PR Research Classmate Posts

This week I reflect on the posts made by my classmates. I find many great points in these blogs and so much to talk about! The blog posts created by Kevin and Francesca caught my attention the most.


As a PR student and personal trainer, I was interested in Kevin's post. He stresses the importance of research in the fitness industry. He informs his readers of a website containing good supplement reviews. In fact, many of my clients ask me which is the best protein to consume and I too turn to supplement reviews for accurate information. That site is very helpful in finding the latest supplement ratings. I know I am not the only one who uses this website for reviews. It is very popular at my gym. Thus it is so important for the fitness industry to create supplements that reflect the latest scientific research.  The fitness and supplement industry is a highly aggressive (no pun intended) enterprise. I agree with Kevin, "Companies are constantly researching to look for that 'secret ingredient' to achieve better results within their customers.  After they achieve this goal, research starts back up again as customers reveal their results with companies and other customers." New research drives business because it gives the product credibility. Just like in the Milgrim experiment, people trusted what the scientist said. People will always trust scientific research. I guess you can conclude in the fitness industry, research=money! 

On another note, Francesca's Blog on social media is extremely informative. She focuses on celebrities and social media supported by some interesting statistics. She provides a link to a study done on Twitter users that said most people using this form of social media are between the ages of 18 and 34. Companies and celebrities should use these facts to get a feel for their target audiences. Because after all, "Twitter and Facebook, among other social networking sites, are eessentially free advertising tools," as Francesca notes. Kim Kardashian tweets about her new BEBE line of dresses and she provides followers with the link to her product. Yes, maybe I clicked the link to check out the new dresses...so her free advertisement does work! As this picture portrays, the "new sell" starts with exposure on the Internet through social media sites like Twitter. People discover the tweets or posts and share with the community. Once a majority of people hear about the product, then the sales increase. 

To answer the question that Francesca posed, "If social networking sites like Twitter are really social media and networking sites, or if they are more similar to news outlets," I would have to say they are both. However I do believe that celebrities tweet what people want to hear and since everyone wants to get the latest news and gossip that is what we are seeing more of each day. 


The blogs I read were both highly informative and influential. Kevin and Francesca provide followers with their opinions supported by credible facts and links. One think I learned from both of their posts is that research does equal money. I enjoyed looking at my classmates' posts for a change. 

PR 332 Research Results

Research Results... used, manipulated and sometimes abused.

Professional PR practitioners succeed by informing the press and analysts of up-to-date research results. With new technologies emerging, it is becoming easier to provide this new information instantly through social media. However, now there are increasing amounts of pressure on PR practitioners to provide compelling, quality, and honest information to the media faster than competitors. Many times PR people fail to do proper research to make deadlines of the up-to-date information.


When PR people fail to communicate honest information just to make a deadline, research results get manipulated. If there is not enough time to conduct a full research report, then a PR practitioner will forget ethical standards and make up needed information because they are pressured to have the plan instantly. It is hard to keep up with flow of new information sent out in a press release in a world where anyone can tweet a 140 character message in seconds. In an article found in The Globe and Mail the reporter gives his incite on social media in the PR setting, "while PR isn’t dead, like the newspaper industry, television industry and many other businesses, it won't be able to survive without exploring this new digital frontier." Thus explaining how social media puts pressure on PR. 


Although becoming more important, social media cannot be a PR practitioner's main transport to stay up to speed on company news. Research done by Connect2 Communications found in an article in PR News said the press uses social media sites like blogger and Facebook for personal connections and not to catch up on news breaking stories. It is important to do research on the trends of the press in order to capture their attention. Furthermore, without researching the target audience's preferences, a company will waste time and money into a campaign that is setup for failure. It is crucial to effectively use social media to provide the target audience information of new research results.


Sarah Evans, a tech reporter with a keen knowledge of social media was featured in a article in The Globe and Mail . Her incite was very interesting and helpful for PR practitioners. She said, "As a tech reporter, I receive dozens of pitches every week on new gadgets, websites and web services. Each reads pretty much the same way. The e-mail starts with “Hi Amber, I hope this finds you well” followed by four or five paragraphs that are copied and pasted from a traditional press release. These all end up in my trash. It is the rare PR person who actually hunts me down on Facebook or Twitter, or includes some personalization in an e-mail, that penetrates this endless stream of not-so-perfect pitches." This is an example of providing research results using social media effectively. 


PR Practitioners should use social media as one way of informing the target audience of research results. It is important to keep in mind the target audience when trying to update the consumer on new information.

PR 332 Reality TV PR Professionals, Ethical or Unethical?

The cast of "The Spin Crowd" 

          I read an article in PR News that immediately grabbed my attention. The article titled, Reality TV vs. Real PR Professionals makes a valid point--is this TV show a demonstration of how PR professionals work? The article is referring to the new hit reality TV show on E! called The Spin Crowd. The show glamorizes the hard work of PR professionals by featuring a beautiful cast and romanticizing a career in public relations. The Hollywood Reporter says, "It depicts the real world of celebrity publicity about as faithfully as those happy California cows depict dairy farming." Furthermore the show contributes to the dishonest label placed on PR professionals and places a false advertisement on public relations. 
          As our textbook discusses in chapter 33, ethics is an important issue in public relations. The staff of the reality TV show falsely showcases unethical principles. For one, they deceive the public by glamorizing the life of professionals in the field. An ethical PR professional would not use beauty as a successful PR tactic. For example, on one episode of The Spin Crowd, the head of the PR firm asks his beautiful staff member to get a lip injection and offered to pay if she agreed to the plastic surgery. I don't think an account executive would actually offer to pay for his staff's plastic surgery. This is just E!'s way of making money. People enjoy watching immoral and unjust characters more than an ethical hard working staff. However, the viewers think this unethical behavior is going on in PR agencies everywhere. The work of PR professionals does not focus on beauty to build media lists and clientele and real PR people do much more than plan events and tweet. Watch The Spin Crowd (Sundays on E! form 10:30-11 p.m.) if you want to poke fun at Hollywood publicity but it is important to trust real PR professionals and not reality TV. As PR News says trust a PR professional, "They may not be ready for their close-up, but they’re getting you ready for yours."

PR 332 The Focus of My Blog

Blog Post PR 332 The Focus of My Blog

The focus of my blog will be about appealing news articles found in PR News. I enjoy the articles on this website and I would love to blog about breaking public relations news.

I liked the PR News top story titled, "Surviving a Social Networking Crisis" by Lydia Henry because it was a topic that we discussed in length during class time. During lecture, we talked about the PR News survey results. PR News found that the biggest challenge of PR practitioners is keeping up with social media. The article said social media is an emerging new technology so it is becoming extremely hard to measure.

The PR News article I found on PRNews states a great point. There is a great deal of power in these social networking sites and many PR practitioners do not know how to handle bad PR found on Facebook or Twitter. Technology has made posting so easy that most people can blog or post on their cell phones and most people dont need to access a computer to ruin a company's reputation. The article gives advice to practitioners on how to handle this bad PR on social networking sites. I found this tip helpful: "address the problem by responding to the issue in the same media in which the bad news arrived and look for other appropriate places to get the word out."Even though the speed of communication has increased drastically over the last few years, PR practitioners can still manage any relations in a positive way by keeping a clear head and staying on top of breaking news/blog posts/facebook tags, etc.

If I were in a situation where I found my client with bad PR on Facebook, I would address the situation right away. I would not want to let the negativeness linger for everyone else to read. I need to quickly get a response out there by being prepared with the best media contacts and keeping my cool. I need to stay on top of all news about my client on these social networking websites. However, I may want to scream at the computer if there is something negative written or a bad image of my client but it is very inappropriate to bring my own personal feelings into this situation! Lastly I would want to be honest and reply with the best possible answer I could come up with to save my clients reputation. Like Henry said in "Surviving a Social Networking Crisis," "Cyberspace is a duplicitous place--full of information both sweet and scathing."