Comments on Classmates' Blogs

In class, we have been discussing experimental research.  I felt that Greg’s blog has a great example of experimental research.  It talks about how the Oregon football team does not have the best reputation.   The goal of the research would be to see if giving out free articles of clothing would make a difference in attendance at the games.  Greg goes into good detail about what the timeline of the experiment will look like.  He shows what the experimental group and control group would be.  Greg really laid out, in detail, the full experiment.

When I was reading James’ blog I was interested in the hypothesis stated by the study he discussed.  The hypothesis stated, “that students would be more prone to believe a story if it had a multimedia aspect to it.”  These multimedia aspects could be anything, a video or a picture online.  This seems to be a very interesting study.  I feel that this hypothesis is true.  Students look up everything online.  As I have stated in my blog, the internet has become a way of life.

Both of these blogs involved experimental research which were studying the habits of students.  The two topics were very interesting to be because the two topics were different but had the same target audience, college students.  I found both blogs interesting and insightful.    

A Digital World

Today technology has made a big impact on the world.  Sixty – one percent of internet users use the internet on a daily basis instead of television, radio and newspapers for their media channels.  We have now become a digital world. Emailing has even become less popular.  Social networking has become the new way to connect with friends and family.  Studies have shown that online consumers spend more time on Facebook than they do with email.   This new way of life has connected the world completely.  The levels of digital engagement have increased all over the world.  Egypt is at 56% and China at 54% for rapid growth with online connections.  AS far as a public relations’ view point is concerned, this is great because everyone is now connected by the internet.  There is a main source of communication within the world.      

Today we live in a digital world.  Everyone is connected though the internet.  Any information that one needs to spread to the public can be sent out through the internet and will reach its target.  From a public relations perspective, this is a great advancement in communication.  The internet makes our job a lot easier.  Today, more and more people are using the internet to gather the news.  This is great for public relations.  It is another way to connect and reach out to the public at any time.  The internet has become a source of social and media connections.    

What is a Pitch?

There are so many different ways to get information out to the world.  Pitchengine is an internet engine on which anyone can post anything.  A Pitch is what a post is called for this engine.  “A Pitch is a neat little package of content you want to share with the world.  It can be an announcement, press release, resume or maybe the recipe for your grandma’s cookies.”  On the Pitchengine you can find and interact with other Pitches. 

This Pitchengine is something that can help public relations grow as a whole.  This is a great form of communication.  “The Pitch™ uses gamma energy emitted from tachyon particles obtained from the space-time continuum. We can’t prove that, but it is capable of taking your story to the far reaches of the search engine and social media world with the click of a button.”  The Pitch that is created can travel all over the internet.  This will help Public relations hear and or get the word out about certain information.  The negative side of a Pitch is that anyone can post on it.  This may cause many problems for companies.  If anyone can post anything about a certain company, product or group at any time, what will stop someone from saying something inappropriate for false about a certain company or group?

Classmates' Blogs

Amy Hardman’s blog brings up some good points about social media and how it works in the world today.  Online and the web have opened up many opportunities for researchers to reach a different type of audience.  As Hardman says in her blog on Qualitative Research & Social Media, “The social web has re-shaped how people communicate, both personally and professionally, with others.”  I agree with this statement.  Many more people are communicating through the web.  This has opened so many more doors for gathering research. 

I really enjoyed reading Kelley McDonough’s blog.  She made good points about honoring the ethics of everyone involved in a focus group, which is a type of qualitative research.  I am not sure that agree that giving an incentive is unethical, but to some people consider it to be.  I can understand how some people could see this practice as being a bribe and an enticement to get volunteers to come to the focus group.  As Kelley McDonough said in her blog, having an incentive can also change people’s behaviors and attitudes just so they can participate and get what they really came for in the end.  If an incentive helps to get people to participate honestly isn’t it worth it?

Both of these blogs explained their points of view really well.  It was nice to see how others view certain aspects of public relations. Both blogs talked about qualitative research, but in two totally different ways.  It is interesting to see different people’s opinions on the same topic.    

Technology Helps Increase Productivity

Over the past few years, technology has really helped to increase productivity in Public Relations.  Everything is immediate on the internet.  A blog is posted the minute submit button is pressed.  Facebook, a social network, will show you updates of posting the minute you sign on.  “A recent survey found that 89% of journalists rely on blogs when researching stories, while 65% turn to Facebook or LinkedIn, and 52% get information from Twitter.”

            Public Relations professionals have three tips for using technology in the work environment.

1.      Pick a group of technology tools that will work well together.  Always check to make sure that the tools you pick will work well with the technology you already have, whether it is Microsoft Word, Windows or Mac. 

2.      Getting someone’s input on a document is a good idea.  Documents should be stored in a shared workspace so that others may view them. 

3.      Do not use paper “to-do” lists.  Use an online task management system to keep track of what you need to do.  This will have tools for long – term planning, and with a group, project time management will be easier. 

Using technology will help public relations professionals manage their projects better and more efficiently.  Also, productivity will increase, and has increased, with the use of information technology by businesses.  All in all, the use of technology in public relations has increased and has made a large and positive difference in this field.    

SlideShare

Have you ever heard of SlideShare before?  SlideShare is the world’s largest online community that stores and shares presentations.  SlideShare is a professional community that allows business media to share presentations with the public.  A business can place all different types of documents on SlideShare.  These can be used in presentations.  These documents and pdf files can be added to  presentation.  Not only does the information stay on SideShare, but the content also spreads through Facebook, Linkedln, and Twitter. 

I had never heard of SlideShare before.  I feel that this is a really great way for Public Relations to grow.  This social network can help Public Relations in many ways.  First, SlideShare helps get information out to the public.  While the information is being shared there can also be someone talking about the business on this network.  This can help the target audience get personal information about a company. They will be able to have an experience and not just read the information.  Secondly, being able to put documents and pdfs on the internet will help with communication throughout and between the companies.  Public Relations staff will have to be careful, when they post documents, that these are not used in the wrong way.  Finally, this is yet another way companies can reach out to the public.  This technology is a great method to share documents will many people.

Blogging and Podcasting

Blogging has turned into something bigger than anyone expected.  People all over the world are creating blogs.  Whether it is for communication or business reasons, many people are using blogs.  This is good for people in public relations because it is a good way for companies to connect with the public.  To be used effectively, blogs have to be regularly updated.  The company’s public relations team has to keep the blog up to date and relevant to what is happening in their company at any given time.   The negative aspect to blogging is that people can post comments that could hurt the company’s reputation.  Anyone can see and respond to these comments.  The blog has to be monitored to make sure that negative comments don’t appear or are removed quickly. 

Podcasting has also become very popular.  A podcast is when audio or video is posted on the web.  This is good for public relations because it is another way to communicate messages to the public.  Podcasting offers a controlled message that can be sent out for others to see.  This is better than the media getting the message first and relaying it to the public, because the public could interpret the message incorrectly.  With a podcast the message will be heard and/or seen in the way the company’s public relations department meant it to be seen.  The company’s message is expressed in a way that benefits the company.

Both of these technological advances are helpful to public relations because they provide new methods for getting information out to the public.  Blogging is not as controlled as a podcast message, but both are wonderful tools.  Each tool is an advancement in increasing the public’s knowledge through technology.  Companies will be using this technology and social media for years to come.

This article is called Plugging In New PR Technologies, by Joanna Kulesa.  

Looking at Classmates' Blogs

                I feel that Blaine did a really good job showing what she wanted readers to get from her blog posts.  The post the I read was Research Results in Media.  She uses good example to prove her point.  I was reading the Research Results in the Media post that she made, I found it very interesting.  I remember watching “The Hills” with my roommates and discuss if we thought it was fake or not.  It is good for the producer that many of the views believe that the plot line was real.  I have to agree with Blaine, when she stated in her post that the entertainment industry manipulate research results to gain more publicity.  I feel that Blaine did a great job at showing the research and public relations part of the media and entertainment.   

Another blog that I found interesting was Samantha’s.  The post the caught my eye was the Boardwalk Empire.  Before reading her blog I did not even know this show existed.  It was very impressed by HBO and how fast they move to sign on for a new season.  I am glad that the show worked out so well. Samantha really made it clear the HBO did the research before making the decision.  She proved may points as to why HBO should move on with the second season.  Also, she gave examples that people our age (her target audience) can relate to, if we haven’t heard of this new show.   

 Both of the blogs I picked dealt with public relations in the entertainment world.  I media and entertainment very interesting to read about.  Both of their blogs were on different topics of the entertainment world.  It was interesting to see the difference between the two.  I enjoyed reading both blogs.    

Online Advertising Trends

Styles and trends change multiple times over a year.  Each year advertisers have to change their marketing strategies to reach their target audiences.  Also, as new technology comes out there are more ways to reach people in today’s world.  More and more companies are used online campaigns because today is becoming a network world. 

                Let’s take the iPhone for instance; you can now have almost any time of app on your phone.  With an iPhone you have the internet at your figure tips.  Companies have to make apps that people will want to use on their phone.  They have to research about iPhones and how to make those apps and who they want to target.  The target audience may be different for each app that is created.  Companies want their name out in every way, shape and form.  Smart phones, like the iPhone are becoming more popular for all different audiences.

                Now advertisements have to be more interactive.  Technology is becoming more complex and advertising has to keep up that.  No one just wants to sit in front of their computer or phone and read an ad about what they might want to purchase.  They want to be shown what this app or item can do for them and what the pros are of this app. 

                Times are changing, and public relations need to keep up with the changes.  The technology is going to keep updating as the years go on.  As the article states “Taking advantage of the trends in the industry will help you to advance your own advertising campaign as well as be fully aware of what you’re up against from the competition when you advertise online.”  Keeping up with the world will make for the best outcome for a campaign.

Social Media

Public Relations has changed with the evolution of technology.  Over the past few years, technology has been changing the way public relations specialists are doing their jobs.  Now, instead of sending a press release through the mail it is send through email.  This has caused a problem for journalists.  There are times when important emails go to their spam folders and they automatically delete the press release. 

The biggest advance in Public Relations is the social media aspect of the web.  Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace have become a major way for people to communicate.  Companies and firms have to put themselves out on these social networking sites to be recognized.  There are blogs that more and more companies are using to inform the public about what is going on.   It is important for a company to join an online community once they have heard and researched it.

There is always danger when dealing with online social media.  You don’t always know if the information you receive is true.  As an employee of a company, you want to make sure that the information you are putting out for the public to read is 100% truthful.  Also, if you are getting information from others make sure that their sources are reliable. Another danger of this new social media is a negative response to you or your company.  Each company has to watch for even the smallest error that could be used against you.  

Today social networking and the online age have changed the ways Public Relations operates.  Public Relations used to be about building relationships with journalists and mailing them press releases.  There is a new way to communicate with the public today.  Almost everything is online.  There are social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter used to reach out to the public.  Companies are doing a lot more Public Relations on the internet.  This use of technology has increased the flow of information to the public.  In the long run is an increase in flow of information a good thing?    

This article is titled Technology and Public Relations written by Dave Roos.