Dr. Rodriguez Spotlight in UTSA's Sombrillo Magazine

The University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) alum, our own Dr. Dariela Rodriguez, was interviewed by her alma mater's alumni magazine, Sombrillo, in which she talks about Ashland University and the Master of Arts in Heath & Risk Communication. Click here to read the article.

What is the Future of Voicemail?

Dr. Dariela Rodriguez questions the future of voicemail, a once innovative feature, but now "with newer, and faster, options available such as text messaging, instant message (IM), or even email, why would an individual, much less a business, sill opt to use voicemail (Bradley, 2012)?"

Dr. Rodriguez's blog "Can Voicemail Still Answer the Call?" was featured in the Daily Headlines & Features of CommPRO.biz, Sept. 9, 2013 edition. Click on title below for full bog.

Monday, September 09, 2013 .BIZ BLOGS Fenwick Technology and Life Sciences IPO Survey Highlights Strongest IPO Market in Years Gene Marbach At Large The law firm Fenwick & West recently released its IPO Survey covering the first half of 2013, "Key Metrics for Recent Technology and Life Sciences Initial Public Offering." The IPO survey provides half-yearly reviews of IPOs in the technology and life sciences sectors nationwide and offers a graphical overview of key ... Can Voicemail Still Answer the Call? By Dariela Rodriguez, Ph.D. Voicemail, the personal assistant that everyone could afford, seemed innovative when it first became an option, however it is now on the brink of distinction. In a society that is so uber-connected, with even children carrying around iPhones, this seems like a contradiction, however, it still remains to be seen what the future of voicemail will be in the very near future. As the uses of ... Communications Professionals Talk Funny By David P. Kowal, President, Kowal Communications Inc. Sometimes it's difficult to figure out what communications professionals mean when they talk. Communicating is not as challenging as, say, being an engineer or a file clerk, so some in the business try to make it sound challenging by using the words they think their clients or employers want to hear. Like lawyers, if people understood what we were talking about, they wouldn't pay us as much ... September Brings New Beginnings: Time to Take Your Personal Inventory By Adam Barrett, LCSW Autumn is a few weeks off officially, but September's advent bangs the symbolic gong reminding us that the lazy, hazy days of summer are ending. As resort houses at the beach or mountain lake are closed down, a new season of hard work or study opens up. One need not observe the Jewish new year and ... .BIZ CHANNELS Leadership 3.0: How Diana Nyad Defied Life's Challenges: How You Can, Too. By Leslie Grossman, Vice Chair of the IMPACT Leadership 21 Global Advisory Council, Author of the book "LINK OUT": For the Global Women's Leadership & Collaboration Channel Her mantra was "find a way". At the age of 64, on September 1, 2013, Diana Nyad became the first person to successfully swim the treacherous Florida Straits ... IR Apps By The Numbers For the Mobile IR Channel For the first time this year, time spent on mobile devices will surpass time spent on desktop and laptop computers, according to an eMarketer estimate. And that doesn't include phone calls. eMarketer's first-of-its kind study says "US adults will spend 43.6% of their overall media time with digital this year, including 19.4% on mobile-compared to 19.2% on laptops and PCs. Time spent with mobile ... Owned vs Earned Links in Press Releases For the Digital PR Channel Google publishes their lists of 'do's and don'ts' in their Webmaster Guidelines. These guidelines get updated as Google fine-tunes their search algorithm. In a recent update of the link scheme rules they included links in press releases. Google now categorizes a press release as an advertisement. This seems to have put PR people into a tizz as to what can and can't be done with press ... Content We Love: Bullets for Breakfast For the Agile Engagement Channel Looking back, mornings at the beginning of the school year always felt hectic and frenetic to me. Always in a rush to get out the door, the priority was to have something in our stomachs by the time that first bell rang to be in class. It's known breakfast is the most important meal of the day. With that in mind, the California Milk Processor Board set out to make sure kids are fed a ... Fill in the blank: Content is ____ . For the Agile Engagement Channel You're creating it. You're curating it. You're publishing, tracking and sharing it. It's playing a central role in your communications strategy. How do you define content? We'd like to hear your take. Fill in the blank "Content is ___" either by leaving a comment on this post, or tweeting with hashtag #ContentIs. [Tweet this!] NGO Newsjacking is All About Monitoring For the Critical Now Channel For many not-for-profits, the public relations strategy is all about looking good on TV. .BIZ EVENTS Content to Conversion: Setting the Stage for Success LIVE EVENT Content is your catalyst, creating audience engagement. When content is king, earned media plays a stronger role in driving your organization's success. But don't lose sight of what your content is supposed to achieve! At the start of every campaign you must ask, "What is the action that you want your audience to take next?" Be it views, shares or sales, actions are one of the keys to every ... LIVE EVENT - Kick Off The Season With Live Video NIRI San Francisco Event The first meeting of the 2013-14 season will be held on Thursday, September 12th at 5:30 pm PT, and will focus on Social Media and IR. We're going to demonstrate-- in real-time--a live production of a video earnings call. Video Earnings Calls: a trend or just more work? Find out with your "backstage pass" at a live video earnings production NIRI members will experience first-hand ... IN-PERSON EVENT - Employing Visual Content for Compelling Storytelling - Chicago For the Agile Engagement Channel The presence of content in its various forms across the digital landscape has given rise to an era of instant gratification--a time where anyone can search for a topic of their choosing or send out a message through their social channels to obtain relevant information. As organizations seek to maintain visibility ... Social Media Visionary Brian Solis to Deliver Keynote Address at PRSA 2013 International Conference PRSA 2013 International Conference Altimeter Group Principal Analyst Brian Solis, an author and recognized authority on the impact of social media on business and culture, will deliver the principal keynote address at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)'s 2013 International Conference, which will take place Oct. 26 -- 29, 2013, at the ... Welcome to Act 4...Don't Let Digital Scare You -- The Power of Print Integrated LIVE - A Mr. Magazine™ Event Change was, is and will continue to be the only constant in the magazine and magazine media world. However, change has evolved from the slow-moving, steam-powered train, to a nuclear-impelled, speed-possessed bullet.The Magazine Innovation center at the University of Mississippi, which I founded ... TRENDING TODAY Exclusive: Amazon Wants To Offer Its Smartphone for Free. Who Will Follow? JessicaLessin.com Which technology giant will be the first to offer a free smartphone? Amazon.com Inc. is making a play. In a previously unreported move, the online retailer and Kindle maker is considering introducing its long-planned smartphone for free to consumers, according to people familiar with Amazon's effort. 3 Ways The Automotive Industry Will Change By 2020 Fast Company Electric vehicles, autonomous cars, vehicle-to-vehicle connectivity--anyone who pays even a little bit of attention to the automotive industry has an inkling of what the future of driving will look like. In a new report, McKinsey & Company outlines how the global auto industry will shift by 2020. Hint: It's a whole lot different than what you might expect. Yahoo's First Transparency Report: More Gov't Requests Than Google or Facebook Giga Om Yahoo has become the latest tech company to publish a "transparency report" to show how often governments around the world ask for information about users. The report shows that in the United States, government agencies made 12,444 data requests from Yahoo during the first half of 2013 covering more than 40,000 individual user accounts. Greeting Card Industry Wants To Save USPS From Itself, More Rate Hikes Consumerist The greeting card industry has a vested interest in the survival of the United States Postal Service. We might use a private first-class mail delivery service to send cards if the USPS cut back on service or disappeared, but probably wouldn't. That's why they, along with the magazine and catalog industries, say that another rate hike isn't the solution. Red Obsession Documents China's Wine Fervor China Daily Napoleon Bonaparte once said: "When the dragon awakes, she will shake the world." Filmmaker Warwick Ross drew inspiration from that quote for his documentary about China's recent and sudden wine fever, particularly of a French terroir.The 76-minute Red Obsession first chronicles the history and character of Bordeaux, France, which is widely considered one of the finest wine-producing regions in the world, and then delves into its relationship with China. Julian Assange and 'The Fifth Estate:' Wiki Wacky Who? Time Magazine With Julian Assange a refugee in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since June 2012, what's his whistle-blowing website been up to? Well, last year WikiLeaks published the Syria files - more than 2 million emails and papers from Bashar Assad‘s government - and a hundred or so classified files from the U.S. Defense Department revealing its policy on detainees at Guantanamo and elsewhere. From Myspace's Ashes, Silicon Start-Ups Rise The New York Times IT is hardly uncommon for founders and employees of successful companies to cash in their chips and go on to start other successful companies. Perhaps the best-known example is PayPal, the Web payment service whose leaders went on to found and invest in a bunch of other companies - YouTube, LinkedIn, Yelp, Tesla - and to earn the nickname the PayPal mafia. BUSINESS & INVESTOR NEWS Vodafone--Largest Dividend Ever Paid Barron's Vodafone Group has owned a 45% stake in Verizon Wireless for over a decade and has seen it dramatically appreciate over that stretch. Last Monday night, the British wireless giant agreed to sell its U.S. holdings to partner Verizon Communications ... World's Largest Bond Fund Suffers $41B in Withdrawals CBC News The world's largest bond fund, PIMCO's Total Return Fund., registered its fourth straight month of heavy cash outflows in August, with $7.7 billion US of withdrawals bringing net withdrawals since April to $41 billion. Invesetors are pulling out of the bond market in anticipation of the winding down of the U.S. Federal Reserve's bond-buying program. Is This the End of the Era of Mega Marketing Mergers and Acquisitions? The Drum Sir Martin Sorrell said something very interesting last week. Actually, he's often saying things, but what he said on 30 August was particularly striking, even for seasoned Sorrell-watchers. Interviewed on business TV channel CNBC, the eminence grise of the ad industry batted away the – rather inevitable, it has to be said – rumours that he was considering making a cheeky (perhaps audacious is a better way of describing it) bid for Dentsu/Aegis (or even Interpublic Group, which is looking ever more vulnerable these days). Ford CEO May Step Down Earlier Than Expected Investor Place Sources tell Reuters that Ford‘s (F) board of directors is growing more comfortable with potential successors to CEO Alan Mulally, who is said to be considering leaving the company to take other high profile positions. A former Boeing (BA) executive, Mulally joined Ford in 2006 when the country's second-ranked automaker was in financial disarray and came close to insolvency. Under his leadership, Ford successfully executed a painful turnaround that restored its finances and sales without the need for a federal bailout. Owners of Neiman Marcus Said to Be in Talks to Sell Retailer for $6 Billion The New York Times Neiman's primary owners, Warburg Pincus and TPG Capital, are said to be in discussions to sell the luxury retailer to a group led by Ares Management and a Canadian pension plan. Morgan Stanley: Many Of Our Clients Are Preparing For An Imminent Loss Of Central Bank Control Business Insider The Federal Reserve is contemplating unwinding its quantitative easing program, which at $85 billion in bond buying per month has constituted the single largest provision of marginal liquidity to global financial markets since this latest iteration of the stimulus program was launched in September 2012. Such a move appears imminent – the consensus in the marketplace is that the first step in tapering back quantitative easing will be announced at the conclusion of the Fed's September 18-19 FOMC policy meeting. MARKETING & INNOVATION NEWS Studios Find Their Best Hope for Offsetting a DVD Decline Variety When Walt Disney Pictures releases "Iron Man 3" on homevideo Sept. 24, it won't be the first post-theatrical glimpse fans will get of the film after its theatrical run. The movie will be available for high-definition download three weeks earlier on a range of digital platforms from iTunes to Amazon, instead of the typical simultaneous rollout with disc purchase and digital rental/VOD formats. What was once an exception to traditional windowing for movies is steadily becoming the rule. Why Soup is the New Coffee MarketWatch Of all the features consumers want in a coffee machine, the ability to make soup probably isn't high on the list. So even though coffee and soup are both hot liquids served in a cup, news this week that soup giant Campbell's was joining up with single-cup brewing king Keurig seemed odd. But given the growing presence of Green Mountain Coffee's GMCR -3.23% Keurig machines in homes, offices, and car dealerships, and rosy forecasts for U.S. soup sales, analysts say this joint effort could be the next hot thing in hot things. Tourettes Action Email Escapes Firewall with Upside-Down Swear Words Brand Republic An expletive-laden email marketing campaign avoids being blocked by firewalls by turning swear words on their head in order to raise awareness of charity Tourettes Action. The ‘F*ck the firewall' campaign seeks to highlight how people with Tourette Syndrome are effectively ‘filtered out' by society. PUBLIC RELATIONS & CORP COMM NEWS PR, SEO and Content Marketing – It's All Going in the Same Direction The Guardian UK Recent debate surrounding whether Google has killed off the PR agency sparked some very lively debate within the worlds of PR and SEO. As these two disciplines are now more entwined than anyone would care to admit the question really should be 'Has Google killed all PR and SEO agencies?' Recent updates to Google – with some having a significant impact, others less so – seem to be less about link building strategies and more about creating quality content that people want to share. The Ancient Roots Of Punctuation The New Yorker The story of the hashtag begins sometime around the fourteenth century, with the introduction of the Latin abbreviation "lb," for the Roman term libra pondo, or "pound weight." Like many standard abbreviations of that period, "lb" was written with the addition of a horizontal bar, known as a tittle, or tilde (an example is shown above, right, in Johann Conrad Barchusen's "Pyrosophia," from 1698). And though printers commonly cast this barred abbreviation as a single character, it was the rushed pens of scribes that eventually produced the symbol's modern form: hurriedly dashed off again and again, the barred "lb" mutated into the abstract #. ADVERTISING & MEDIA NEWS Ideal Media Takes A More Hands-On Approach To Combining Recommended Content With Ads TechCrunch Here's another startup trying to turn content recommendation into a business: Ideal Media. Similar in concept to Outbrain and Taboola, Ideal Media works with publishers to add a recommended content unit to their pages. Then it makes money by including sponsored content in the mix. You can see an example in the recommended content under this photo on the OneBigPhoto site (there's a screenshot below). Director of Sales Matthew Mosk told me via email that Ideal Media is building customized, native integrations, so the look will change from site to site. Bold Play by CBS Fortifies Broadcasters New York Times Leslie Moonves, the longtime chief executive of CBS, has heard the jokes about CBS being old and out of step because of the age of its audience and because it does not have enormous assets in the cable network world. But in one area, CBS and Mr. Moonves have led to a shake-up in the broadcast world that could be labeled revolutionary: the issue of compensation for retransmission rights. Before almost anyone else in the business, Mr. Moonves effectively pushed for distributors to pay fees to the broadcast channels just as they do to cable networks. TECHNOLOGY NEWS Apple's Worst-Kept Secret: Bigger iPhones in 2014 CNET As Apple gets ready to roll out its next generation iPhone 5 on Tuesday, speculators have already moved on to what the company will do next with its mobile phones. The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is testing various screen sizes, ranging from 4.8 inches to 6 inches, and KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that Apple will increase the iPhone screen size from 4 inches to 4.5 or 5 inches next year. Here's Everything We're Expecting at Apple's iPhone Event ZD Net In just a few days, we will see for the first time Apple's latest smartphone incarnation. The Cupertino, Calif.-based technology giant sent invites out to select media outlets announcing a Sept. 10 event that will "brighten everyone's day," according to the invite.There have been numerous leaks and reports - rumors and snapshots of various parts and packaging purporting to be of the company's next-generation smartphone, dubbed the iPhone 5S. Also on deck we expect to see a low-cost, budget smartphone, dubbed the iPhone 5C, for emerging markets.   TOP BLOGS Being Found vs. Being Sought Seth Godin The Optics of Marissa Mayer The Flack How to Optimize Your GooglePlus Profile -- And Why You Nust Whats Next Blog Reg FD: Does $50,000 Get Your Attention? IR Cafe How To Turn Your Blog Into A Networking Powerhouse Heidi Cohen: Actionable Marketing Expert 10 Branded Twitter Accounts that Raise a Laugh Econsultancy Digital Marketing This email was sent by: CommPRO.biz [~ListUnsubscribe~]Click here[~EndListUnsubscribe~] to unsubscribe or update profile. To make sure you continue to receive our e-mails in your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add dailyheadlines@commpro.biz to your address book or safe sender list. [~Physical_Mailing_Address~]

MLB + PEDs = A Major League Problem

by Dariela Rodriguez, Ph.D.

“This is important.  You must care.  You need to stop enabling the cheaters the way we used to.  You have to root, root, root just as hard for the game itself as you do for the players.”  ESPN’s Steve Wulf’s words to the fans of Major League Baseball (MLB) are a plea for fans to keep fighting for a cleaner sport, a return to the integrity that was once a part of the sport.  Yes professional baseball has had it’s share of scandal in the past, the 1919 World Series fix by members of the Chicago White Sox and the Pete Rose gambling controversy, however baseball has never seen the problems that steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, or PEDs, present to the sport.  What makes this problem so dangerous for the MLB is the scope of the problem.  The current PED scandal involving Tony Bosch and the Biogenesis of America includes, at the current number, 19 MLB players and 1 minor league player.  According to the Mitchell Report in 2007, some 62 MLB players were have found to have purchased PEDs in the past, showing that this is clearly a problem that is not showing improvement even though MLB authorities are working to punish players for their attempts to cheat.  The issue is not just that players are using PEDs, this is clearly a problem in many sports beyond baseball, but more so for the fact that there does not seem to be a consequence sufficient to serve as a deterrent.  So the question needs to be asked…why are so many players willing to sacrifice an opportunity to play professional sports by using PEDs?

Before we address the question of why, we can probably answer the question of how are so many able to get away with using PEDs to gain an advantage long enough to make is worth the risk.  Wulf’s words were intended as a rallying call for fans to not lose focus and become complacent with the constant scandals that seem to be becoming the norm in baseball.  His words can be seen to make sure fans become as outraged as fans were after the 1919 World Series scandal, a call for them to be more concerned about the problems that these drugs are causing for the sport of baseball and not just for their team’s season.  But when it comes to a comparison, we are not in 1919 anymore.  During the World Series scandal, scandal was not common in professional sports, nor did it involve multiple players from multiple teams.  It was easy to be outraged because scandal was rare, this is no longer the case.  Today we turn on the television and it is almost more surprising to not see athletes linked to drugs, crime, or general misbehaviors.  If fans are getting complacent to these issues, it is not a lack of love for the sport, it might be so we can continue to tolerate watching sports.  It might be so fans can still, in good conscious pay high ticket prices to pay the salaries of these athletes that are essentially stealing from them.

Baseball was always seen as the All-American sport.  Despite the diversity that is present in the clubhouse, the saying still goes, there is nothing more American than baseball and apple pie.  So what does it say about American sports if so many players are cheating and getting away with millions in the process?  In the past, cheaters in baseball were banned from the sport for life, taking away to privilege to make a living by playing a game.  That is still what many sports still do.  Look at Lance Armstrong or Marion Jones.  Armstrong is no longer allowed to compete in cycling, armature or professionally.  Jones was stripped of her Olympic medals and her records and had to turn to basketball to attempt a profession sports comeback.  So why is baseball backing down on the life-time bans that it was willing to hand down in the past?  Is it the money that these players bring to the teams that makes many of the management look the other way when it comes to testing? Major League Baseball seems to want to make the efforts to fix the problem, but without the help of the team management, this is not possible.  And in many cases, such as Melky Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens, the teams are not shying away from signing players known to have used PEDs in the past. 

Most recently, it seems like the MLB and the teams were working to together to properly punish players found to have used PEDs in order to show that there are consequences for breaking the rules.  For example, Melky Cabrera was suspended by the MLB for 50 games during the 2012 season for using PEDs and, upon being reinstated after serving his suspension, the San Francisco Giants did not add him to their playoff roster as they advanced to the World Series.  With this suspension, it seemed like the MLB, and the Giants, were doing the right things by punishing a player for drug use.  However, the awarding of Cabrera with a World Series ring after the Giants won did seem like a step back.  He did not help his team get to the playoffs as he was suspended, nor was he playing to win them the title, but he was rewarded with a championship anyway.  Now Cabrera is again collecting millions as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, and is also linked once again to PEDs in the Bosch scandal.  Under the MLBPA agreement, Cabrera can be suspended for 100 games, essentially a season long suspension, if he is found guilty in the Bosch affair, but he could still play and get paid the next season.  So now the question shifts to why not use PEDs if it gives you the chance to become a millionaire in the process? 

If the MLB and the teams do not come together to fix this problem, they might as well come together and allow for PED use in baseball.  Players see it as a way to make it to the big leagues and make the big-time money they have dreamed of, and without the risk of having to give up the game they love.  Without the risk of losing their opportunity to play, and therefore the opportunity to make a living at the sport, more and more professional athletes are starting to look at PEDs as just another means to an end.  If serious consequences are not handed down, the league risks losing integrity and so with it they risk jeopardizing the integrity of the sport. Wulf’s words to the fans need to be directed to the powers that be as well, “root, root, root just as hard for the game itself,” because in the end, that is the true victim.