Guest blogger 2 April 20, 2010

Once again I am going to use Meghan Beytagh as my guest blogger of the week. Awhile back Meghan wrote some advice on internships. I need this advice and I am sure others would love some too. Here is a link to her blog and a copy of the blog post! Hope you enjoy! Thanks so much Meghan!

March 29, 2010…6:50 pm

Internship Advice

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At most universities, before you can complete your public relations degree you must do an internship. An internship allows you to have a firsthand account working within the public relations field while still obtaining college credits. I am doing my internship over this coming summer and have been “hired” at Abshire Public Relations and Marketing in Savannah, Georgia. One person that I talked briefly about internships with is named Kara. She interned at Abshire Public Relations and Marketing while she was obtaining her degree at Armstrong University and now works at Abshire Public Relations and Marketing. The other person that I have talked to about this is Brittany Cook who is a soon to be Georgia Southern University graduate and did her Public Relations internship last summer.  

Brittany told me that one of the hardest things about completing your internship is finding a location that will “hire” you. I know at Georgia Southern University, we have an “approved list” of locations and can also request a different location. One thing that does help with this process is networking!

 A lot of the people that I have talked to also told me that making sure that the place in which you do your internship is also very important. You want to make sure that your site/company fits your career goals. One example that was given to me was that if you want to do event planning and hate social media then getting an internship where you are doing nothing but working with social networking sites isn’t the place for you to go. One other thing that you want to be aware of is…”is the location is going to help me build your portfolio?” You want to be able to actually work and learn. Not just sit there and do nothing. These are just a few tips for completing a public relations internship. Good Luck!

Humor in a VIRAL VIDEO IS THE KEY April 20, 2010

Viral videos are a funny thing. Everyone begins to talk about them and share them on different social networks. Most of the ones that catch my eye are ones that are humorous. It is funny how some people will post just about anything on the web, especially on you tube. Some of the post I believe people don’t even think will become a hit, but somehow they do. I even have heard that a person can gain money from posting videos. The news show that I was watching explained that advertisers will pay money to be on the pages that receive the most hits. This shows a lot about social media. It demonstrates that advertisers are involved and also how the media will get involved with certain videos and discuss them. “David after the dentist”, for example was a video that I heard through the media. The discussion was about was it okay or not okay for the parent to exploit their child like that. With these videos it really all is in good humor. Everyone laughs at the videos that are posted. It is up to you to post them or not. Another characteristic about viral videos is that they appeal to everyone. People can find different videos that they suit their personal humor. With viral videos they are not always about humor though. Sometimes they can inform people about issues in the world in a manner that makes people want to listen. Viral videos are a way to express creativity or humor. It is about how they appeal, touch, or make people laugh that makes them such a viral video hit in the beginning. If any person feels anything about one of these videos they will want to share them making them huge like “david after the dentist”.

My Favorite Videos Soon to Come… They are just silly…

All a Person Needs to Know about Searching April 20, 2010

After reading an Edelmen Insights paper by Steve Rubel which was titled, “Search Engine Visibility” there were many things that I learned and many that were interesting to me.

• What interested me the most was the statistics that were given by Nielsen online about search engines. For example the statistic that was most interesting was, “Eighty-nine percent of U.S. online adults use search engines, according to Pew internet” (Rubel, p.3). Another statistic was, “The average American visited 111 domains and 2,554 pages in March 2009, according to Nielson Online” (Rubel, p.3). This was all interesting to me because it shows how dependent Americans have become on the internet. One has to sit back and wonder how we knew anything before it evolved.
• What I learned was how links will be on the top of a google page. I knew there had to be a method to the madness of what got to be the first link on the top of the search engine page, but I know now it is because of how much the subject is being discussed. The example was given that if something was being tweeted about a good bit and CNN caught wind of the tweets then they could post something and that would be the first link.
• What surprised me was how twitter search is now more popular than google ews breaks. This just demonstrates how important social media networks have become especially twitter. I am surprised because google has always had such a large name, but not overly surprised because of the quickness of twitter. Not to mention one can follow anyone they would want to know anything about.
• Learning more about something would be the keyword insights. Hoping to become a PR professional one day the articles believes that they should know exactly the way people search. In social media we have done an assignment that helped us develop those skills, but still I would like to master them.

The article was an entertaining article and provided some insight on search engines.

Social Media… To Use or Not to Use…??? April 20, 2010

Beginning this semester the first week we were told to blog about what social media we were involved in. Mine consisted mostly of social networking. Here is a list of the social media I was involved in before with a brief description of how it was used.

• Facebook- My main addiction began as what is known as facebook. On the social media site it created a way to connect with friends and exchange photos along with comments. Facebook has now grown to a place where people can chat and pay games as well.
• Twitter- Twitter is also a great place to post what is going on with you at the moment and share things with friends. Twitter is different because of the 140 characters, but still serves as a great place to network. Personally I have found that it is the place to connect with other PR majors and not to mention see what is up with one’s favorite celebrities.
• Linkedin and PR open mic- I had accounts, but no idea how to use them. Now I do

After this class…

• Podcasting-  Never thought in a million years I would ever pod cast. After this semester I can now see that it is a new way of relaying information and a technology that should be known by PR students. Never thought I would admit it, but it was pretty fun too!
• Blogging- I had never blogged before this class and look at me now. Yes, my blog is not the greatest one, but I am blogging. It serves as a great way to discuss with others and find out what is going on.
• Viral Video- I made a viral video!!! It was a fun experience and it is something that I can be proud of. It is nothing embarrassing like a silly video on youtube, but instead an informative video.

How do YOU see social media? April 20, 2010

After reviewing a list of 20 definitions of social media in 140 characters or less there were three that stuck out to me. These are the ones that I will review and share why…

• @trevoryoung Social media is a catalyst for change – change in the way we connect with each other, change in the way businesses communicate with the world*

Social media is indeed changing the world one key stroke at a time. It is changing the way people act and do business every day. People can communicate with people that they have not talked to in ages or even communicate with people that they have never met and share the same interests. Not only is it changing the way people communicate with technology, but even the way people communicate in daily conversation. People cannot conversant without some conversation about a social media network. Believe me I have tried it and it is extremely hard not to talk about a social media network. They have been a new way of expanding our knowledge of all sorts, about people, businesses, and technology.

• @EmilyCagle Adapt, answer, broadcast, collaborate, communicate, connect, create, engage, follow, lead, learn, listen, question, share

This definition was interesting to me because it was a different approach to defining the concept. A person must adapt to social media. They must answer to other on social media while broadcasting themselves. Social media creates a link for people to collaborate with one another, connect, with one another, and communicate with one another. It is engaging and it creates a position for people to lead as well as follow. People can listen and question while they share information in a different way that is new for everyone. Social media has in deed opened many doors and opportunities to do all of these words used.

• @swonderlin Social media is a revolutionary tool – bringing thoughts & ideas together from every corner of the world and in all facets

Social media has in fact revolutionized the way people live their lives. It also has helped people connect that have not spoken in years no matter where they are in the world. I have not really thought of how worldly social media is, but it is in fact a worldly revolutionary way of communication.

• My own definition of social media in the 140 characters would have to be: “Changing the way we think, communicate, and even the world one key stroke at a time.”

Four square is a new ball game…. April 20, 2010

From what I have gathered foursquare is a new social media site. I am no pro at it, but I do see the pros and cons of the website. Foursquare is a website that people can join and gather what is like followers on twitter. First a person must download the application onto their mobile device. Once one has the application they must “check in”. By checking in a person can tell friends where they are going and see where their person are. One can also share features of the places so others that may be intrigued will join or visit the business soon. On foursquare people say where they are going and if they go to this place enough they become what is called the “major”. If a person is nominated as the “major” they are the person that frequents the area. The area could be anything as a restaurant or store. People can earn badges for being a person who goes there the most. The pro of the website is one can ask for an expert’s opinion. The expert would be known as the major. If a person is in the area they can see where people are going and know that it is a place they would like. People can also inform people to stay away from certain areas that they are in because those areas could be a bad part of town. The site is creative for businesses because it is free publicity and advertising. On the foursquare website there is even a place they can reward their customers for the buzz. The problem with foursquare that I can see would be stalking issues. There are already enough problems on the internet as it is, but people knowing where a person is going at all times seems as if it could create some problems.

Importance of Podcasting April 20, 2010

Public relation students could benefit from listening to podcast in many different ways. After interviewing a PR professional it was brought to my attention how important technology is in the PR field. That was some of the best advice that I received. If a student is skilled in technology with social media they will have a better chance of receiving a job over a person that is not. This is also something that the class social media has taught students. The best way to learn something for a lot of people is to watch and learn. If students took the time to watch PR podcast they could learn a thing or two about PR and use it later in the field. Not only could they learn something, but they could also gain great ideas and use them later on their own podcast. This week was the first time that I personally had ever attempted to create a podcast. The podcast that my friend and I made was about the differences from twitter and facebook. Both of the sites are amazing ideas and preferred by many people, but people prefer some over others. Even though our podcast was silly because it was our first attempt someone who knew nothing about these subjects (they would have to be living under a rock) could possibly learn something. The same goes for PR majors learning from PR podcast. If a student listens to them all it can do is expand their knowledge of public relations. This will benefit them later if they are on an interview and the conversation comes up. With the particular podcast that I was involved in it even expanded my knowledge of certain technologies. A flip camera was used and now in the future I can use this technology for pleasure or business and as I stated earlier I have learned how important technology is in the public relations world. Shownotes are also an important factor in podcasting. Without making my own podcast I would have never known was shownotes were, but now I am prepared if I have to create them later.