1. Connecting: Introduce yourself and tell me why you want to connect

My name is Lauren Meaghan Perez and I am graduating from Georgia Southern University in December 2008 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations. Social media is very important because it allows me to network with individuals who share similar interests with me. Being connected through different types of social media is a new way for people to communicate, inform, benefit, and share various information.

When participating in social media, providing an introduction about your self could be beneficial to yourself and others. An introduction of yourself allows others to know who you are and what you are about. An introduction is similar to ‘getting your foot in the door,” because it can be an opportunity.

2. Follow, add, friend: Be aware of who’s following you

Just because you are in cyberspace, doesn’t mean you should not be aware of who is following you or wants to be your friend. Although social media allows an individual to connect with many people, one should always be cautious of whom and what information is being shared. Before automatically befriending or allowing others to following you, find out information about that person. Evaluate whether or not the value of a contact can benefit you.

3. Privacy, boundaries, and safety: Disclosure of information

It is not always necessary to include and provide personal information when involved in social media. Communication boundaries should always be placed in order to prevent disclosure of “too much information” when sharing information to friends, coworkers, and family. Social media is a outlet for individuals to share useful ideas and insights; it is not an arena for individuals to vent about personal issues.

4. Signal to noise: Do not hurt my eyes and ears, please!

The social media I seek to involve myself in is a professional, informational, and life-changing opportunity experience. Reading a multiple of useless status updates that are constantly changing tends to hurt my eyes. Having to listen to people’s complaints through social media is a waste of time that some people just do not want to hear. Rather than offering a pessimistic attitude on life, try providing a positive outlook. That way, individuals can be more influenced by the messages that you offer.

5. Personal data and sharing: Giving all is not always a good call

Although sharing information with others is a benefit of social media, it is not always a good thing. Sharing too much information can have an effect on individuals. That is why it is important to express interests, ideologies, and professional goals in order to receive desired feedback. Remember to keep in mind what your purpose of using social media is. If you use social media is keep updated with friends and family, sharing personal information is acceptable. If using social media as an outlet for you to network with potential employers, it would be appropriate to keep a professional stance on information being shared.

6. My networking needs and uses: These are a few of my favorite things

The social media provides different purposes for everyone. I use different social media outlets such as facebook, Myspace, PRopenmic, Linkedin, and Twitter for different purposes. Linkedin, PRopenmic, and Twitter are the three social media outlets I currently professionally use in order to network to potential employers and keep up to date on useful information in the public relations field. I use facebook and Myspace to connect with friends and family from all over.

7. Communication’s benefits: Communication is key for all relationships

Social media has allowed individuals to express their opinions and ideas on what is going on in the world around them, in an easier way. That is why many businesses and corporations are active in social media because it is a way for them to communicate to their market and public. Now, social media has allowed individuals to communicate with potential employers before landing that first interview. Communicate articulately and professionally when expressing opinions because you never know who may be observing you.

8. Providing trust in social media: Don’t be untrustworthy

It is always crucial, in any environment, to be credible and trustworthy. Without credibility, how will potential employers and individuals be able to trust you? Make sure to not include misleading or untruthful comments on your blog about a company or subject because you may find yourself in a dilemma. That is why providing truthful information is still important in cyberspace.

In my Corporate PR class, our final project consists of choosing a Fortune 500® or Inc. 500 company and analyzing the company through a public relations perspective.  Since I chose Whole Foods Market® as my Fortune 500® company, I was able to identify how Whole Foods Market® applies the groundswell.

If you visit the company’s website: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/, you will notice that their website is socially interactive. Their homepage features various links that provide customers with the company’s history, healthy living tips, recipes for every occasion, and even blog posts written daily from Whole Story Blog, the official Whole Foods Market® Blog.

Whole Foods Market® is very active in the world of social media. Not only does the company post blogs daily but avid customers are able to become friends with Whole Foods on facebook and follow the company on Twitter.  By adding the company as your friend, you automatically receive RSS feeds on market updates. Whole Foods has even created three podcasts that features a cooking show, an audio podcast on natural body care and supplements and an audio podcast on exploring the world of natural foods.

As you can see from the company’s website that Whole Foods Market® is serious about social media, which indicates that this company is utilizing the Groundswell. According to Groundswell, social media is not only a great source of networking, but has become a new way of how people communicate ideas to one another.

As technology continues to expand and change, I think businesses must adapt as well. Whole Foods Market® exemplifies how a business should follow the latest innovations and changes in order to appeal to the markets audience. By not utilizing changes, a company just may be considered outdated.  

It’s like the saying goes right? “Get with the program!”

 I chose to review Inside PR’s podcast because I was interested in the topics that the hosts discussed in previous podcasts.  The podcast I reviewed was Inside PR #119: Training and what PR agencies are doing to train their staff, interns, and senior level staff. This topic interested me because I am about to graduate in December 2008 and since I am currently looking for a job in PR I am interested in finding out how PR firms train their employees.

This podcast focuses on different training topics that may be helpful to interns and even senior staff employers. Since PR is progressing and social media is taking over the internet, the hosts of the show comment on how education is still needed for employers.

The podcast basically answers what are PR firms or agencies doing to help internal staff to keep up with new disciplines and courses to help.  

Martin Waxman, from Palette PR, discusses how his company training its interns by encouraging them to find out what they are interests are. To assist employers on finding out what their interests are, lunch and learn programs are created.

David comments on the demand for training in structured firms. Julie responds by stating that “her company provides training credits and an offsite training wish list that allows employers to list their areas of interest. Although the training may be costly, it provides employers the opportunity to educate themselves and learn new things for current and future roles.”

The hosts of Inside PR also suggest that in getting external trainers. External trainers “provide great training and how to manage people effectively.”

During the podcast Martin and Julie discuss their thoughts on APR Accreditation and how it may impact their decisions on hiring potential employers. Martin believes that “Accreditation may be good in part of one’s training. That bit of training may encourage senior staff to study or look at the profession in a certain way. Julie on the other hand comments that she does not take into account APR accreditation when hiring employers.

Because employers are always going to be learning something that may be passed along, companies set aside a budget each year to support training costs for their employers. I find this to be an excellent opportunity and a positive incentive in working for a firm because it allows employers to educate themselves on new information that may be of interest to them. The hosts of Inside PR state that additional training may bring value to the company.

I enjoyed listening to Inside PR’s podcast because it not only informed me on how some firms or agencies train their employers but it also left me with the knowledge that further training for specific areas of interests is not a bad thing. Before listening to this podcast, when hearing the word “training” I would think of the words “traditional” and “conventional” to explain the experience.  Now, after listening to this podcast I am EAGERLY LOOKING FORWARD to being trained at my future job site, and learning new skills that can be potentially important for me in the future as a PR practitioner.

This article recalled to my knowledge the pioneer of PR, Ivy Ledbetter Lee and his pioneer practitioner, Edward L. Bernays, who saw public relations as the emergence of public opinion.

The authors of this article suggest that as PR students prepare for the brave new world after graduation, teachers must be mindful of various teaching methods, and cognizant of the “evolving changes in the classroom and styles of instructional delivery since both our society and communication methods are changing “ (2007, p.30).

In my Corporate PR (PRCA 3331) course at Georgia Southern University, my professor Barbara Nixon, has implemented new methods of teaching her class by including tips from Groundswell, a book written by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, emphasizes the usage of social media. Social media is currently bombarding the net, allowing others to network with individuals they never thought possible. Getting students involved with networking browsers like Twitter, WordPress, PRopenmic, and etc. allows students to network with potential future employers.

According to the article, implementing new changes to improve PR learning and practive can bring opportunities and challenges (2007, p. 30).

The article mentions the old practices of public relations teachings. Edward Bernays wrote a book PR: A course on theory and Practical Method. He emphasized the study of public opinion and wanted to give students an understanding of problems of adjustment (Bernays, 1986, p. 65)

What surprised me the most about this article is learning that in many American colleges and universities, PR is also offered in schools of business administration, public affairs, and technical writing. Attansey, Okigbo, and Schmidt (2006) point out how there is a gap between what is taught and what should be taught, as well as what is taught and how it is taught.

The article also described a study conducted by the National Communication Association (NCA) addressing curriculum content and methods. The main finding of the study found that the vast majority of teachers still use traditional methods of teaching. The study of the surveys show that teachers would like to focus more on real world PR practices in public relations courses (Stacks, Boran, and Van Slyke Turke, 1999).

From reading this article, I am curious to find out hwo other universities adapt to the changes in learning PR techniques. I am also curious to know if other universities learn and utilize social media?

During this semester I will be posting several blogs about my Fortune 500 company of my choice, Whole Foods Market. The article I reviewed, Preparing PR Students for the Brave New World, is relevant to my corporation because the company already provides blog forums that communicate to its publics. Whole Foods Market is an example of how following the shift in change between society and communication could be beneficial. 

References

Attansey, M. , Okigbo, C., & Schmidt, M. (2007, June). Preparing PR students for the brave new world: students’ perceptions of problem- based learning. Public Relations Quarterly, 52(2), 29-37.

Edelman, D.J. (2006). The golden age of public relations, Public Relations Quarterly, 51(1), 20-21.

Stacks, D., Botan, C., & Van Slyke Turk, J. (1999). Perceptions of public relations education. Public Relations Review, 25(1), 9-28.  

When I started to follow my professor, Barbara Nixon, I immediately looked at her follower list to see if I could follow any of her friends. This was very useful because I was able to follow my classmates. I was also able to follow followers from certain organizations and businesses that pertain to Public Relations. My professor also had us follow at least five people listed on our assignment sheet. I decided to follow more than five of the people listed and as soon as I clicked the “follow” button, I got an immediate response from Scott Monty thanking me for the follow and to grab his attention any time. I thought that was amazing because he doesn’t even know me but he is offering his help. Another cool thing I found with Twitter is that Café Barista, a recent job that I had applied for, began following me. I wondered how they found me but I thought it was cool because I figured they would inform me of when Books-A-Million would open and hopefully inform me of a job. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!     

The LCD screen uses up the most power. Keeping usage of the LCD screen to a minimum will definitely help a freshly charged battery last much longer!

Tip 2: Manage Photos While Your Batteries Charge

Another easy way to cut down on the amount of power drained from your batteries is to wait until you can plug your camera into an AC adapter before you start to manage your photos. This is an important tip to remember – you may enjoy cropping, deleting, and viewing your photos on the go, but it will leave you with much less power to take photos if you do so.

Tip 3: Try Not to Use the Memory Card

This tip goes hand in hand with the previous one, but also plays an important factor in keeping enough juice in your camera batteries to take those important photos! It uses up a lot of power every time that you access the memory card, so keep this in mind before reviewing every photo that you take while relying solely on battery power.

Tip 4: Don’t Mix Different Types of Batteries

Keeping the same types of batteries together can help to conserve power in digital cameras as well as most other battery-powered devices. This is mostly because the performance of older batteries will not be as good as newer ones, and they will drain much faster. Another important reason to remember this tip is that mixing different types of batteries can be dangerous – the batteries can become damaged and even leak, which in turn could end up damaging your digital camera.

Tip 5: Let Batteries Run Out

Letting batteries completely run out of power before recharging them can help them to last longer as well as increase their performance. Something that people tend to forget is that just because your batteries aren’t holding enough energy to run your camera it doesn’t mean that they are entirely empty of power. You can make sure that your batteries are as empty as possible before recharging them by leaving them in an old radio or a flashlight that is turned on until they run down.

I hope these 5 tips were very helpful to you!

Look at these links for more tricks and tips:

• http://www.basic-digital-photography.com/conserving-camera-battery-power.html
• http://www.basic-digital-photography.com/digital-photography-gear-for-travel.html
• http://www.basic-digital-photography.com/remove-red-eye-from-photos.html