Putting the Public Back in Public Relations

Currently in Research we are reading a book called, "Putting the Public Back in Public Relations" by Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge. They discuss what is wrong with PR and how we can fix it. "PR is evolving quickly, from the technology used, to the changing market dynamics, to the increased demands and empowerment for the twenty-first-century consumer," Solis and Breakenridge said. I feel that the evolution of Social Media has giving us the opportunity to network more and reach a wider audience.

I really liked the chapter, Traditional vs. New Journalism. In this chapter they discussed how traditional journalism is fading away and opening a gate for new journalism. Journalist are not searching for news as much these days because technology has allowed everyday citizens to capture news for them.

The chapter, "PR is About Relationships," was also interesting. I liked this chapter because it talks about how PR is about building relationships. Building relationships is extremely important because in PR, people need people. PR influences consumers and consumers influence PR.

"PR is evolving into a hybrid of communications, evangelism, and Web marketing, strung together by the teachings and benefits of sociology, anthropology, and psychology."

The Classy vs The Classless

I read an article on mashable.com titled, "300,000 Kanye West Tweets Interrupt Twitter." I thought this article was interesting because I happened to be watching the VMA's when Kanye "BIGHEAD" West interrupted Taylor Swift as she was thanking everyone for her VMA. He felt that Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time and felt everyone should know. His ego is bigger than Radio City and his mouth is even bigger. If there is anything that I learned from that situation, it was that being humble shines more than being egotistical. Later that night, one of musics biggest stars, Beyonce, received the award for "Video of the Year." She really impressed me when she invited Taylor Swift up on stage to continue her thank you speech. That was a great way to turn that situation around and a very classy thing for Beyonce to do.

Ethics in PR

Today in class we discussed ethics. One area we covered the most was PR research. There are five rules that all PR practitioners need to follow in order to complete a successful research project. I feel the main message dealt with confidentiality. If the research isn't kept confidential, you probably won't have many people willing to participate. You will also lose credibility as a reliable source for information. Another topic we talked about dealing with confidentiality was in the work place. If your boss or supervisor came to you asking for confidential information involved with the research you have done, what would your response be. I feel the best way to get out of that situation would be to turn the question around on them. Ask them the same question and put them in your shoes. Would they want you leaking confidential information about them? I think ethics is a touchy subject because I feel there is a big difference between the code of ethics PRSA follows and my personal code of ethics.