Weekend Weather

We have had some beautiful autumn days here in Athens the past week, and for the most part it looks like the trend will continue this weekend for UGA Connect.

With the exception of Friday, and a 60 % chance of scattered thunderstorms, the weekend forecast is sunny and clear for all of us social media gurus to enjoy the Classic City at its best.

The humidity left with September, so expect it to be warm but not unpleasant. Forecast highs are in the upper 70 degrees with a light breeze. Most people are comfortable in short sleeves.

Evenings get a little cooler, so you might want a light jacket for the low 50-degree temperatures when the sun goes down. Mornings may also have a bit of a chill. Bring an extra layer to put on or walk over to the UGA campus bookstore, next to the Student Learning Center where the conference is hosted, and grab a Georgia hoodie!

who you are & what you want

A team of undergraduate students from Dr. Karen Miller Russell's PR Campaign's course recently conducted a survey of people interested in attending UGA Connect in Athens Oct. 19-20. They had 40 people take the survey.

Boy oh boy, this group is tech savvy to say the least!

More than half used the following social media tools for PR:

• Blogs - 79.4%
  
• Social networks - 58.8%
  
• Search Engine Optimization - 55.9%
  
• Podcasts - 52.9%

They think social media tools are very useful for PR purposes:

• Blogs - 64.7%
• Podcasts - 58.8%
• Social networks - 57.6%
• Video sharing - 52.9%
• Social Media Press/News Release - 43.8%

Ahhh - but these SM believers say that they still want to know more! They are very interested in:

• SMPR - 76.5%
• Social media newsroom - 76.5%
• SEO - 70.6%
• Social networks - 64.7%
• Blogs - 61.8%
• Microblogging - 57.6%
• SecondLife - 51.5%
• Podcasts - 51.5%
• Mobile/cell marketing - 51.5%

So who were these 40 prospective attendees?

• 62.5% of the participants are professionals.
• 75% of the participants have used social media for public relations purposes.

For the complete survey results, check out their report (google doc).