Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication honored ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer as its 27th Award for Excellence in Journalism recipient on Nov. 12. Sawyer reflected during an award luncheon that her three-decade journey has been her highlight, rather than one particular moment.

She cited as her motivation a desire to talk with people, ask questions and tell stories that people need to hear.

“Our job as communicators is to travel all the pathways and have something valuable to say while we’re navigating,” Sawyer remarked. She also praised social media’s ability to help bridge those pathways as well as expand a story’s awareness.

Sawyer’s comments triggered my own thoughts about the social Web and where we’re heading.  While we have more channels at our disposal now, focusing on stories, the people involved and strategies for telling them are what continue to guide our way.

Abbie Fink, vice president and general manager of HMA Public Relations in Phoenix, says that her firm is not doing much fundamentally different to assist clients — now, they’re just doing some of it in different places.

“In addition to examining if a client’s message is ideal for broadcast or publication, we’re asking: Is this a better blog post, a Facebook page engagement or perhaps best suited for a new digital tool we need to research?”

Christine Perkett, CEO of PerkettPR, a U.S.-based virtual agency, believes that social media hype will persist as we head into 2011.

“PR pros have used social media for a while, so it seems [familiar] but for clients, the hype is right now,” Perkett says. “Main Street America is just starting to understand how social strategies can return business value.”

Perkett says businesses struggling to make the transition from control to collaboration need to think about people first rather than promotion. She sees our profession heightening this focus to help brands and clients make the leap.

Most practitioners agree that more hands-on experience is required to achieve greater digital communication benefits. Keep in mind that social media a journey, after all. Consider the following for the New Year:

• Keep talking. Conversations breed collaboration, whether you are pitching ideas to media or connecting with your audience to solve problems. Fink references the mid-term elections as an example. “Politicians who engaged online, even those who didn’t win, need to continue doing so if they want to be elected again in four years,” Fink says. “There are still issues to advocate and maintaining conversations, no matter what business you’re in, is how you remain relevant.”
• Ask questions. People now expect to be involved in major brands’ and organizations’ public decisions. Perkett points out how Gap and Nordstrom experienced negative backlash online this year while attempting changes without considering fan preferences. Each recovered after opening up dialogue and incorporating customer feedback.
• Tell stories that haven’t been heard. Creating content that attaches you to stories is a successful digital strategy. For example, UCLA posts YouTube videos on its newsroom that draw national media attention to the unique perspectives of its professors.

“Good content paves the way,” says Perkett. “It must be savvy to inspire action.”

This post also appears as the “Digital Dialogue” column in the December PR Tactics Journal, published by the Public Relations Society of America.

I’m sharing highlights today regarding Arizona State University’s new Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication campus facility in Downtown Phoenix. I was invited to tour the new building earlier this month with PRSA Phoenix Chapter members.

Kristin Gilger, Assistant Dean, and Marrianne Barrett, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, were our tour guides. Barrett indicated that roughly a third of the School’s students have a PR focus.

The $71 Million, six-story building boasts two state-of-the-art TV studios, a two-story public forum events hall, five working newsrooms supporting TV, print, radio, multimedia, and PR instruction, a theater-style auditorium, and eight additional digital computer labs, among its many features. Arizona PBS Channel Eight (KAET) also broadcasts from the facility.

The surroundings certainly gave me the feeling that ‘new media’ learning opportunities are abound in Downtown Phoenix. The building evokes a modern J-School environment that, and is likely to be considered a cornerstone of the revitalization and development that has been occurring Downtown.

The Cronkite News Service and Knight Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship were two programs featured during the tour. The News Service appropriately leverages the talents of advanced students to produce stories and packages that publications and news stations statewide can pick up to augment their own programming. The Knight Center focuses on digital media product and service innovation and is directed by new media expert and author Dan Gillmor.

Barrett also showed off the PR Lab, noting that in the coming year it will staff a seasoned PR Director who will run the lab as if it were an agency.  This has the makings of a great situational learning environment for students, and an interesting career move for whoever finds their way into the director position.

Want to learn more? The majority of links in this post go to the School’s Web site, which is a comprehensive resource I recommend for anyone considering enrollment or interested in the School’s history.

While the facility first opened on August 25th of this year, a formal dedication is set for November 20th in the building’s First Amendment Forum. Check here for the week-long celebration’s schedule of events.