Comms 3370 Extra Credit

Social Media in Public Relations was definitely a very valuable course. In today's society this course is essential to obtaining a certificate in Public Relations. I learned several concepts from this class that are very valuable and will be useful working in the Communications field.

I learned the value of posting in real time and what it means for Public Relations. Last Friday I went to a networking event and there was a photographer there. Not only was he taking pictures of the "who's who", he was posting pictures in real time directly from his digital camera. Because of this class, I understood how ingenious that is. David Meerman Scott wrote, "Speed and agility win the moment" (143). And since I have yet to see another photographer posting videos or pictures in real time, this photographer clearly has a leg up on his competition.

I also realized the value in blogs or blogging. Blogs are extremely helpful for monitoring what people are saying about you, your organization, and its products (84). It's imperative to know that people are discussing you or your company, whether the bloggers are putting your company in a negative or positive light. Business owners should monitor blogs on a regular basis and also have their PR staff blogging as well. Scott also wrote, "Organizations that do not have their own authentic and human blog voices are increasingly seen as suspect" (82).

I will say it would've been a good idea to have our own Twitter account. That way you become even more familiar with the process. Tweeting isn't the same as posting to Facebook and there's no other way to practice than to have your own account. I thought it was difficult at first. Our Twitter accounts could also be monitored on a weekly basis like our blogs.

Overall, I really enjoyed this class and found it very helpful. I would love to pass this book onto my supervisor for the internship I had last semester. At first he was reluctant to use Facebook and I helped him learn the value in posting pictures from events and how quickly you can reach out to your target demographic. My supervisor would find our textbook very useful.

Tourism Whistler and the Media Room of The Future

Tourism Whistler has a wonderful media room and their media releases are no exception. I read Get More Out of Thanksgiving and Weekday Wine. Both media releases are different from press releases for a two reasons.

The first reason is that the vernacular is different. Traditional press releases use more formal language. For example, there were dollar signs and the and/or symbol was also used in the media release Get More Out of Thanksgiving. 

Another reason that the media releases were different was because the hashtag was also used, and in the Weekday Wine media release, it listed events like a calendar or a schedule. A traditional press release is a news story; an article that a journalist would write. Very rarely do these articles include schedules. A news story simply reports the facts.

If I were a journalist I would love Tourism Whistler's media room. For one, the pictures are amazing. Also there was a YouTube video posted on the front page. The pictures were well placed and it was creative. The pictures paint a very distinct image for journalists or anyone visiting the media room.

Since there were also hashtags and posts from Twitter, it would make it easy for me to access what has already been published on Twitter. And if I'm signed into my Twitter account, all I have to do is clique on the links and they will take me directly to Tourism Whistler's Twitter page. The media room was also user friendly, there was a place for everything and every page was divided up so there was easy access.

Overall, Tourism Whistler had a wonderful media room. A journalist or anyone for that matter will love how simple and useful the media room is. Since the media releases are lighter and less formal, it's more laid back and casual.