EdgeWave Security Solution Supports YouTube EDU to Ensure Safe and Productive Web Content for Students

EdgeWave Inc., a leading provider of Secure Content Management (SCM) solutions, today announced that its brand new release, iPrism Web Security v7.0, includes native support for student access to YouTube EDU-only content. The seamless integration allows educational institutions to support compliance to acceptable use policies for accessing video content that has been deemed by school administrators to be safe and appropriate, while other video content is blocked.

YouTube EDU is a free service that provides educators and their students with access to hundreds of thousands of educational videos from well-known organizations such as Stanford, PBS and TED, as well as from popular up-and-coming YouTube partners like Khan Academy, Steve Spangler Science and Numberphile. YouTube for Schools was launched in December 2011 as a way to deliver YouTube EDU’s growing collection of educational content to as many schools as possible. The service offers school-friendly features such as the ability for teachers to customize their own content by creating playlists to add to their curricula. YouTube EDU helps teachers create these lists by organizing content by subject and grade for quick access. The addition of iPrism Web Security support gives schools added assurance that students will have access to only the YouTube for Schools content they have chosen, while other video content will be blocked.

“There’s enormous appetite from teachers to use educational YouTube videos in the classroom. We’ve been working on technology solutions to make it easier for schools to access just the videos from within YouTube EDU,” said Angela Lin, Head of Education at YouTube. “Smart technology like EdgeWave’s will make it easier for busy school IT administrators to enable access to YouTube EDU, giving teachers an engaging new resource to educate and inspire their students and bring learning to life.”

“Enabling schools and educational customers to create safe and productive internet access is critical to supporting an effective learning environment for our education customers,” said Steve Kelley, SVP of Corporate Development and Product Strategy at EdgeWave. “Working together with YouTube EDU to ensure that only approved content is delivered to students offers a great benefit to our mutual customers.”

EdgeWave’s iPrism Web Security solution was originally developed to serve the education market and has a strong track record with K-12 schools. EdgeWave has long supported school Web safety and CIPA requirements and the latest release of iPrism v7.0, which was announced today, continues that commitment. Many iPrism features are aimed at mitigating the threats schools face such as Web 2.0 applications, circumvention attempts and remote and roaming users who access the school network. Added support for YouTube EDU furthers EdgeWave’s commitment to the education market.

For more information regarding the integration of iPrism v7.0 and YouTube EDU, please visit:
http://www.edgewave.com/products/web_security/technology_youtubeSchools.asp.

To attend a joint webinar discussing this announcement and corresponding integrated solution, please sign up at: http://www.edgewave.com/resources/Youtube_webinar.asp.

About YouTube for Schools
YouTube for Schools is a network setting that lets schools access free educational YouTube videos while restricting access to other YouTube content. Students can learn from more than 500,000 videos, from well-known organizations like Stanford, PBS and TED, and from up-and-coming YouTube partners with millions of views, like Khan Academy, Steve Spangler Science and Numberphile. Schools can also customize their YouTube for Schools experience by granting access to additional YouTube videos for viewing only within their school network.

The Importance of Branding Through Social Media

Social media is not a phenomenon that can be ignored. Millions of users every day access various social media platforms, and they tweet or post or share information freely. Companies who are working to thrive in the information age cannot pass these platforms by if they expect to be successful. There are many reasons why social media should play a large role in your branding, and the three biggest are listed here.

Extremely Low Cost of Entry. A single television advertisement or newspaper page can cost a company a tremendous amount of money, and it still only reaches a limited market. A profile on Facebook or humorous videos on YouTube are free and grant you world-wide exposure. The ability to reach so many people at so little cost has never existed before. The interaction and brand-building that can go on through social networking can gain a great deal of revenue for your company. With so little expenditure, it would be foolish to miss this chance to build rapport and relationships with potential customers.

Build Awareness of Your Brand. Where else can you go to reach thousands of people with a single tweet, and thousands more with a single shared video? Social media is where your customers go for information, entertainment, and connections with friends. If your brand is also there, you are getting the kind of incredible exposure that can make your business a success. A simple, memorable branding strategy can take on a life of its own as it is shared through the networks from person to person. In addition, this sharing from peers increases your brand’s credibility – people are much more likely to take something seriously if it comes from a friend, rather than the company itself.

Manage Your Company’s Image. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, blogs and other platforms lend themselves very easily to positive customer interaction. In addition, if your customer care department sees a complaint shared on a social network, they will be in a position to respond quickly to resolve the complaint, saving the company a lot of negative publicity.

Social media is the current wave of social interaction and information sharing, and that makes it the current wave of marketing. With an extremely low cost of entry and excellent opportunities to build awareness of your brand and manage your company’s image, social media represents one of the most important marketing tools available. If you leverage it correctly, you will be able to grow your revenue and customer loyalty for years to come.

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This article was a guest post from Capterra - With over 300 business software directories, from public relations software to applicant tracking software, Capterra enables you to find and compare any kind of software for your business, filter results based on your needs, and view ratings and peer reviews.

#PR140 - Defining Public Relations in 140 Characters or Less

By Ronnie Manning

It happens often, you tell someone that you work in public relations and it seems that the question that comes back is “So that’s advertising right?” or “That’s interesting, what exactly does that mean?”.  Public Relations can carry a broad definition depending on what types of clients you are working with, the type of campaigns you are executing and the markets that are being targeted.

According to PRSA, “The formal practice of what is now commonly referred to as “public relations” dates to the early 20th century. In the relatively brief period leading up to today, public relations has been defined in many different ways, the definition often evolving alongside public relations’ changing roles and technological advances. The earliest definitions emphasized press agentry and publicity, while more modern definitions incorporate the concepts of “engagement” and “relationship building.”

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social media platforms have become major components in today’s PR plans and strategies.  Twitter saw massive growth during 2010 and according to Mashable, Twitter claimed that more than 100 million new accounts were opened in 2010.  Today as PR practitioners, we are speaking in 140 characters or less to cultivate relationships and communicate our clients and/or company messages. 

It’s the combination of the Twitter phenomenon and the constant evolution of PR that I asked my fellow PR professionals and peers “How would you define the practice of Public Relations in 140 characters or less?”  A difficult question with almost every reply being different, but with similarity in the core definitions.  I thank all who provided the great insight below to provide modern definitions to our age old practice.

• “PR is not rocket science! Keep promises, exceed expectations, collaborate w/ team mates AND clients, and have fun!” Teri Morris 
• “Circus poster: Advertising. Put poster on elephant & walk through town: Promotion. Elephant tramples mayor’s rose garden & he laughs: PR.” Brenda Christensen  
• “PR: Being sure of a message, connecting with the right ones, communicating in format received, and being a pit bull about staying on course.” Richard Laermer 
• “Building public/consumer trust in your clients’ brands and/or messages through repeated positive editorial coverage in the media.” Lizzy Shaw
• “Know your stuff. Be relevant. Be timely. Be helpful. Be a human being. Tell good stories. Make relationships real. Don’t be a jerk. Hustle.” Dave Clarke 
• “Your brand is the story of your company, well told. Know your story, tell it well.” Ford Kanzler 
• “Telling your story and sharing your news with internal and external audiences to build trust and ties.” Jason Mudd 
• “A management tool to build positive relationships with constituencies that matter to your business or cause.” Mark Grimm 
• “Awareness. Understanding. Use. Bottom Line. Growing them all!” Jolene Loetscher
• “Bridging the gap between perception and reality. You can’t tell the “Real Story” without Public Relations.” Kevin Mercuri 
• “PR is authentic, ad-free communication to build brands & create awareness. Coupled with social media, PR promotes & manages a company, person or brand image.” Molly Lynch 
• “The art of conveying a brand’s key messages through news, events & communications to establish, enhance or repair the brand’s image.” Laura Crovo 
• “PR is perceived and proven image of a person or business, and ongoing communication to consistently guide opinion & shape attitudes.” Gail Sideman 
• “The space between your brand and its biggest critic/cheerleader.” Erin Schorr 
• “Getting ink, enhancing profiles and when the stars align, increasing a client’s bottom-line.” Robert Martinez 
• “Strengthening relationships!” Taylor White 
• “PR is using strategic communications to engage, educate, inform or persuade different publics utilizing a variety of tactics.” Jason Gerdon 
• “PR is in the midst of a major collision w/digital media; This major paradigm shift challenges communication pros to adapt or fail in 2011.” Ray Young
• “P.R. influences an audience to trust you, your product or your service through truthful statements & reliable testimony.” Jim DeLorenzo 
• “Creating mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and the groups upon which their success or failure depend upon.” Julie Heidelberg 
• And my definition would be  “Increasing brand awareness through communications – maintaining a strong image – building relationships – evolving… not Advertising.”

So the next time someone asks you to define Public Relations, feel free to borrow one of the many definitions above and if you would like to add your own, we would love your comments below!