Sunday, November 18, 2012

Penny for my thoughts?

Comment #4


The article I commented on can be found here.

We now have the means to discover the validity behind everything we are told.   Social media makes businesses and people accountable for their actions.  Same token, this makes the PR professional accountable.  The reason why transparency and the image are important to the younger generation is that those things are of fundamental importance to our publics.  Standardized measurement tools are important because we work to create relationships and deliver messages via mediums where quantity, anonymity, and popularity (trends with a shelf-life) reign supreme.   

You hit the nail on the head when you talked about the need for senior professionals to share their knowledge and expertise with young practitioners.  Mentorship is essential to help focus us so we don’t waste time and energy trying to recreate the wheel.  Changing priorities and focus require us to be adaptable, otherwise we get left behind.  Luckily if any profession is adept to change, it is PR. 

This study isn’t surprising at all; we define ourselves through our environment and experiences.  There is always a divide between generations – even as a relatively young Generation Y member I am not immune, as so crudely exemplified in this satirical video.  We need to stop fixating on differences and work together to create relevant communication strategies that transcend those gaps to shape the future of PR.



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Comment #3

The article I commented on can be found here.

"I wholeheartedly agree that everything you post online becomes a reflection of yourself, nothing you post is private or can be taken back, and safety should always be paramount.  The rest of the items on this list I don’t agree with.  Thinking about this Swedish proverb may provide some perspective as to why people post the items you find annoying. 

What would you do if someone in your office were acting in a manner you did not like?  If it weren’t worth mentioning you wouldn’t and would change your behaviour, to likely avoid him/her.   If you were the only offensive person in your office it would be really unrealistic and selfish to expect everyone else to conform to your behaviour.  Much is the same here.  If you find nothing else, there is one thing all these posts are good for - what better way to discern whether you have much in common with an old friend/acquaintance/classmate and promptly delete them if you feel you don’t.  Even if you do not want to go to the extreme and delete friends, there are myriad of other mechanisms you can employ to ensure you only have posts that you find interesting in your newsfeed.  

When you comment publicly about your dislike for these posts you now become an offender of the very actions you’re condemning.  The parents and happy couples are just being positive about it, and regardless if it’s actually how you feel, you look bitter.

Much like Jennifer Elliot’s comment, I am personally way more put off by reading someone’s impending divorce unfold, unintelligent bantering with people, obnoxious opinion pushing/ignorance, chain letter(esque) items, and grammatically incorrect memes than anything on this list."    

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Comment # 2

The link to the article I replied to can be found here.

Image credit freedigitalphotos.net


"Almost as bad as not responding is asking your fans to forward their questions on to a medium no one is monitoring.

I was on a Facebook page and there was a company representative responding to wall posts requesting the user send a private message for an answer.  On more than one occasion the user mentioned he/she had previously and never received a response.   Seeing this reminded me of being on hold and having that lovely monotone recording say, “Your call is important to us, please stay on the line…”  You look like you’re either feigning interest, or you’re just insincere.
It's completely understandable that companies get inundated with messages/mail asking the same questions, making the same comments/complaints, or just saying fluff.  It's impossible to respond to everything so that's what a company's "About" section, FAQs, and links are for.  You can also reply to the fluff ones much like Bodyform did – what a brilliant way to engage your audience, but I digress.

It’s important for companies to realize if they’re going to promote their brand on social media they can't pick and choose aspects of it to suit them.   Much like prior posters have lamented in their comments; companies are missing a solid opportunity to improve their brand, garner interest in products, and potentially get their next big idea."


  

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Comment #1

The link to the article I replied to can be found here

"I have just started learning about PR and it’s refreshing to read about philosophies from almost 100 years ago that are still completely relevant today.  Having studied a lot of outdated and incomplete theories (both important in its own right) - it’s something to behold seeing a theory transcend that realm and become practical application.  Sadly, that does not happen very often.


I believe it was Bernays's amalgamation of ideas/theories from various disciplines that allow his philosophy to pass the test of time.   The way you do business evolves as markets and technology do, but the premise of the PR professional remains constant.  Completely agree with Nesima  - Berneys’s definition leaves no room for ambiguity.        


It is very unfortunate that to this day many associate negative connotations to the profession because of campaigns run almost 100 years ago.   Creating the shift in perception is made more difficult by the ‘background’ functions of the profession, along with the difficulty in (I believe) defining it.  

Thank you for sharing this article, it has opened my eyes a bit more to the profession."

 

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