OK! I have resisted for months, thinking it wasn't for me, but I just went ahead and did it. I joined Pinterest. My students introduced me in February to the fast-growing social network in which people use virtual online "pinboards" to share images and videos they find interesting. My wife, Mira Lowe, also joined the network's millions of new members around the same time – and my university colleague, Tim Cigelske, raved about its potential at the Social Media @Marquette event where I shared ideas on digital branding for university staff and administrators.

I love social media and enjoy learning with my students how to use it for journalism. But Pinterest seemed, frankly, to be a "girl thing." That's because most things I saw "pinned" on the network had great appeal to women – fashion, jewelry, cats, flowers, celebrities, etc. Clearly I wasn't alone. See "125 Reasons Why Guys Are Scared of Pinterest," "Guys on #Pinterest? Do They Need to Turn In Their 'Man Cards?'" and "A Guy's Guide to Pinterest."

I once thought real men don't eat sushi. That changed when Mira stuffed one in my mouth early in our relationship – another reason I should have known she was trouble, but let's not digress. Mira – whose pinboards are varied and impressive, I must admit – said Pinterest would help me share with others which 53 North American cities I have spent at least two consecutive nights. (She no doubt would prefer the pinboards to my using so much wall space in my home library to display coffee mugs from each city.) We agreed that other possibilities included pinning baseball, basketball and football venues where I have attended pro sporting events. You know, guy things :-)

Seriously, my independent study focusing on becoming a digital educator and digital leader offered another reason to join Pinterest. I look forward to joining my fellow educators in finding ways to use it in our respective classrooms and teaching our students how to use it as journalists – see "How Educators Use Pinterest for Curation."

In any event, figured I would quietly create an account late one night, just to see how it felt. (It didn't hurt, and actually matched my passion for organization and presentation.) It surprised me just how quickly others saw what I had done. One student tweeted that she did a new dance for the occasion. Gee Ekachai, my Diederich College of Communication colleague and renowned social media guru, weighed in via email as only she could: "FINALLY!"

Sophia A. Nelson always has much to say – no different during our 100-minute telephone chat yesterday. But amid all the back-and-forth chiding, supporting, defending, reflecting, dreaming, etc., four words she said – transparent, authentic, prescriptive, universal – had the most meaning for us both. These words defined how Nelson is extending her personal brand via social media and into Corporate America, she said. They also challenged me to consider what words might best describe my desired brand as a digital journalism educator.

We first met in the mid-1990s; I was still a newspaper reporter and covering her bid for elected office in New Jersey. These days, Nelson is – as stated on the website for her award-winning book, "Black Woman Redefined" – "an accomplished woman on the move. She is a much-sought-after speaker, media/political commentator, national columnist and first-time author who is 'redefining' the rules for 21st-century living and success."

Anyway, our conversation began with me commenting on the merits of Nelson, in my opinion, incessantly and publicly airing her emotions on Twitter. She replied that social media is leading people to become more transparent when dealing with anger, relationships, sex, religion, friendships, politics, etc. "That is what we do now," she said.

A couple years ago, Nelson aspired to political punditry in this presidential election cycle. She doesn't talk about politics anymore on Twitter, however, after noting that it typically cost her followers when she did. Nelson is developing a "very good following" via her 30-minute Twitter chats each Saturday, in which she aims to "take my personal and connect with others who are disconnected in ways that matter." Though her book is soon to be re-released as a paperback, Nelson said is broadening her brand from Black Women Redefined to Life Redefined.

"People want me to be inspirational. People want me to be prescriptive. They want me to help them make their life better. That's the girl I want to be – where people say, 'I don't know what Sophia's talking about today, but I know I don't want to miss what she's talking about.' I'm trying to be the Oprah of my generation. That's what I want to be."

Nelson offered Melinda Emerson, Marshawn Evans and Tera Carissa Hodges as exemplars of using social media and personal websites to promote their brands universally. I met Emerson about the same time as Nelson and admire her success. Looking forward to learning more about Evans and Hodges. Also will consider the idea about leading Twitter chats. First, as I said, I must determine what words uniquely channel my core competencies and the approach that best suits my brand. Would be happy to know your thoughts, everyone.

I learned something while witnessing a great News University webinar a few weeks ago, "Social Media in the Classroom," that will hopefully make things better for me and my students – especially for their live tweeting assignments and our interaction on Twitter and Facebook. 

Led by the course's instructor, Jen Lee Reeves, and hosted by NewsU director Vicki Krueger, the webinar focused on how social media can enhance learning for students, why it's worth taking the risk in the classroom and examples that have worked. Reeves, the interactive director at KOMU-TV and komu.com, was amazing. Just learning about her awesome website at http://www.jenleereeves.com was worth the cost and 75 minutes at the computer.

Reeves also teaches new media as an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. Midway through the session she said she focuses much of her interaction with students using the hashtag #jenclass. She has a Tumblr account and a Facebook group for current and former students, both identified by #jenclass. She also uses it for hashtag conversations with her students on Twitter, and expects it to happen during class time.

OMG! Why didn't I think of #loweclass before? I maintained a mandatory Facebook group for each of my courses last year at Marquette: Digital Journalism I (JOUR 1100), Digital Journalism II (JOUR 1550) and MU JOUR 4953 (Elections). Each time I wrote a new blog post meant having to put it into each group. This risked annoying those students who were in two or three of the groups, though I didn't want to neglect those who were only in one. Now, having a single #loweclass Facebook group means one post reaches all of my current and former students.

The new hashtag will have even greater impact for us on Twitter. My students regularly live tweet campus events and must include a class hashtag within each tweet as part of a given assignment. Using #JOUR1100 #JOUR1550 or #JOUR4953 isn't too bad if you're only using one of them. But that's 29 characters – remember, Twitter allows only 140 per tweet – whenever I want to get everyone's attention in all three classes during an assignment. The same applies when I want to share a weblink to a nicely written story or a link to a webpage offering nice job-hunting tips.

Using #loweclass will instead keep all three classes in the same hashtag conversation. And for the biggest live-tweeting opportunities, when our collective efforts causes an event hashtag to trend on Twitter, well, having #loweclass in each tweet means that my hashtag should like trend as well. That would not be a bad thing – would it?

I also require my students after every class to tweet about something they learned that day. Again, they must use their class hashtag, which means I have to look at three different hashtags – way too cumbersome and complicated – and the students only follow their respective conversation. Using #loweclass instead produces only one conversation and would help me make sure everyone's in it; yes, it will even help me take attendance. Better still, students and educators whom I can encounter nationwide would hopefully participate, too. Yes, the possibilities abound, including having my students live tweet when we have guest speakers in the new #loweclass. I'm excited!

In a prior blog post about my interaction with recent college graduate Erika J. Glover I promised to reveal what makes a good #twesume, that is, the 160 characters (maximum) that make up your Twitter bio. Well, an aspiring sports broadcaster read the post and quickly emailed me to ask for immediate twesume help. Here it is.

I first heard the term twesume from social media guru Sree Sreenivasan at the Poynter Institute's Teachapalooza conference for journalism educators in June. "Fill out your Twitter bio so it reflects the best, most recent version of you," said Sreenivasan, Columbia University's new chief digital officer. He also said, "I tell my students: Make your Twitter bio blue." Translation: Use Twitter handles and hashtags that can help your bio appear in broad searches.

A quick Google search found this useful Web link: "How a 140-Character Twitter Resume Could Land Your Next Job." Again, a Twitter bio gets 20 more characters than a tweet. Also see "Get Your Twesume On," "Guidelines for Twitter Bios," "How Short Can Your CV Get? Tried a 'Twesume' Yet?" and "How to: Effective Twitter Bios."

Make your 160 characters count! Aspiring journalists: Do your best to use AP style and correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. Look how Erika went from "South Carolina born – Pennsylvania tested Reporter/Anchor for the @CentreCountyRep. PSU Alumna/Journalist/Travel Enthusiast" to "2012 @penn_state grad! Aspiring international #journalist seeking first TV reporting job. #NABJ member ready to shoot, edit & write! Purveying #Olympics facts." Which version is more likely to draw more eyes (from recruiters) her way via Twitter and Internet searches?

You can see my twesume at @herbertlowe. I hope you find this post helpful. Please do let me know.

I recently wrote about my wonderful opportunity to speak about blogging, digital portfolios and social media profiles to dozens of aspiring journalists at the NABJ Convention and Career in New Orleans. Well, one of those attendees wrote me an email a couple of hours afterward that touched me as much as it surprised me.

"The workshop you facilitated this afternoon was amazing. So amazing that it inspired me to instantly enhance my website," wrote Erika J. Glover of South Carolina, who graduated from Penn State University in May after studying broadcast journalism and international studies. "Of course, I understood the importance of utilizing social media and other software to expand my scope and influence. Yet, it was not until I heard you speak that I realized its actual significance." Erika also said "my dream, rather, my destiny is to become an international reporter." She added: "My hope is that I can maintain contact with you throughout my career" and "currently, my focus is on my job hunt." 

So what surprised me? I remembered this young woman seeming inattentive during the NABJ session. I asked why upon calling Erika without warning on Tuesday. She said she was contemplating what she had and had not learned at Penn State. No worries, I said. What matters is what happened henceforth. "I am prepared to invest in you 100 percent," I told her, if she was prepared to invest in me the same. Erika replied matter-of-factly, "I am."

The next day, July 4, we spoke for two hours! We discussed everything from what she learned at the convention to her creating a LinkedIn profile to her using the same portrait across social media platforms to tweeting smartly with hashtags and by the one-third rule: 33 percent information, 33 percent news and 33 percent personal. We also focused on her "twesume" – that is, the 160 characters (maximum) that make up her Twitter bio. (Here's more about what makes a good twesume.) We also talked about the importance of using AP style and correct grammar, spelling and punctuation in her tweets, so she demonstrates that she can write effectively.

Erika also shared that she was shadowing reporters at a television station in Columbia. She was happy to be alongside professionals daily and getting help with her resume tape. We spoke about creating a digital portfolio that could best present her aspirations, experience and potential to news directors and recruiters. I'm looking forward to our interaction and hope it becomes part of my independent study for graduate school. More importantly, I'm eager to learn that Erika has found her first reporting job. It will touch me, no doubt. It certainly will not surprise me.

This week begins the second summer session at Marquette University. As a graduate student inching closer to a master of arts degree in communication, I hope during the next six weeks to complete a three-credit independent study that would serve as the capstone course and end my quest for a 15-credit graduate certificate in digital storytelling offered by the Diederich College of Communication. My four other courses for the certificate include Emerging Media, Journalism in Literature, Craft of Digital Storytelling and Storytelling in Public Life.

As part of the independent study, titled "Becoming a Digital Leader and Educator," I hope to:

• Create an enhanced Internet presence that better or more completely brands me as a journalism educator.
• Create a sophisticated story using Final Cut Pro X that involves narration, video and images. 
• Live tweet and Storify an event to demonstrate my understanding of social media and curating digital assets.
• Blog at least once weekly about matters involving digital storytelling and or emerging media.
• Read and review of "The Digital Leader: 5 Simple Keys to Success and Influence," by Erik Qualman.
• Write a final paper that captures the scope and breath of all these efforts and their relationship to one another.

If all goes well, finishing the independent study would leave me six credits short of my master's degree, which would feature a specialization in digital storytelling. The fall semester would likely find me in an advanced qualitative methods course and for the final three credits I plan on creating a professional project – one in which I would combine theory and practice to produce something to benefit journalism educators and students everywhere.

Pursuing an advanced degree has consumed much of my life since fall 2010, but I have learned so much from each course and each instructor and my classmates. It has all definitely enhanced my teaching; indeed, I wonder if I would have begun blogging if not a weekly requirement in Emerging Media. Well, two things continue to push me forward: 1) knowing that a master's degree is essential given my ambitions, and 2) marching across the stage next May to receive my degree at the same time my first students – "the originals" – do the same to get theirs.

Sixty aspiring journalists from across the country sat before me in a hotel ballroom yesterday on the first day of the 37th NABJ convention in New Orleans. These NABJ student members immediately impressed me and one another with their poise and enthusiasm during the roll-call introduction. Any recruiter sitting across a career-fair table would likely, at first glance, rush to help them along their career path. But what about weeks or months from now, when they are all back at school, or have just graduated, and there's only one job or internship available, and they must connect with a recruiter who has dozens or scores of applications and precious little time to sort through them all?

NABJ Student Representative Wesley Lowery and convention planners Benet Wilson and Monique Fields asked me to lead a "learning lab" we titled "Branding U: The Student Edition." It's an honor and privilege to present at NABJ so I quickly said yes. The convention program promised: "Sending a resume and cover letter through the mail is so yesterday. Job seekers need an electronic portfolio. This three-hour workshop will give participants strategies for using cutting-edge applications to develop a virtual resume. The session also will offer tips for using Twitter and Facebook to promote a brand, and on creating an action plan that will have recruiters banging on the door."

Basically, I sought to share what I strive to teach my journalism students in the Diederich College of Communication. My presentation focused on, among other things, blogging, digital portfolios, social media profiles, live tweeting and curating, melding personal and professional and networking. I stressed that they all must take advantage of the many ways to demonstrate electronically – preferably from one hyperlink! – their success at telling stories across multiple platforms. I also wanted to inspire them to share what they learned with their friends at school who couldn't attend.

Two points: 1) The Law of Magnetism (from John Maxwell) – Who You Are Is Who You Attract! and 2) from me, trying to capture the recruiter's mindset, How You Represent You Is How You Will Represent Me!

After my presentation, three newsroom recruiters shared awesome tips on how students and graduates can distinguish themselves and best get an interview and or that first or next opportunity. Speaking of digital portfolios, Irv Harrell of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch told the students, emphasizing my second point above, "It's your mission statement to the recruiter. I want to know what you're going to be able to do for me." Walter Middlebrook of the Detroit News said: "You got 60 seconds to make an impression on someone. If I don't like what I see in 60 seconds, you've lost a sale." Paula Bouknight of the Boston Globe added that "your website should be where you further the conversation," that is, it should not merely offer what is already on or better suited for a LinkedIn profile.

I hope during the summer to offer new posts on this blog that focus on other aspects of my presentation. For now, I invite students (and faculty) everywhere to check out these prior posts: "Covering the Student Cover Letter" and "119 Tips for Journalism Interviews." Many thanks to all the students who said they got a lot out of my presentation.

One hails from Minnesota, one from North Carolina, the rest from Wisconsin and Illinois. Some know they want to become journalists, having had various levels of experience in class, their school newspapers or yearbook clubs. Others are considering making it a career or getting their first exposure to what it takes and means to be a reporter.

These 18 high school students comprise the 2012 Urban Journalism Workshop (UJW) at the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University. The annual two-week summer program focuses on multimedia news gathering and has inspired nearly 400 students to consider the profession since it began more than 25 years ago.

This year’s group came together during an orientation on Sunday. It’s wonderful to see how well they work together and enjoy being with one another. It’s even better how engaged they were during the first two days of instruction. They asked great questions during an interviewing exercise. They produced impressive images from across the university’s campus after a photography lesson yesterday morning. They also acquitted themselves decently during their first live-tweeting assignment, at the Brewers vs. Blue Jays baseball game at Miller Park last night.

I will rejoin the program as an instructor on Monday, after presenting on digital branding at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair today in New Orleans, and attending the Teachapalooza conference for journalism educators this weekend at the Poynter Institute in Florida. By then, the students will be well into producing their multimedia packages after learning plenty more about telling stories using text, images, audio and video.

Assuming they do what was asked of them, I’m eager to read their daily blog posts – each student created his or her own digital portfolio on Monday – and interact with them via Twitter and the #muujw hashtag while away. Something tells me this great group of potential journalists won't let me down.

I have read enough cover letters from students to know that most struggle writing them. Not all of my students seek careers in newsrooms. But almost all of them will soon need to apply for an internship, scholarship or their first job after graduation. That's why I spend time on cover letters in my Digital Journalism I class each semester. Besides, it's a great way to see how well they have learned AP style and to check their grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Here's a synopsis of what I shared with my JOUR 1100 class on Wednesday, with instructions for the 14 students to each write by next week a one-page, five-paragraph cover letter for the position they want this summer:

First, the essentials, starting with 1-inch margins all around. Except in two places, the font will be Times New Roman and 12 point. Next, the letterhead – be sure to have one. Three lines, centered, with your name, in bold, on the first line. (Here's the first of the two exceptions: raise the name's point size to 14, 16 or 18.) The second line should be where you can be found on earth, that is, your street address and telephone number. The third line is for where you are in the digital universe (website or blog address, LinkedIn, Twitter, Cuttings.me, etc.).

From here, it's all block style, that is, aligned left with spaces between paragraphs. Skip a line and place the date. Skip another line and declare to whom and where you're writing. This should be five lines: name, position, company and address (city, state and zip code goes on the fifth line). Skip another line and apply the greeting, with a prefix, last name and colon. Don't use To Whom It May Concern. If the application instructions say to send to human resources or to a generic email address, show that you can do a little research. It should be easy to find out who at the company most likely will decide who gets picked for the job or internship. Address your letter to that person.

The first paragraph should be two sentences. The first states who you are and where you're from – I am a junior majoring in journalism at the Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University in Milwaukee. The second states what you want and where – I am applying for a metro desk internship this summer with (company name) in (location). This paragraph should be no longer than three lines. The second, third and fourth graphs are the most important. Save room for them. Oh yes, my students know that I don't tolerate widows and orphans.

The second paragraph is for your campus experience. For journalism students, this means student media and or exceptional course achievements. The third paragraph is for what you have done away from school, as in previous internships or other co- or extracurricular activities. Your fourth paragraph is where you really distinguish yourself. Let's assume that everyone else applying for the job you want has been busy with student media and had at least one internship. This is where you show that who you are and what you have done are truly remarkable. Did I say show? Remember, don't tell me! Show me! That goes for the second, third and fourth paragraphs.

The fifth paragraph is key, too. It's also two sentences. The first is easy – Thank you for considering my application. The second keeps the ball in your court (excuse the cliche) – I will contact you soon to confirm receipt. They should fit on one line; that leaves more room for the three preceding paragraphs. Also, this is better than telling the reader to feel free to contact you. Remember who wants the job. Be sure your letter reaches its destination.

Finally, let's close the letter in style. Skip a line and write Sincerely, then type your name on the next line, and then your name again on the line underneath it. Now it's time for the second font exception mentioned above: Select your name on the line beneath the salutation, change it from Times New Roman to Lucida Handwriting, and raise the point size to 14 or 16. This will give the impression of an electronic signature. That's it. You're done.

Oops! No, you're not. Proofread your letter, not once, not twice, but three times. Put it down. Have someone else you trust read it for you. Then read it again. Make sure it abides by AP style and correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. You have worked too hard on this and all your efforts so far to lose out because of stupid mistakes.

Well, that's all I have for now. I make no guarantees that following my advice will automatically secure the job or internship or scholarship you want. This is about style and formatting. What really matters is what you have for the second, third and fourth graphs. That's up to you. No cover letter can cover up for lack of substance. 

I hope to soon offer tips for crafting resumes. For now, review these links from recruiting guru Joe Grimm: Tips for Avoiding Four Common Punctuation Errors on Resumes and The Top Six AP Style Errors on Resumes. Oh yes, as I tell my students, whether it's a cover letter or resume, the most important thing – show me you can write!