This will give new people the opportunity to get involved and to read a great book, especially if they are new.

E-mail PRBookGroup (at) gmail.com to become an official member of Learn It, Live it, Love it.

• Name
• E-mail address
• Blog name and link (if applicable)
• Twitter (if applicable)
• Book suggestions
• Note if you are a student or a professional
• Optional: A short (six sentence maximum) bio about yourself

The book for March is: The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly

Part One – Understanding the Groundswell

1. Why the groundswell? And why now?

a. The groundswell is a social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations.

b. Why now? Three things: people, technology, and economy.

i. The Internet will probably continue to change, but how? How will it be monetized?

2. Jujitsu and the technologies of the groundswell

a. The authors mentioned a lot of different technologies – some new, and some we’re more used to.

i. Which ones do you use?

ii. Which ones do you not use?

iii. What works?

iv. What doesn’t?

b. The authors also created a good guide in this section on how to evaluate new technologies. Let’s try it out.

i. Check out identi.ca

ii. How would the authors analyze this tool?

iii. How would you analyze this tool?

iv. When would you use this in a public relations campaign?

3. The social technographics profile

a. The charts in this chapter are fascinating. It’s so interesting to quantify who is using the Internet.

i. Which group will grow the fastest is respect to Internet usage over the next five years?

ii. How will this affect the public relations industry?

b. List of reasons why people use social networking. Are they missing anything? Why do you use different technologies?

i. Keeping up friendships

ii. Making new friends

iii. Succumbing to social pressure

iv. Paying it forward

v. The altruistic (it’s worthwhile) impulse

vi. The prurient (watching other people) impulse

vii. The creative (show off your work) impulse

viii. The validation (gaining expert credibility) impulse

ix. The affinity (connect with similar people) impulse

Our first discussion will start Feb. 18. One person will write a blog post and we will continue the discussion through comments. Our last discussion will start Feb. 27. Be sure to participate!

Order your next book soon for March. We will be reading the The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly.

Reading Schedule

If you’ve already started reading, use this to stay on schedule:

Week One: Chap. 1-3
Week Two: Chap. 4-6
Week Three: Chap. 7-9
Week Four: Chap. 10-12

If you’re just starting now, here’s another break-down:

Chap. 1-3  for  Feb 10-14

Chap. 4-8  Feb 15-21
Chap. 9-12 Feb 22-28

The reading schedule will be posted soon.

For the month of February, we will be reading Groundswell. Since there was a tie, we will read the other book in March.

Click on the book to go to Amazon.com's used and new stock. Learn it, Live it, Love it - February 2008

Suggestions: If you don’t want to buy the book, check it out at your library (if not available, ask if you can get it on loan from another library – CMU does this with MEL). Or, check out Amazon.com’s deals here. Another idea might be to split the costs and share the book with a friend.

1. PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences
2. Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
3. The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly

For some reason, the poll option won’t work.

Instead, comment below on which book you want to read first!

If you have not become a member yet, go here.

Learn It. Live It. Love It.

My name is Rachel Esterline. I am the founder of Live It, Learn It, Love It. My recent post generated a lot of feedback and I am now launching this public relations book group. Read on to find out more.

Learn it.

To “learn it,” public relations students and professionals who join will increase their knowledge by reading books on public relations, professional development, social media, business, career, writing, advertising, marketing and more.

Live it.

Through blog, forum and chat the book group members will discuss how the book and the knowledge they’ve learned can influence their careers and lives. The “live it” aspect is learning to apply it to real word situations.

Love it.

I feel like every PR professional and student I know is passionate about their careers. They “love it.” In addition to enhancing their careers through knowledge, members will be able to network with each other and discuss share their passion for public relations.

How does it work?

One member will post to the blog about the book. Other members will comment to continue the discussion. The forum and chat will be additional tools to the conversation. Read the less exciting details here.

How do I join?

E-mail PRBookGroup@gmail.com to become an official member of Learn It, Live it, Love it.

Send the following information:

• Name
• E-mail address
• Blog name and link (if applicable)
• Twitter (if applicable)
• Book suggestions
• Note if you are a student or a professional
• Optional: A short (six sentence maximum) bio about yourself