My Blogging Experience This Semester December 1, 2011

I would have to say that I have mostly enjoyed my blogging experience this semester.  I had never blogged before Intro to Public Relations and have found that this experience will surely be helpful in my career.  This form of social media has exploded over the recent years.  I feel more prepared to face the job world with my experience in blogging than I did before this semester began.  I most likely will not keep my blog up to date after this class.  I’m not much for posting my thoughts and experiences online.  I prefer telling them to my friends and family in person.  Now that I have blogged I can understand the allure for bloggers to get on everyday and report some funny anecdote or random story.  Blogging can be therapeutic to some who are frustrated with roommates, school, or life in general and need an outlet to vent their frustrations.

The only thing I can say that I did not enjoy about the blogs are finding two sources.  It was difficult applying sources to blogs with no real academic information included in them.  For example, in the movie trailer blog the two sources I used were trailer clips.  I felt the required sources in that blog would be better used as examples.

My comments November 28, 2011

I commented on Michelle Brown’s blog, http://mb04025.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/propaganda-andor-persuasion/#comments

Michelle I agree with the other comment saying this ad is incredibly effective. Though I can’t say I’ve had any personal experience with bullying I have seen it happen. I wish I had intervened but I am sad to say that I didn’t. I didn’t want to intervene at the time because I thought if I did I would be bullied too so I chose to turn away from it. It breaks my heart too to think of kids being bullied and feeling like they are worthless. I wish it could stop and that more kids would intervene. This is a problem that needs to be addressed but it is much easier said than done.

Emily Glass’s blog, http://eclecticemilyglass.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/just-a-little-white-lie/#comments

I agree with you both Emily and Michelle. Bachmann is showing she has grassroots values that appeal to so many people. She is using her commercials to garner support from conservative families, midwesterners, and everyone else who relates to the plain folks approach.

Skyler Henry’s blog, http://skylerhenry.com/2011/10/07/public-relations-and-sports-an-analogy/#comments

Skyler you make a really interesting comparison between Public Relations and sports. I like how you broke down the different levels of PR and sports management and compared the two and their occupation equivalent. It is interesting indeed how Public Relations doesn’t have a concise definition since it is such an important part of many businesses and organizations.

Jasmine Poolson’s blog, http://gaawgeous89.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/the-importance-of-intro-pr-courses-for-all-students/#comment-28

I agree with you that Intro to PR should be a core class, but I feel it should only be a required class to those the the Communication Arts department. Majors that include engineering, chemistry, math, etc. do not need to know how to write a press release or how to put together a media kit. Aside from the class learning about the fundamentals of Public Relations, the class is just fun! It is a great tool to keep students (especially in the Comm Arts department) in the know.

Piper Densmore’s blog, http://tarletonwest.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/social-media/#comment-227

Piper I completely agree! I love Twitter. I was (operative word being WAS) one of the non-believers who thought that Twitter was just a fad and a waste of time. I was so used to Facebook that I thought nothing could possibly compare. I have now had a Twitter account for roughly a month and check it every single day to see what is going on. People are definitely sassier on Twitter than they are on Facebook and it is delightful! I love to see what people really think. Tweeters aren’t scared about people “not liking” their status because the people that are following them have done it by choice. They can unfollow at any time. It is a very freeing idea – the idea of not causing controversy or anxiety by choosing to unfollow a person.

and Robert Jaracz’s blog, http://jraz447.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/phones-laptops-and-death/#comment-3

It is so sad that something so beautiful, like a diamond, can come from a place that is so filled with violence and death. As I am typing on my laptop now I can’t help but to imagine what went into the making of this computer. Did somebody die to make this? Was somebody beaten to make this? Will a family be grieving a loved one because I needed a laptop? It is astonishing that technology makers are not being more proactive when it comes to investigating where their supplies are coming from. It is obvious that to these technology giants a person’s life in a far-away land is just a means to an end. It appears that it is no matter to them that people are dying for a $500 computer.

I commented on Professor Andrew’s blog,

1.  http://practicalissues.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/what-would-you-research/#comment-423

I think if I could research anything in the world it would be the history and construction of Biltmore Estates in Ashville, NC. I am very passionate about history and the Biltmore House is my favorite place in the world. Every time I go on a tour there I hang on every word that comes out of the tour guide’s mouth. That estate is absolutely fascinating to me. The extravagance and historical significance of the home amazes me to no end. I wonder if they need a PR intern…

2.  http://practicalissues.wordpress.com/2011/11/10/is-public-relations-the-issue/#comments

I agree with the PRSAY article completely. It would be very difficult to fix what Penn State has gotten themselves into. While some crisis management could be employed Penn State needs to deal with this catastrophic mistake in house personally. I don’t think they need to keep apologizing or making explanations. They need to cut their losses and lay low. Public Relations can’t heal all and shouldn’t be expected to with the Penn State scandal.

3. http://practicalissues.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/5-public-relations-lessons-from-death/#comment-429

Americans are becoming so consumed in their jobs and lives that they don’t see that time is passing by. I get caught up in school and before I know it months have gone by and the semester is over!
I always try and think about how people view me. I want to be viewed as a good person for now and for as long as I am remembered. I know that things I say now, when I’m young, have the potential to stick with me into my adult days.
I take pride in my work, something a lot of college students have forgotten to do, and I feel really disappointed in myself when I have to rush an assignment or when I know I didn’t give an assignment my best effort. That is something I feel everybody needs to regrasp, that your work is a reflection of you, and that if your work is sloppy it makes you look sloppy.

Movies and Concerts I Have Seen Recently November 3, 2011

The last five movies I went to go see I saw advertisements for on television.  For some of these movies I would ask other people what they thought about the movie and/or if they were going to go see it.  There are some movies, like the Twilight saga and Harry Potter, that I am going to go regardless of people’s comments.  The last concert I went to see, Theory of a Deadman and 3 Doors Down, was a birthday present so I didn’t really have much choice in going.  The concert was great luckily.  In the case of the concert, my boyfriend found it by Googleing the band and concert tour dates.  The television advertisement for movies is the most effective form of advertisement for me.  I get to see a snippet of the movie which either draws me in or turn me away.  Some of these snippets are very misleading.  For example, the movie Eat, Pray, Love looked like such an exciting and uplifting movie.  When I rented it on Pay Per View I was so disappointed.  That was one of the most boring movies I have ever seen in my life.  On the flip side, some movie trailers that give me goosebumps because they look so good, such as Breaking Dawn, and they definitely do not disappoint.

Eat, Pray, Love trailer

Breaking Dawn trailer

Persuasion Video October 19, 2011

I found this video off YouTube … of course.  This video is an example of persuasion.  It is almost like the homeless puppies commercial with Sarah McLaughlin singing in the background but the music isn’t heart-wrenching and the orphans don’t have sad, help me eyes.  This video has elements of persuasion such as crystallization of the public’s inclination to help the less fortunate.  This video calls the public to action at the end by stating that one dollar can save an orphan’s life by feeding them.  The makers of the video also make it very easy to donate to the cause by putting a link to their website to donate to the Silent Children Project.  This video is very effective because it shows how a donation and giving these children and the cause attention can change their situation and the situation of millions of starving children worldwide.  It appeals to viewer’s self-interest, especially a mother’s self-interest because any mother I know has a hard time knowing and thinking that there are children in the world that go to bed not knowing when they will eat next or if they will ever eat again.  The channel that the the makers of the video used was very effective because there are millions of people on YouTube everyday so their message was bound to be heard.

 

Sources:

Our textbook

YouTube

Relationship between PR and Publicity October 7, 2011

When I think of the relationship between public relations and publicity I think about two fields that, in my mind, are similar.  To compare the two I will start off by saying that in my opinion every public relations professional should be a publicist at heart.  I say this because both public relations professionals and publicists have the best interests of their clients always at mind. That is what I would say is the biggest similarity between the two professions.

On PRSarahEvans.com Evans writes that public relations professionals that are new to the field often act as their own publicists.  If their marketing and advertising costs are low they can use other forms of social media to promote themselves.

In his blog, Denis Walcott lays out a wonderful example of how public relations professionals are different from publicists.  He writes that publicists are concerned with booking their clients on interviews to get their name out there. Public relations professionals, Walcott’s words, “develop comprehensive strategies to communicate an issue, a product, a cause, a financial report, a medical breakthrough. Our role is generally to develop lasting relationships between a company and target audience.”

Denis Walcott does a great job at defining the difference between public relations and publicity.  I always lumped them in the same group before having to write this blog post.  Now that I have read the blogs referenced in my blog I have a more clear understanding of the difference between the two professions.

 

http://prsarahevans.com/2011/03/23/public-relations-professional-today-publisher-and-publicist/

 

http://losangelespr.blogspot.com/2009/03/not-publicist.html

Relationship between PR and Journalism September 23, 2011

According to our textbook Think Public Relations Journalism and Public Relations have one main thing in common and that is it is a profession that heavily uses writing.  They both use deadlines, interviews, and getting information out to the public.  Journalism and Public Relations have many differences though.  Journalists report news while Public Relations professionals deal with the image and well being of their clients, event planning, crisis management, and many other things.  While journalists inform, Public Relations professionals want to change how people view the item or idea the practitioner is trying to promote  in the interest of their client.  Another fundamental difference is that while both journalists and Public Relations practitioners are trying to get a message out the audiences can be widely varied.  Journalists report to the general populations while practitioners gear their message to the proper demographic so it will take a greater effect for their client.  The final difference journalism and Public Relations our book points out is the channel of communication the two professions use.  Journalists use mainly newspapers or editorials in magazines.  Public Relations professionals however use a broad scope of mediums to deliver their message.  That medium can be TV, magazines, radio, the Internet, and billboards among many other means of communication.

There seems to be a lot of animosity between PR professionals and journalists.  Many articles that pop up when I search the relationship between PR professionals and journalists are things like “A PR professional’s tips for journalists” and vice versa.  This is funny since many journalists are becoming PR professionals as the need for journalists decreases year after year.  The truth is we need each other to do our jobs well.  We are all in this together as writers and the deliverers of messages.

Journalists and PR professionals:  What’s the Relationship?

http://fireprgroup.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/journalists-and-pr-professionals-whats-the-relationship/

Do Journalists Need PR People?

http://blog.journalistics.com/2009/do-journalists-need-pr-professionals-anymore/

Blog #1 Portrayals of PR practitioners from movies and TV September 7, 2011

I chose to follow a course study in Public Relations after I saw the movie “Valentines Day”.  I know that sounds like a completely vapid way of choosing a major but it worked for me and it works for the topic of this blog.  I thought Jessica Biel and Queen Latifah (who were PR practitioners in the movie) had a really interesting job.  They were always on the go, always in demand, and always had the right ideas on how to repair a crisis.  “Valentines Day” portrayed Jessica Biel and Queen Latifah’s characters as the public relations practitioners to be on top of their game, high powered, and needed.  They had, in my eyes, a very interesting and exciting job.  I went to the CLASS office the next day and changed my major from History to Public Relations.  I knew I didn’t want to deal with celebrities as a PR practitioner, but I knew that whatever I did it would be exciting and always changing (as the movie portrayed it to be).  I was pulled into what the movie made the PR practitioner to be.  Luckily for me I love learning about the field of PR and know that I will love whatever job in the field I eventually get.

So, why did “Valentines Day” portray Queen Latifah and Jessica Biel’s characters as a PR practitioner to be this way?  The model that relates most to their characters would be the publicist.  They are representing an athlete and all that goes along with that.  They have to do damage control when he messes up so they usually talk on all the wonderful things he does as an athlete, therefore hyping him up to help the public forget and forget his follies.  Movies usually only show PR practitioners to be publicists for some high profile characters.  I don’t know why that would be but I assume they keep doing it as a “monkey see monkey do” type response.

There is also the portrayal of the PR practitioner as a sleazebag who only cares about getting ahead.  The film and television world (at least what I have seen) has no real lean to one side or the other when it comes to portraying PR practitioners as jerks or high-powered females.  That is why the two links I have show both sides of the PR practitioners I have seen on the big and small screen.

Here are some links to some clips of Jessica Biel and Queen Latifah as PR practitioners in the movie “Valentines Day”:

Watch this one through 59 seconds: http://youtu.be/E_wUrAXTbPo

http://thinkwritenow.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/the-sad-pr-portrayal-in-movies/