Link to some great blogs.
Thanks to good ‘ol Crazy Claude, I have a hefty list of interesting blogs to sift through. Now I have something to do over Christmas break! Whoo hoo for blogs!
http://crazyclaude.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/final-post-for-the-semester/#comment-38
In need of some personal PR? Get engaged.
Too bad the past three weeks have been the worst of my college career, academically speaking that is. Because, my personal life has hit an all-time high. I’m engaged. Yes, of course you can see my ri… Oh, well we haven’t actually set a date ye… Yeah, we’re thinking a beach wedd… Oh that’s where you got marri..I know it’s so excit.. Oh, hey! Yeah, I am engage.. No we haven’t set the da… Yeah maybe Carillon bea… No, well I actually picked out the set… Oh, well thank you! …We’ve only been dating 9 months… but we’ve known each other forev… yeah, dated in middle schoo… Yes, I’m serious… Oh, thanks… yeah it’s one of those cutesy romance storie… Oh, hey.. yep, there’s my ring…
Or so it goes something like that. It has been such a whirlwind. And I have LOVED every second of it. I replay the moment he got down on one knee repeatedly throughout my day. I have spoken with so many people and told them about myself so much lately, that I truly feel like I have been through interview after interview.. Man, I wish one of them was a potential employer and I could get a job by just talking about my engagement.
If you know of any employers searching specifically for recently engaged college seniors who aren’t graduating until Dec. 2010, please let me know.
No Zhu Zhu for you.
Since my fiance won’t let me get a dog for Christmas, I kind of want a Zhu Zhu Pet. Apparently, these little guys just cannot stay on the shelves. Too bad I just heard about them now. And if you are wondering, the answer is yes. I did have a Furby. His name was Coco.
Much like the Furby craze of the late 90′s, Zhu Zhu Pets are stealing the hearts of children everywhere and the lives of their parents. Good news is that these little furry bundles of joy are only $7.99, well unless you are one of those jerks on Amazon.com or Ebay. Give me a break. $40 smackaroos for a little fluffball on wheels? Pass. Can’t say I didn’t take a second look at the one for $30 though..
I am so interested in how we all come to decide on that token toy every year for Christmas. Was Tickle-Me-Elmo really that funny? Yeah, you right. He was pretty legit. Apparently all it takes is just having a few kids tell you what toy they like the best and then it’s like BOOM! Little mechanical rats are 40 bucks. I really don’t feel like Cepia, the company that produces the Zhu Zhu pets, has that great of a PR campaign for them. So what really does it? Are people just spreading this word of mouth? The local news? Blogs? What is it? Because I follow the news and I just heard about these today!
Anybody got a Zhu Zhu Pet they wanna sell me for like $20?
Never thought I’d be writing a blog about Tiger Woods.
Talk is cheap, but in Tiger’s case it could have saved him millions and a little face. And, yes, I do mean A LITTLE face. He’s in pretty deep and at this point, there isn’t much anyone can do about it. Roll back the clock about a week ago and give Tiger an excellent publicist and maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t be in so bad. All it would have taken was a teeny weeny statement on how he was cheating on his wife and she beat him with a golf club and blah, blah, I’m sorry and we could be on to Sarah Palin getting hit by some tomatoes at her book signing by now. But no, he had to give us the ol’ silent treatment. Shoot, he’s makin’ Jon Gosselin look pretty innocent at this point. And let’s serious, I may already be tired of talking about Tiger, but at least Octo-Dad is on the back burner. One more tabloid with his face on the cover and I’m jumping.
With all of this juicy news coverage, you’d have to be living in a cave somewhere not to know what’s going on with Tiger Woods right now. So, Osama Bin Laden listen up. You and Tiger both might learn a thing or two about keeping quiet in times of crisis. That whole “you have the right to remain silent” thing may work for a 40-year-old toothless wonder with a back pack full of crack pipes, but Tiger, it isn’t doing you one lick of good. We all know you’re a skeezball, so just come out and say it. At least apologize. For I, as a law-abiding, BMW-driving, sorority girl with no interest in golf whatsoever deserves to hear it.
Content analysis is cool.
After listening to fellow ADPR 3510 classmates give their research presentation on content analysis, I was intrigued! Their study looked into the content including posts and comments of some fortune 500 company blogs. It is so interesting to me that there is much to be learned from a blog and its comments. Their research revealed that bloggers are twice as likely to respond to negative comments than they are to positive ones. How PR is that? Those bloggers are out to set the record straight and build up/sustain the reputation of their company name. Oh, and hey there reputation management theory. I’m throwing out research terms like it’s my job. I think I might actually have learned something / a lot of somethings from that darned ‘ol research class.
While writing a paper for one of speech communication classes, I stumbled upon another content analysis research study that caught my eye. The study was called, Contradictory Messages: A Content Analysis of Hollywood-Produced Romantic Comedy Feature Films and was written by Kimberly R. Johnson & Bjarne M. Holmes.
The purpose of the study was to analyze the content of romantic comedy feature films with hopes of uncovering what messages the media is sending to today’s youth about romantic relationships. This study aimed to better understand what specific messages appeal to adolescents when it comes to romance and relationships in the media and popular culture. Another main goal of the study was to determine which messages are potentially contributing to the false beliefs and unrealistic relationship expectations of adolescents.
The conclusions made from the study discuss the possibility of adolescents expecting their relationships to develop into an emotional meaningful relationship extremely quickly and then being let down when this does not occur. In my experience as an adolescent, I do feel as though this is a very realistic conclusion. The media is constantly sending the public messages on how we should act, look, and like. This study of the effects of romantic comedy relationships is another great example of just how much we can be and are influenced by the media.
Isn’t content analysis just so cool? Thanks Dr. Sweetser.
PR & Relationships
Although the academic study of public relations is relatively new, the concept of relationships goes way back. PR professionals all agree that PR & relationships are inseparable. Dr. Lariscy, a public relations professor here at the University of Georgia, defines public relations as “the management function that identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the various publics on whom its success or failure depends”.
It’s all about relationships. The goal is to open up the lines of communication between the public and the organization in hopes to improve their relationship. The underlying theme here is to be in a position to positively influence that relationship between people and an organization.
It is apparent that relationships are important, but why? In the public relations world, relationships are everything. Whether it be your relationship with your client, your relationship with the news outlets you go to in order to get your releases out, or your relationship with your coworkers, having interpersonal relationships is essential to be successful in public relations.
As I journey through my occupational search in college, I feel like all I hear is “network, network, network” and as I continue to experience in college and in my internship/job hunt, I learned it could not be more true. Students graduating from college seem to be getting smarter and smarter and earning more honors each year. It seems that making connections and knowing people is the most important thing you can do to get a job right now. In this economy, employers aren’t just hiring to hire. Knowing someone is key.
So, you need a job? Get out there and make some relationships happen.
PR & Interpersonal Communication
As I am a public relations major, the topic of public relations is of great interest to me and it guides me in most of my academic decisions, like in choosing to take Interpersonal Communication as one of my electives. I knew that taking an interpersonal communications class would benefit me in my career, but I never really analyzed why I believed it would do so. What is the relationship between interpersonal communication and public relations? Why are interpersonal communication skills so important in the field of public relations?
The most important link between interpersonal communication and public relations, in my opinion, is the fact that people influence each other. Interpersonal communication is unavoidable which means that people are constantly communicating and have endless opportunities to influence each other. The main goal of public relations is to influence the relationship between an organization and its publics in some way. If we can learn how to effectively and positively influence others as public relations practitioners, then we can do our jobs successfull.
Another interesting aspect of the interpersonal communication/public relations relationship is the growing use of online social media. Studies are currently being done to understand how interpersonal communication, actually being face to face with someone, compared to the use of technology impacts the effectiveness of a public relations campaign.
Social media is huge right now. It feels like just about everyone is using Web sites like Facebook, and Twitter. In this age, are actual face to fact relationships becoming obsolete? Fortunately, I do not think that this is the case. In my opinion, there is just something about an in-person conversation that is much more influential than simply reading a response on a computer screen. Being able to use your senses to experience a conversation and interact with someone should not be underrated; it is powerful.
Consider a street vendor trying to sell you ice cream on a hot summer day as you are walking to class versus seeing an online article. The feelings evoked and the experience overall are completely different.
Interpersonal communication is important for everyone, and from my perspective, especially for public relations practitioners.
