PR Real World

When I first heard about PR Real Word, I was not exactly sure what to expect. When we got there, at 7:30 in the morning, it turned out to be really informative. The information that was really viable for where we our in our PR lives. As someone who does not know exactly which direction I want to go after college, I needed to know all that was available to me as a would-be PR professional. Real World was able to highlight all the different fields within PR and give a "day in the life" type of overview of what they do.

The theme of the day seemed to be networking. Almost every person that spoke said they held their current job because of the connections they had made early on in their career as well as the connections they are still making today. It was kind of daunting thinking about how many people we need to start "knowing" in order to advance ourselves within the field. I guess a conversation is worth a lot these days.

One of the most interesting sessions I attended was one that talked about entertainment and sports PR. I would love to work in the sports industry somehow and the lady with experience had worked with everything from professional basketball teams to the Olympics. She, and every other speaker, talked of working their way from the very bottom to where they are now. Those kinds of positions do not bother me because if you really love what you do, you will be excited just to be around it. She spoke of finding your passion, because it is required to get what you want. I think that will be my task when I get out of school; finding a true passion and pursuing it. Overall Real World was a good experience and I think it opened my eyes to a lot.

Facebook rules the world

Even with the controversy surrounding the new terms of use the Facebook founders have tried to enact, people will still be addicted to Facebook. Although, Facebook did retract its new hidden policies today, I doubt that the would have affected Facebook use. I know that I would still post pictures, send messages and put up information. We are too addicted. Facebook has become a force in social networking and could possibly take over all other forms of electronic communication.

Think about it, Facebook has a message system, a chatting feature, updated statuses, photo albums, and personal profiles. This website combines email, AIM, Twitter, individual photo album pages and could possibly serve as a resume. The group and event features are great ways to communicate to a desired group of people. Many PR and business professionals see this Facebook overtake as a definite possiblity. In the Fusion PR Forum they discuss how Facebook could serve as a more initimate connection between reporters and PR professionals as well as updated contact information. Facebook provides 3 ways of communication, and one is sure to contact someone through one of them. All these features present a convincing argument for the switch to using Facebook as one's main form of communication.

Facebook has the potential to be the biggest people connector in our society. Watch out. Can it be stopped?

Diversity in Public Relations

I found this article on the issue of diversity in public relations and it was interesting because it was something I had never thought of. The article discusses the lack of diversity in the PR field and the measures PRSA has taken to try to incorporate and welcome different races and sexual orientations into the field.

When I first started reading the article, I couldn't help but thinking that this was yet another ploy to make PR professionals look better by having a racially and sexually diverse industry. Everyone knows that diversity always looks good. Then I started to realize how beneficial diversity would be to public relations. People of different heritages and lifestyles have unique views on business that the average Caucasian person might not have. To most effectively promote and relate to all sectors of the public, diversity is more than necessary.

Why then, has it been so difficult to recruit and maintain ethnically and sexually diverse people in the public relations field? PRSA has implemented many diversity outreach programs and has taken many measures to place people of different races in influential positions but they are still having problems.

When I look at my school's public relations program, the overwhelming majority of students are Caucasian. This fact may have a lot to do with the fact that GCSU does not have an extremely diverse campus. I think public relations might need to do some PR work for themselves. I know that before I came to school and desperately needed a major, I had never really heard of a PR professional. I came upon this field by chance while searching for something that I might enjoy. Maybe we should take a break from promoting others for a minute and promote ourselves!