Course Blogging Guidelines

In tomorrow's class I'll be assigning the blogging participation assignment. Below are the guidelines that I propose we use for the course:

Course Blogging Guidelines

1. This blog is a space to carry on conversations regarding our course and course-related concepts. Thus, all posts and comments should be related to students’ experiences with the course and its content. One exception: exam questions should not be posted on the blog. And just like in-class discussions, and unlike some other blogs, it’s not just a place to “express yourself” for the sake of expressing yourself (of course, feel free to have your own blog where you do this).

2. Think before you write and say something interesting and relevant. Your posts will be publicly accessible for a long time, so your contributions to the blog should be well-thought out and relevant to those interested in learning more about organizational communication and word-of-mouth marketing.

3. Provide links to other interesting web-based materials. This is one of the benefits of web logs so take advantage of it.

4. Posts and commentary should be respectful of other’s views and you should not attempt to defame, discriminate, or embarrass others (this includes fellow classmates, guest speakers, instructors from other courses, or any other sentient being). You are personally responsible for the contents of your posts.

5. Respect people’s wishes not to have information included on the class blog. This applies to fellow classmates, guest speakers, and clients. For example, we will have a number of guest speakers in the class who may share information with us that they might not otherwise share so that we have a greater understanding of their company and industry. The guest speaker may request that certain information not be shared on the class blog and thus it would not be appropriate to include that information. Further, we will also be working with actual clients in this class and the projects may involve confidential or proprietary information. This information should not be shared on the class blog either unless explicit permission is granted by the client. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Carl.

6. All blogging activity should be in accord with Northeastern University’s Appropriate Use policy. This comes down to not doing anything that is criminal, causes harm to others, or anything else that you should have learned you weren’t supposed to do in kindergarten.


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Tags: WOM word of mouth Word-of-Mouth Marketing buzz marketing viral marketing marketing communication Northeastern University

Let's Get It Started! WOM, Buzz, and Viral Marketing Communication at Northeastern University

I'm excited to announce that the first class of Word of Mouth, Buzz, and Viral Marketing Communication is tomorrow at 9:50 am. I taught this course over the summer of 2006 and we had a wonderful time (be sure to check out the archives for student comments).

Here's a link to the new syllabus for those who want more details about the class.

The class size is smaller this term, around 10 students, so we'll be able to have a lot of great interactions. Students will be blogging again so we invite all the readers to participate through commenting on their posts.

I've kept the main assignments the same with some minor tweaks based on student comments from last time around...

• WOM Communication Diary and Reflection Essay
• Evaluating Organized Word-of-Mouth Marketing Program and Company
• Designing Organized WOM Program (Capstone Assignment)
• Course Blog Participation

For the Evaluating Organized Word-of-Mouth marketing Program and Company assignment we'll be partnering with leading firms (and WOMMA member companies) including...

• Ammo Marketing
• Brains On Fire
• BzzAgent
• Matchstick
• M80

...and we have another all-star line-up of guest speakers...

• Jim Nail, Cymfony
• Steve Curran & Jessica Morris, PodDesign
• Joe Muran, M80
• Jackie Huba, Church of the Customer
• Dave Balter, BzzAgent

In addition to academic journal articles, news reports, and blog posts, two of the required books for the course include Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba's Citizen Marketers: When People Are the Message and Justin Kirby and Paul Marsden's edited collection Connected Marketing: The Viral, Buzz and Word of Mouth Revolution.

We'll also be working with the folks in Northeastern's Marketing Communications -- Brian Kenny, Alyssa Meritt, and Ann Comer -- as clients for the capstone assignment.

Thanks to the following individuals and companies for allowing us to post some of their content as class readings on our course Blackboard site: Peter Kim of Forrester, Tim Keiningham of Ipsos Loyalty, Brad Fay at The Keller Fay Group, Kate Kaye of Lowbrow Lowdown, Andy Sernovitz (for a special gift that the students don't yet know about), and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

Let's get it started!

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Tags: WOM word of mouth Word-of-Mouth Marketing buzz marketing viral marketing marketing communication Northeastern University