By: Kerri Tortorella

Let’s play a game. As 2013 quickly draws to a close, what word would you choose as “The Word of the Year 2013?” Before continuing, leave your guesses in the comments below. In all fairness, I should give you this hint, it’s not even a real word so you won’t find it in a dictionary (although it may be taken into future consideration for inclusion), and in the year 2013 it will come as no surprise that it relates to social media…well let’s say social media helped it rise to fame. No, it's not twerk.

So what’s this word? According to Oxford Dictionaries, their Word of the Year for 2013, with an increased use of 17,000 percent (who did the math on that?) since this time last year is (drum roll please)…selfie! What’s a selfie you ask? Where have you been? “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone and uploaded to a social media website.” In case you wondering, apparently “onesie” was already taken.   

So why do we care in the world of PR? Because unlike spell check, which is late to the game and has underlined my now three references of selfie in red, as a public relations professional it’s important to stay ahead of the game and be up on the latest fads and trends, especially those related to your target audience. So next time you’re at a public establishment, rather than mock the selfie duo in the corner, ask yourself if they are your audience in 2013. A selfie contest for your brand could go a lot further for your career than a roll of the eyes…

By: Kerri Tortorella

Last night, as my husband was reading up on CNN, he turns to me and says "Wow. How is Carnival still around? Who would cruise with them?" If I was managing their PR, these would be the questions/concerns currently keeping me up at night.

Carnival has not had an easy 2013, or 2012 for that matter. Costa Cruises, owned by Carnival, as you may recall, had two crisis' in 2012 with the deadly capsizing of the Costa Concordia in January 2012 and the Costa Allegra engine fire the following month where the loss of power sent the ship adrift into pirate infested waters. Then who could forget (or maybe just as we were starting to forget), the Carnival Triumph, where passengers were left stranded at sea for days with raw sewage seeping into cabins and hallways, with food being rationed, and with live updates being sent to loved ones on land and then shared with media. This day and age sure adds additional pressure to managing a crisis. 

While the present situation isn't the same from a PR standpoint as an engine failure or fire where customers will directly blame Carnival, the tragic drowning of a 6-year-old boy in the pool on board the ship Sunday once again brings Carnival back in the negative limelight and questions of accountability are certain to arise. Why aren't there lifeguards on board? Where were the staff members? Etc.

by Kerri Tortorella

If you’ll allow me to personify a tool of the trade, I’ll tell you about my PR best friend. The one I spend endless hours with, always have open lines of communication with—although more often than not I’m the listener in the relationship—and the one that has not only kept me organized and on schedule but has always come through for me, in good times and in bad. My professional best friend is HootSuite. 

The first thing I do when I get to the office in the morning, if it’s not up from the night before, is sign in to my account. A quick scroll can catch me up, within minutes, on anything being discussed related to my topics of interest. Now I can start my day. But rest assured, the window always remains up on my screen.

In ancient times, say the early 2000’s, PR professionals were often left wondering, what does the public really think of us? Social media greatly helped to open these lines of communication and to answer questions. However, have you noticed that the ones to come forward more often than not, either love you or hate you? What about the general public consensus? There’s a lot to be said in between those two extremes and a lot to be learned. HootSuite allows for the monitoring of these conversations. You can now have access to what the rest of the world is saying—okay not the rest of the world, but with 15 percent of American Internet users on Twitter, according to the Pew Research Center’s Winter 2012 Internet & American Life Project, it’s not too shabby. And with a total of over 200 million active users per month, which Twitter announced on its 7th birthday via video, you won’t hear me complain. Access, access, access! Need I say more?