Professor blogs I have commented on

I think it would be intersting to see what students are doing to set themselves apart from everyone else. I like to see and learn everyone’s goal in life and what they are doing now to achieve these goals after we are out of college.

Comment by hillmill1 — August 29, 2011 @ 11:53 pm | Reply

I agree with the PRSAY article. What happened at Penn State is tragic and shows how little morals the people involved have, Sandusky especially. The fact that everyone involved only went to the person above them with their knowledge and not to the police is immoral for the seriousness of the issue. The Public Relations professionals could no have intervened with the situation or made it look any better if they would have known, because what happened would obviously upset the public regardless. The questionable ethics of the Penn State professionals is the problem at hand. Public Relations professionals can not change people’s values regardless of how much they could even try. The New York Times is wrong for pinning this onto the PR people and should really understand what it is that they do before they slam them. I think that the way Paterno was fired and all that, could have been handled a little better. But for the matter being in the spotlight of the public and criticized for every move, there was only so much that could have been done.

Comment by hillarymillard — November 16, 2011 @ 4:27 pm | Reply

If I could research anything right now it would be the history of Christmas and how Santa Clause and all that came about. I love the holidays and always enjoyed the magical side to it growing up. I have a younger brother who still believes in Santa so at my house during the holidays, it is still very fun for us to keep his beliefs alive. I would just like to know when and how all this side to Christmas began. I feel like this tradition is a world wide one for children and families so I think it is just amazing how something can spread like that!!

Comment by Hillary Millard — December 8, 2011 @ 9:33 pm | Reply

Blogs That I Have Commented On

Sydney Brown

http://sb03182.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/why-do-i-use-facebook/

Comment–>
I use Facebook for the same reasons! Starting at such a young age we were exposed to this site and as we have used it, it has grown to the largest social media site in the world. I love the fact that we can post pictures and keep up with family and friends. Although I do use Facebook more than other social media sites, Twitter is another site that I have become hooked on! I recommend trying it out because it is very entertaining. I don’t tweet as much as I used to, but I do follow funny people and it is always a good laugh!

Kristen Bantin

http://kbantin.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/perez-and-kim-love-to-blog/

Comment–>
I have never read their blogs but it sounds very interesting. I am always a sucker for celebrities and what is going on in their lives other than what the media portrays. I agree with you on how you are surprised they have time to blog! I feel like I barely have time to blog myself so I can not even imagine that they do! I feel like celebrities writing blog posts can make themselves seem like a normal person with individual thoughts and ideas rather than this Hollywood figure. If I were to ever become famous I would definitely blog so fans can understand what type of person I really was! I am glad you wrote this blog post because now I want to check out these celebrities’ blog sites.

Gina Missini

http://ginamissini.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/what-are-some-myths-and-preconceptions-of-the-field-of-public-relations-why-do-you-think-they-exist/#respond

Comment–>
I feel like I was in the same position you are coming into college. I had an open mind and tried to figure out what I would enjoy studying. I agree with the myths that you stated as well. I feel like we are very fortunate to be studying public relations at Georgia Southern. However, we have to overcome the preconceptions that people think. We will be doing a lot more than just talking in our future jobs. In Intro to PR, we have learned many different aspects of PR jobs. I look forward to overcoming these myths and improving the PR field even further

Rae Mueller

http://rachaelmueller.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/blog-4-video-persuasion/#comment-4

Comment–>
I really like this video you chose for this blog topic. I remember when the BP oil spill occured, it really affected my families vacation plans for that summer. We normally go to Florida’s Gulf Coast, and that year we were skeptical on going. We ended up still going and it was definitely not as bad as we thought. There were people cleaning up the beaches trying to make it look good. This video does an even better job of making the beaches look good. It uses all the three attributes of persuassion to promote the beaches after the oil spill because it really needed to increase business in the areas. I feel like after incedences like the oil spill, business declined in all the areas so something like this was crucial to promoting the area.

Mary-Beth Moore

http://marybethmoore.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/assignment-6/#comment-2

Comment–>
I really agree with you that the Into to PR course is very beneficial to non-public relation majors. Like you said, many businesses do not have public relation departments, so having some background in this course can really benefit people. I think that understanding how the public responds to products and services is crucial in being successful in life. If you are trying to grab more customers, having a public relations background really helps. That is why the intro course is important. I think that many people go to college and study a certain major and end up do something slightly different in life than they expected. Having some knowledge in public relations is important for this reason as well. If I was not this major I would definitely want to take this course anyways.

Shayla King

http://shayluhrose.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/facebook/#comment-2

Comment–>
Reading your blog was very interesting for the fact that most everyone I know uses Facebook. You make some very good points as to why Facebook has many cons. I definitely waste so much time on the site when I could be doing so many more productive things. I have also been in pictures where I immediately detag myself too. I think that although there are so many cons to Facebook, I will continue to use it. I feel like since I have been using it for so many years, it would be hard for me to stop. I am very impressed that you are able to refrain from using Facebook and think that it is really good!

What Have I Enjoyed Most About Blogging this Semester?

Blogging this semester was a new experience for me. I have never blogged before so I was not sure if I was going to like it or not. Sharing my thoughts and opinions on certain topics is something I do enjoy, but I have decided that if I were to continue blogging, I would want to do it on topics I could choose. I will probably not continue blogging right after this class though,because I feel like I do not have time or anything that important to blog about. I enjoy other forms of social media better that I would rather use. Part of the reason I feel like I would not want to attempt to continue blogging is because it is not like I have a wide range of readers anyways. In a post by David Parkinson, he states that blogging needs to constantly be updated otherwise potential readers will be lost. I do not see myself having time to contstantly update it. On a more positive note about blogging, I have enjoyed getting to understand the process and read other people’s blogs. The only time I have read blogs is when I have googled topics and people’s blogs popped up. I do hope that I have the opportunity with my future job to get back into blogging. Corporate blogging can be difficult though. On the website Enterprise Blog Info, it states that many employees have been fired for commenting on company blogs. There are many risks that companies take when they trust their employees to blog for them. Hopefully, I will learn what it takes to be a good blogger in the future! I look forward to what the future brings me with the opportunity.

http://daparky.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-blogging/

http://www.enterpriseblogs.info/corporate-blogging/disadvantages

Why non-public relations majors should take Intro to PR

I think that it is important for non-public relations majors to take the introductory course for PR because it can help in almost anything someone does. For public relations majors it is the stepping stone for all our future courses, but for people who have other majors, it is an opportunity to learn the ideas behind PR. They may not need to know how to write press releases or things like that, but learning how to handle crisis situations and how to communicate well to the public are important. I am sure most jobs want to leave a good impression to their clients, so learning these PR skills can be very beneficial. In an article by Lauren Lake, she states a benefit of PR is that it creates awareness of products and services. I am sure that people who understand how to go about doing this will be very successful with their job. In another article by Evan Carmichael, he states that knowing good PR skills can help attract new customers. This is important because once one has steady business and customers, they are always looking for ways to broaden their success. Knowing what it takes to gather more customers and different types of customers will really help people. I believe that there are so many beneifts to PR and people who take this course and do not have a PR major made a smart decision.

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Public-Relations/495/The-Benefits-of-Public-Relations.html

http://marketing.about.com/od/publicrelation1/a/prbenefits.htm

Why I use Facebook

Facebook is a very popular social media site that has over 800 million active users and over 2,500 employees. These numbers show just how successful Facebook has been since it was founded in 2004. I like to use Facebook to communicate with a large range of people. I have over 1,000 Facebook friends who I can look at their pictures, statuses, and information. It is entertaining to see what everyone has been up to. I also use Facebook to talk to people in different groups. It is easy to make a Facebook group and all communicate in there because we can post things whenever we want for everyone in the group to see. Facebook also allows people to create events. By doing this you can invite as many people as you want to different things like parties to philanthropy events for sororities. It is a great way to notify people about things going on. Since 2004 when Facebook started, there have been a lot of changes to its privacy settings to gain the trust of Facebook users. The internet can be very deceiving when it comes to who you are really talking to. That is why Facebook has done things like giving users the options to hide their friends list, personal information, and hiding things from the past. With all the privacy settings, I feel safe using Facebook and who is looking at my profile.

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?factsheet

http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-privacy-must-know-2010-05

Elements of persuasion and propaganda

In an article by Kendra Cherry, she states, “The goal of persuasion is to convince the target to internalize the persuasive argument and adopt this new attitude as a part of their core belief system.” The video I chose to incorporate in my blog is  a commercial about animal cruelty. Sarah McLachlan is singing and speaks in the clip to make people understand the help that abused animals  need. The video is trying to persuade the audience to make a difference in the lives of the animals being affected. The video uses various factors of persuasive communication that help make the video more effective. It uses suggestions for action, which is a key principle of persuasion, because it encourages the viewers to call the number given and to join BCSPCA.ca to help contribute to those animals who need their help the most. By suggesting this plan for action, the sponsor is hoping that more people will get involved. The video also uses the factor of clarity of the message. The video is very clear because the audience is able to understand the message easily and the audience knows what the sponsors are trying to get them to do, which is to help the animals. Since this commercial uses these elements, it is more likely that the message will persuade the audience like it was intended to do. In a blog by Steven Nguyen, he states that an effective way to peruading the targeted audience is to understand the audience. This means that  you must determine how the people you aim to persuade will make the decisions you are hoping to encourage. I believe that this video follows this concept as well.

http://workplacepsychology.net/2010/11/12/elements-of-effective-persuasion/

http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/a/persuasiontech.htm

Compare and contrast public relations and publicity

Our book 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 also defines publicitiy as disseminating planned messages through selected media to further an organization’s interests. Publicity is a component of public relations. They both attract the public’s attention to promote certain things. In a blog by Brian Clark, he states that, “publicity is something that helps you connect with people who don’t know about you yet, or those who may have heard about you, but are still on the fence. The emerging social media environment allows you to connect with these people in a whole host of ways outside of the mainstream media.” This seems very true. An example of publicity from our book, is when Norelco Phillips introduced a new shaver that was for men name Bodygroom. They drew publicity for the product by citing a phone survey that concluded that more than half of the males would rather have a hairless back than any other part of the body. Doing polls is a great form of publicity. An example of public relations is when firms have press releases for certain products or of events going on. Both publicity and public relations create awareness of something being promoted to the public. A difference is that publicity is free media. Although these two are very similar, it is very clear that they have their differences.

http://www.copyblogger.com/public-relations-vs-publicity/

http://www.cuclispr.com/pr.html

Ethical Lapse

A fairly current ethical lapse in the public relations industry is the Burson-Marsteller ethics flap. Basically what happened was PR reps, Jim Goldman (former reporter for CNBC) and John Mercurio (ex-political reporter), were caught behind a campaign where their client’s name was not revealed. The two men were both involved in questionable acts including, engaging reporters and bloggers about privacy concerns dealing with Google’s Gmail feature Social Circle. Former FTC researcher and blogger Christopher Soghoian exchanged emails with Mercurio. He then posted this exchange online. In the email Soghoian asked Mercurio who was paying for the campaign and Mercurio’s response was he “can’t disclose my client yet.” It turned out it was Facebook that was behind this campaign because they were trying to target Google. During all this, Goldman was feeding the story to USA Today.

This type of unethical behavior gives Public Relations a bad name. These two men should not have been involved in such sneaky behavior with this campaign. People and companies need PR reps to represent them in the best way possible. Lying and being deceitful are not the ethical way to go about this. Hopefully, future PR reps will learn from the mistakes of this ethical lapse.

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/PRSA_chairCEO_weighs_in_on_BursonMarsteller_ethics_8232.aspx

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/PR_pro_in_BM_ethics_flap_has_history_of_shoddy_rep_8284.aspx

Myths and preconceptions of PR

I think there are a lot of myths about the field of Public Relations. Although my family and friends are very supportive about my major and what I want to do with it, I know many parents do not support their child’s interest when it comes to this field. Learning more about PR and talking to other students, I have come to the conclusion that Public Relations has a lot to offer and can be a very successful career path like most jobs out there. Some of the preconceptions about PR in my opinion include the following: only women do it, it’s all about press releases, and if you are a journalist, you can easily filter into the PR field.

Although women tend to dominate this field, men have positions and important roles when it comes to Public Relations. We have talked in PRCA 2330, why women tend to dominate. It is because of our social abilities, our creativeness, and our ability to listen easily. Just because women gravitate towards this career more than men, doesn’t mean that men aren’t a part of it. Also, PR is NOT all about press releases. This field is changing as communication and technology advance and I believe people’s jobs tend to change because of this. There is so much more to the job and depending on what people specifically do, it consists of many different day to day tasks. This brings me to my last point of how people think if they are a journalist, they can easily filter over to PR. I am sure some journalists could strive in the PR field; however I do know some would struggle. Journalism and PR are different in so many ways. In both careers, good writing is important. However, in PR, organization, creativity, and many other management aspects make it harder for these journalists to adapt.

http://www.geibelpr.com/prmyths.htm

http://www.prconversations.com/index.php/2008/01/objectivity-in-public-relations-and-journalism-essential-for-the-credibility-of-both-professions-and-for-different-reasons/