VOICES Publishing from the AAJA National Convention
Paul Cheung, AAJA national president, encourages people “to use social media for good and not for bad.” “ A lot people will point out the negatives in social media,” he said. “But don’t just point at the negatives. Come up with some positive solutions.”
With more than 2,000 Twitter and Facebook friends combined – not to mention activity on Flickr, Tumblr and other social media platforms – AAJA National President Paul Cheung is a social media guru.
That’s why it was no surprise that the 40-year-old became the center of a social media blitz during his birthday bash in June, getting greetings from friends and followers around the world.
The bonanza began at 3:44 a.m. Eastern time on June 30 with former AAJA National President Sharon Chan tweeting: “It’s @pcheung630’s 40th birthday. Let the social-media bombing begin.”
What followed in the next 24 hours was an influx of tweets, videos and Facebook posts with the hashtag #pcheungis40.
Ko Im, an AAJA-Washington, D.C., member, shared her rendition of “Happy Birthday” on the piano via an Instagram video.
“I wanted to do something different, and strangely enough, I was at work and there’s a random piano at work. So I looked up different chords for the ‘Happy Birthday’ song, and I asked the security guard if she could tape me doing it,” Im said. “It took a couple of tries because the security guard is not on Instagram.”
AAJA-Seattle members upped the ante by recording a birthday-spirited “Harlem Shake” video. Among the dancers was AAJA member Wendy Tang, who made a guest appearance from Hong Kong, and two bystanders.
In the real world, Cheung celebrated his birthday in New York City, starting with a brunch with friends, followed by a walk in the city and dinner. But he said much of his day was spent getting alerts on his Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.
“I was actually really surprised,” he said. “It wasn’t just the usual Facebook ‘Happy birthday,’ but I saw a lot of my friends put the extra effort in photobombing, videoing and generating these memes about me.”
Cheung, global interactive editor for the Associated Press, said that he wanted to use his birthday to generate support for AAJA.
“It was a little bit embarrassing because it was my first true social media birthday,” Cheung said. “As president, I want to be sure to use social media to let me know the things we do at AAJA and how they, too, could be a part of it.”“You have to think, ‘What is the purpose about each social media?’” Cheung said. “Try not to lump social media as one thing, but figure out the uniqueness between each of the social media platforms.”
Cheung encourages people “to use social media for good and not for bad.”
“A lot people will point out the negatives in social media,” he said. “But don’t just point at the negatives. Come up with some positive solutions.”
Paul Cheung’s Top 6 Social Media Platforms
- Vine
- Tumblr
“If you look at my Instagram feed, a lot of it is about my travels and the people I meet.”
Cheung said that he tries to connect his tweets to his posts on other social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
“Facebook is really a hybrid of my personal life and also my work with AAJA,” Cheung said. “My Facebook strategy is advocating for media diversity and talking in my role with AAJA. I think the great thing about Facebook is you get to tap on beyond your usual network.”
“LinkedIn is a great way of keeping touch with people who move around a lot,” Cheung. “When I collect a business card, I normally try to get LinkedIn with them so that way I don’t have to carry this paper around. And people switch jobs, so I don’t have to say, ‘Where did so and so go?’”
Cheung uses Tumblr as a platform for his personal Web site, pcheung630.tumblr.com. The Web site contains Cheung’s recent news feed as well as his biography and résumé.
