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.