.  I encourage you all to grow a garden this year, in pots/containers, on a small raised bed in the back of your Townhouse, or on a larger plot, or a rural rented plot somewhere. 

It’s also that time of year, it gets pretty darn cold out at night, I can’t even go outside to dig in the dirt ( its frozen), and it gets dark out at 5 pm. When I was a young girl in Upstate New York where every year when winter rolled around and the very cold January and February winds blew and dreams of green grass and soft warm winds haunted us, our mailbox had the annual welcoming and oh so colorful Spring gardening and seed catalogs.

This is the time when I look back to my roots and my love of gardening, which I got honestly from my father. Therefore, I dedicate this post to a man who also loved to garden and where I fondly remember him pouring over seed catalogs during the winter months to order seeds for our very large family with six siblings.  So, I  begin my New Year not really making any new resolutions I can’t keep. Instead I am hard at work ordering seed catalogs and look forward to the spring. As planting, growing, toiling, tilling and working on seven acres provides enough of a workout that I never have to say, I will exercise more each year! .  I was crazy enough to buy seven acreas that needed to be tamed, last year. OMG!

 Exercise and work, and seasonal communication is part of the ebb and flow of the changing seasons. Whatever happened to old fashion face-to-face communication, and doing it over the backyard fence, chatting about and compairing proudly grown veggies and new seeds we plan to plant next year?

 For now, while I am trying to embrace cyber-nating inside, I will continue to pay homage to my father and grand mother’s well taught basic life skills (communication 101, for life and business). 

 And yes, I will order a few seed catalogs to dream of fresh veggies to harvest later in 2012 . To get started, last night I planted heirloom Marglobe tomatoes, Yolo pepers, and a slew of cantaloupes, and some onions from seed (as a test).

 In this modern age of technology, about 70% of people still order most of their seeds from seed catalogs! I think this is great and here is why I think so. I believe that some old fashion ways of doing things should not change. We are beginning to raise entire generations who do not know anything about gardening, canning or growing things when it used to be a staple activity for families which kept people from starving, being less dependent on the government, and they ate healthier. Conversely, I know most of us have embraced many of the new fangled ways and technologies. But, we are passing on nothing to our youth, and our grand children. Rather, we are forgetting about being close to the land and living with a more purposeful existence, soon many will not know how to provide for themselves at all. This does not mean I am gonna go all Amish on you all. But, I refuse to pay an additional five cent tax at the grocery store for buying food to live on which is already taxed and not fresh.

 As a result, in my opinion something is missing from our daily lives, many are unemployed, the environment is suffering. There is value and purpose in time honored old fashion traditions such as; sitting still next to a crackling fire ( Yes, with wood you cut or stacked by yourself) and actually reading next to that fire with a snack like warm peach cobbler ( from peaches you canned or grew yourself) -instead of playing “farmer” with Farmville, texting, checking or tweeting your Facebook status 16 times a day or playing mindless time-sucking video games for hours and hours (which have no real intrinsic value, in my book).

 Like with so much else in life, technology is displacing the need for printed catalogs because a company can just list their seed selection on their website. Add to that the rising costs of doing business, the consolidation of seed companies, and the pickings can seem slim if you prefer printed seed catalogs. Fortunately, if you know where to look (and are willing to pay a few dollars in some cases) you can still participate in the tradition and escapism that is a seed catalog.

 Did you know there are more than 100 seed catalogs out there? As every gardener knows, seed catalogs are wonderful reading. Between the tantalizing descriptions of varieties and the first-rate cultural information, many catalogs can double as reliable gardening books. They are also interesting as historical sources.

 Note: Many heirloom vegetable varieties are not available in the seed trade, but can be found through seed saving networks. For more information, see also: Seed Savers, Seed Exchanges, and Seed Societies. You can find a larger list of seed catalogs at:

Below are a short list of favorites derived from a recent Mother News (MEN) survey. MEN’s printed that one customer said, “Fedco’s catalog make wonderful, entertaining, laugh-out-loud reading and all the vintage graphics are wonderful.” 

1. Johnny’s Selected Seeds (Winslow, Maine) www.johnnyseed.com
2. Seed Savers Exchange (Decorah, IA) www.seedsaver.com
3. Bakercreek Heirloom Seeds (Mansfield, MO) www.rareseeds.com
4. Burpee Seeds & Plants( Warminster, PA) www.burpee.com
5. Territorial Seed Company ( Cottage Grove, Ore) www.territorialseed.com
6. Seed of Change (Rancho, Dominquez CA) www.seedsofchange.com
7. Ferry-Morse Seed Company (Fulton, KY) www.ferry-morse.com
8. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (Mineral, VA) www.southernexposure.com
9. High Mowing Organic Seeds (Wolcott, VT) www.highmowingseeds.com
10. Fedco Seeds ( Waterville, MA) www.fedcoseeds.com
11. Nichols Garden Nursery (Albany, OR) www.nicholsgardennursery.com
12. The Cook’s Garden ( Warminster, PA) www.cooksgarden.com
13. Botanical Interests (Broomfield, CO) www.botanicalinterests.com
14. Renee’s Garden Seeds (Felton, CA) www.reneesgarden.com
15. Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply (Grass Valley, CA) www.groworganic.com

 For long term seed storage, seed vaulting, non hybrid garden seed kits, try a few of the following:

1. AAOB Foods which also provides info with tips on planting
2. Patriot Survival Seed Vault 37.95 | MyPatriotSupply.com
3. Heirloom Organics- Survival Seed Vault $99 – 50,000+ Seeds
4. www.non-hybrid-seeds- 2 Acres, 1.5LB, Eat for .01/LB
5. Prepared Planet-Canned Seeds | Organic Heirloom Seeds | Emergency Seed Storage
6. Livestock Seed Storage Pack
7. And here is a list of culinary vegetables too from Wikipedia

 Happy Gardening in 2012. And I encourage to resolve to share more with your family, neighbors and friends, the old fashioned way! 

 Call, write, txt me if you’d like help with a contract or communication plan!  And, all my best for a better and more prosperous 2012. 

 Alice M. Fisher, Owner of Unlimited PR & Associates, LLC which is a Woman Veteran-Owned Small Business. For more informatin visit our website  @Unlimitedpr, Website: www.unlimitedpr.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Women Veterans & Unemployment

I am wondering with some concern about the possible disproportionate inequality of opportunities outlined in the full text of the American Jobs Act, and wonder if others are noticing such as well? Particularly women and women Veterans.

But first, my intent is to stimulate conversation and thoughts that may drive more than just discussion but greater awareness about Women Veteran employment needs and thereby providing solutions in the very near future. I am a Veteran, and although my numbers stated below may not be exact ( am not a statistician) they may provide a generalized snapshot to discuss from, in greater detail. Much farther below is a plethora of resources for Women Veterans. I hope we all who read this will share it with others and hire a women veteran and women Veterans in transition. There is no reason women who have served our country should be with out a job or homeless.

There are between 25 -26 million Veterans in the US, of which 39% are 65 or older. The average age of all Veterans is about 61 years old.

I want to hear some comments and thoughts relative to proposed American Jobs Act and whether it will really help any of the nearly 40% of the older Veterans in our nation, or the larger ever growing number of women Veterans?

Are certain existing and proposed economic programs forgetting about women in certain male dominant career fields and more importantly women Veterans as a whole.

http://www.Veteransnewsroom.com/files/press/Veterans-Fact-Sheet-Veterans.pdf

Although Veterans comprise a richly diverse group, most Veterans are predominantly White, non-Hispanic, married males.          With that said, female veteran demographic characteristics are quite different from those of their male counterparts.  Although, the majority of Veterans are male, only 6-8 percent of all Veterans are women, depending on where you get your statistics.

The average age of the female Veteran is about 47 years old.

Every day, women in the military proudly serve our country, but when they return home they often do not receive the recognition, benefits, services or opportunities they have earned and deserve. Please read and consider listening to Women Veteran Voices http://youtu.be/_x9zLFFkdtk

Also, might I suggest reading the results from a 2007 survey, “Understanding the Complexity of Women Veterans’ Career Transitions.

Women, including women Veterans, are an under-recognized and under-utilized group of workers who I believe are not equally afforded opportunities. And they should be specifically targeted for healthcare and job opportunities with regards to this latest jobs focus under the American Jobs Act and health reforms or any other state or local programs.

(Contact Unlimited PR & Associates, LLC, which is a Woman Veteran-Owned Small Business if you would like communicaiton and outreach support targeting women Veterans by clicking here )

There are roughly 11 M Veterans in the workforce. And, as of January 2010, the unemployment rate for women Veterans was roughly 11.2 percent, compared to 9.4 percent for veteran men as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Then unemployment rate for younger women Veterans is even higher, read more http://www.bpwfoundation.org/documents/uploads/Facts_on_Women_Vets.pdf

Furthermore, Veterans live in six predominant states as noted below with numbers above one million service members. Let’s say that if the 8% figure for total number of women holds as a constant figure both for total women vets in the workforce and for each state as a rounded out figure one can roughly do the math of many women will need the support of the American Jobs Act.

• CA with 2.1M Veterans (8% women Veterans would = about 168,000 female Veterans? Right?)
• Fl with 1.7 M Veterans (8% women Veterans would = about 144,000 female Veterans?)
• Tx with 1.7 M Veterans (8% women Veterans would = about 144,000 female Veterans?)
• PA with 1M Veterans (8% women Veterans would = about 80,000 female Veterans?)
• NY with 1M + Veterans (8% women Veterans would = about 80,000 female Veterans?)
• OH with about 1M Veterans (8% women Veterans would = about 80,000 female Veterans?)

———————————–

That’s possibly 680,00 women Veterans or more in six key states may need services and employment support, are there any information campaigns targeting these states for women Veterans?

Lets look at some numbers in a different way. I have heard that “we will bring jobs to t he construction industry through the American Jobs act. I want to look at the construction industry for a brief moment from a woman’s perspective. Pretend, I am a single mom with 3 kids to feed. Will it help me? Pretend I am a women veteran with three kids to feed and I am also single and unemployed. Will it help women? Is it disproportionately gender biased?

I think I read somewhere that women account for 85% of all consumer purchases in this economy, including everything from autos to health care:

• 91% of New Homes
• 66% PCs
• 92% Vacations
• 80% Healthcare
• 65% New Cars
• 89% Bank Accounts
• 93% Food
• 93 % OTC Pharmaceuticals

Construction Industry ( it was brought up in speeches for the American Jobs Act, so it is being used as a comparative number but also to point out women in this field need greater support for employment services).

When OSHA was enacted, women made up less than one percent of workers in the construction trades. By 1995 that percentage had only grown to 2.3 percent, and today women comprised only three percent of the population of construction trades, slightly over one percent of operating engineers, and less than one percent of masons.

Further analysis shows who some of these figures might look in a bar graph. http://enr.construction.com/business_management/workforce/2010/extras/1013.asp

# of construction workers = 3M males

13.5 % unemployed = 222,222 males, 2-3% = 6,000 – 9,000 women

of which 40% (88,800) are Hispanic, average age 20-35, 60% don’t speak English.

#’s related to bridge builders/iron workers (About 88 percent worked in construction, with 51 percent working for foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors)

# Iron workers = 97,800 jobs in 2008 (13.5%= 13,203 men)

# Structural iron and steel workers held about 70,200 jobs (13.5% = 9,477 men)

# Re inforcing iron and rebar workers held about 27,700 jobs (13.5%= 3,739 men)

—————————————————————————————————————–

There might be 248,641 male construction related jobs may be needed versus the # of Unemployed Women Veterans

11.2% unemployed women Veterans with an average age 47 =

2.8 million women Veterans may need jobs and other services

there may be about 680,00 women Veterans in six key states

Read the survey results below from “Understanding the Complexity of Women Veterans’ Career Transitions” It is important to note that this survey offers a first composite picture of transition into the workplace for the woman veteran. Additionally significant is the sample and methodology used, in the absence of a comprehensive database of women Veterans available to the public.

• Results (including special topics)
• Implications
• Demographics  

An initial look at the survey results indicates that the transition from the military into the civilian workforce is a multi-dimensional process. Policy makers may need to examine a number of factors in order to craft programs and services that more fully support women Veterans that are moving into the civilian workforce. In addition, the implications relate not only to the types of resources needed during transition but the timing and duration of those resources.

• Top Ten Recommendations for Employers to Recruit and Retain Women Veterans
• Building Strong Programs and Policies to Support Women Veterans
• Recommendations to Support Women Veterans

Information about employment resources for women Veterans specifically are quite fragmented, in my humble opinion. There is no consistent messaging or outreach for women Veterans as a single go to source. And, I would like to see greater effort by providing national information outreach campaigns that specifically target women Veterans with employment information and resources. It’s easy to get lost in the transition, all the differing systems, information resources and processes.

For the first time in U.S. history, women comprise about 11 percent of American troops serving in combat theaters in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates women will soon account for 10 percent of the veteran population. Women Veterans have unique needs and challenges that affect their ability to maintain meaningful employment – for instance, many are single parents with dependent children and have histories of trauma, especially of a sexual nature. VA and community-based service providers have developed programs offering specialized services for women. All VA medical centers and many Readjustment Counseling (Vet) Centers have a designated Women Veterans Program Manager to help women Veterans access VA benefits and health care services. For a state-by-state listing of Veterans Health Administration facilities, click here. VA began a systemwide initiative in November 2008 to make comprehensive primary care for women Veterans available at every VA medical facility (medical centers and community-based outpatient clinics). According to a GAO report released in July 2009, the facilities are in various stages of implementing this initiative. Who will tell our women Vets? And, How? All Veterans Benefits Administration regional offices have a Women Veterans Coordinator to help women Veterans apply for VA benefits and assistance programs. To locate your local office, click here. Most State Departments of Veterans Affairs have a designated Women Veterans Coordinator to help women Veterans. A list of coordinators can be found here. Some community-based organizations have programs specifically designed for homeless women Veterans;find an organization near you here.

Connect-A-Vet Resources (source: The Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Foundation, a research and education institution solely dedicated to issues that affect working women). Helpful resources especially organized for Veterans. All these other web sites offer a wealth of information to use as you transition from the military to civilian life, search for a new career or seek support for you and your family.

• Education
• Financial – Small Business Assistance
• Employment and Career Services
• Financial Support Service
• Financial – Benefits
• General
• Government Agencies and Programs
• Health
• Health – Support Groups and Grief Counseling
• Housing Services and Facilities
• Legal Support
• Legislation and Public Policy
• Memorials, Cemeteries, and Services
• Professional Organizations and Special Groups
• Statistics, Facts and Research Tools
• Resources for Parents, Teachers, and Family Support Professionals in Times of War

Education

• 2010 Legacy Scholarship for Army women
• Education Benefits and GI Bill Enrollment – Earn education credits, tuition assistance and receive reimbursement for selected certification and licensing tests
• New GI Bill Information – Calculate your benefits, answer your questions. Developed by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
• Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Services – Independent living services, and employment and counseling programs for disabled Veterans

Financial – Small Business Assistance

• VA Center for Veterans Enterprise & Business – Federal web portal for Veterans starting and managing a small business
• Small Business Administration’s Programs for Veterans
• VeteransCorp – Doing business with the Federal Government? Check out “Small Business Resources” and “Doing Business with the Federal Government
• VETS Group – outreach, support, training, advocacy and technical services to Veterans interested in starting, expanding or purchasing their own small businesses

Employment and Career Services

• Bradley Morris – Learn about Civilian Jobs’ Career Fairs.
• CompTIA Career Center
• Corporate Gray
• Department of Labor – Veterans’ Employment & Training
• Department of Veterans’ Affairs
• Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve
• Federal Careers (Veterans)
• G.I. Jobs – your guide to post-military success
• Job Opportunities for Disabled Veterans
• Military Officers Association of America
• Military Connection
• Office of Personnel Management – Veterans’ guide to federal employment
• Premier Writing Solutions – Personal branding, career coaching and resume development. Learn how to identify your transferable skills that apply to the civilian workforce.
• Presidential Management Intern Program
• Salute Our Heroes – A special program offered for Veterans by The New York Times
• TA Online – An online single source of transition assistance information and tools for today’s separating military.
• TecAccess – Veterans with Disabilities Training and Employment Program -DVETS
• U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) – Veteran’s Preference and Federal Employment Video Library
• Veterans’ Preference for Federal Jobs – Special rights and privileges for Veterans applying for Federal civil service employment
• VA National Veterans’ Employment Office

Financial Support Service

• SSA (Social Security) Program
• OPM Pay Grade Guide
• VFW Unmet Needs Program – For active duty, National Guard, and Reserves
• Home Loan Guaranty Service – Guaranteed loans to help Veterans purchase a new home
• VA Life Insurance Program – Offers life insurance plans to disabled Veterans and current and separating service members
• Navy Mutual Aid Association – Insurance plans and assistance for dependents or beneficiaries
• Social Security Benefits and Military Service
• Swords to Plowshares – counseling and case management, employment and training, housing, and legal assistance to Veterans in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Unemployment Compensation for Former Service Members – Unemployment benefits for separated military personnel

Financial – Benefits

• Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents
• Armed Forces Services Corporation – A system of services to help you and your family plan for your future and your survivorship needs
• Board of Veterans’ Appeals – Steps and procedures for filing an appeal of veteran’s benefits
• Commissary Benefits: – Nearly 280 commissaries – savings you’ve earned
• Compensation and Pension Benefits (VA) – Receive compensation and pension benefits if you are a veteran and have been disabled as a result of military service
• DoD/VA Benefits for Guard & Reserve Members
• Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents
• Summary of VA Benefits (Publication)
• Survivor Benefits Homepage
• Veterans Address Change for Benefit Payments or Medical Records
• Turbo-Tap – transition resources

General

• CinCHouse.com – Online resource for military wives and women in uniform.
• Military One Source
• National Resource Directory

Government Agencies and Programs

• Veteran Benefits by State
• Center for Women Veterans (VA)
• Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS)
• Department of Veterans Affairs – Online services, resources and programs for the nation’s Veterans and their families
• House of Representatives Committee on Veterans’ Affairs – Congressional resources, including legislation and congressional hearings affecting Veterans.
• National Association of State Women Veterans Coordinators
• Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs – Congressional resources, hearings and legislation on behalf of Veterans
• Veterans Service Organizations – Links to congressionally-chartered service organizations such as Vietnam Veterans of America and Veterans of Foreign Wars

Health

• Anxiety Disorders Association of America
• African American Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
• American Red Cross – Both active duty and community-based military can count on the Red Cross to provide emergency communications that link them with their families back home, access to financial assistance, counseling and assistance to Veterans
• Blinded Veterans Association
• DisabilityInfo.gov – Federal gateway to disability information and resources for people with disabilities, their families, and employers
• Disabled American Veterans
• DoD New Policy on Prevention and Response to Sexual Assault
• Enrollment in VA’s Health Care System
• Grace After Fire
• HHS Women’s Health
• Hospice Care – The VA’s nationwide palliative care network
• Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
• Medicare
• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
• National Amputation Foundation
• National Resource Directory
• Return & Reunion Workshop for Spouses
• TRICARE – DoD Military Health System
• United Spinal Association – founded in 1946 by Veterans with spinal cord injuries to help enable members, as well as others with disabilities, to lead full and productive lives
• VA Health Benefits and Services – Medical, surgical and rehabilitative care and benefits provided by the Veterans Health Administration
• Veterans Address Change for Benefit Payments or Medical Records – Veterans Affairs FAQ regarding changing address for benefit payments or for medical records
• Veterans Health Library – Latest news, research and educational resources from the National Library of Medicine
• VA Health Services Research & Development 
• VA Kids
• VA National Center for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention
• VHA Online Health Eligibility
• Women Veterans Health Program

Housing Services and Facilities

• American Red Cross – Both active duty and community-based military can count on the Red Cross to provide emergency communications that link them with their families back home, access to financial assistance, counseling and assistance to Veterans
• Armed Forces Retirement Home – The premiere retirement community for America’s Veterans
• Armed Services YMCA – The Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA), a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization, that works with the Department of Defense, offering services such as childcare, hospital assistance, spouse support services, food services, computer training classes, health and wellness services to Veterans and their families.
• Bayside at Fort Howard – Retirement Community Designed Especially for Veterans
• Housing and Homelessness Resources – Veterans’ resource center at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
• Fisher House Foundation – provides “a home away from home” at no cost that enables family members to be close to a loved one during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury; currently there are 38 houses
• National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
• State Veterans Homes
• VA Homeless Veterans Program
• Veterans Assistance Foundation, Inc. – established to operate transitional housing programs for military Veterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless
• Risk Factors for Homelessness Among Women Veterans – Issue Brief: Journal for Health Care for the Poor and Under Served 2010
• Women Veterans who are Homeless: Characteristics, Risk Factors, Needs – Power Point Presentation: National Forum on Homelessness Among Veterans,Arlington, VA  December 7, 2010

Health – Support Groups and Grief Counseling

• American Gold Star Mothers – An organization of mothers who have lost a son or daughter in the service of our country
• Blue Star Mothers of America  – Mothers supporting each other and our children while promoting patriotism
• Compassionate Friends – Grief support
• Gold Star Wives of America – A military survivors’ organization serving war widows from all conflicts and service connected disabilities since 1945
• National Resource Directory
• VA Vet Center – counseling and bereavement services

Legal Support

• American Bar Association – Legal assistance for military personnel and Veterans
• E-laws e-Vets Resource Advisor – Advice and tools for Veterans entering the job market from the Department of Labor
• National Veterans Legal Services Program
• Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) – National, non-profit legal services, watchdog and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel affected by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and related forms of intolerance.

Legislation and Public Policy

• Get Active with BPW Foundation Advocacy Center – BPW Foundation encourages its supporters to contact their Members of Congress and State Legislators about critical women’s’ issues. It’s easy with our online Advocacy Center.
• Women’s Policy
• Center for Minority Veterans
• VA Advisory Committees
• VA Public Affairs for News Releases
• Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES)

Memorials, Cemeteries, and Services

• VA National Cemetery Administration
• Arlington National Cemetery
• The Ceremonial Bugle
• Gravesites in VA Cemeteries – Locate Veterans buried in VA cemeteries in the U.S.
• Gravesites of Veterans in American Cemeteries on Foreign Soil – Information and assistance for visiting gravesites, from the American Battle Monuments Commission
• Korean War Veterans Memorial – Located in Washington, DC, this memorial honors those who served in the Korean War between 1950 and 1953
• Vietnam Veterans Memorial – Pay tribute at the memorial in Washington, DC, maintained by the National Park Service
• World War II Memorial – Located in Washington DC honoring those who served in WWII
• World War II Memorial Registry – Remember an American who contributed to the war effort by adding a name
• Women In Military Service For America (WIMSA)
• Burial and Memorial Benefits – Locate VA National Cemeteries and find out if your loved one is eligible for a headstone and marker, a Presidential Memorial Certificate, or military funeral honors

Professional Organizations and Special Groups

• ALL NAVY WOMEN’S NATIONAL ALLIANCE
• American Ex-Prisoners of War
• The American Legion
• American Nurses’ Association (ANA)
• Air Force Sergeants Association
• AMSUS The Society of Federal Health Agencies
• AMVETS
• The Army and Navy Union – The oldest Veterans’ organization in America
• Army Nurse Corps Association
• Business and Professional Women’s Foundation – the Women Joining Forces: Closing Ranks, Opening Doors initiative offers programming and resources to support women Veterans and families
• Catholic War Veterans
• DAV National Service Foundation
• Fleet Reserve Association – Works to preserve and enhance benefits and quality-of-life programs for members of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard
• Italian American War Veterans of the USA
• Jewish War Veterans of the USA
• Legion of Valor of the USA
• OperationHomeFront.org
• Marine Corps League
• Military Chaplains Association of the United States of America
• Military Officers Association of America
• Military Order of the Purple Heart of the U.S.A.
• Military Order of the World Wars
• Military Spouses for Change
• National Association of American
• National Association for Black Veterans
• National Association of County Veterans Service Officers
• National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs – Information for each State’s Department of Veterans Affairs and resources
• National Native American Veterans Association (NNAVA)
• Navy Club of the United States of America
• Navy League of the United States
• Non Commissioned Officers Association
• Paralyzed Veterans of America
• The Retired Enlisted Association
• Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States
• Veterans of the Vietnam War
• Vietnam Veterans of America
• WAVES National
• Women’s Army Corps Veterans Association
• Women Marines Association
• Women Veterans of America

Statistics, Facts and Research Tools

• Womens Veterans in Transition – research project on women Veterans transitioning from deployment to civilian life
• Directory of National Veterans Service Organizations
• Federal Citizen Information Center
• History of Veterans Day
• HyperFAQs – Find information, forms, and answers to frequently asked questions
• Military Records Correction (SF Form 293)
• Military Women Veterans History
• Personnel Records Center (Military Records)
• Request a Copy of Your Military Personnel Record-  Obtain copies of military personnel, health and medical records of discharged and deceased Veterans from all branches of the Armed Forces.

Resources for Parents, Teachers, and Family Support Professionals in Times of War

• VA Statistics
• Veterans History Project

Latest 2011 PR, Media & Social Media Resources

Read more about the latest resources available to help your small business be more productive @ http://wp.me/PDsIz-1h

Send a Txt message to UPR, LLC @ (240) 620-2002, if your small business needs social media, marketing or media help!

We want to help your business not only survive but thrive.

With only 2-3 hrs of our time we can help you deliver more results! We won’t break the bank!

Or, simply follow us on Twitter @Unlimitedpr for periodic updates.
Visit our website: www.unlimitedpr.net to partner with, subcontract or contract with us on a Federal or State contract.

Unlimited PR & Associates, LLC is a A Woman Veteran-Owned Small Business

Media Search Resrouces & Search Engines

 There are several decent news search engines on the Web, and some of them are listed below. A news search regularly includes visits to some of the major newspapers on the Internet, as well as various news aggregators — i.e. sites that gather and aggregate news headlines and summaries from other sites (see for instance Google News and Topix).

There are so many online sources. But I thought I would present a few new comers that may be of interest and timely.

 

 

1. Remember MC Hammer? Now, wait a minute, I know that his music is not quite so timely anymore but on October 21, 2011, MC Hammer plans to launch search engine WireDoo to rival Google …  The ’90s rapper, whose name is Stanley Kirk Burrell, is planning to launch a search engine called WireDoo. So, what are your thoughts about this latest development? How will it be any different?  And, why do we need two of the same thing?

2. And for another development there is FeedBooster, which is a tool for real news junkies . RSS is such a powerful technology yet most RSS readers are not very powerful tools. Search start up Q-sensei delivers powerful enterprise solutions. Part of that power can be felt in their consumer end product FeedBooster, an RSS tool with powerful search and filtering capabilities.  FeedBooster provides you with more than just a list of feed items. Feeds imported into FeedBooster are pre-processed in a way that makes it easier to search, browse and explore them. FeedBooster doubles as a dynamic archive and knowledge tool to mine for information. Here’s how it works. You can sign in with Google, Facebook or OpenID. If you sign in with Google, it is easy to import your feeds from Google Reader. You can also add pre-defined feed sets on popular topics or add your own favorite feeds.

3. Pandia News Finder, Visit Pandia Radio Search for a list of online radio stations with news coverage.

4. And, then there is Mool.com which searches within over 4,500 broadcast media, newspapers, & national magazine websites

5. Ithaki News Metasearch is a Metasearch engine of more than 60 news resources worldwide: newspapers and search engines organized by language. http://www.ithaki.net/news/

6. Social Mention. For the best analytical data, Social Mention is tough to beat, providing lists of related keywords, hash tags, and social media sources for its list of results. At the top left corner there are several metrics provided that will help you determine where your brand is positioned on social media. The “Strength” number indicates the likelihood that your brand is being discussed. The “Passion” and “Sentiment” numbers indicate the nature of the comments and how engaged users are in their discussions. Lastly, the “Reach” calculation will tell you how much influence these users have. The interface is clean and easy to customize once you start working with it, especially if you want to limit your search to a particular social media site. If you want to work on the go, you can set up e-mail notifications for particular terms and download spreadsheets for your search results.

 7. And, then there is the compiled list below of other Media/News Research and Search sources which may also be helpful when performing news related searches or news research.

Newspapers Time.com New York Times Washington Post Wall Street Journal USA Today Int. Herald Tribune Financial Times Guardian Times Independent Toronto Globe and Mail The Australian Irish News Headlines List of Newspapers

Free News Sites 1st headlines ABC Ananova BBC C-span CBS CNN Congoo FOX Huffington Post Merinews MediaLine MidEast News Source MSNBC Newsday AP Newser News Now UK Newsvine Reuters Stratfor Topix Wikinews Wikio Yahoo News

Search Engines AllTheWeb News Index Total News Yahoo! Rocketinfo Google News Search Google News Australia Google News UK Google News New Zealand Google News Canada Live News Search Rocket News Redtram Silobreaker Topix Congoo

 

Hot blog posts Topix Top Blog Stories Blogniscient Technorati Top News Feedster FeedBuzz Blogpulse Top News Findory Blog Top Stories News Directories Kiosken, newspapers from all over the world NewspaperLinks.net Newscentral list of newspapers NewsDirectory.com Newspaper Links (US/Can) Newspapers Online ABYZ News Links bizjournals.com The Drudge Report

More… Online news radio stations Newseum — The interactive museum of news Spotback personalized news Newspaper Archive AllTop (top news in categories)                          Radio-Locator– One of the most complete and user-friendly lists on the Internet, sorted in several ways. Social Web Selections Reddit Top Stories Shoutwire Fark Digg News Propeller (Netscape) Mixx Furl Stubleupon Buzz del.icio.us recent Yahoo! Buzz Twitter

Other News Search Sites to Dig Just a Little Deeper

International News Search Sources

Abyz News Links  A location based guide to news sources from around the world. Primarily composed of newspapers but also includes broadcast stations, Internet services, magazines, and press agencies

Alternative Press Center  Dedicated to providing access to and increasing public awareness of the alternative press. The Alternative Press Center (APC) is a non-profit collective dedicated to providing access to and increasing public awareness of the alternative press. Founded in 1969, it remains one of the oldest self-sustaining alternative media institutions in the United States.

A-Znewsfile A UK reference guide to online newspapers, mangazines and journals – with independently researched reviews.

International Business Times– Fine source for global business news, with several country-based international editions available, in the respective languages.

ELibrary Research  Search magazines, books, newspapers, pictures, maps and TV and radio scripts.

International Herald Tribune This is excellent news source from Paris mastheads itself as “the global edition of the New York Times.”

Inter Press Service– World news stressing developing countries, from a “global news agency producing independent news and analysis about events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples and nations, especially in the [global] South.” Focus of the site is on civil society and the South, development issues, globalization, and those excluded from it.

Le Monde Diplomatique– World-renown French language newspaper; this link is to the English-language edition with searchable archives.

MagPortal.com Search engine for finding free online magazine articles on diverse topics.

Mpeg-Search.com – Global Media Search Engine  Nation, world, technology and Washington area news 

News Directory English-language media online – over 8,400 magazines and newspapers worldwide

Newspapers.com Provides an easy to use tool for finding the world’s newspapers

New Europe– “The European weekly, published since 1993, is a unique product carrying news and analyses from 49 countries with a particular emphasis on the EU institutions and EU-World relations.”

Newslookup.com – News Lookup Service

New York Times– Fine international section. Site features a free searchable archive of full-text NYT news items back to 1851. Note the Times College Web Site with features (some international) for students and faculty.

Overseas Security Advisory Council– From the U.S. Department of State, advisories on security-related issues around the world including “Travel Advisories, Public Announcements, daily security related news articles, overseas reports on security and crime incidents, terrorist group profiles, significant anniversary dates, general crime information for cities and countries, locations and contacts at U.S. posts overseas, and updates on new or unusual situations.”

PenguinRadio Over 5,000 online radion stations from around the world

Real Time Search – Social Mention

 Total News TotalNEWS is a search engine and directory of news sites designed to increase your access to information

 Search Washington Post and AP http://search.washingtonpost.com

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty– “Daily report of developments in Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, based on news gathered by the correspondents, services and regional specialists of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,” whose mission is “to provide uncensored news and information to countries where a free press is either banned by the government or not fully established.”

Reuters– Top world and business news stories from this prestigious agency.

Voice of America News– News and special reports, printed and audio (in scores of languages), from this U.S. government international service.

 World Wide Internet TV– Searchable website catalogs and links thousands of online TV stations worldwide by country and type of programming. “Your portal to watch live and on demand online television broadcasts.”

Wall Street Journal– The world famous Dow Jones business and finance newspaper, online. Includes special editions for the World, Europe, Asia, and India.

Washington Post World Section– With regional news pages, and searchable by countries, topics, or keywords. Also check out the Search the World page for access by country and other features. Note the interactive PostGlobal feature, “an experiment in global, collaborative journalism, a running discussion of important issues among dozens of the world’s best-known editors and writers. It aims to create a truly global dialogue, drawing on independent journalists in the countries where news is happening.”

Watching America– “Discover What the World Thinks About U.S.” with English language translations of foreign press commentary about the United States and its foreign policy, from around the world and with links to the original sources.

Worldpress– “Nonpartisan magazine whose mission is to foster the international exchange of perspectives and information. It contains articles reprinted from the press outside the United States, as well as originally written material… Drawing upon publications around the globe, and a network of correspondents in dozens of countries… provides an understanding of the information that shapes opinions and views in other societies.

Job Search Engine Websites

There are a few places where job search resources are available, which was originally posted by Eric Shannon on January 24, 2011 in job boards. The 2011 guide list to the top 100 US job search categories. I like it becuse it lists the top 3 or 4 niche job search websites.

 The top 30 job site niches. These rankings represent an average of 12 months search data at Google and are influenced by seasonal considerations as well as the business cycle — so take this top 30 for what it is, just a snapshot in time.

accounting construction cruise ship data entry engineering college environmental finance freelance government graphic design healthcare hospitality insurance it

journalism law enforcement marketing medical nursing overseas part time police retail sales security teaching warehouse welding work from home

Also, here is a quick list of job search sites as well directly below from the Search Engine List

Veteran Job Search Resourses: VetJobs,   Veteran Job Search  The Riley Guide, Job Opportunities for Disabled Veterans – JOFDAV   

• Helmets to Hardhats   Helps transitioning Military and Veterans find careers in the building and construction trades.
• Military.com   Designed for military personnel with: military skills translator, business interest quiz, industry exploration tool, guide to headhunters and job listings.
• Hire Heroes USA   Provides career placement assistance to all returning service men and women focusing on placement of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans from all branches of the military.
• HireRetiredOfficers.com   Retired and separated Commissioned Officers and Senior Noncommissioned Officers of the United States military services post resumes and search for jobs on this website.
• HireVeterans.com   Receives and posts job opportunities from employers who want to hire transitioning military and Veterans in a variety of occupations
• Recruit Veterans, Inc.   
• Toyota’s Hire A Hero Program   Hundreds of available jobs at independently owned Toyota and Lexus dealerships.
• VeteransToEnergy.org   A job search portal site dedicated to helping U.S. military Veterans find careers in the oil and natural gas industry.

Hispanic Job Search Resources: http://www.hispanicsurf.com/jobs-careers_surf.htm

	Career Builder: The career builder website.
	Craig’s List: is a centralized network of online communities, with free classified ads (with jobs, internships, housing, personals, services, community, gigs, resume, and pets categories) and forums.
	CV Fox: A search engine that is designed to hunt down and retrieve resumes (CV’s) from all over the Internet. Free to use, has become a popular tool with professional recruiters.
	Dice.com is the #1 technology job board. For technology experts in areas such as Information Technology (IT), software, high tech, security, biotech, and more. Recently purchased eFinancialCareers.com.
	Eluta.ca (Canada) – High-paying jobs in Canada directly from employers’ websites. Seach new full-time jobs at 71000+ employers across Canada.
	Hot Jobs (Yahoo): Find a job, post your resume, research careers at featured companies, compare salaries and get career advice on Yahoo! HotJobs.
	Incruit (Korea): Incruit claims to be the first Korean match making site between job seekers and companies and claims the first Korean Internet résumé database (June 1. 1998).
	Indeed.com: A job ‘meta-search’ that scours job boards, newspapers and multiple sources with one search interface.
	Jobs.pl (Poland): Run by an American/Polish team of MBA’s, Poland’s leading job portal. Partially owned by European Media Group “Orkla Press” from Scandinavia.
	JobsDB (Asia/Pacific): An Asia/Pacific focused job and recruitment site with databases dedicated to each country in the Asia/Pacific region.
	JobPilot (Owned by Monster): A European job site now owned by Monster.com. Focused on European jobs with branches in a number of European countries.
	Jobserve: UK based job search focused originally on IT Contracting work, but now covering multiple areas. Resume database, large number of job postings.
	Monster.com: The world’s largest resume database and online job search.
	Naukri.com (India): An India-focused job search engine.
	Recruit.net: A job search engine that allows you to search jobs worldwide.
	SimplyHired.com – Job search engine. Search over 5 million job listings and thousands of jobs sites to find a job you love.
	StepStone (Europe): European online recruitment site based in Scandinavia with operations and subsidiaries througout Europe.
	TheLadders.com (USA) Job search for professional jobs in the most comprehensive source of $100K+ jobs on the internet.

Update on: Unlimited PR & Associates, LLC

Well this is a short up date on why I have not posted much lately for those who occassionally read my blog. I have taken the plunge and filed as an official small business, gotten my Federal EIN number, registered with the state of Maryland, updated my website and have nearly completed filing as an 8 (a) with SBA.gov.

Just in time for the Labor Day Weekend! So, with that said, I am hungry to get some work and proposals out the door (I think it’s nearly dinner time-hence the food reference). And, I excited and scared at the same time.

The one thing I have learned thus far is, you can not just flip on a light switch as there are quite a few hoops to jump through to get it right. And, it took me some time to learn that there is no longer any Dynamic Small Business Search Numbers (albeit that is still required on an SBA form). For future businesses filing with SBA, please note that is now your Federal IRS EIN number which goes in that spot.

I am now in the process of decorating and setting up my small business office suite, and carving out a nifty little space to run this new small business. Comments and suggests are welcome and I will try to post a picture of the new office once completed. Maybe I will post how to set up a little office on a no cost budget.

On top of the small business start up paper work I have been completing faxing and mailing out scads of stuff, and I am also rehabing a house I bought last summer, trying to tame 7 acres that was let go and grew wild for about two years, canning fruits and veggies, building a chicken condo and maintaining a newly deer proofed garden.

I am sure there is a future possible blog posts that can benefit small business owners in some analagous way on the anatomy and value of daily chicken dust baths, how to build a chicken condo with no plans, and the value of gardening as it relates to running a small Woman Veteran-Owned small business.

For now, suffice it to say I am up and running and look forward to providing consulting and management services; as such relates to social media, Web 2.0, Internet marketing, outreach, strategic communications, traditional media relations, public affairs, advertising, e-commerce and social networking.

PS, Really, any decorating, color or painting ideas and comments of course are all welcome! I will try to post a photo or two in the next post.
It’s been a busy summer, the days are getting shorter as fall approaches… so stay tuned for more posts soon.
Now, it is time for dinner!

Alice M. Fisher, Owner
Unlimited PR & Associates, LLC
A Woman Veteran-Owned Small Business
Twitter.com/Unlimitedpr
www.unlimitedpr.net

Life History of Edith Margaret VanderPoel/Fisher/Faulstich

Life History of Edith Margaret VanderPoel/Fisher/Faulstich.

The Big Ripple Effect if US Government Shuts down

I imagine many are in “Crisis Communications Mode”, most likley.   I could take this post in a myriad of different directions. For instance, do you have a financial emergency communication plan to deal with a total Government shutdown? 

What is your message to your staff, your contractors, your family, to your stakeholders, or even your investors? How much time, money and human resources is this looming shutdown costing you and your business in preparing such communiques?

And, please tell me how can one even begin to think about effective communications or anything else for that mattter when there is this overwhelming seat of the pants, minute by minute reporting and holding of one’s breath that has everyone just sitting on a razor sharp edge with the waiting and waiting while 535 congressional adults and one US president have the entire US economy holding it’s breath- Oh and they all are getting paid to play political patty cake.

I imagine it will get some great media ratings, while we all sit glued to our TV sets in the next 24 hours.  I bet the average AQH ratings for drive time are going up as well.Truely, a media opportunity.

But, instead of focusing on communications and social media this go round, I want to rant about the potential human numbers. I am worried about our people. Really, can we recover from these political shenanigans?

Let’s entertain a look at some figures just for a minute or two regarding the potential ripple effect. And, mind you that I am not an economist nor a  business statistican.

OMB says 800,000 feds, including workers at the White House and civilian employees at the Defense Department. And to extend that number, I heard on Federal News Radio last night on the drive home that there are about 5 to 6 contract workers per full time Federal worker.  About 85 percent of Federal employees work outside the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Let’s just do the simple math on those very basic numbers. 

All told, there could be at a minimum, 4 MILLION Amercian workers  and their families (who have children to feed, BTW) impacted, and  it could alsopossibly  leave our US Military without pay until a CR is passed.

Click here and scroll down to see the total number of Federal Workers and click here to see the latest numbers and percentages on how the shutdown will impact each and every single Federal agency. To see  each Federal Agency contingency plan go right here

Bloomberg crunched the numbers and came up with a specific tab: $174 million per day the government is shut down. And, is really is a cost, not just a reimbursement. Work that needs to get done (processing tax returns, issuing passports) piles up while employees are furloughed, creating a need for massive overtime once the government starts back up.

Then there’s the cost of lost receipts. Visitors spend roughly $32 million per day at national parks. Fees and tax revenue generated from this spending is lost in a shutdown. Then there’s lost revenue from airline taxes, levied fines, and a host of other fee-based income that goes dark in a shutdown. According to the Government Accountability Office, a three-day shutdown in 1991 cost $363 million in lost tax revenue and fee income. Adjusted for inflation, that probably works out to about $200 million per day, give or take a nickle or two.  So, who is at fault?  Just what the heck are you all thinking?

Here is DC’s Potential Impact

There are 320,ooo Federal workers alone just in the DC Metro Region. 

DC, is considered in a shutdown to be a federal agency, would face $1.5 million to $5.5 million in losses per week.  Along with trash collection, most parking enforcement would be suspended, and D.C. libraries and Department of Motor Vehicles offices would be closed. Street sweeping would be suspended for the duration of a shutdown, city officials said. Trash pickup could resume, because federal shutdown laws permit government services that deal with property and public safety, they said. But that wouldn’t happen for at least a week.

Specific to the DC Metro Region there are about 120,000 federal workers across 80 Federal Agencies and 289,000 Federal Civilan Workers all who ride the metro, all receive Metro transit subsidies. So, Federal Metro subsidies would not be sent nor be used.  And, I imagine the Metro Transit System will experience a significant decline in daily ridership and reveue with their already huge budget shortfall.  Brace yourself for rider increases!

 The last shutdown cost taxpayers $800 million, including $400 million in wages to federal workers who did not report to work, according to About.com. However, during the first shutdown in 1995 800,000 non-essential workers were furloughed without pay for five days, according to AOL News.

Would Your Unemployment Benefits contine for the 13.5 to 28.5  MILLION People( murky waters on what the real unemployed numbers are)

Would your Social Security Payments or for more than 34.8 Million Seniors be processed (as well as disability and survivor  benefits for children) totalling of 54,3 Million PEOPLE or rather $58. 5 Million Dollars a month be sent out?

And let’s not forget about asking about services for our 22 MILLION Veterans, including their health and welfare programs (read more stats here).

Go to this CNN link to stay connected about what would be closed /not closed

The Costs of Government Shutdowns Past
The first of the two government shutdowns in 1995-1996 lasted only six days, from November 14 to November 20. Following the six-day shutdown, the Clinton administration released an estimate of what the six days of an idled federal government had cost.

 Lost Dollars: The six-day shutdown cost taxpayers about $800 million, including $400 million to furloughed federal employees who were paid, but did not report to work and another $400 million in lost revenue in the four days that the IRS enforcement divisions were closed.

While your waiting to know what OUR government will do for the people and by the people why not read about 10 things to do before you leave your office on Friday as well as some additional figures from Inconvenienced Citizens of  Past Shutdowns farther below. Tell me how you feel about this whole mess that have everyone teetering on the baited breath? Is this a political PR Stunt for future campaign strategy? Is this a I am in charge nanny nanny boo boo and I have a Veto Pen. Or is this more about 536 people who really can’t communicate well nor can they balance a check book? Now that my friends is pretty scarry and their incharge ???

I hear echos of “Run Forest, Run!”

More “stuff” to chew on from the previous shut downs

• Medicare: Some 400,000 newly eligible Medicare recipients were delayed in applying for the program.
• Social Security: Claims from 112,000 new Social Security applicants were not processed. 212,000 new or replacement Social Security cards were not issued. 360,000 office visits were denied. 800,000 toll-free calls for information were not answered.
• Healthcare: New patients were not accepted into clinical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical center. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ceased disease surveillance and hotline calls to NIH concerning diseases were not answered.
• Environment: Toxic waste clean-up work at 609 sites stopped as 2,400 Superfund workers were sent home.
• Law Enforcement and Public Safety: Delays occurred in the processing of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives applications by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; work on more than 3,500 bankruptcy cases reportedly was suspended; cancellation of the recruitment and testing of federal law enforcement officials reportedly occurred, including the hiring of 400 border patrol agents; and delinquent child-support cases were delayed.
• US Veterans: Multiple veterans’ services were curtailed, ranging from health and welfare to finance and travel.
• Travel: 80,000 passport applications were delayed. 80,000 visas were delayed. The resulting postponement or cancellation of travel cost U.S. tourist industries and airlines millions of dollars.
• National Parks: 2 million visitors were turned away from the nation’s national parks resulting in the loss of millions in revenue.
• Government-backed Loans: FHA mortgage loans worth more than $800 million to more than 10,000 low-and-moderate-income working families were delayed.

The Ghost of Shutdowns Past

Since 1981, there have been five government shutdowns. Four of the last five government shutdowns went largely unnoticed by anybody but the federal employees affected. In the last one, however, the American people shared the pain.

• 1981: President Reagan vetoed a continuing resolution and 400,000 Federal employees were sent home at lunch and told not to come back. A few hours later, President Reagan signed a new version of the continuing resolution and the workers were back at work the next morning.

• 1984: With no approved budget, 500,000 federal workers were sent home. An emergency spending bill has them all back at work the next day.

• 1990: With no budget or continuing resolution, the government shuts down during the entire three-day Columbus Day weekend. Most workers were off anyway and an emergency spending bill signed by President Bush over the weekend has them back at work Tuesday morning.

• 1995-1996: Two government shutdowns beginning on November 14, 1995, idled different functions of the federal government for various lengths of time until April of 1996.
•  The most serious government shutdowns in the nation’s history resulted from a budget impasse between Democratic President Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress over funding for Medicare, education, the environment and public health.

Primo Effective Communication?



What is the script? I would really love to know what they are saying.  Any ideas? But, look at all the expressive body language, the driving home a consistent message that resonates and which seems to be all it takes to get these two very excited and resonant with each other

Is, there anything here we can learn, from out of the mouths of babes? Sometimes we expound too much? And, sometimes less is so much more. Obviously, stripped down to bare bones, face-to-face communication is still very important today, even for these new  digital natives.