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THE NEWS RECORD
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
NEWSRECORD.ORG
MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2015
Professionals use experience to explain business side of social media # U C
MOLLY COHEN | CONTIRBUTOR
Social media enthusiasts joined forces Thursday in Tangeman University Center to discuss the business side of social media with a panel of five professionals who utilize it on a daily basis. The companies represented by panel members included Empower MediaMarketing, Fifth Third Bank, InfoTrust, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and Northlich. The goal of the panel was to explain why social media and business is valuable, explore how social media is used in business and give attendees lessons for using social media properly and effectively. “Gaining a better understanding of how social media works helps us manage our lives better,” said Charles Matthews, founder of the Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research at the University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business, an entrepreneurship and strategy
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professor and moderator of the panel. “Especially for students, who will be shaping the future of social media, hearing about and discussing current and future trends empowers us all to build a better future.” The panel said that one of the main reasons companies use social media is to develop and personalize their brands. The type of social media used depends on a company’s goals, as well as its target audience. The consensus was that people with a strong understanding of their brand will do well. However, if a company’s brand is still being formulated, that company should wait before creating a social media presence. “One big concern is folks that have an opinion without taking time to form that opinion,” said Tim McCort, chief operating officer of Northlich.“Generally if a brand is bad at social media, they don’t know who they are.” But creating a voice can be difficult to maintain. Shannon Paul, vice president of social media at Fifth Third Bank, SEE BUSINESS PG 3
LIZ FRYLING | CONTRIBUTOR
Five professionals use their experience with social media to discuss how to use it effectively in a professional business environment Thursday.
Media experts discuss NEW EXECUTIVES, CABINET CELEBRATE changing journalism landscape, news cycle 2015-16 STUDENT GOVERNMENT ELECTION RESULTS REVEALED
# U C
HUY NGUYEN | STAFF REPORTER
Social media has had a large impact on journalism and the ways in which readers receive their news. As part of the University of Cincinnati’s first Social Media Week, a panel met in Tangeman University Center Thursday to pinpoint the ways in which social media has changed the coverage and presentation of news and the effects this has on credibility. Moderated by journalism professor and department head Jeffrey Blevins, the panel included Holly Edgell, WCPO community editor, Jack Greiner of the Graydon Head law firm, Jackie Reau of Gameday Communications and Jason Williams, Cincinnati Enquirer transportation reporter. According to panelists, many news divisions feel the need to tweet earlier than the competition to increase viewership, yet authentication of a source’s credibility remains a core requirement for mainstream news. “Just because you can do it, should you?” was the question posed by Edgell on the topic of a modern journalists’ pursuit to be first in reporting events.“You still have to verify and confirm, and I think that even though social media is very fast, we also have much faster means of finding the truth.” Edgell said that challenges still remain. Journalists and news gatherers must be able to multitask and do more with less. News institutions today are required to readily produce more information to Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites like Vine, while having to monitor and verify sources from those same sites. “I really struggle with it,”Williams said.“I struggle with trying to decipher what’s true and what’s not, and almost everything I find on social media I go and try to confirm it somewhere else.” As news develops across the spectrum of social media, journalists are compulsively checking to confirm the truth of those developments. Every time a post or a tweet makes it online, the journalists must go to the source for admission of the story’s trustworthiness, whether that is by calling the source or personally verifying facts. As a medium used for both the collection of news as it happens and a way to better cast news, social media has created a relationship that holds both the journalists
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ALEXANDRA TAYLOR | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Andrew Naab, newly elected student body president, embraces his running mate Andrew Griggs, newly elected student body vice president, Friday evening after learning of the election results. Naab previously served as an At-large senator, and Griggs formerly served as senate speaker.
at UC.” The newly-elected senators-at-large are: Colin Baker, Brad Chamblin, Brooke Duncan, Jacob Harnist, Jackie Mulay, Jacob Whyle and Elysse Winget. Incumbent At-large Senator Emily Heine was re-elected. Heine was the only at-large senator to run for re-election. Heine stated that outgoing at-large senators were discouraged by things not getting done in SG, and that the at-large senator position is so broad that outgoing senators wanted to move to other positions to work on more specific goals. Before the reveal, Shah spoke about the struggles he has overcome in his time as SG vice president. He said he has not always felt appreciated or liked for the work he has done. “Knowing that it’s OK not to be recognized for your work but to do public work and do public service is important, and I think that our predecessors and a lot of people in this room feel the same way,” Shah said.
CASSIE LIPP | CHIEF REPORTER
After three pairs of qualified candidates spent the week rigorously trying to gather the most votes from the University of Cincinnati’s undergraduate student body, Andrew Naab, former At-large senator, and Andrew Griggs, former senate speaker, came out on top and were elected to be the next Student Government president and vice president. Students cheered as outgoing president and vice president Christina Beer and Shivam Shah announced the winners of the Student Government elections Friday night at a reveal party held in the Richard E. Lindner Center. “I don’t think everyone truly understands what it means to be in these two roles,” Beer said. “It is 40-50 hours a week, sleepless nights sometimes, and it truly is an honor to represent the University of Cincinnati in this fashion, and not many people get to do that here
Shah added that people may not always understand the roles of the SG president and vice president, but those in the position will always have the best interests of the students in mind. Naab said he and Griggs are humbled and excited to begin working as president and vice president. The two will begin their terms March 11. “We put in a platform that was supposed to be very specific; that way, the student body could hold us accountable,” Naab said. “We’re excited to be able to start to address the platform that we were elected on and work with other students across the university.” Naab thanked his and Griggs’ campaign team for its support. “All of this wouldn’t have been possible without our campaign team, who challenged us every step of the way,” Naab said. “They worked tirelessly to SEE SG REVEAL PG 3
SEE NEWS CYCLE PG 3
Public figures, UC representatives talk about their influence on Twitter # U C
PATRICK MURPHY | NEWS EDITOR
Accessibility to any public figure’s viewpoints has been made readily available thanks to social media. But how are these public figures utilizing this access? A panel consisting of University of Cincinnati Provost Beverly Davenport, Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach, UC Title IX Coordinator Jyl Shaffer and UC student activist Ashley Nkadi explored this alternate form of expressing personal viewpoints, as well as how they consider and handle their influence on Twitter. The panel was held Thursday in Tangeman University Center’s Great Hall and was moderated by Elissa Yancey, journalism professor and director of communications and public relations for the provost office. Davenport said her main reasons for tweeting are broadcasting to the student body what her values are and highlighting
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the successes of faculty members, student groups and what comes out of the university. “I think of students being the audience more than anything, but I know other people are paying attention,” Davenport said.“I think it’s not just me, and I think for any of those who are in positions like mine, I’m not always just speaking for me; I’m speaking for something larger than just me.” Seelbach said he uses social media for three reasons: to keep up and engage with personal relationships, to be provocative in a way that creates dialogue and to receive feedback. “As an elected person, I am not successful unless there’s a tremendous buy-in from the people that I represent, and you get that by truly listening to the people that live in the city of Cincinnati,” Seelbach said.“I use it to see what people think of, to ask people what we’re doing well and what we’re not doing well.” Seelbach also indicated that this LIZ FRYLING | CONTRIBUTOR
SEE 140 CHARACTERS PG 3
A four-person panel examines the importance of exhibiting true character on social media and how that affects social media users’ reputation and impression on business professionals Thursday.
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