My PR Real World Experience

This past Friday I attended PR Real World in Atlanta. It is put on by PRSA and features different breakout sessions and speakers relating to many different aspects of public relations. I was not sure what I was getting myself into, but I think that the information I learned will benefit me in the coming years. One thing that I really liked about PR Real World was the variety of the speakers. Our first session featured three people from CNN, who covered a broad range of professions. They were the first of many to speak on the importance of social media. I do not think that there was one session that did not mention it's importance. One of the speakers, Victor Hernandez, who is the Director of Coverage at CNN, gave one of my favorite quotes of the day. He said, "Social media tools are like running shoes. You never fall in love with the your first pair. You have to look around and find the one that works best f

or you." I feel this is very true. It takes some time to get used to the different types of social media and it takes some time to figure out which one works best for your needs. 

A lot of the professionals at PR Real World told us that our generation has an upper hand on social media because there has almost never been a time when we have not had access to it. In middle school we had AIM Instant Messenger and Xangas, and now we have Facebook, Twitter, and so many more! Today's PR professionals have a very active presence on these social media sites and already knowing how they work puts us one step ahead. 

I also really enjoyed the variety of the sessions. I was able to attend sessions on Internships, Non-Profits, Media Relations, and Sports and Entertainment PR. During our lunch, we also got to hear from the Director of US Communications for the one and only McDonald's! I am not sure where else you could find all these people in one room! PR Real World helped me to see that I think my future lies somewhere in non-profit public relations or event planning. I really don't see myself working for an agency or corporation. I really enjoyed PR Real World and hopefully will be able to go back next year! 

Just some of the GCSU PRSSA Chapter at PR Real World

For more information about PR Real World and PRSA, click here!

Who owns the right to your Facebook?

This morning when I signed into my Facebook page, I was greeted with a message letting me know that there was a "Terms Of Use" Update. Normally I would ignore such a message, but when I got on Twitter I saw that people had made tweets about how if you didn't want Facebook owning your content, you better "dump" it now. I decided to look into it more and came across an article in the Chicago Tribune entitle Facebook's friendship comes with fine print.  

This article discusses Facebook's privacy policy and hints on the fact that when you sign up for Facebook, you agree to a Terms of Use that gives Facebook license to share your information with others on the social network. With this new terms of use, some users showed concern over weather Facebook can use your information forever. Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, said this in one blog post "In reality, we wouldn't share your information in a way you wouldn't want. The trust you place in us as a safe place to share information is the most important part of what makes Facebook work. Our goal is to build great products and to communicate clearly to help people share more information in this trusted environment." In this day and age, when everyone uses the Internet to share and find information,

it is interesting to think of who actually has the right to it and who all can access it. I post lots

information on Facebook and Twitter and even though I would never think it interesting enough

for someone to take and distribute elsewhere, in reality they could. So be careful what you post

and make sure that you check into the terms of use before you sign up for any social networking site!

Skewed Views

Earlier this week, I was looking through some tweets of the people I've been following on Twitter and came across a re-tweet about an article in USA Today. This article, entitled "Despite Dim view of public relations, it may be needed", discussed how many people view the PR world. 

If you would like to read this article, you can click here. 

As I began to read it, the article brought up many issues that I have heard of and some of which I have already experienced. Many people seems to think that public relations is manipulative and does whatever it can to get their client's name out into the world. They also talk about how some believe in public relations the truth is not always told and little white lies are part of the package. The article also mentions the "feud" between PR professionals and journalists. During my senior year of high school, I interned at our local television station in Albany and had a great chance to get exposed to the world of mass communications. While working with producers, I was told numerous times how much they did not like PR people and felt like their job was so much easier than that of the television producer. Since taking classes dealing with PR, I believe that this is not true! One of the quotes from the article that stands out to me is this, "Yet without the PR industry, argue Morris and Goldsworthy, there would be very little news." Many of the stories we find on television and in newspapers were most likely pitched by some type of PR person. Working with my client last semester and doing PR for "Yours Anne" has shown me that this true. Even working at the TV station my senior year I saw this as well, every day at the staff meeting people would have printed out press releases (which back then, I had no idea what they were...)  when discussing story ideas for the day. Good public relations, I feel, should be the backbone to any company. Even if many people are not sure what it is, or think that it is just putting a "spin" on things, pubic relations is hopefully something that is here to stay and helps rather than hinders how we go about our daily routine.